2025-11-19 BBI

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Oh, oh, guess what day it is?

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

Speaker 3 (00:05):
H anybody it's hump Day.

Speaker 4 (00:12):
No.

Speaker 3 (00:13):
I mean, we're all gonna figure it out. With me.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
It's just a matter to be playing hard at an
effort a hundred percent.

Speaker 3 (00:19):
That's something that I gotta go out there and do.
And everything else from place after that.

Speaker 1 (00:24):
That's so take away following Kentucky's lost to Michigan State,
Welcome to the Big Blue Sider Dicabriel with you on
a somber Wednesday, And that's because of the weather, but
because the Big Blue Nation reeling right now after it
can only be described as a terrible game last night,
one that I don't think anybody saw coming. I think

(00:45):
even Michigan State, which was confident going in. Tom Izzo
said he told his players, you have practiced well, now
go out and play that way fully expected to win.
But he also said after the game, he said Kentucky's
a great team, images didn't play well well. I think
he's right on one fight. Yeah, they didn't play well

(01:05):
at all. It's not a great team right now with
a capital T because it is missing point guard Jalen Lowe.
And I don't know if they're going to get him
back at all if and when they do, he will
not be one hundred percent because, as I am told,
with shoulder injuries like that, it takes either surgery or
intense physical therapy. And unless he sits for weeks and

(01:29):
gets that thing back in shape, he will not be
the Jalen Low that they first of all paid for.
And secondly, they saw playing for Pittsburgh last year and
that's the guy they need. They need a guy who
can get Kentucky into its offense and of course helped
spearhead its defense. And we saw none of that last night.

(01:50):
You know the numbers by now, you've crunched the numbers.
Michigan State with look after look after look from the
three point arc, wide open, a team that it only
made what thirteen triples going into this game, and then
made a ton of them last night with open look
after open look. That's what bothered me. You're going to

(02:11):
go eleven to twenty two if you're wide open from
beyond the arc. And yeah, they had momentum, they had
a crowd there, they had you know, it's a great
shooting arena if you're Michigan State. Now Kentucky seven to
thirty guys rushing threes, taking threes when they shouldn't taken
bad shots. Michigan State went on a handful of runs

(02:35):
that Kentucky, it seemed. Defensively, it was powerless to stop
total transparency. I was at the women's game watching Kentucky
destroy Perdue, but I had the game on the men's
game on in front of me on my computer, so
I'm watching both. Probably watch more of the men's game
than I did the women's game, with all due respect
to Kenny Brooks's team, but they were destroying Purdue, so

(02:56):
I needed to pay more attention to what the men
were doing, and I was amazed at the lack of defense,
the lack of hustle, the lack of effort, and the
lack of chemistry, if you will. Offensively, Denzel Aberdeen did
what he could do. He is not a point guard
and tried to match what he did offensively against Louisville,

(03:18):
but he was one of eight from the floor.

Speaker 5 (03:20):
That one was a triple.

Speaker 1 (03:22):
They hit seven of eight, but he had two assists.
Kentucky had twenty field goals, thirteen assists on twenty made
field goals. Michigan State thirty two field goals with twenty
five assists, and Fears, who averages nine assists per gave

(03:43):
me at thirteen. Cohler averages fourteen and thirteen. He had
twenty points, only had five rebounds, but Michigan State had
rebound to Kentucky forty two to twenty eight. That's effort
defense in rebounding his effort Tuck, he just didn't get enough.
And you can point fingers at a lot of different areas,

(04:07):
but they got two points from Bandon Garrison four rebounds.
He split time with Malachi Moreno. Malachi played twenty minutes.
He had nine points, got to the free throw line
seven of eight, but only one for two from the floor,
so Kentucky couldn't run much offense through its low post,

(04:28):
didn't get much defense. As hard as Malachi played, he
is still a youngster, what's seventeen, eighteen years old? Not
a rim protector yet. Kentucky just had all kinds of
problems last night, and to me, chief among them was effort.
And of course Mark Pope devastated after the loss. You've

(04:50):
seen him this way after losses.

Speaker 5 (04:54):
Go back to the Louisville game.

Speaker 1 (04:57):
And somebody I think it might have been Cameron Romans
sounded like him from The Herald Leader, works with Ben
Roberts covering basketball. Asked a question in the media room
about the team's identity or.

Speaker 5 (05:12):
Maybe a lead player with an identity.

Speaker 6 (05:15):
It's not I think your identity team is to completely
uh separate from any individual player. I actually think that's
a that's a I'm gonna I'm gonna temper my words
right now. I actually think that that our identity should be.

(05:36):
If you build an organization the right way, then your
identity is not about an individual person. Your identity is
about a collective group.

Speaker 2 (05:48):
And so it shouldn't matter if we had built a
great organization and a great culture, which I've clearly failed
to do up until today.

Speaker 3 (06:00):
But we won't fail this season.

Speaker 6 (06:03):
We just have failed up till today, and we will
build an organization where won't be disrupted every time someone
steps in and sets out because it last year. We'll
have a team identity, not an individual identity. Until we
get there, we're going to really struggle. That's my job.
That's why miss brought me here. I'm doing it poorly.
I won't do it for poorly for much longer.

Speaker 1 (06:26):
Mark Pope from the interview room last night where not
quite this time last year was in December. I believe
that Kentucky played Ohio State poorly, worst game of the
year for the Wildcats, frankly, just didn't play very well,
and Pope didn't have a lot to stay in the
media room. And then after the game I saw him

(06:47):
talking to Tom Leach in the hallway right outside the
media room, slumped against the wall. Body language said it
all same after the game last night with Tom Leach.
Then he talked to Jeff Goodman, who was a college
basketball writer works with a website Field of sixty eight,
and he and Goodman talked about where Mark Pope is

(07:08):
right now emotionally, where his team is right now.

Speaker 7 (07:12):
What are you going through right now in terms of
the frustration after this loss.

Speaker 6 (07:17):
Well, I don't want to take any anything from Michigan, say,
because Tom is one of the great coaches in college basketball.
And those guys played tough and together and hard and
played well. So you know, mostly just credit those guys.
And and we are facing a monumental challenge right now,

(07:39):
and I'm excited to see if we can figure it out.

Speaker 7 (07:44):
You hinted at something like this a week or so ago,
before the Louisville game or after the Louisville game, did
you sense that this has been kind of brewing throughout
the preseason.

Speaker 6 (07:58):
No, I'm I'm I'm disappointed with how disconnected we've been.
I thought I had a better pulse. I thought I
I thought I was doing a better job coaching that
I'm doing right now. So it's been it's been eye

(08:20):
opening for me a little bit. So, you know, I'm
a little bit surprised.

Speaker 7 (08:27):
And by coaching, you're not talking about access and O's
as much as you're talking about getting these guys to
play for the Kentucky name.

Speaker 3 (08:37):
Correct. No, I think it's everything.

