2025-11-05 BBI

Mark Pope on the Nicholls win & Collin Chandler on THE dunk; (10:00) Craig Skinner from "the rooftops" on his UK volleyball team; (20:00) Steve Russell from ESPN Radio Gainesville on UK vs Florida football; (30:00) Mark Stoops on the Auburn win & the Gators; (39:00) Unforgettable guard Sean Woods; (59:00) West End Bureau Chief Gary Moore + one last moment from baseball -- still trying to figure out, Who's On First?

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Oh, guess what day it is. Guess what day it is?

Speaker 2 (00:05):
Huh?

Speaker 3 (00:06):
Anybody, It's hump day. Dogs it up the right side.
Now picks up the pace, splits two defenders, gets into
the lane, loses the hand over, garrison there to find it,
fires a diagonal pass. The Chandler turns down the three.
He'll drive the lane.

Speaker 4 (00:25):
Right in the pace of s.

Speaker 3 (00:28):
Mah. That was a dunk for the Ages. The game
might not have been a thing of beauty, but the
dunk by Colin Chandler certainly was. Welcome to the Big
Blue Sider. Dick Gabriel with you here on hump Day Wednesday.
It is the one day of the week we've actually
got to show a full show because of all these
basketball games, and of course last night at the Wildcast

(00:49):
beat Nichols did not look good offensively in the first half,
cranked it up in the second half, highlighted of course
by Colin Chandler skywalking, and immediately that took its place
in Rupperena lore as one of the all time greatest dunks.
I still think Dirk Minifield's dunk was the best because

(01:10):
of extenuating circumstances. He stepped on a guy's chest. But
Colin Chandler, he's up that high without benefit of standing
on somebody's chest. And we'll hear from him in a
moment as to what was going through his mind when
he did it. Now, there's another dunk that happened during
the ninety six ninety seventh season by Ron Mercer. Nobody

(01:33):
seems to talk about it or remember it. I remembered
it because just a few years after he did it
in the college game, he did it again in the
pros with a different hand. What I'm talking about, and
if I have this right, was Kentucky is breaking fast break.
Whoever is leading the break, There's Ron Mercer filling the

(01:54):
lane on the left side. They tossed that running lob
and they missed. They threw the ball was almost behind
was behind Mercer supposed to lead him, but it was
behind him. Mercer was going so fast and Ron reached
back with I think his right hand, caught the ball

(02:14):
and in one motion slammed it. He did it again
in the NBA a year or two later, but he
did it on the opposite side, with the opposite hand.
It was unbelievable. I went back and found both video
clips when I was at WYT and ran him side
by side. But this Colin Chandler dunk is now right

(02:36):
up there. And I know Kenny Walker had some great dunks,
James Lee had some savage dunks. But yeah, and as
I said, Colin Chandler was asked after the game, what
was going through his mind when the sea's kind of
parted He went up and the defender, my word, foolishly
tried to stop him.

Speaker 5 (02:57):
What was going through my mind was I got past
my guy in the lane like kind.

Speaker 6 (03:00):
Of cleared out.

Speaker 5 (03:00):
It was like a clear path, and so I went
up to to dunk, and the guy came over and
so I had to hang a little bit longer to
wait for his hands.

Speaker 7 (03:10):
He kind of goes up to block and eat.

Speaker 5 (03:12):
I was waiting for his hands to kind of pass
me before I actually dunked it. So those things that
practice sometimes happens at practice rarely or maybe or not rarely,
but something I was glad this happened in.

Speaker 8 (03:23):
Front of up.

Speaker 9 (03:24):
What is it going to feel like when that's an
actual poster on someone's wall.

Speaker 1 (03:27):
Ah, Yeah, it'd be cool.

Speaker 3 (03:28):
I'd like to see that.

Speaker 5 (03:29):
I'd like to I would like to have a poster
for them. That'd be cool.

Speaker 3 (03:33):
And you know, in this digital age, I'm not sure
if they well, I guess they still make posters, but yeah,
that would be that would be really cool. I remember
Kenny Walker had at least one or two really great posters.
And then on the other end, I remember I think
there was a Michael Jordan poster and there were a
zillion of those, and I think Melvin Turpin was on
the receiving end of one of those. So yeah, just

(03:54):
a great moment in a game that was void of
great moments. In the first half, Kentucky just could not
get into a flow offensively. They kept running the offense
down the five and four seconds. I listened to to Jack.
I watched the TV, but listened to Tom and Jack
who kept saying too much dribbling, too much dribbling, and
he was right. But again, you know, it's a Kentucky

(04:16):
team that first game of the year. But of course
without it's one true point guard in Jalen Lowell. Colin
Chandler for the great dunk he had and other really
good things he did, just still had a hard time
getting him into their offense. Denzel Aberdeen but did a
better job in the second half, but it just wasn't
quite right. And again it's so early, way too early,

(04:40):
so they're trying to figure things out. But what was
there was the defense. And let's face it, Nichols will
not be a Final four team, will not be a
D one power. But Kentucky did defensively what it should
do against a team like Nichols. It cranked up the
d defense picked up the slack for the offense. And

(05:03):
after the game, Mark Pope talked about just how well
the Wildcats did play defensively, and you know the strength
you can take from that.

Speaker 4 (05:12):
Listen, I'll give us a chance to be special if
we can do it. You know, we were treading water.
We were barely staying engaged because of our defensive success.
If we could ever get to a point where we're
just like, if we could ever get to a point
where like we didn't even care ifull we score, we're
getting to stop every single time down the floor, that

(05:32):
would be actually a really fun team to coach. And
this team, I don't know if we can I don't
know if we're building exactly that way, but we might
be built close. We might be built close, and it's
a pretty fun way to play.

Speaker 3 (05:44):
And again, this is without two of our best players,
without Jalen Lowe, good defender without Jaden Quainton's great defender
or potentially great depending on how it comes back from
the leg injury, but certainly a rim protector. Not that
Brandon Garrison and Malachi Marino haven't rim defense, but Quaintan's
it can be. I was going to say is but again,

(06:05):
depending on the injury, can be elite. And every time
Pope talks about defense the way he has over the
last week or two, about what it can do for
this team. And remember, now this is a team that
he is preparing more about defense than offense. Right now.
That's something that didn't come up in postgame last night

(06:26):
because it would sound like an excuse. But keep in
mind last year, of course, he had all those elite
offensive players, starting with Kobe bra They were so good
offensively one hundred and six points against Florida, but gave
up one hundred not great defensively until the last maybe
third of the season. A flip flop preparation, as you know,
working on defense more than offense, and it's paying off.

(06:49):
What you think back to the team's mark Pope played
for here at Kentucky. Remember now, he played in ninety
five and ninety six, the team, of course, that won
the national title under Patino. And as much fun as
that team was to destroy other ball clubs, it started
with defense. And that team. I've said it before, and

(07:11):
I'm not the only one. I remember Billy Packard talking
about this when he was a lead analyst for CBS Sports.
That team probably pressed least of any patino teams. Why
because the press covered a lot of the shortcomings the
deficiencies of Patino's first two or three teams, So they

(07:32):
pressed like crazy to try to keep other teams, of course,
fman getting into their offense and wearing down the Kentucky
team that was undersized and under man But as Patino
built his teams, added more and more players, more and
more pieces, he didn't need it as much. He could
turn it on whenever they needed, like the night at

(07:52):
LSU when they scored eighty something points in the first
half of Phenomenal. But that team played so good half
court defense that it didn't need to press all the time.
It would throw that press up every once in a
while and get in their heads and remind teams Hey,
we can press you into oblivion whenever we want, but

(08:14):
just bring the ball across half court. Let's see what
you can do. So I think about that when Pope
starts talking about how good his defense could be, how
much he wants it to be that good, and what
it could accomplish for this team. And again, it's not fun,
it's not sexy, it's not pretty. And this team I
don't believe will be as good as last year's team. Offensively,

(08:38):
you know, they miss and Amari Williams, who could really
pass out of the post. Garrison's better. I don't know
about quaintance, but it's such an important part of the
Mark Stoops offense. They don't have a Kobe Brea, but again,
very few teams in America can say they have one.
So it's going to take a little while for them

(08:58):
to figure things out, and it'll take will find his
way as the preseason player of the year, not because
of that, but that's how good he can be. So, yeah,
it was ugly last night, but they won just the
way the football Wildcats one ugly down at Auburn. We'll
talk about that on the other side of the break
a little bit later on we'll talk about the Cats

(09:19):
and the Florida Gators. But coming up, we're gonna talk
Kentucky volleyball. That's right, Craig Skinner shining from the rooftops
metaphorically trying to make sure everybody knew that he needs
the support of the Big Blue Nation. Back in a minute,
six thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider.
Coming up in just a few minutes. At the bottom
of the hour, Steve Russell, from an ESPN radio down

(09:41):
in Gainesville will join us and he'll talk about the
Florida Gators coming to town on Saturday night to take
on the football Wildcats. Our number two, Sean Woods, the
Unforgettable Guard, joins us every week. He will break down
what he saw in Kentucky's win over Nichols last night.
And we're gonna talk a little bit about Mike Jordan
and personal discipline. Sean sent me an interesting clip from

(10:04):
a podcast of Jordan talking about a kind of a
fork in the road in his professional career. Early on
his rookie season. He could have gone one way, chose
to go the other, and it became Michael Jordan, you know.
And the lessons that can be taken away from his
words in a podcast recently, Also, our West NBA chief

(10:24):
Gary Moore will preview a huge football weekend. We'll also
talk about the World Series that wrapped up. Gary of
course covered the Dodgers for many many years when he
worked at in LA for k LOS Radio. So that's
all ahead, but what's also ahead is Kentucky Volleyball Craig Skinner.
Yesterday you've seen the image by now. Craig Skinner had

(10:44):
a news conference prior to the Mark Stoops news conference
on Monday and took the opportunity to make a plea
to Kentucky fans, and he started it by jumping up
on the desk there at the UK media room. Mark
Zoup sits behind the desk and answers questions. Skinner did

(11:06):
the same thing, but first climbed up on the desk,
saying he would wanted to shout from the rooftops to
the Big Blue Nation, looking for support for the upcoming
game on Sunday. Wasn't looking past Missouri. That's the team
they play tomorrow night at Miszoo. Game's on SEC Plus.
But on Sunday here comes Tennessee and both Massoo and

(11:30):
Tennessee will be looking to spoil Kentucky's undefeated season and
plant themselves between the Wildcats in a ninth straight conference championship.
Tennessee's good. It's not one of the best Tennessee teams,
but it's good. It's very good and capable of beating
the Wildcats. Miszoo is down. Zoo's had some good teams,
but Kentucky should prevail there, you know, if it's ready

(11:52):
to play, and I believe it will be. But Tennessee
is a five o'clock start on Sunday, and Craig Skinner
would love to see a full house, is going to
be a blue out, and would love to see the
BBN turnout.

Speaker 2 (12:05):
Tennessee on Sunday and then two more next weekend.

Speaker 9 (12:08):
We need everybody in the.

Speaker 2 (12:09):
Big Blue Nation to get behind this team.

Speaker 9 (12:11):
This team is everything that Kentuckians.

Speaker 1 (12:13):
Are all about.

Speaker 2 (12:14):
Blue collar, hard work, sacrifice, Their fiber is all about
what you guys are and we don't just need.

Speaker 3 (12:21):
A pack memorial.

Speaker 2 (12:22):
We need to sell the thing out on Sunday, watch
on Thursday night, selled out Sunday next weekend, We're going
all in, but I'm buying the first five hundred blue
shirts for Sunday's match, to get people in the stands,
to make it.

Speaker 1 (12:35):
A blue out.

Speaker 9 (12:36):
That's my opening statement, Go Cat.

Speaker 1 (12:40):
Bring it on, blue, Big Blue Nation.

Speaker 3 (12:43):
And again he talked about Mazoo first that it's going
to be a tough game, a tough match, but then
just beg for the fans to show up. And by
the way, it's been a typically brutal Kentucky schedule thanks
to Craig Skinner in the way he schedules. But when
I looked at this schedule, I thought, man, if they
can survive, They've got the last three at home. They've

(13:07):
got Tennessee, Oklahoma, and Arkansas to wrap things up. Then
they head for the SEC Tournament. But they are four
wins away from a perfect another perfect conference season, and
another SEC championship. One of the things Kentucky had going

(13:27):
forward in that terrific win at Texas. A lot of
things going forward, but of course Eva Hudson, who was
named the SEC Player of the Week because she had
a huge match in the win over Vandy on a
Friday night in Lexington. Then they traveled to Austin blow
out the Long Words win in three. Eva Hudson with
twenty kills in forty two swings one error. She had

(13:52):
four fifty two. She had five something against Vandy. This
is against Texas. Hit four point fifty two, eleven digs
and they served at her eleven times, not a single
error on receipt of serve Brooklyn delay Texas they served
at her forty three times, only two errors, and she

(14:13):
had eighteen kills. Hit four to seventeen at Hudson was
massive for the Wildcats. And again, as you see player of.

Speaker 1 (14:21):
The week, she is who we are.

Speaker 9 (14:23):
She she competes like you know Kentucky Wildcats. She you know,
brings a level of intensity that is contagious and you
know she she thrives. At one point, I looked up
at our passers and I think even looked over at
Molly in Brooklyn and they had just made a three
point run as loud as crap, and she just goes,

(14:45):
this is.

Speaker 1 (14:46):
Fun, you know.

Speaker 9 (14:47):
And so when you're saying that after a team to
scores three points on you in a sold out arena,
you know, you embrace those moments.

Speaker 3 (14:55):
That is such a great story. But that's what you
get when someone comes through the portal for Purdue in
the Big Ten, probably the best still the best conference.
But she was a great player at Purdue. She has
been a great player at Kentucky. And to go along
with Brooklyn Delay, the best one to two punch in
America Number three, Kentucky moves up to number two. Nebraska

(15:22):
is still number one. They played to open the season.
The Wildcats had a two nothing lead. Nebraska came back
for the reverse sweep. Maybe they play again in a
national championship game. And I am proud to say, not
that they took any great shakes to notice, but in
the first couple of weeks of this season, I said,
and I tweeted this, I said, look, this is a

(15:43):
Kentucky team that will probably defend its SEC title and
could win its second national championship. It is that good.
So Craig Skinner would love to see a full house
on Sunday at five o'clock against those Tennessee Volundins. Switching
over to football now, huge night for the Cats. Down

(16:05):
at Auburn, ten seconds.

Speaker 1 (16:08):
It's back at the forty five five seconds, fourth down, one.

Speaker 7 (16:12):
Play for Auburn.

Speaker 8 (16:14):
Daniels drops, Daniels steps out, they hit him.

Speaker 7 (16:17):
He throws it pour the end zone.

Speaker 10 (16:19):
And it's yeah, stepted by Kentucky, but like he's catching.

Speaker 7 (16:24):
A pun of the end zone and.

Speaker 10 (16:26):
The word Cats empty the sidelines with a celebration down
on the planes hunt set win for the Cats as
they take down Auburn ten to three whole.

Speaker 3 (16:37):
And that's the way it ended. If you were not listening,
and that means you were probably lucky enough to not
have YouTube TV. We appreciated all the listeners we got.
Somebody said something to me over the weekend about I
had to listen to the radio. I said, no, no,
you get to listen to the radio. You heard a
great call from Tom and Jeff. And if you're like
any member of the BBN who has followed UK football

(17:00):
for years, you were probably in all honesty like us,
because we've covered a lot Tom and Jeff and I.
You wait on the late hammer, something's gonna happen. You
just think, oh man, how is this one going to
get away? Because it's happened too many times. But we
cut with Kentucky had going for it was such great
defense and you heard in the first segment Mark Pope

(17:23):
talking about the defense for his team that carried the offense.
And that's what happened. On Saturday. Kentucky did move the football,
but when Auburn needed to make a play defensively, the
Tigers did it with a couple of exceptions, and they
picked off Cutter Bowlly a couple times, and fortunately biggest
play of the game, Cam Miller scripped the ball and

(17:47):
the Wildcats got the ball back after the second interception,
but the first pick led to three points for Auburn.
Otherwise it might have been a shutout for the Kentucky
defense on the road, but an Auburn team, as you know,
all kinds of problems. Kentucky got to the quarterback all night,
long pressures, TFLs, sacks. That was the difference in the game.

(18:09):
That's why Kentucky got blown out against Tennessee. It could
not get to the quarterback. It's going to have to
do that Saturday night against Florida with DJ Lagway, who
is a really good mobile quarterback. And you know what
that means for the Wildcats. They've always had trouble with that.
That's one of the reasons they lost to South Carolina.

(18:30):
The North Sellers was able to extend plays using his legs.
They got to keep Lagway from doing that. But on
Saturday at Auburn, the Cats got to both quarterbacks, and
as you know by now, that lost cost Hugh Freese
his job. Coming up, Steve Russell covering the Gators, I'm
going to ask him about why he thinks Scott Strickland

(18:54):
chose to fire Billy Napier mid season. And so many
other coaches have been fired mid season, and a lot
of you out there have wanted Mark Stoops to be
fired mid season. Sometimes it's called for, I mean the
mid season firing, and oftentimes it's not. It's an emotional
thing with fans. They're angry, they want somebody punished after

(19:16):
a loss. What's the best way to punish, Well, can't
fire the players, Let's fire the coach. But Mark Stoops,
Mitch Barnert, they're hanging in there right now, and this
Kentucky team is getting better. You might not want to
hear that if you're tired of it, if you don't
like Stoops, or at least you don't like what's been
happening of late. Nobody complaining when they were going to
the Citrus Bowl, but of late, it has not been

(19:39):
the same brand in Kentucky football. But unlike the latter
stages of last season. And I'm not knocking anybody in
particular last year, but right now the effort is there.
And you got to see that down at Auburn, and
again Auburn not a good team, but Auburn with a
really good defense, made it a tough game and Kentucky

(20:02):
was up to it from start to finish. So we'll
find out if that's what happens on Saturday against the
Florida Gators. Up next, we'll talk more football with Steve
Russell of WRUF down in Gainesville. A little bit later
on Marx Toops. You're on the Big Blue Sider six
thirty WLAP. Welcome back to the Big Blueing Sider. Joining

(20:24):
us now as a longtime friend of the show. Guy
that's covered the Florida Gators almost as long as I've
covered the Kentucky Wildcats. It is Steve Russell, Sports director
of ESPN, Gainesville Sports director WUFT TV. Steve, I could
go through your resume, but it would take up most
of the shows. Let's just say you know the Gators
inside out, and we were just talking before went on

(20:45):
the air. Fan base down there. You said they're more
excited about basketball than football. Which is what you expect
to hear from somebody from Kentucky, not from Gainesville, Florida.
That's gotta be weird for you.