Speaker 6 (08:39):
I think it's it's it's it's development culture, it's the
right care, it's the right focus, it's the right schemes,
it's the right excess and O's.

Speaker 3 (08:47):
It's a poor job.

Speaker 6 (08:49):
A nice thing is is I can fix it, like
we can fix it. But it's a really disappointing result.

Speaker 1 (08:55):
In every interview segment that I heard, Pope took it
on himself. I'd not do a good job. I thought
I was doing the right thing, et cetera. You'll talk
to the media tomorrow, so we'll see where he is
on that, but clearly they missed. They miss Jalen Lowe
and Jadan Quaintin's too. The best rint protector. Michigan State
at a big time last night at the expense of

(09:17):
the Wildcats. This is a team which reportedly has an
nil budget for its roster of three point five million,
compared to a reported twenty two million for Kentucky. Jeff
Goodman also talked to Tom Izzo about the portal, about
the nil and about how things are today in college basketball.

Speaker 7 (09:37):
So everybody kind of kills Dabbo and football Shaka and
basketball you a little bit for not going to the portal. Painter, Yeah, yeah, Painter, paintered.

Speaker 8 (09:47):
Oh guys, I really like what.

Speaker 7 (09:50):
Do you have to say to those people, especially after
a night like tonight and what you did last year
as well.

Speaker 8 (09:55):
Listen, you know, I I don't like the way it's going.
I've made that perfectly clear. I love my job. I
don't respect my profession the way it is right now.
I've said that and I'm going to stick to that now.
That doesn't mean that people shouldn't go into portal. It
doesn't mean that I don't have to go there once
in a while, But I just love when guys in

(10:18):
a locker room feel for one another. You know, I
love when guys in the locker room care about Michigan
State University. I love when guys in the locker room
care about Plexico comes into our thing, my teens on FaceTime,
they're talking to them, they appreciate them. That doesn't happen
if you just got a whole new team. So for me,
and fairness to everybody else for me, and I think

(10:41):
my university is the best situation. What will happen in
the future, who knows, But I'm going to try to
do it the way I think is right.

Speaker 1 (10:51):
Tom Izoh, Michigan State coach, talking to Jeff Goodman in
the field of sixty eight and those sound by its
courtesy of, of course, that website. We've had somebody from
field say we have a jeth on the show. Maybe
time to have him back on again. Coming up next,
Mark Stoops talks Nil and the Portal, but this time
kind of with a smile on his face, believe it
or not, a little bit later on Sean Woods are

(11:12):
unforgettable Guard he will have a lot to say, I
know about last night's game and West End Bureau Chief
Gary Moore. That's in hour number two a little bit
later as well. E KU football closing out the season.
It's all ahead on six thirty WLAP. Welcome back to
the Big Blue and Sider coming up. As you know
on Saturday, it's Kentucky and Vanderbilt down in Nashville, three

(11:33):
point thirty kickoff. Our covers begins at one thirty here
on six thirty WLAP. And a month ago that looked
like almost a sure loss. Andy was playing well and
still is. You know how Kentucky was playing then, you
know how Kentucky is playing now, and even back then,
even a month ago, when Kentucky was losing to Ole

(11:53):
Miss but playing him tough, losing to Georgia, losing to
Texas but playing him tough, Mark Stoops kept saying saying
we're better, We're getting better, and you could see the
frustration on his face. Then they break through with the
two conference wins and of course the much easier win.
All due respect to Tennessee Tech this past Saturday, and

(12:14):
it did not look like a Tennessee Tech team that
was undefeated in ten games and average forty five points
a game. And that's no disrespect I've talked many times
about the respect I have for teams playing at the
one DOUBLEAFCS level because of all the years I covered
Eastern Kentucky, even when EKU wasn't that good, I'd see

(12:34):
the teams that was playing against, and those teams have
NFL talent. They just don't have as much NFL talent
or just high college football talent as they do at
D one. It's all about the depth, of course, So
we have seen that in Kentucky there is talent, there
is some depth, most of it young but talented. And

(12:55):
Kentucky was so close to breaking through. And now you
look at Ole Miss and what it's doing right now
with the backup quarterback who came on against Kentucky when
the starter went out injured and match door bettered what
the starter was doing in that game. Game Kentucky was in,
had a lead in the third quarter, and go back

(13:15):
and look at that Texas game. And Texas now is
one of the focal points for the College Football Playoff Committee.
The debate, the discussion does it belong in the conversation
how high I mean all that stuff. Just think if
Kentucky covers two punts properly, not heroically, just properly. Kentucky
I would say probably wins that game because those two

(13:39):
punt returns for Texas set up short field touchdowns for
the Longhorns. And think about how that would have changed
the face of college football right now, with Texas not
being in the college football picture, probably the playoff in
Kentucky if things had played out the same way, if
should have could have, would likely would already be Bowl

(14:02):
eligible and Mark Stoops would not have had to endure
all the heat that he is endured. And of course
he has said he has shut off a social media
but you can't help but see it written all over him.
He knew he was suffering, man, he really was. I
keep this in mind when you talk about firing a
head coach. Yes, they oftentimes land on a big pile

(14:23):
of money. And Mark Stoops would have had he been
fired this year, if he's fired next year, makes a
lot of money, big buyout assistant coaches and their wives
and families, they suffer as well. I remember when Bill
Curry was under fire and people actually had the nerve
to say, why don't you just quit, just step down,

(14:44):
which first of all, was ridiculous because you got a
coach who's trying to teach players to never quit, never
give up, keep fighting no matter what, because you owe
it to yourselves and the fans. And yet you want
fans as fans, you want the coach to just give up,
take the money and leave. No, that's not going to happen,
at least not with a good person, with a good coach.

(15:07):
Some coaches might, some coaches do something Bill Curry wasn't
gonna do. And one of the things Curry said was
I'm responsible for whatever it was, twelve or thirteen other
men and their families. And he was right, same thing
with Mark Stoops. But now things have changed, of course,

(15:27):
and we had an interesting conversation with him at his
weekly news conference on Monday, and he made that reference
a couple times. He said, we're having a nice conversation here. Well, yeah,
they're coming in off a third straight win. He got
a chance to update us on a lot of players,
of course, talked about Vanderbilt, and we went a little
deeper with him on the portal and Nil and I

(15:51):
actually raised the question about the fact that this team
it's ironic because this happens before of course the UK
basketball where now Mark Pope is being vilified for iving
a roster full of highly paid players and not doing
enough with them. And they had some real long core

(16:14):
chemistry issues last night, didn't they well. On Monday I
asked Stoops about the fact, and in my mind it
was that this team has been and I've said this
about this team all along. They're playing hard. Anybody who
asked me.

Speaker 5 (16:29):
Have they given up?