Speaker 6 (20:58):
It is a little bit. I mean, obviously Florida coming
off the year it had last year, winning the championship
and then you know, playing a really good Arizona team.
But it's just what's happened with the football program. You know,
Billy Napier fired earlier in the year. The effort good,
but just not enough wins, and fans, a lot of
the fans here just had it, and the move was made.

(21:20):
And now, of course the buzz about who the new
coach will be. I'm here to tell you it's my
humble opinion, a vast majority of the fan base wants
Lane Kiffin. There really isn't a second choice for the
fan base. It's you know, Lane Kiffer in their bust.
I'm sure Scott Strickland doesn't think that. I mean, he's
going to vet candidates, but if I had to judge Dick,

(21:42):
it's it's Lane Kiffen by a mile.

Speaker 3 (21:45):
Yeah, Scott Across. The former assistant ad from Kentucky left
to go to Mississippi State is Alma Mater and then
on to Gainesville. And it brings up an interesting question, Steve,
and it's it's happened throughout college football this year. Coach
is being fired at mid season. What was your read
on that? Why? You know, I mean, you're not going
to jump up and hire somebody instantly. What's the reasoning

(22:08):
behind that in your opinion?

Speaker 6 (22:11):
You know, when Jeremy Foley was the athletic director here,
I'm going to misquote this, but he said something to
the effect of, you don't wait to do something that
you have to do. I see, and I think that's
what happened with Scott Strickland here. If you recall last year,
the fan base was upset and Scott gave him a
vote of confidence, which is very rare for an athletic

(22:32):
director to do. And Florida ended the season on a
real positive note. They were pre season ranked. The roster
certainly has talent, but they just didn't win. And I'm
going to say this, Billy Napier changed the culture here.
It needed to be changed. As one of the reasons
he was hired. He knows talent, This is a talented roster,
but for whatever the reason, it just didn't execute. In

(22:55):
terms of wins and losses, and that's why Strickland made
the move.

Speaker 3 (22:57):
So what do you expect Saturday that we will see
from Florida.

Speaker 6 (23:02):
Well, now you remember you the first game with Billy Gonzalez,
who has been the long time wide receivers coach. The
effort was there. I thought Florida played with a lot
of effort, but the result, Dick was kind of the same.
You know, two hundred and eighty one yards of total offense.
DJ Lagway struggling at the quarterback position. You know, they

(23:25):
went for it on a fourth down instead of kicking
a field goal. They missed it. Georgia went down and scored.
That was a big turning point in the game. So
I think you'll see effort from Florida. Now you know
what we see in terms of result, I'm anxious to see.
But I will say this, the defense has been the
best unit of the year by far, very consistent, and

(23:49):
I think you'll see a good defensive effort Saturday.

Speaker 3 (23:51):
Well, and you know, Texas comes into Gainesville and we
saw Kentucky nearly beat Texas. We know the Longhorns have
had their issues, but you know, and then they jump
up and beat Oklahoma. They're a good team, not great,
and I thought Florida was terrific against the Longhorns, you know,
but I guess that sort of exemplifies what's been going
on down there, am I right? Ups and downs, very right.

Speaker 6 (24:15):
I mean, when Florida beat Mississippi State, think about it.
They win the game and the coaches fired. But in reality,
Florida should have lost that game of fluke play at
the end of the game when a defensive lineman picked
off a packet in my opinion, never should have been thrown,
allowed Florida to win the game. And then you kind
of knew the end was near because fans were booing

(24:39):
after a win when they got off the field. A
bye week was coming up.

Speaker 1 (24:44):
You just got the.

Speaker 6 (24:45):
Feeling, Dick, that if it was going to be done,
that was the time to do it. You know, name
a new coach, give everybody a chance to take a
few days off, reset, regroup. That's exactly what happened.

Speaker 3 (24:56):
Talking to Steve Russell ESPN Radio down and Gainesville the
Gators a take on the Wildcats here in Lexington on
Saturday night, you talk about the fans booing, How do
they feel now, I mean they want Kiffin. Are they
reinvested Because I just came back from Kentucky Auburn. We
all know the struggles Auburn is I just fired their coach.

(25:18):
But against Kentucky that night, Steve, there was not an
empty seat in an eighty thousand plus stadium. So what
is the status right now of Florida fans? Will they
keep showing up for games?

Speaker 1 (25:29):
Yes?

Speaker 6 (25:30):
And I got to say, you know, I think I
do a postgame show after every football game, and sometimes
it gets pretty contentious, you know, when fans call, and
you know, we go out of a little bit. But
one thing I will say, the fans have showed up.
They continue to put ninety thousand people in there, or
nearly ninety thousand people in there, and it's not just

(25:50):
tickets sold. You look around the stadium, it's pretty darnfull.
So I give Gator fans a lot of credit. Dictator
showed up through this and deserve a lot of credit
for that.

Speaker 3 (26:01):
Well, I've worked the sidelines for Kentucky for thirty seven years.
I've been to Gainesville a lot. I've seen great Gator teams.
I've seen not so great Gator teams. And to your
point that place is always full. It's the swamp for
a reason. You mentioned DJ Lagway who it must be
kind of a puzzlement to you guys because he has

(26:21):
enormous talent but doesn't always show it. Is it fair?

Speaker 6 (26:26):
It's fair? And look, I'm not there every day, but
in talking to some people on the inside, they're a
little bit frustrated in terms of his development, his footwork,
you know, his technique. He's a great kid. I think
he's universally liked in the locker room. He's great with coaches.
That's never been an issue. What we don't know is,

(26:50):
like anybody else, what does his nil contract say.

Speaker 1 (26:53):
Because there are some.

Speaker 6 (26:54):
People here who are actually calling for the backup from
Mel Jones to get some snaps. And it's so ironic
to me. Last year they were channing his name inside
the stadium because he threw all those long balls, you know,
but again, defenses saw that they've adjusted, They played a
lot of too high safety, taking away the deep ball

(27:16):
and then you know, making him start reading defenses. He's
not done a great job of that, and now some
fans won them out. It's amazing how that's happened for
the fan base. He has turned on him.

Speaker 3 (27:28):
Well, just a couple of minutes left of Steve Russell
from my ESPN radio down in Gainesville. From where you sit,
what's the word on Kentucky.

Speaker 6 (27:38):
I think Florida is just looking to get a win.
I think they just they just did something here. And
I watched a lot of the game last week. I
like your quarterback a lot. I like your young quarterback.
The defense has been good, and look getting that first
win for you all, I'm sure you know, took the
monkey off the back and now maybe a little bit
more relaxed going in there. And I'll say this, I'm

(28:00):
a big history guy, Dick. You know that long streak
that Florida had in beating Kentucky, But since then, Florida's
had trouble beating Kentucky and has not particularly played well there.
So I'm interested to see, you know, what Florida's mindset
is gonna be night game? You know, does the game
you know mean a great deal? You know, Billy Gonzales

(28:23):
did a nice job getting Florida to play, but it
was against a rival, right Florida Georgia. Will that same
level be there in going on the road and playing Kentucky?

Speaker 3 (28:33):
Watching that game I saw. I think it was Gonzales
hugging one of his players who was in tiers or
near tiers. You could see the emotional effect that it had.
That loss. That was a bitter lot. I mean, Florida
has a late lead, as you mentioned, and it gets away.
Do you think the Gators have it within them to
pull themselves up and be ready for this one?

Speaker 1 (28:55):
I do.

Speaker 6 (28:56):
I think that that's the one thing. I can't think
of a week Dick where I look back and say
they were flat. I've never seen that.

Speaker 1 (29:05):
Now.

Speaker 6 (29:05):
Have they not played well at times?

Speaker 1 (29:08):
Yes?

Speaker 6 (29:08):
Have there been questionable play, questionable play calls at times, yes,
But I've never looked at them and said they haven't
given effort. That's a credit to where Billy Napier's established
there with the culture, when Billy Gonzalez has continued with that.
So I don't think that'll be the case on Saturday Night,
but we will see.

Speaker 3 (29:27):
You know, I've said almost the exact same thing about Kentucky.
The efforts have been there, if not the execution. So
two teams kind of colliding having similar struggles, but it
should be interesting. Steve Russell will report on it for
ESPN radio down in Gainesville. Thank you, my friend. Always
good talking to you anytime.

Speaker 6 (29:44):
Thanks for having me, and.

Speaker 3 (29:49):
We will talk more Kentucky football on the other side
of the break here on six thirty WLAP Welcome back.
Coming up in our number two, Sean Woods, the Unforgettable Guard.
We'll talk Kentucky basketball, and he'll talk about Michael Jordan
and a seminal moment in Jordan's career when he decided
to go one way. Had he gone the other way

(30:10):
in terms of his personal life, he would not have
been the Michael Jordan that we came to know, so
we'll talk about that. We'll also hear from West End
Bureau Chief Gary Moore, will talk baseball, football, basketball, as
we usually do. Speaking of football, of course, the Wildcats
and Florida coming up. And if Kentucky can match the
defensive intensity that it had Saturday night down at Auburn,

(30:32):
and I believe it will, then it should have a
good shot, a decent shot at beating the Gators. Now,
Mark Stoops obviously would love to see a full house,
and he came in right after Craig Skinner shouted from
the rooftops and wondered if maybe he should do the
same thing.

Speaker 11 (30:51):
You know, looking forward to getting back home to follow
Craig Skinner. Should I maybe get on the desk? The
want me get on the desk and see if we
get fill up Kroger Field this weekend. Yeah, let's see.
You guys would love that. Congratulations to Craig. He's a

(31:12):
awesome human being and a great coach and fun to
watch his team. So congrats to him.

Speaker 3 (31:18):
And when Stoops was wondering should I get up on
the disc, I was nodding my head voraciously, yes, do it.
But of course he did not. But he did talk,
of course about his team, about the win at Auburn,
and again, as I said, if they can get a
similar effort, then they got a shot. You know, the
same thing.

Speaker 11 (31:38):
You know, playing this week playing Florida. I know Billy's
not there, but Billy's assembled a very good football team,
very talented, you know, very physical, good team, and it'll
be another great challenge for us and another opportunity. It's
each and every week. You know, you could sit here
and you know during the SEC schedule and it's for

(32:02):
one game after another. Very good teams, very physical, very talented.

Speaker 3 (32:07):
Yep. About his life in the Southeastern Conference. And remember
this is a Florida team that beat Texas and I
thought beat Texas handily down in Gainesville, and a Kentucky
team that gave Texas everything it wanted. So you just
never know what you're going to get in this league,
especially a team with ups and downs like Kentucky like Florida.

(32:28):
But the one thing that's been fairly consistent for the
Wildcats has been the defensive line, and that unit played
a huge part and to win at Auburn because no
matter who was a quarterback, Jackson Arnold or the other
kid Daniels, Yeah, they made some plays, but the Wildcats
kept them out of the end zone. And they've got

(32:50):
to have a similar effort against the Gators. But man,
that D line was tough against the Tigers.

Speaker 11 (32:56):
Definitely. The D line in general played extremely hard and
they were also very disciplined. They were very precise on
the games that we were running. A couple times we
were light in the box and short with the quarterback draw,
we hit it for a loss. Just things like that
that sometimes go unsecene. They did a lot of things good,

(33:17):
but they played extremely hard, but they also executed the
little things.

Speaker 3 (33:23):
And because the d line played so well. Of course
the guys behind them played well. They were cover sacks,
but really good play by the linebackers, maybe the best
as a unit, the best game for the Kentucky linebackers
all things considered this season. Alex Safari had been kind
of quiet the last couple of weeks. Had a big night.
Devyn Rainer had a huge night for the Wildcats. A
guy's kind of an undersized linebacker but played really well.

(33:48):
And that had been a little bit of a problem
at linebacking corps. Kind of thin, kind of small, but
played well against Auburn. So it's got to be everybody,
especially now with Lagway coming in, a mobile quarterback who
can hurt you extending plays, running, moving the chains, throwing
the football. He's got a great arm, but he has

(34:08):
had his ups and downs, and as Steve Russell just
told us, some of the fans have turned on this guy.
They were clamoring for him, of course when he was
a backup. Now they've got him. He's made some mistakes
and so people want to see whoever's the backup now,
but they're going to see Lagway. Kentucky is and the
Wildcats are just gonn have to deal with him. One

(34:28):
of the great ways to deal though, is keep him
on the sidelines. Move the football, score points, keep the
change going, and again, as they did against Texas, keep
them on the sideline. But when the defense is in,
you got to execute. And I've heard more and more
people talk about Brad White, the defensive coordinator, about the

(34:49):
game he called against Texas. Again, bad matchup against Tennessee,
but a terrific effort down on the planes against Auburn.
I asked Mark Stoops. I said, as a as a
guy who played and coached defense for your career and
now as a head coach, and you got Brad White
as your DC, what did you appreciate the most about

(35:10):
the way that he called the game down at Auburn?
And beyond that.

Speaker 11 (35:15):
I thought we did a very good job. He did
a very good job of mixing things up, you know,
when we have you know, and it's happened several times
this year, if we feel like we're getting somebody off balance,
you know, not getting too predictable. I think we mixed
it up quite well. And our guys, you know, he

(35:35):
did a remarkable job and always does. But our players
played extremely hard and we're and they executed. You know,
I could go back. I told you that story. It's
been a while, but when I was a defensive coordinator
and I was mad at the defense, I'm like, you know, basically,
like the hell with you. I don't have a call,
you know what I mean? Like you, you know, calls don't
make it good all the time. Players make it good.

(35:56):
And in this case it was both, you know, really
good planned, good execution. The players played really hard there.

Speaker 3 (36:01):
It is. You've got to have a good plan and
you got to have good players making plays, you know,
Jimmies and Joe's versus x'es and O's right. So Brad
White called a great game and Kentucky took advantage of
a poor offensive line for Auburn racked up seven sacks
and twelve tackles for loss. Afari Khalil Saunders each had

(36:23):
one and a half sacks, and it was the kind
of game the Wildcats needed from the defense because the
offense just could not get untracked against a really good
Auburn defense. So we may see more of the same
Saturday night when the Gators come to town. One final
note before we hit the break, Clearly, our hearts go
out to everybody in my hometown of Louisville because of

(36:47):
the plane crash. It's a horrifying plane crash there, and
it's especially terrible given the fact that this was a
plane carrying what thirty eight thirty nine thousand gallons fuel?
There was an erroneous report that it was carrying two
hundred and eighty thousand gallons, when in fact whoever posted

(37:07):
that messed up the conversion. It's two hundred and eighty
thousand pounds of fuel which converts to thirty eight or
thirty nine thousand. Either way. It was horrific. And a
friend of mine from college, a guy who was a
photographer for US at the Kentucky Colonel but also a pilot,
went on to become a pilot for UPS since retired,

(37:29):
and he posts all the time on Facebook. His name
is Bill Kite Kight not like the kite you fly,
you know, and used to take pictures from the cockpit.
A great photographer and with share photos he took of
the sun coming up or going down as he was flying,
And immediately my thoughts went to him because I'm sure

(37:50):
that he knew at least some are all of the
people involved, and as we speak as we record nine
dead and at least fifteen injured. But they are trying
to find out who else may have been a victim,
because you've seen the video, absolutely horrendous, and the city
is trying to pull together after an accident like this.

(38:13):
So yeah, it's the kind of thing where it doesn't
even seem real. And when you see the video, the smoke,
the flames, and there's so much video everywhere there's video
of the plane going down that's where we are today,
it doesn't seem real. And then when you think it
was seventy miles away and not far from the area

(38:35):
where I grew up in Louisville, it hits you hard.
It hits you hard when it's your own I don't
know that I knew anybody involved, and it was my city,
my hometown in our state, and you hurt for them,
and you root for them, and obviously you hope for
the best. I remember do this next year on six

(38:55):
thirty wapt tact.

Speaker 12 (39:32):
Even then, can anything? Don't back, don't.

Speaker 3 (40:42):
Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider. It is Wednesday,
which means we are visiting with our unforgettable guard, Shaun
Woods is Jersey hangs in the rafters of rup of course,
and uh, coach your beloved Wowcats last night and needed
some pretty good defense because the offense wasn't there in
the first tap. Let me share with you a comment
made by Mark Pope after the game about the fact

(41:04):
that he was encouraging his guys about the defense.

Speaker 4 (41:07):
We should be gathering energy from our defensive success, not
in here frustrated about, you know, not feeling great on offense.
That's really important that we can go get energy from
having defensive success and that we cannot lose our energy
because things are a little discombobulated offense. So it's going

(41:28):
to be really important for this team.

Speaker 3 (41:29):
Coach. A few weeks ago, you and I were talking
about the preseason preparations for this team. You've been to practice,
you saw Kentucky working on defense quite a bit. You
actually gave it an ovation on the air when we
talked about defense. What's your comment. What's your reaction as
a coach and as a guy who treasures defense to
what Mark Pope said after the game about, you know,

(41:51):
get excited about defense when your offense isn't working well.