Speaker 1 (16:30):
Said no, they're playing hard, and they appear to like
each other and play hard for each other, especially vital
when it comes to football. But I said to Stoops
on Monday, my question was about the potentially negative effect
the nil has on team chemistry. And we've seen a
lot on the internet about that, about guys who take

(16:52):
the money and run or just shut down, or teams
that don't seem to care. And I said, this team
seems to genuinely like being here at Kentucky. The guys
who've come in just for the one year, they like
each other, I said, and they like what the coaches
are doing.

Speaker 5 (17:09):
I said.

Speaker 1 (17:09):
It has to make your job easier, doesn't it. And
Stoop said yeah, he said it puts a.

Speaker 5 (17:15):
Smile on your face.

Speaker 1 (17:17):
And he also made a reference to a comment he
made a while back when he said to defanse pony
up and he talked about money. This is before you know,
the twenty point five million came into play, and he
was really struggling with the nil situation. Now, of course,
things are a little bit better. There are more guidelines
and he's feeling better about life in general when it

(17:39):
comes to nil dollars in the portal.

Speaker 9 (17:42):
You know, going back to you know that and just
get the record straight since we're having a nice conversation
in here today. But like, I've never been anti anything,
like I want to pay the players. A portal should
help us, it does. I just want money, you know,
to spend on them. Makes sense, you know what I mean,
Like it's it's good for us. It's just anything in

(18:05):
the past. Maybe it was a way to shake some
trees to see if some money will fall off, you
know what I mean. Because more money you're able to buy,
you know, you're able to retain the players that deserve
that money, and you're able to fill spots's let's just
call it the way it is now. Like I've told
you in here a couple of times before, I mean,
it was uncomfortable talking about that in two thousand and

(18:27):
one and two thousand and two, you know, and you
don't want to sit here and say, man, I mean
I don't have any money, you know what I mean.
I don't have enough money.

Speaker 4 (18:34):
You know what I mean.

Speaker 9 (18:35):
But like, first of all, in another thing, nobody cares.
It's not an excuse. It's over with. I'm done with it,
you know what I mean. So it's just it's just
kind of factual, you know, makes sense. So please don't
misquote me on that. Where I'm a good conversation.

Speaker 3 (18:49):
You know.

Speaker 9 (18:49):
Sometimes people take a little thing and say, well, all
he's crying about it again.

Speaker 10 (18:52):
No I'm not.

Speaker 2 (18:53):
No, I'm not.

Speaker 9 (18:54):
I'm like glad. We're trying to move past it.

Speaker 1 (18:57):
But it's always going to be there. It's always going
to be an issue. The NIL, the portal, it ain't
going away. They'll tweak it, but it ain't going away.
Up next, we'll hear from Mike the Corsi of the
Sporting News. He joined me this morning on the Leitchs Report.
We'll have an excerpt from that conversation as Mike reacts
in response to what he saw in the Kentucky Michigan
State mess last night at Madison Square Garden, our number

(19:21):
two West n Bureau Chief Gary Moore, Unforgettable Guard Sean
Woods on six point thirty wlap Welcome back to the
Big bluon Cider. Coming up in our number two, Our
West n Bureau Chief Gary Moore will join us as
he does each and every Wednesday, just as the unforgettable
guard Sean Woods, Who's got a lot to say, as
you might expect about Kentucky's loss last night to Michigan State,

(19:44):
a game that sow the Wildcats struggle once again without
a point guard, something Sean Woods knows a lot about,
not only as a coach, but as a guy who
played that position and played it well for his beloved Wildcat.
So that's all coming up in our number two. Earlier
this morning, I set in for Tom Leach once again. Boy,
that's a rough travel schedule coming out of New York

(20:04):
City late later early this morning, as they did.

Speaker 5 (20:07):
So glad to sit in for.

Speaker 1 (20:09):
Tom this morning, and as he always does on Wednesdays,
Mike the Corsey joined us on the Leech Report. So,
with Tom's permission, here is an excerpt of my conversation
with Mike, the pre eminent college sports writer college basketball writer,
I should say for the Sporting News who was not
at the game but watched as we all did, at

(20:30):
least on this side of that rivalry, Kentucky Michigan State
just an amazement, as I called it, slack jawed amazement,
as Kentucky really didn't show up my words, failed to
show up for the game and got blown out.

Speaker 5 (20:44):
Here's what Mike the Course he had to say about it.

Speaker 3 (20:47):
I was very surprised by.

Speaker 4 (20:50):
I mean, I think one of the things that needs
to be recognized is that although ultimately Kentucky played a
significant role in why Michigan State was able to continue
to shoot comfortably in the second half, this is a
team that had really struggled.

Speaker 3 (21:09):
To make three point shots prior to last night.

Speaker 4 (21:11):
So I think there was a there was a smidge
of bad luck on Kentucky's part that has to be
acknowledged that they obviously encouraged or allowed or whatever verb
you want to use Michigan State to get.

Speaker 3 (21:26):
Comfortable in their three point game.

Speaker 4 (21:28):
But they made shots they haven't made all year, and
you know, good for Michigan State if they can make
them again. But I think there's still they're still even
among their fan base approve it, element, can we do
this again?

Speaker 3 (21:40):
That sort of thing. So I think that's part of it.

Speaker 4 (21:44):
And I'll tell you what really amazed me, Dick was
the post the post game reaction from the media.

Speaker 3 (21:53):
I saw a lot of my colleagues.

Speaker 4 (21:55):
Pounding about the twenty two million dollars figure out.

Speaker 3 (21:58):
Now, first of all, I guess that's right. I don't know.

Speaker 4 (22:01):
I don't have the I don't have the salary cap
figures or whatever like we get from the MLS or
MLBPA or NFL or whatever.

Speaker 3 (22:11):
I don't know that there's a spot track number for Kentucky.
I don't think there is. But who cares how much
it costs. It doesn't matter. It's not my money.

Speaker 4 (22:22):
It might it might matter to the people who donated,
but it doesn't matter to.

Speaker 3 (22:27):
College basketball how much Kentucky spent on the roster.

Speaker 4 (22:30):
They're supposed to be good, whether they spent two dollars
or two or twenty two million.

Speaker 3 (22:36):
I guess it came up last night.

Speaker 1 (22:39):
I can only imagine it did not cross my mind,
to be honest with you, but my mind didn't really
work that way. But just because it seemed like last
night the issue was effort, so that was kind of
a little lowest hanging fruit, wasn't it. Well, these guys
are being paid a gazillion dollars. Michigan State's roster isn't
anywhere near that costly.

Speaker 3 (22:59):
That must be the difference, you.

Speaker 5 (23:01):
Know what I mean?

Speaker 3 (23:02):
Yeah, I don't think that's the difference in the least.
I think they lost confidence.

Speaker 4 (23:07):
A couple of those three pointers that like weren't on
the scouting report so to speak, went in for Michigan State,
and Kentucky has struggled a bit to be who they
thought they'd be. And I don't think it's like here,
I am trying to explain this, but I don't think

(23:29):
that you look at Kentucky and say, how can this
team not be as good as the team we thought
they would be when they're not the team we thought
they'd be. We thought they would have Jalen low at
point guard, and they don't have Jalen Low at point guard.
They kind of had them against Louisville. I don't know
that that version of Jalen Lowe, really mate would.