Speaker 1 (41:57):
He's learning also got to know that his team is
not as fluent or as offensively gifted as the team
he had last year. This has to be a team
if we're going to go deep in in the season
and deep in the tournament. They got to hang their
head on defense because they're not as good as shooting

(42:19):
team as his teams have been. I don't know if
his teams will ever be as good as the team
they shooting as the team he had last year. So
he's got in order for Kentucky to have some sets
some success, they got to hang their head on getting
stops and then creating transition situations off of their defense

(42:41):
so they don't have to play a lot of half
court because their half court is almost predictable. And as
you can see, they're having a hard time scoring the
half court because people are figuring them out, you know,
you switch that stuff like like Georgetown did. And I mean,
you know, thank god they did play some defense and
they played Nickels, you know, because they couldn't score Hall,

(43:04):
especially in the first half against Nichols, they start to
you know, really hone in defensively and get some transition
situations going on offense from their defense. In the second half,
and they got some you know, some second chance points
from offensive rebounds. But you know, this team is not
gonna be as pretty offensively right now until they get

(43:24):
some great point guard play because their system and the
stuff that they're running, you know, guys are gonna sit
on that now, Coaches are scouting that and you know
you switching it, which everybody's doing now, which gives them trouble. Now,
somebody's gonna have to start breaking plays off and be
become a playmaker and the only true point guard, in
real playmaker that they have on their rosters level. So

(43:45):
as you can see right now, there's no plays being
made for other players right now because they don't have
a pure point guard, a pure playmaker. So they're really
going to have to hang their head on defense. And
he's preaching, he's preaching the right stuff, and their offense
has got to be predicated on it from their defense.

Speaker 3 (44:03):
And by playmaker you mean at the point, because I
got to think, you know, oh Tago, oh wait, surely
is a playmaker, but not in initiating.

Speaker 1 (44:11):
The offense, right, No, not initiating office. And it's so
evident that they need great point guard play. You know,
they have guards that can service that are serviceable at
the point guard. But for the long haul, and once
you get into the league and nuts and boats of
your schedule, you got to have a point guard. You know,
they got some good you know, I think they wore

(44:32):
Nichols down because Nichols finally could. You know, they just
couldn't score. And they start getting some easy baskets. But
you know, as a competition on fos and you start
playing some some foes like you did against Georgetown, is
gonna you know, be physical with you, knock you off
your rocker and things like that. You've got to have
a guy that can break down plays, come off boss screens,
and create plays for others of himself. And that's what

(44:55):
Lowe does. You know, I like Jasper Johnson, but Jasper
Johnson is not a pure point go Jasper Johnson is
a pure score. He's not a playmaker, even though he
made some great plays, don't get me wrong. But for
the long haul, you got to have a point guard.
And I wish Mark had more than just one, because
you know what I mean, you got to have two
or three in your arsenal. He only has one. And

(45:15):
I don't want this season to be prolonged or plagued
by your only point guard, real point guard with injuries.

Speaker 3 (45:22):
What'd you take it away?

Speaker 6 (45:23):
Denzel Aberdeen play the point He's just a service of
point guard.

Speaker 1 (45:27):
He's not a true point guard. And you know, he's
not a guy that I will feel comfortable with in
the long haul and he'll get better at it. But
as far as making plays coming off ball scrazs and
things like that, he's not a maestro, you know, and
you got to have a maestro out there. He does,
you know, he's serviceable. He's a guy that could be
a backup, but not your number one point guard. Can't
that that can't be what else stuck out?

Speaker 3 (45:50):
And by the way, Colin Chandler's dunk he had like that, Oh.

Speaker 1 (45:55):
My god, that was a highlight that hey, we can
stop the season right now. And so I don't know
if there'll be a better dunk in college basketball, athletic player,
college basketball than the one he had last night. I
was just super impressed with just the state power on
finding a way to win a game, which it was
ugly from your defense. You know, they just said, hey,

(46:18):
we just got to stop them. Eventually, we're gonna be
able to score more points because we are Kentucky and
their nickels, so we got to pose our will on
them from a physical and mental standpoint, and that's what
they did. But offensively, they're gonna have to score more points.
You can't score twenty five or twenty seven, how many
points they had in the first half and expect to
be you know, some of the teams that are on

(46:40):
their schedule, and especially coming down the stretch, you got
to find ways to score better than you have. But
I just think that until Low gets back, you know,
it's going to be hard making plays, just you know,
on the system that you're running, because like I said before,
teams are just sitting on that now and it's pretty predictable.
As you can see. They're not scoring points off of

(47:01):
their out of their offense. They're scoring points, you know,
from their defense, getting transition situations and things like that.
But I don't think they can score enough right now
doing what they're doing. And you know, they need a
point guard, and Low he's got he's got to be
the man, and I don't want to put this much
pressure on him. But when you're the only point guard,

(47:23):
you know the pressure is on you because there's nobody
behind you and I hope he comes back healthy and
stays healthy.

Speaker 3 (47:28):
Yeah, But and that's the key. He stays healthy. They
don't need to rush him back, you know, they've got
to have him for the long haul. And when you
talked about, uh, the people are sitting on this and that,
and they're and they're scouting. Look that we know they
don't have a Kobe bre Nobody in the country as
a Kobe Bread, I don't think. But uh a Marii
Williams was so good at the high post passing. Brandon

(47:51):
Garrison is working on that. That Malachi is so young,
you know he's raw. But when you talk about switching,
what does that do to the cutting that that Mark
Pope likes to see in his offense, guys trying to
go back door or whatever you guys call it. How
does the switching kind of gum that up?

Speaker 1 (48:10):
Well, because you got one guy with switching, one guy
stays low, one guy stays high, So you're never out
of position. You're just switching men. But where wherever a
cutter goes, there's gonna be somebody there. They're just switching
them off. You know, you're not getting ran off of screens.
You know, you're getting tangled up with screens and you
you know, you're getting discombobulated because you're trying to stay
with your men, and then well, your other guy who's

(48:32):
guarding the cutter gets rubbed because of you know what
I'm saying. The contact that's being called in your cutting
teams now are just saying, hey, we're not chasing all
this stuff anymore. You know, it's we're just gonna switch
everything off and keep everybody in front and make them
take tough shots, you know, over us and in front
of us. And that's what's happening right now. And we're

(48:54):
not a big time shooting team. You know, you can
throw Jackson Robinson in there. You know, Jackson Robberson can
shoot the balls and not just Kobe Brera. You know,
a lot more guys. They had a lot more shooters
last year than they do this year, especially point blank shooters.
They got to do more off the cuff. You know,
they got to make plays coming off ball screens, and
Low's got to be the Maesro doing that. You know,

(49:16):
they got to get more plays. You know, untraditionally it
went from a talent standpoint, and that's where recruiting comes in.
You know, you recruit, you recruit guys that can do that,
and right now they got great solid guards, but they
don't have great wiggle guards that can really create and
get by their man a bunch of times to create
for others. I mean, you know, they they ran a
couple of ball screen actions where Jasper Johnson threw it

(49:39):
over the top to Malachi, you know, but can they
do that on a consistent basis. They're gonna have to
get a lot more of that of penetration to kick
and penetration, drawing the defense end penetration. Somebody is really
talented enough to go buy people draw the big and
dish it offer easy layups and easy dunks. That's a
lot of that's going to have to happen.

Speaker 3 (49:59):
And how much that can they do as the competition
gets better and better, that's going to.

Speaker 1 (50:03):
Be well, honey Dale, you saw against Georgetown. Georgetown exposed it,
you know what I'm saying. You know, I know at
the beginning of the year, but right now, Georgetown gave
everybody the blueprint. You know, you be physical with them,
you know, you switch everything, you know, but what Georgetown
had we didn't have. Georgetown had a couple guys that
can go get their own more so than we did.
We got to be able to go get buckets and

(50:25):
create buckets untraditionally off of just talented playmakers, and that's
where Low comes into play.

Speaker 3 (50:32):
He is the unforgettable guard Shawn Woods. We'll talk more
basketball on the other side of the break, including mister
Michael Jordan on six thirty WLAPE Welcome Back. Were chatting
with the unforgettable guard Shawn Woods. Each and every week
we talk with Seawan as Jersey hangs in the raptors
of rugby as the head coach at Scott County High School,
but also keeps an eye on his beloved Wildcats. Before

(50:52):
I ask you about MJ as I call him. You
said before the break that the Georgetown University VIC was
it blueprint for other teams as to how to come
after Kentucky. As a head coach, a veteran of the
head coaching wars, though, you got to know and I'm
thinking that this also gives Mark Pope and his staff

(51:14):
a blueprint that they can show their players and say, look,
here's how we got our butts kicked. This is one
of the many ways we have to go back to work.

Speaker 1 (51:23):
Right, Oh, no doubt about it. It's a learning situation
for every coach. And you know Mark already made the
adjustment defensively. He showed you that. You know what I mean,
he's a smart guy. You know. From a defensive standpoint,
now you know it is what it is. And from
an offensive standpoint, you got to come up with more
ways to create easier buckets, you know. But that's where

(51:48):
players come in to play. You can have all the
X and o's, but it takes jim and Joe's to
really get you over the hump. And his Jimmy, that
one gym has got to make all the Joe's go right.
And that gym is low at the point guard spot.
And if you struggle, as we did last year, whenever
our point guard was down, that enabled us a little
bit and it harnessed us a little bit. And that's

(52:09):
where we are right now. We're struggling because we don't
have that maestro. Every big time team has to have
a dominating point guard, and right now we don't have
a dominating point guard. We just got guys that can
service that can be serviceable at the point guard spot.
But the true point guard is sitting on the bench,
and how long it's gonna be over there, I don't know.

(52:30):
But until he comes back, we are going to struggle offensively.
So that's why Mark is saying, you know, even though
our offense is a little stagnant and it's a little
ugly right now, it's not as fluent as we want
it to be, our defense has got to take hold.
And which is good. Everything happens for a reason, Dick
as a coach, I truly believe that. And right now,

(52:50):
you know, Mark is really concentrate on how can he
be you know, bullet proof defensively, and that's going to
take him further because soon or later the offense is
going to especially when you get your players in the
right position, so on and so forth. But that defense
has got to be Numero uno, and I think they
potentially they have the athletes to do that. You know,

(53:11):
that's got to be number one. And then sooner or
later the offenses start to catch up, especially when they
get a rhythm with their point guard being back in
the floor and everybody being used to playing with him
and him being a playmaker. So that's where they are
right now.

Speaker 3 (53:26):
I think, speaking of discipline, you shared with me, and
we often share videos. We sent them back and forth.
But you sent something to me from a podcast which
included Michael Jordan, who's being heard more and more now
that he's doing a little more media with the NBA
on NBC. But on a podcast, Jordan talked about a

(53:46):
crucial moment in his career, really early in his pro career,
might have been a rookie, when he was invited to
a party or a hotel room or whatever. And he said,
when they'd opened the door, and I'm basically paraphrasing, he
saw things he had never seen as a young man.
And he said there was smoke and drugs and women

(54:09):
and his teammates assuming he meant in compromising position doing
things they shouldn't be doing or or they are just
aren't good for professional athletes. And he talked about the
fact that he could have gone through that door, but
he chose not to, which is sort of, you know,
a parable for his career. The door he chose was

(54:30):
discipline and hard work. And I'll guarantee you every pro
athlete has had that moment, probably every college and high
school athlete have had similar moments. Obviously that resonated with
you you sent it to me as a guy who's
worked with young people all your career. Can I assume
you showed this, You shared this with your team at
Scott County High School because they know who Michael Jordan is.

(54:53):
I know Michaels hadn't played for a while, but they
know what he's all about.

Speaker 1 (55:00):
That's a discipline and you know, social warfare we all have.
We all have to face that, and that was a
social warfare moment for Michael Jordan. He had a choice,
you know, do I fit in with these guys me
being a rookie, we just want to fit in and
get along. Or do I stand my ground and stay

(55:22):
with my discipline, knowing that that's not who I am
and I don't need to do that because look at
these guys they're there. You know, at that time when
Michael Jordan went to the Bulls, they were below average
basketball team and organization anyway, and they had some guys
who had had trouble with drugs. And for him, coming
straight fresh from Dean Smith, you know, doing everything the

(55:43):
right way, he was at a crossroads. Do you do
you do you indulge like most young guys do, just
want to fit in, or do you stay your discipline
and say, hey, you know what I'm saying, I'm not
going to do that, even though you know, you guys
are older and veters and things like that. I'm sticking
to my guns and my morals. And that's what he chose,
and he chose that for the rest of his career,

(56:04):
and that's why he's considered maybe not just the best
basketball player that's ever lived, maybe the best athlete who's
ever lived. So and you don't become the best athlete
who ever lived by dipping a dabbing with drugs and
recreational things that can hinder your body and slow you up.

Speaker 3 (56:23):
That will resonate with some young people, and some young
people will say, well, that's not me, or I can
handle it or whatever, And that is the source. So
that's the challenge for you coaches, isn't it, no doubt
about it.

Speaker 1 (56:37):
I mean, I can go to Kobe Bryant when he
was hanging out with all the Alan Iverson's and all
these guys, and they would go party and they were
his peers, and he'd be like, no, I'm going to
the gym. Yeah, And that's the reason why his career
ended and became what it was compared to a successful
Alan Iverson career, a successful Carmelo Anthony career, but it

(56:57):
wasn't a Kobe Bryant career. You know. So when you're
the best and you want to be the best, your
actions have got to You got to eat, sleep and
dream about being the best, and it's got to become you.
And being great and wanting to be the best became
Kobe Bryant became Michael Jordan, you know. And you know,

(57:18):
you can look at ray Lewis, you know, with the
things that he had to change and for him now
he's considered one of the best landbackers to ever lived.
You know, he was at the crossroads too, and almost
lost his life and his freedom because of it. So,
you know, you show me a great athlete and a
person that that's on top, I'll show you one of
the most displine people in the world. And that's who

(57:40):
Michael Jordan's, Kobe Bryant and those type of guys are.
They're they're the most disciplined people in the world. And
that's the reason why they're a step above people who
are great. They're just greater.

Speaker 3 (57:50):
Yeah, And I think that little element there. It's got
to be ingrain you. I mean, I don't know that
it can be taught, it can be reinforced, but it
just got to come deeply within at least that no.

Speaker 1 (58:04):
Doubt about it, no doubt about it. You know that
pretty girl who's calling your phone at the hotel after
a game, who you winked at or winked at you
doing the game. You know, it's amazing how these pro
athletes live and the temptations that are forced upon them.
You know, you could play be on the road, playing
away game. You get to the hotel and there's fifteen

(58:25):
women they're waiting on you that you've never seen before
in your life, and they can tell you everything about yourself.
And then when you get to your room, you got
messages so on and so forth. And when you're lonely
like that on the road and board and things like that,
and you need the pastime, it's easy to do. And
so these guys are that disciplined enough to say, hey,
this ain't me because you know what I'm saying, I

(58:47):
got to play the next night, and I got to
be on the next night, and if I do this tonight,
I won't be on that night, which I want to
be on every night. So you know that's the discipline
and also the temptations that are put upon you being
who you are.

Speaker 3 (59:03):
Lessons to learn from Coach Sean Woods, Scott County High School.
We talked to him each and every Wednesday. Coach, thank
you so much.

Speaker 1 (59:10):
We'll talk to you again soon, okay, looking forward to
buddy up next.

Speaker 3 (59:14):
Western Bureau Chief Gary Moore here on six thirty WLAP
Welcome back to the big blon Cider. It is Wednesday,
meaning we cast our eyes to the west or Western
Bureau Chief Gary Moore at the distant end of I
sixty four. He used to be on the O the
other side of the country when he was with Kayla
Wes Radio as our West Coast bureau chief. Much on
his mind today. What's up hey?

Speaker 7 (59:35):
Speaking of that?

Speaker 8 (59:36):
All these years that we've worked together, Do you realize
it has now been forty five years since you and
I met and worked together across the street there in Lexington,
k whyet at forty five To give anybody an idea
how long ago that was, Especially for UK fans, this
was back in the days when you had Joeby Hall
saying things like We're gonna go with Chuck vaderber tonight,

(01:00:01):
long time ago.

Speaker 3 (01:00:02):
That is true, That is very true. You were a
neophyte commercial writer, a copywriter.

Speaker 7 (01:00:08):
Way back when. Yeah, well, here we go.

Speaker 8 (01:00:11):
Two guys in a six pack, got six swigs here,
the first one at a couple of days. We are
a couple of days away now, of course from the weekend.
I'm you know, I'm still buzzing about last Saturday, Dick,
no doubt, epic day to say the least, a fall
really classic. And because I may never ever ever be
able to say these words again, I shall say them now.

(01:00:32):
A Kentucky boy used a Louisville slugger bat to win
the World freaking Series.

Speaker 7 (01:00:38):
How cool is that?

Speaker 8 (01:00:39):
Former MVPs Mookie and Freddie and Showhy struggling at the
plate a Kentucky country day and U of l alum
Will Smith said, I got this boys stand back, that
game winning home run after catching all seventy three innings
every inning of all seven World Series games, including Game three,
the eighteen marathon, and of course at eleven inning Game seven.

Speaker 7 (01:01:02):
Incredible.

Speaker 3 (01:01:02):
Now.

Speaker 8 (01:01:02):
I mentioned on Facebook that while Kentucky's obviously a basketball
state for.

Speaker 7 (01:01:07):
The ages, always will be.

Speaker 8 (01:01:09):
You consider the fact that the founding National League Louisville
Grays began here in the nineteenth century. Happy Chandler's our
baseball commissioner for several years, obviously during the integration year
of forty seven. Yet UK Murray State and Louisville and
the college World Series in the last couple of years,
and what those two Kentucky boys have done in the

(01:01:31):
last well two World Series. That's a pretty dog one
good baseball state too, Dick Gabriel, It really is.

Speaker 3 (01:01:36):
And what's really fun about Will Smith. He's a UFL
product and Louisvill's put a lot of guys in the
pros and some have made it to the Biggs. He
did not play a PRP or Trinity or X or
Madison Central, one of these teams that has come through
in one state time. He played a Kentucky Country Day,

(01:01:56):
no disrespect, but you don't think of that school in
particular as a powerhouse of any kind. And yet now
he is that school's most famous alum and maybe for
all time.

Speaker 7 (01:02:10):
It's pretty cool, isn't it.

Speaker 6 (01:02:11):
Yeah.

Speaker 8 (01:02:11):
It is right up the road from US here and
part of Jefferson County.