Speaker 3 (23:50):
Have made the impact necessary. I don't know that he could.

Speaker 4 (23:53):
Have made the impact necessary in that matchup on that
stage in his conditions.

Speaker 3 (24:00):
I just think that we have to we have.

Speaker 4 (24:04):
To as as viewers, as analysts, as fans.

Speaker 3 (24:08):
In the cases of many people listening to us, I
have to sit there and sit back and say, Okay, what's.

Speaker 4 (24:15):
Wrong and how can it be fixed? And how well
can it be fixed?

Speaker 3 (24:19):
And you saw last night.

Speaker 4 (24:21):
I mean, I've said all year that Denzel Aberdeen is
the best third guard in America. But right now he's
not a third guard. He's got to be your starting
point guard.

Speaker 3 (24:31):
And that's not yet who he is.

Speaker 4 (24:33):
He may be by February, but he's not that player yet.

Speaker 1 (24:38):
It's difficult to expect him to replicate what he did
against Louisville statistically on a nightly basis. I mean for
a guy whose job, to your point, his job now
is to handle the.

Speaker 3 (24:50):
Ball and distribute. Oh yes, And by.

Speaker 1 (24:52):
The way, do you still need twenty six points from him?

Speaker 3 (24:55):
That's not realistic, is it? No?

Speaker 4 (24:58):
And it's not ideal, it's not real You want, really,
you want six or seven assists from him. You want
elite on ball defense, which he didn't do last night,
And you want him to get the ball to other
players who are and to be an outlet when the
ball when the initial offense doesn't work and the ball

(25:20):
comes back to him to be dangerous either on the
catch and drive and make the defense breakdown, or if
he's wide open to make the shot. That's the ideal
point guard scenario, and he still.

Speaker 3 (25:33):
Has to lean into that. He still has to figure
out how to be that. He's never been that.

Speaker 4 (25:37):
He's been that last year at Florida he was that
for about eight minutes a game on average, and in
the biggest games significantly less. That's exactly what you want
him to be. I think what you need to see
from this team is you need to see otega Oway
gain comfort with the idea that, yeah, it's kind of

(26:01):
got to.

Speaker 3 (26:01):
Be you to start this, You've got to be better.

Speaker 4 (26:05):
And it's taking him a while to understand how to
be that player. But it's not a new thing. It's
not new for a player who has been a complimentary
player and an excellent one to have some difficulty transitioning
to being a primary player and becoming an excellent one at.

Speaker 1 (26:24):
That You mentioned otega Oway, who had been a complimentary
player at Oklahoma as.

Speaker 3 (26:29):
We all know.

Speaker 1 (26:30):
Last year he absolutely, I don't want to say exploded,
but he was really an integral part of the Kentucky
attack last season, but this was a year that began
with him being a complimentary player again as we know.
But then Jackson Robinson goes down, Lamarck Butler goes down,
and Otaga always shouldered such a heavy load. So well, then, yeah,

(26:53):
we expected it this year.

Speaker 3 (26:56):
And I'm I guess.

Speaker 1 (26:57):
Maybe that's what surprises me most of all, because he
admitted that his own effort has been an issue up
to this point.

Speaker 3 (27:05):
That's a head scratcher to me. How about you?

Speaker 4 (27:08):
You know, I think that players sort of search for
explanations when when they get into circumstances like this. Do
I really think he's not playing hard enough? No, I
think he's not playing confidently enough.

Speaker 3 (27:23):
You know.

Speaker 4 (27:24):
I often say that if you tell an athlete to
run straight ahead, straight ahead and straight line, just runs
straight to that, you know, to that tree over there,
they're gonna run fast.

Speaker 3 (27:34):
And then you tell them, okay, you.

Speaker 4 (27:36):
Got to run straight ahead, but you got to do this,
that and the other thing along the way, And now
all of a sudden they're like, well, where do you
want me to go?

Speaker 3 (27:42):
And then they're not getting there fast. And that's the difference.

Speaker 4 (27:45):
I don't think he fully understands the role now.

Speaker 3 (27:50):
And look, I don't blame him for that.

Speaker 4 (27:52):
Like I said, there are lots of athletes who in
college basketball who at one point are one thing in
their careers, the complimentary player. I mean, a year ago,
he was the leading scorer, but he wasn't the fulcrum
of the offense. And now we say, okay, well, you're
kind of going to need to be that guy so

(28:12):
everything else works. And that becomes exacerbated by the fact
that you're not playing with an experienced point guard, so
you don't get maybe quite the looks that you ordinarily
would or should in that role, and it's just harder.

Speaker 3 (28:27):
And I think that what he has right.

Speaker 4 (28:29):
Now is a lack of confidence in the role that
he needs to fill. And I think he needs to
fill it because I'm not sure that there's anybody else
on the team that's equipped to do that if he doesn't.
If he doesn't do this, like who else is going
to It's not like you've got a guy sitting there
that's an obvious candidate and you could say, hey, Otaga,

(28:51):
go back to what you were last year. You were
great at that and We'll be happy to have that, because.

Speaker 3 (28:56):
I don't know that you have that player.

Speaker 1 (29:00):
Something Mark Pope has to figure out, has to help
O take a oh way. Obviously, he has to help everybody,
and man, I have seen him despond it. In fact,
last year, I was up in the garden after that
Ohio State lost and as I walked out of the
media room, I saw him talking to Tom Leach on
the postgame show. Tom was recording it and Mark was
slumped against the wall in the hallway. Body language said

(29:22):
it all. I can't imagine what it was like last
night for Tom. But I've seen the postgame news conference
and just some really gut wrenching comments by Mark Pope,
who's at a loss. A lot of people believe that
the best thing to do is just tear into your
team at this point, that's not Mark Pope. Mark Pope
is not Rick Bettino. But I'm really curious to see

(29:44):
how he responds and how his team responds to him.

Speaker 3 (29:48):
You know what I mean?

Speaker 4 (29:49):
Oh?

Speaker 3 (29:49):
Absolutely, And we saw last year.

Speaker 4 (29:52):
It's a great comparison to go back to that Ohio
State game. I remember the team that they got drilled
by last year didn't even end up making the NCAA Tournament,
and this Kentucky team went through some really difficult challenges
after that.

Speaker 3 (30:07):
I mean a little more than a month.

Speaker 4 (30:09):
Later, you lose Lamont Butler, later on, you lose Jackson Robinson,
and you still wind up in the Sweet sixteen having
a very successful year. This SEC is not going to
be like last year's SEC. I mean, you don't have
to be you don't have to be great just to
survive every night. If you get to great, you're gonna

(30:32):
win a lot of games. And I don't think that
that's beyond this team. Obviously, I'd feel better about it
if Jalen Lowe were in place and healthy. I don't
know whether we're going to see that or not, but
I do think that they still can find a gear,
even if they have to go with Aberdeen as their

(30:53):
primary point guard. I still think there's a way to
get to be successful. I just don't think last night
they played with great confidence or cohesion, and we know
that Mark's going to work to address that.