Speaker 3 (01:02:15):
Plus not to mention the fact that my kids grew
up next door to Walker Bueller's wife, you know, and
they all went to Henry Clay together. So great small world.

Speaker 8 (01:02:27):
Second swig, you know, I said, it was an epic Saturday,
perfectly epic, to be exact. A bunch of bluegrass dudes
that I like all one first of all. After my
Murray High Tigers went ten and o Friday night. By
the way, the number two at three A in the state.

Speaker 3 (01:02:41):
Nice.

Speaker 8 (01:02:42):
You had UK winning in such devastating fashion to cause
Auburn to blow out their coach.

Speaker 7 (01:02:48):
You had ul over vaugh Tech.

Speaker 8 (01:02:51):
Wku Mi alma mater, had a homecoming, went over New
Mexico State. The Dodgers, of course, won the World Series
with the aforementioned Kentucky hero and an ugly school down
I seventy five losing at home to the underdog Okies.

Speaker 7 (01:03:04):
It was a perfect, perfect Saturday, Dick Gabriel. Now let's
make it two in a row.

Speaker 8 (01:03:09):
Florida only a three point favorite Saturday Night, seven thirty
sec netcourse right here in wlap u of L and
cal Berkeley over here cards nineteen and a half point favorites.
That's on ESPN two Saturday night at seven o'clock Western.

Speaker 7 (01:03:22):
It is on their third bye week this week.

Speaker 8 (01:03:24):
I think they're saving up because they know they got
to play LSU at some point. Louisville should not have
any problems with cal. But I want to ask ask
you if the same stifling defict defense turns up for
UK against the Gators on Saturday or not? And do
you think Cutter can have the same kind of game
against Florida that he had against the Balls when he
passed for three hundred and forty six yards and five

(01:03:45):
touchdowns coming up on Saturday night, Well.

Speaker 3 (01:03:49):
Let's go backwards. Answer answer to the Cutter question is no.
And that's not a knock on him. That is a
vote of confidence for the Florida defense. Florida has a
good defense, better than Tennis, not by much, but better
than Tennessee's. I think they'll have something cooked up and
they've got more video to study on Cutter bully trying
to confuse the young quarterback. But I will say this,

(01:04:10):
Auburn has a terrific defense. They do not not, you know,
much better than Florida. But Auburn, for whatever woes it
at a quarterback, doesn't have a DJ Lagway. Now, I
was talking to Steve Russell from wru F down in
Gainesville earlier tonight and he told me about Lagways ups
and downs, and some of the fans have turned on him,

(01:04:31):
believe it or not. Was conversely, as you know, everybody
is excited about Cutter Bowley, who, to your point, did
not look great against Auburn. But he's a smart kid.
He will learn from that and this could be another
ugly game like it was last week. Two really good
defenses to offenses trying to figure things out.

Speaker 8 (01:04:50):
It seems like Cutters getting more confident, especially on his
home field. So yeah, fingers, nothing much bothers him. I
love when they when the Cat has described him as
a surfer dude.

Speaker 3 (01:05:00):
Maybe that's what you need. Yeah, as a college quarterback,
certainly at Kentucky.

Speaker 7 (01:05:05):
I do love his demeanor. You're right, yeah, third swig.

Speaker 8 (01:05:08):
So, along with the Cats and the Cards in action
on Saturday, here are five games I'm checking out looking
forward to watching or at least tuning into five of them.
High Noon's Saturday, number two, Indiana at Penn State. This
looked really interesting the beginning of the season. Now I
use a fourteen and a half point favorite High Also
at high noon, a really big big twelve matchup number

(01:05:30):
eight BYU at number nine Texas Tech Tech's a ten
point favorite at home so far three point thirty. This
for me is the game of the day, because well,
I like Oregon a lot.

Speaker 7 (01:05:39):
But here we go.

Speaker 8 (01:05:40):
Number six Oregon at Iowa, the Ducks six and a
half point favorites on the road, both schools coming off
bye weeks. Could this be a trap game for Oregon?
Iowa is the nation's number two total defense. We know
how well they played against Indiana better than anybody. So far,
Oregon has the number four total defense in the nation.
Oregon's got the nation number five total offense as well,

(01:06:02):
but I don't know about this one. Also at three
point thirty, you got number three Texas A and M
at number nineteen Missoo. Speaking of possible trap games, the
Aggie seven point favorites there in Colombia, and then at
seven thirty LSU, now under new management, number four Bama
the tied or ten point favorite. So Dick, I'm gonna

(01:06:23):
take IU, I'm gonna take Texas ticket home. I'm gonna
take Missoo in an upset against A and M and
I'm gonna take Bama to win, and you can flip
a coin. As far as I'm concerned with Oregon in Iowa,
even though I'm wearing my Grateful Ducks tied I shirt,
I'm not confident one hundred percent with Oregon on Saturday.

Speaker 3 (01:06:40):
Yeah, and as we zoom here, I'm loving the shirt.
Indiana Penn State. That's that's a good one. Fourteen and
a half at home Penn State. Has that ever happened
getting that many points at I don't think, though, No
in the way in Anna Rakshaw points, that could be
an ugly blowout. I think Indan wins cover easily. If

(01:07:02):
I were a betting man, I would take the points,
but I'm not, and I think that could be a
blow And I like Tech against Brigham Young. I think
playing in Lubbock is tough. I like A and M
simply because they are making the argument, trying to make
the argument. We'll talk about this about maybe they should
be number one in the rankings. I think that'll be motivation.
Bazoo's got a great running game, but I think A

(01:07:24):
and M handles it. And I think Bama shuts down
LSU in Debt Valley. That is not the LSU team
that you grew up with, so and yeah, I'm with you.
Oregon Iowa could be a coin toss thanks to the defense.

Speaker 7 (01:07:40):
Fourth swig.

Speaker 8 (01:07:41):
Speaking of the college football playoff rankings, they came out
last night, Bama the fourth seed, A and M at
number three, i U two in Ohio state number one.
For anybody who has any outrage over these initial rankings,
two words, shut up, because this.

Speaker 7 (01:07:56):
Is not the end. We know.

Speaker 8 (01:07:57):
It's going to change all the way down, probably into
the eleven and twelve seeds. By the way, Louisville at
number fifteen. Louisville would need to get to at least
number eleven for a shot at the playoffs, obviously, with
a group of five still to be picked at this point,
it's Memphis, Virginia and Utah are ahead of Louisville so
far to get up into the twelve or eleven spots there.
So I'm asking you, and we'll do more on this

(01:08:19):
here just a little bit with some of the outrage,
but do you like the twelve team format?

Speaker 7 (01:08:22):
Do we need sixteen? To me?

Speaker 8 (01:08:24):
Based on these twelve that seems a dozen seems to
be about the right number for me.

Speaker 3 (01:08:29):
I like it because it involves buys, and I think
that there should be buys involved for the better teams.
I don't think you should get a buy and automatically
get a home game. They need to figure that out,
which I think they have. But you know, it's the
kind of thing where, really, I always believe that we

(01:08:49):
just needed one more game when they had four, because
that's all we ever argued about was one more team.
So true. Yeah, you know, it'll be a money grab
if and when they go to sixteen, but I'm good
with twelve.

Speaker 7 (01:09:00):
Fifth swig.

Speaker 8 (01:09:01):
As for the NFL, hopefully your packers can get back
to normal classic dark green and yellow gold uniforms. This
week been a tough last couple of weeks for those guys.

Speaker 7 (01:09:11):
Tough game.

Speaker 8 (01:09:12):
More on that coming up in just a couple of seconds.
Tomorrow night, Thursday Night Football, the increasingly irrelevant Raiders at
the Broncos Denver nine and a half point favorites.

Speaker 7 (01:09:21):
They should probably win by more than that five that
I like.

Speaker 8 (01:09:24):
On Sunday, Dick Ravens at the Vikings looks interesting, especially
with Baltimore four point favorite there. Patriots at the Bucks
will be a great game. Tampa two and a half
at home, Cardinals at my Seahawks, Hawks nine a half
point favorites, Rams at the Niners Rams three and a
half at this point. And Sunday night the Steelers at
the Chargers, LA's at three point favorite. Of course, Monday

(01:09:46):
night to Eagles at lambeau Field, your pack two and
a half point favorites at last.

Speaker 7 (01:09:51):
Look you like that, well, I like that.

Speaker 3 (01:09:55):
Experts believe we're gonna win. But I was so ticking,
and he is since said he should have gone for
the field goal. Matt Laflorida crucial point in that loss.
I guess gave into analytics, his gut whatever and left
three points, I mean a sure three points on the
field at a stage of the game where you didn't
need to make that decision and go for the touch.

(01:10:16):
Maybe I feel differently if they had won that game,
but I am concerned about Philly, which has made some
moves at the trade deadline. So yeah, I'm ever the pessimist.
It seems my son and his fantasy league buddies went
to Vegas and got to see the Raiders play over there,
got to see some free football that game on overtime.

(01:10:38):
This past week, Lamar Jackson's back for Baltimore. JJ McCarthy's
back from Minnesota. That's interesting. The Patriots trying to prove
their real at Tampa Bay. That could be a road
win for them. I do like your Seahawks. Although Arizona
has benched starting quarterback Kyler Murray, going with Jacoby Brissett.
I think that's the right move. And I think the

(01:11:01):
Chargers handle the Pittsburgh Steelers. They were going to be impressive.
I think in that game.

Speaker 8 (01:11:06):
I think your Packers is going to be really ticked
off Monday night, losing home line.

Speaker 7 (01:11:09):
I think it will come out popping some heads, let's hope.

Speaker 8 (01:11:11):
So sixth and final swig one week from last night
over here at downtown Louisville. You I'm center number nine,
UK number eleven Louisville. The earliest the big rivalry game
has been played before that though, UFL hosts Jackson State
Losers by fifty eight at number seventeen Illinois on Monday.

(01:11:31):
That's tomorrow night at seven o'clock over here, and of
course UK Friday night at Ruckus Arena, Valparaiso out of
the Missouri Valley Conference. Valpo barely beat Eastern Illinois by
three Last Night Cards and Cats legit Final four aspirations
this year, which will make Tuesday's game the most intense
potentially it has been in years. But it's always pressure packed.

(01:11:54):
But Dick, the scheduling, This game should always be in December.
Let let one of the two best basketball rivalries simmer
for a few weeks, get some wins and some higher
rankings going on like that, And speaking of rankings rivalries,
Murray and Western are not playing again this year. They've
got a forty year They've got a four game contract.

(01:12:14):
They've only played two so far. For some reason, it's
not on either schedule this year. They've still got a
game each to play on their home courts. Those two,
like UK and U of L, should never not play correct.

Speaker 3 (01:12:28):
Oh, I fully agree with that. Eighties have got to
get together on that. We know the Kentucky Louisville mess
is about television and trying to construct schedules, and I
know it's not easy, but they got to fit them
into the TV schedule, which I appreciate so as many
people can see the game as possible. But you're right,
not only should it be in December. I always love
it when it's the last game going into Christmas week exactly,

(01:12:51):
you know, and they want to turn the kids loose
to get home to either lick their wounds or celebrate. No,
that is a game that needs, you know, stronger leadership
from wherever to keep that game in December. It's weird
that the game is going to be played before the
football game. Yeah, that's crazy, so strange and shouldn't happen.

Speaker 8 (01:13:14):
And you know, Western has problems. If we've talked before
about putting rear ends and seats in the little arena,
they had barely over three thousand for the home opener
on Monday night against Tennessee Tech.

Speaker 7 (01:13:25):
That's just wrong. And there are so many ways you
want to get butts in the seats.

Speaker 8 (01:13:29):
Get Murray and Western to play about either place, and
you'll almost pack the place.

Speaker 3 (01:13:35):
He is our Western Bureau chief, Gary Moore will come
back with some hot reagion in just a minute here
on six thirty WLAP. Welcome back. We're chatting with Gary
Moore as we do each and every week, is our
West End bureau chief. We've gone through two guys in
a six pack, couple of hot reads to throw at Gary.
A Dodgers fan celebrating a Dodgers win deep down to
Cardinals fan, but you can forgive him lived in Los

(01:13:55):
Angeles for half his life. It seemed the game of baseball.
It seems people have thrown dirt on it for so long.
But this World Series, even though it included a team
that is not from our country, attracted so many eyeballs
that the network, says Fox said, the Dodgers Blue Jays

(01:14:18):
Game seven average nearly twenty six million viewers on Saturday night.
That is the most viewer since twenty seventeen, largest for
a series game since the Astros beat the Dodgers in
Game seven of the Fall Classic back then, which drew
almost twenty nine million. Gary. We talk about this all

(01:14:41):
the time, but is the demise of baseball greatly exaggerated?

Speaker 8 (01:14:46):
Oh it's dead, nobody watches baseball anymore, it's so slow, blah.

Speaker 7 (01:14:49):
Blah blah blah blah.

Speaker 8 (01:14:50):
Well there's your proof right there. In fact, the other
great factory that came from this Game seven of the
series drew fifty percent fifty percent more viewers than Game
seven of the NBA Finals.

Speaker 3 (01:15:02):
Wow.

Speaker 8 (01:15:03):
Now that may have something to do with the fact
that the NBA Finals were Oklahoma City and Indianapolis versus
Toronto and Los Angeles. But also, and I didn't know
this until you were letting me know that this was
going to be talked about, was the fact that in
night there has not been a Game seven on a Saturday.
Oh wow since nineteen thirty one.

Speaker 3 (01:15:24):
Huh.

Speaker 8 (01:15:24):
This was the first year that because of the way
that they've scheduled the TV, they've rearranged the TV scheduling
of Game seven. It's the first time a Game seven
was scheduled on a Saturday night.

Speaker 3 (01:15:37):
No.

Speaker 8 (01:15:37):
Normally Fridays and Saturdays are lower viewers, and I think
that's why they've kind of avoided it. But I don't
think in the future they're not gonna sway away from this.
That's a big, big deal for Major League Baseball.

Speaker 3 (01:15:49):
Game seven the most watched non football broadcast in twenty
twenty five and beat out the Academy Awards in March.
That's huge, which had almost twenty million viewers, the Cubs
historic World Series Game seven win and twenty sixteen though
still I don't know if anybody will top that forty
million viewers.

Speaker 8 (01:16:09):
Yeah, it's yeah, that's you have the Chicago market there,
so that and plus the history behind that one.

Speaker 3 (01:16:13):
Oh yeah, and our Cubs fans all over the world
hot read number two for Gary. We've talked about the
college football rankings, and you can debate and discuss the format,
the number of teams, et cetera. But Gary, we're talking
about it, and when people complain about all the attention
it gets, the college football chiefs just must sit back

(01:16:33):
and quietly smile and laugh because we're talking college football
and not the NFL. That's part of the genius, am
I right.

Speaker 7 (01:16:43):
Keep talking about it, keep being outraged. You know that's
we'll see next week. I guarantee you on Tuesday.

Speaker 8 (01:16:49):
It may be changed, depending on what A and M
does on Saturday at Missouri and what Indiana does at
Penn State. I mean, Ohio State's got to go. I
think to Purdue that shouldn't be a problem. It may
still be the one, two and three, and there may
be still some people that are outraged, especially with BYU.
And watch what BYU does at Texas Tech as well,
because they are what eight and oh at this point.

Speaker 7 (01:17:11):
But yeah, I keep talking. It's great. It's fun.

Speaker 3 (01:17:15):
One thing to remember about the Big Ten, particularly I
you and of course Ohio State is yeah, you can
say this about New York and LA, but the Big
Ten brings, as you mentioned with the Cubs, the Chicago market,
that means eyeballs, that means ratings, that means revenues. So
you know, the Big Ten chiefs again are smiling as well,
aren't they. They are?

Speaker 8 (01:17:36):
And we know how popular it was last year when
they first the first year they did the twelve teams.
It seemed to go over really really well, especially some
of the home games ratings wise, and I think the
advertisers were pretty happy, which of course the networks love.

Speaker 3 (01:17:48):
They screwed up the seating procedure, but I think they did. Yeah,
I think they've sinn straighten that out. So he is
Gary Moore here is our West End bureau chief. He
joins us each and every week, and we can find
him on Twitter the X.

Speaker 8 (01:17:59):
At at nine five five, Gary, that same fabulous media
joint you're at.

Speaker 3 (01:18:04):
I'm at Big Blue Insider One. Have a great weekend,
you two, buddy. I'll do it for now. Reminder tomorrow night,
a couple of programming notes for you. We are all
but preempted. We've got UK women's basketball, which tips at
six thirty. Wildcats taking on Monmouth. Darren Hedricks got the
call six fifteen pregames, so we'll have a brief stay
with you tomorrow night. Then we give way to UK

(01:18:26):
women's basketball. Then on Friday it's Kentucky basketball once again.
The men take on Valparaizo. So that's a seven o'clock
start and we're completely blown out by pregame coverage starting
at five point thirty. Tom and Jack with a Playboy
play call at seven o'clock as the Cats take on Valpo.
And then on Saturdays, you know, Kentucky Florida football, Wildcats

(01:18:47):
and Gators kick it off at seven thirty, So our
pregame coverage starts at five thirty with Christy and Ricky
and Logan and then the Wildcats will try to make
it two straight. After that win over Auburn, which was
a lot of fun to cover, wouldn't mind covering another
win over the Florida Gators. One of my prize possessions
as a photograph of the team captain's going out for

(01:19:09):
the coin flip down in Gainesville, and I am actually
in the photograph. It's really cool. When Kentucky finally broke
that losing skin against Florida back in twenty eighteen. And
you know what's crazy about this matchup? These teams have
played since nineteen seventeen, when Kentucky won nine of the
first ten games. College Football's nuts. That's it. Good night

(01:19:31):
for the garage in Lexington. What is the fullest name
on third base?

Speaker 7 (01:19:36):
What is the fella's name on second?

Speaker 3 (01:19:38):
By?

Speaker 1 (01:19:38):
I'm not asking you who's that second?

Speaker 4 (01:19:40):
Who's on first? I don't know third base?

Speaker 12 (01:20:02):
The tappen anything doing can anything to anything. Stat that

(01:20:50):
anything can cank at from Tattattutamo