Speaker 1 (31:06):
That's Mike de Coursi of The Sporting News at TSN
Mike on Twitter. If you want to follow him and
read his stuff, which you should, he is terrific and
as I mentioned before more than once. You know, in
this day of instant takes, hot takes, whatever, Mike is
a guy who comes quickly with his take, but it's
always without fail, rooted in logic and common sense, and

(31:30):
there's not enough of that within our world of sports
and social media and my humble opinion, so again, thanks
to Mike, thanks to the Leitch Report, and we'll come
back with more of the Big Blue Sider in just
a minute. E KU's playing this weekend, wrapping up its season.
Well here from at least one of the colonels here
on six point thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big

(31:50):
Blue and Sider. Coming up Saturday, EKU wraps up it's
football season with a trip to Utah Tech in Saint George, Utah.
I didn't really even know Utah Tech existed until Eastern
started playing that team, which is in Eastern's conference right
now but apparently is moving away from the UAC, but

(32:11):
in Utah State or Utah Tech used to be called
Dixie State. I have no idea why there are the Trailblazers.
There are two and nine could be an EKU road
wind to wrap up a tough year. The Colonels will
finish with a losing record, but two of those losses
came against D one teams, so they could wind up
five and five in one double a NFCS competition. But

(32:33):
it has been a tough year because it's a young team.
They've had some holes to fill and they've let some
games get away. But again, like the Kentucky football Wildcat,
they've played hard. And we were talking in a zoom
call earlier this week with wal Wells, the head coach,
and a couple of the players, including Braydon Latham. He's

(32:54):
a running back from Knoxville, went to Knoxville West High
School and some with e kau out of his high school,
not a transfer. Was the Region two five a player
of the year at his high school. Two time off
stater you Sparingly in twenty twenty three played a lot

(33:16):
last year, has played even more this year, and he
talked to us the media on the zoom call about
what it's been like this season, and one of the
things that struck me was how enthusiastic he still is
about playing the game. He's not looking to just wrap
up the season, finish up and move on till the

(33:36):
next year, he's excited about playing on Saturday. And so
I asked him about that, about getting up on game
day and feeling excited about playing no matter what the record,
no matter where you are home or away, and I
thought he had a great answer, one of the best
I've heard in a long time.

Speaker 3 (33:56):
I say, absolutely, Bick.

Speaker 11 (33:58):
It's just.

Speaker 10 (34:00):
I don't mean to be like sound like a broken
record or anything, but man, like, we get twelve games
out of the year to go put our talents and
what we've been working on for so long on display,
and it's just it's just an opportunity and I'm just
excited to go show what I've been doing in the spring, offseason,
fall camp.

Speaker 5 (34:15):
It's just it's just amazing.

Speaker 10 (34:17):
And then for us to come together as a unit,
like as a team and just go put that all
on on Saturdays, and like for the community and the
people that come support us, Like we've all we're all
from all around, like Florida, we're all from like Georgia,
and I think Miles came from like Oklahoma, sounding like that,
Ohn Milwaukee, like come on, and then his family comes
down and travel so like it's just I don't think

(34:37):
it ever my mentality ever changes for real, real, because
it's just it's just love for the game.

Speaker 1 (34:42):
At that point, Dick, it's bradon late and running back
for EKU. So whatever happens Saturday when the Criminals play
at Utah Tech, he's gonna be excited and you know
he's gonna play hard. And you got a root for
a kid.

Speaker 5 (34:56):
Like that, don't you. I think you do.

Speaker 1 (34:58):
It's gonna be on ESPN Plus if you want to
watch ekusports dot com if you want to listen four
pm Eastern Time on Saturday as the Colonels visit Utah
Tech and wrap up this season. I mentioned the oh
one other football note before I talk about the UK
women's basketball. Nine seniors have reached the semi finalist stage

(35:23):
for Pro Football Hall of Fame's Class of twenty twenty six.
Three finalists determined when the committee meets next week. And
there are some local ties. And I will tell you
this one name. This guy should have been in a
long time ago. Kenny Anderson. You're a Bengals fan, you
know what I'm talking about. He was the league MVP
in nineteen eighty one. Started for the Bengals from seventy

(35:46):
one to eighty six, nearly thirty three thousand passing yards
and one hundred and ninety seven passing touchdowns. He should
have been led the Bengals to the Super Bowl in
what was it eighty nine, should have been in there
a long time ago, but for some reason they say
haven't voted him in locally kind of local Kentucky. At

(36:08):
any rate. Jojacobe played at Louisville. Was an offensive lineman
for the Hogs under the old Washington Redskins nineteen eighty
one to ninety three. He won three Super Bowls, twice
All Pro Pro Bowl four straight years. Played for one
of the greatest offensive lines in NFL history. Here's what's

(36:30):
really interesting, even more so about Jojacoby. He went to
Western High School in Louisville, which I think still exists,
was a walk on at U of L and played
really well for some decent U OFL teams. Then he's
an undrafted free agent makes the Redskins team, and I

(36:51):
just told you what he did as a professional for
twelve years, including those three Super Bowl wins. Ask me
he belongs in there as well. Also on the list,
Stanley Morgan, the only tie here is you and I
of a certain age got to see him play for
Tennessee against Kentucky. Went onto a great career, primarily with

(37:13):
the Patriots. Posted the most yards per catch in NFL
history nineteen point two among players with more than five
hundred career receptions, still New England's all time leader in
receiving yards. He predated Tom Brady, So no Super Bowl championships.

(37:34):
Played his last year with the Colts, but man, he
was good at Tennessee. I remember that, although I will
tell you and you might have heard me talk about
it on the Leech Report this morning, this time, this
day in history, nineteen seventy seven. Kentucky beat Stanley Morgan
and Tennessee twenty one seventeen to wrap up that ten
in one year. Derek Ramsey with a one yard touchdown

(37:56):
Rome with five and a half minutes left with a
Bruce Shoulder no less to lead the Wildcats to that win.
That was a huge game. But back then Kentucky beat
Tennessee is often at Tennessee beat Kentucky.

Speaker 5 (38:09):
Then then Nancy streak began.

Speaker 1 (38:12):
Kenny Brooks's ball club back in action Saturday against Louisville
over at the Young Center, two o'clock tip off. You
can hear it right here on six thirty WLAP. Darren
Hedrick got the pregame at one forty five. You can
also watch it at the same time on the CW
which has that acc contract. And of course this all

(38:33):
happens ahead of the Kentucky football game, so you got
a lot to juggle on Saturday, a lot of different choices.
Check them all out. Clara Strack with another double double,
her fifth of the year. She had seventeen and thirteen.
She's got thirty six double doubles in her career. She
is pretty incredible and she's one of the reasons Kentucky's

(38:57):
is a terrific defensive teams. Your next six thirty l
P Welcome back to the Big Moon Siders Wednesday meeting.

(40:54):
We are visiting with our unforgettable guard, Shawn Woods. His
jersey hangs in the rafters. Rupre coach now at Scott
County High School. First and foremost, coach, were you throwing
things at the TV set last night? Because you're a
guy who played with all kinds of effort and we
didn't see that last night, did we.

Speaker 12 (41:12):
No, we didn't think this team looks very much discombobulated.
No identity, no cohesiveness. And when you do not, and
I keep saying this, if you do not have a
point guard, YEP, it is hard. I don't care how

(41:33):
good your two threes, fours and fives are. If you
don't have a person that can my store your team,
you are going to struggle. And every team that we've
played that we've gotten beaten by their point guard has
had a field day against us, and that was very
evident again last night against Michigan State, that.

Speaker 1 (41:51):
Includes Georgetown and the exhibition. You're right, and Aberdeen doing
the best he can. I didn't play well last night,
but there I don't know that there's an answer for
this on this roster right now, right.

Speaker 12 (42:06):
Well, I don't see it. And like I said before,
you cannot recruit in your recruiting process, you cannot have
one point guard on your roster.

Speaker 3 (42:15):
You can't.

Speaker 12 (42:16):
You can't just throw all your marbles into one point guard.
You have more than one two two man, you have
more than one three man, you have more than one
four man, you have more than one center. You've gotta
have more than one point guard. I'm guessing Alberdeen is
doing his best, but he is not a point guard,
and it's taken away from who he really is. So

(42:36):
now he's frustrated because he's not getting the shots and
the looks and the scoring opportunities because he's trying to
run the team and run that offense, and you know,
it takes away you know.

Speaker 1 (42:48):
I'm guessing they ever thinking, well, we can you know,
if Jalen gets in foul trouble, we can plug Denzel,
and we can plug Colin, we can plug Somebody told
me Jasper Johnson, Huh. You know, first of all, that
kid's a freshman. Secondly, as you pointed out when they
signed him, he's a scorer. So it's going to be
really difficult obviously. But I'm going to go back to effort.

(43:11):
And I guess is some of this seawan the fact
that they don't And I talked to Mike de Corsi
on Tom Leach's show this morning and we heard a
little bit of it earlier in my show. He's he
talked a lot about confidence, and it just looks like
a team that's not playing with much confidence. I got
to think that goes back to the head of the snake, right.

Speaker 12 (43:32):
When you don't have nobody making it easy for you,
what do you mean confidence? You know, these guys, when
you get a transfer, he is who he is. Okay,
you may get a transfer who was good at that team,
but that's what he is, that's his role, that's who is.
You're not going to get anybody different. They're not going
to just all of a sudden because they transfer, they're
going to become this different player. There's still the same

(43:54):
player that they were where they came from. And none
of these guys were playmakers. All these guys were scored,
you know, and and and played up other people. They
can't go get their own and they don't create, you
know what I'm saying, scoring opportunities for others. They don't
make other people better. And then when you're not scoring
the basketball and you just combobulate on the offensive end, mentally,

(44:17):
you're not gonna be as intense on the defensive end.
And you know this, you know, Mark is really not
a defensive guy. So when you throw that on top
of it, which I thought that was the only way
they can be successful is become a really good defensive
team and create scoring opportunities in transition off of getting
defensive stops, they're not getting them. So now every time

(44:40):
you go down the court, it is a drag to
score points because you got to run your offense, which
is not fluent. You're not shooting the ball as great
as you did last year, and you don't have a playmaker,
so you throw all that into to the equation. You know,
the ball never goes into inside. When it does go
inside to Malakai, he can score, but you got to

(45:01):
get to create some situations where that ball is getting
you getting paint touches instead of running plays to just
get threes when your team is not that good of
a three point shooting team.

Speaker 1 (45:11):
Collector, It's funny you mentioned Malachi because my next question
was going to be about the Biggs. And I firmly
believe that that some of this cohesion problem offensively, not
just point guard. But you had a point center or
forward last year and Amari Williams. And I know Bran
I'm not trying to lay all this on Brandon Garrison,
but he was looking to do more Amari type things

(45:32):
this year, and he threw a few good passes last year.
But man, he's been almost Mia this year, you know,
And that's such a It has been a critical point
of that offense that that fluidity in that offense is
having a guy like Amari Williams who could pass out
of the post and make people better. How much of
that do you think is responsible form? And again not

(45:53):
trying to put it on Brandon Garrison, but that just
tells you how good to Mari was.

Speaker 12 (45:58):
Well, here's the deal you put you played the Mario
at that position, because if Perry could, kid couldn't bring
the ball up the court. It's not that they can't
get the ball up the court, they're not getting anything
out of their half court offense, you know. And Pope
got lucky with Amari being that, and I told him,
you know, I said, hey, you know, do what coach

(46:18):
Patino did with Travis when Travis was small and couldn't
beat bigger guards, Crooker guards, Mash brought it up or
another guard brought it up, and then Travis once they
got it up, they got into their offense and then
you know, Travis could do what he does. But they
don't have that. And at least Travis was a true
point guard, so when you did get it in the
half court, he could still break you down and make

(46:40):
place for others and then knock down and open shot himself,
and he was a true point. They don't have one,
and it's gonna be tough. I don't care how long, whatever,
because you've got to have a maestro at this level.
Look at all the elite teams, you know, they are
led by point guard Florida point guard, Houston point guard

(47:02):
coach Pottino. He's everybody can break you down and make
place for others. We don't have that, and we're so
stagnant where like I told you before, and I'm not
knocking them, I'm just calling what I see. We're just
so predictable, you know, and you got lucky. You know,
you have some guys that can that were elite shooters
last year on that team and we got saved. We

(47:23):
don't have elite shooters collectively. So when you don't have
elite shooters and you don't have a point guard, your
your offense, you're not getting anything out of it. You're
not a great defensive team where you're getting major stops
and creating offense off of your turnovers, or you know,
getting getting one stop and and and and you're creating
transition situations off of rebounds. You're not getting any of that.

(47:46):
You walking the ball up the court every single time
because the ball's going through the net. You're not getting
enough stops, and you don't have a playmaker to make
everybody else better. Now your offense is getting stagnant. Everybody's
just standing watching around and nothing's happening, and it comes
frustrating and everybody's looking at each other, but you know,
it is what it is.

Speaker 1 (48:06):
Also, didn't see effort on defense. I mean, we can
talk about the offense all day, and I agree with you,
but I was amazed at the open looks that Michigan
State kept getting into me. That's effort, and Pope shouldered
the blame for that, that he didn't have his team ready,
and that's you know, I think that's a fifty to
fifty thing because I always go back and I don't

(48:27):
know if you know Anthony White at all.

Speaker 5 (48:30):
You know obviously played football here.

Speaker 1 (48:32):
But Anthony White once told me, if I have to
have somebody tell me why I need to be excited
about playing, it's time for me to turn in my helmet.
And I always wondered that about people to say, well,
this coach didn't get these kids excited about playing. I
doubt if anybody needed to be in your face to
tell you, hey, it's game day. You got to get excited.

(48:54):
But there's something there was just this malaise on defense.

Speaker 12 (48:57):
You know, these are a bunch of guys that getting
paid a bunch of money man, and ain't ain't adding
up to the bill of what they're getting paid. It's
sad to say, but it's reality. I think it's that simple,
I really do. You know these guys are getting no
matter when lose a draw. They're getting paid a lot
of money. And you're gonna start to see I'm I'm
saying it already.

Speaker 6 (49:18):
You know.

Speaker 12 (49:18):
That's why it's hard to coach in today's game, because
you're paying these guys before they even do anything. They're
getting a check before they even score a bucket. They're
getting a check before they get a rebound. They're getting
a check before they get a steal. They get a
check before they take a charge, they get a check
before they have their twa win. What is there to
play for? None of it. Everybody's not gonna be an
NBA guy. So if you're playing at a high major institution,

(49:40):
you're going to get an opportunity to play overseas, So
you know you're not an NBA guy. You know, you're
gonna be able to make some money overseas and you're
gonna try to milk it as long as you can
in college, you know, playing college basketball, but there's no
chart anymore. You already got to carry it. And this
right now, it's all predicated on this. You don't have
a leader, You don't have a maestro at the head

(50:01):
of the snake. And when you don't have that and
things aren't going smooth, and you got a bunch of
new guys who don't know each other, don't trust each other,
and you don't have leadership, what do you expect?

Speaker 1 (50:13):
But didn't these guys earn to a degree, I'm trying
to choose my words carefully. The opportunity to get those
paychecks by playing hard, by playing well, by doing the
work that it takes to become someone in that position.
And then once they get to check, does it automatically
or not automatically, but does it systematically?

Speaker 5 (50:35):
Just stop?

Speaker 1 (50:36):
You know what I mean?

Speaker 12 (50:37):
Sometimes you know what I'm saying. I mean, you never
know what the kids think, you never know what his
family think, You never know if he's happy or not
in his role. You know what I mean, you know,
you got a budget, that's the key, and some things
that you got to worry about when you're getting a
bunch of transfers. Everybody wants to be the guy, and
you got them because they were the guy on their team.

(50:59):
Except for Aberdeen, who was not the guy. But he
was a great piece on that national championship team. But
he was just that, a great piece. That's what he was,
a great piece. He wasn't the main guy. Now you're
trying to make him the main guy just because he
was on a national championship team. No, he played his
role to the best of his ability on a national

(51:19):
championship team. Now it is just the same makeup of
a national championship team. He's not playing the same role.
Now he's got to play point guard. And he's not
a point guard that can lead a team to a
national championship. He's a two guard that can help you
be a piece that could be a piece that can
help you win on a really good team. But you know,
like I said before, you're getting what You're getting what

(51:41):
they were where they left at. They don't just emerge
to become somebody else just because they transferred to your program.

Speaker 1 (51:50):
He is Sean Woods, the unforgettable guard. We will talk
more basketball on the other side of the break with
a coach here on the Big Blue Siders six thirty
WLAP Welcome back to Big Ones Sider for chatting with
Sean Woods, whose jersey hangs and the rafters of RUP.
Just one more note before I get to something I
sent to you. I texted to you. But Kirby Smart,

(52:11):
the Georgia coach, talked about getting a check. He said,
a lot of these and this is football now, of course,
but he said a lot of these kids want to check.
They don't want physicality. If you have the check and
no physicality, you end with nothing. You're not just getting
checks at our place, You're we're hitting people and shawn.
He also followed that up by talking about the fact

(52:32):
that he has seen kids transfer from his program to
other programs where they may be I'm paraphrasing, kind of
infamous for not being real physical when it comes to footpoint.
He said, we like to schedule teams like that. I
thought that was pretty funny myself.

Speaker 5 (52:51):
What did you make of that?

Speaker 12 (52:52):
I mean, he's saying the truth. You know, I want
to schedule team that has a bunch of softies too.
You know what I mean? You know you are you
are because you transferred. There's the reason why you were
let go too. You know you might not be getting
what you want and you run it from the truth.
And because you came from a successful program, sometimes they
think that you were a major piece of that and

(53:13):
you're not. You know, And I understand what Kirby Smart
is saying. You know, but our dealers right now, our
identity is not a tough identity. Our identity identity. As
you can see, we're not grinders. We're not grinding, we're
not ultimate competitors. We even got our face smacked three
straight times against three legit teams, and we normally win
those games. And we're know the better of those two

(53:37):
teams playing we're getting beat by twenty and now Michigan State,
their point guards all had career nights against us.

Speaker 1 (53:44):
Yeah, I texted you as I mentioned something. We both
got a good laugh at it. But it popped up
on the interweb and it was a video clip from
nineteen eighty nine. Are young Sean Woods with that fresh haircut,
driving in and colliding with Booe Brewer of Louisville, and

(54:05):
you basically going in for a lamp and you went
you landed on his shoulder and he kind of flipped
you to the floor and you you pulled yourself up,
grabbing onto his jersey, and Andre Pattillo had to drag
you away. Do you remember that play? When you when
I sent that to you, did you recognize that?

Speaker 5 (54:22):
I'm sure you did.

Speaker 12 (54:24):
Yes, I did. And uh, Boo and I were really
good friends. We were good friends before then it was
just a rivalry, you know. And we put Boo Brewer,
every Sullivan, Cornelius holding Durham web you know, even Le
Bradford Smith, Jermeha. Those guys were We were good friends,
you know, and everybody knew that when I would go home,
I would stop at Louisville, stay all night with those
guys for a couple of days, just to hang out

(54:46):
with them. They we were really good friends. But when
we when we laced them up, we weren't friends. And
as you can see that that little altercation and I,
you know, Boo Broer forgot that I was Sean Woods
and at that time I forgot that Boo was Boo Brewer.
So you know, it happened that way, and thank God
Patello grabbed me like he did because I lost my

(55:08):
mind at that particular time, and uh, he saved a
major altercation. But that's what the U of l UK
rivalry is all about.

Speaker 1 (55:18):
It was so funny because Brewer caught you and kept
you from a terrible landing, but then he dumped you.
It was like he went to your friend your enemy
in a second and a half, didn't he.

Speaker 12 (55:30):
Well, what happened was when he was called for the
block call, he was like, forget this. You know what
I'm saying. I guess he's mad because they called a
block on you, and he just threw me off, like
you know what I mean? So, you know, and he's
a battle. Things happened like that. But I still love Boo,
you know today as I did before that game, and
we laugh about it all the time.

Speaker 5 (55:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (55:51):
And man, you rattled off the names of some really
good Louisville guards back then, didn't you. They. Bradford Smith
went onto an NBA career holding he was good.

Speaker 5 (56:00):
Too, wasn't he.

Speaker 12 (56:01):
Yeah, and you know they there was another team that
was pretty talented but didn't have a true point guard. Yeah,
and I had my way because they didn't have a
true point guard, you know what I mean. The Bradford
wasn't a point guard, even though he you know, he
had to play it sometimes. Boo wasn't a true point
guard in high school and he had to that was
his that was his main position with Louis Cars. But

(56:22):
he wasn't a true point guard. He wasn't a guy
you know what I'm saying that broke you down and
made plays for dunk and things like that. He was
a serviceable point guard, but he wasn't true my stroke.
But he had a you know, still had a pretty
decent career at the University of level I'll tell you
what he was. He was tough and he defended and
you know what I mean, and you know he was

(56:42):
good for them. But we don't have that right now,
and we need that, you know, you need a leader.
And you know, I don't know what low situation is.
Is he coming back, is he having surgery? I don't know,
but I just I don't see it getting any better.
Let somebody just a magic gets touched by a magic

(57:03):
law and they become this ultimate you know, playmaker.

Speaker 1 (57:06):
Well, one of my contacts from over on the medical
side of campus, the hospital side, has told me that
that's a kind of injury where it might take surgery
if not, you know, intense therapy. So it's not going
to be a quick fix whatever happens. So they got
to come up with some answers. But I think I

(57:27):
think it starts for whatever reason. However, they can do
it with effort. And looking back at that clip that
you and I were just talking about, that was from
your first year with Rick Patino. You guys go fourteen
and fourteen that year. That was a rare home court
loss for you guys, but the reason you want and John,
I'll be honest, I didn't think you guys would win

(57:48):
more than six or seven games that year, but you
surprised everybody because you played your butts off.

Speaker 12 (57:55):
Yeah, just a little. And season was Cochatino's first year.
That was our senior year when that happened.

Speaker 1 (58:03):
Oh is that right?

Speaker 12 (58:04):
Yeah, that was our senior That was it. That was
when we played We played Louisville my sophomore year at Kentucky. Okay,
that's why they had Keith Williams and and Tony Kimbro
and all those guys. And then we beat them at
at Freedom Hall the next year and then they came
back our senior year and we beat them at our place.

Speaker 1 (58:23):
You sure did three eighty nine. I'm looking at it now,
and yeah, you you had some foul trouble, but you
still had nine points and five assists. But uh but
still you guys again played your butts off, didn't you.

Speaker 12 (58:39):
I mean, you didn't have to tell us to go
play hard, you know what I mean. And I think
we set the tone for you know, for what, Well
what came after us and we met and he man
looked back. Coachtatino never looked back. Tubby came, he never
looked back, you know, kind of went back a little
bit with Gillespie, and then cal brought it in and
then now you know, it's a different deal. Kids aren't

(59:01):
looking at the name of your jersey anymore. They're looking
at how much money they can get and can they
get to the NBA. That's it. It's not about you know,
you may get a kid, Okay, yeah, I want to
go to Kentucky, But Kentucky pays, you know what I mean.
I get to play in front of ruck. But it's
not the passion and the pride that's foozing through these
kids anymore. Like it used to be because so much
money is involved.

Speaker 1 (59:22):
But you know they had it last year. I mean
we talked to those kids. They were so grateful and
thankful to be at Kentucky. Yeah they were getting paid,
but they still played their butts off.

Speaker 12 (59:32):
But look how many men major kids he had, you
know what I mean, he had a bunch of He
had more men major kids than high major kids transfers.
You know, you talk about Dayton, you talk about what
Rexel fairly Digerson. You see what I'm saying. So you
know the different mindset you know.

Speaker 1 (59:53):
Yeah, these kids today, coach, what are you gonna do?
But you got him now at an early age of
Scott County and your season's gon up fast. Thank you
so much as always, brother, Talk to you next.

Speaker 12 (01:00:03):
Week, okay, looking forward to it.

Speaker 1 (01:00:06):
Westen Bureau Chief Gary Moore is next here on six
thirty WLAP. Welcome back to the Big Mow Insider. Join
now as we are every Wednesday. Bar our west End
Bureau Chief Gary Moore, who's bundled up against the elements.
It is being football seed. Not that he's playing football
in the great outdoors, but he's talking about it.

Speaker 11 (01:00:23):
In my mind, I am you know, that's right. We
never leave the field completely, do we?

Speaker 1 (01:00:28):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (01:00:28):
Why why should we?

Speaker 11 (01:00:30):
Two guys in a six pack? Oh stuff? Our first
swig here two swigs. First off, dick about money and sports,
and both of these twigs are kind of tough to swallow.
For example, this first story for anybody who's who's any
kind of a college football fan. There's an absolutely must
read article. You saw this in Monday's Courier Journal titled
should Kentucky nil law require more transparency?

Speaker 1 (01:00:54):
Duh?

Speaker 5 (01:00:55):
Why did that part?

Speaker 1 (01:00:56):
What to know?

Speaker 11 (01:00:57):
And why it matters? Terrific investigative piece by pay And Titus,
the CJ's College Sports Enterprise writer. In it, she talks
about how the state updated its NIL law in March
to allow schools to keep contracts with players private and
not subject to public record, unlike coaches contracts. She also

(01:01:17):
quotes First Amendment attorney John Flishaker, who wrote Kentucky's open
records law and believes this updated statute Senate Bill III
is an odds with his bill from some fifty years
ago after the House Settlement. What have the NCAA and
Power conferences and state and federal politicians tried to do
to the player as well, for one, limit earning potentials

(01:01:39):
with a salary cap, but no collective bargaining agreement to
go with that. I think that might be illegal. And
keeping details of these individual player deals private, why what's
the big secret here, especially when you got guys for
Kentucky not playing at quarterback just throwing money on X
to some disgrental fans. Bill three sponsored, Max Wise said, quote, yeah,

(01:02:04):
listen to this quote. Differences in compensation, especially when it
when made public, can affect team chemistry, team morale, team focus,
so many things that you could see teams start to crumble.
Unquote pig poop.

Speaker 5 (01:02:18):
I say it's good.

Speaker 11 (01:02:19):
Enough to know what the coaches are making and assistant coaches,
et cetera, et cetera.

Speaker 5 (01:02:24):
It's good enough for the players. How do you feel?

Speaker 1 (01:02:26):
Well? I think I agree, and I've met Max Wise
a long time ago. He's the son of a great
women's basketball coach at Campbellsville and a former FBI agent too.
But look, if you think that players rely on public
record for finding out what their teammates are making, you're crazy.
And he had to know that from a guy who
grew up around college athletics and interesting John flyshaker still

(01:02:49):
out there doing the job. He is the pre eminent
First Amendment attorney and has worked with a CJ for
many years. He was I believe he was the CJ's
lawyer when I was still in college.

Speaker 5 (01:02:59):
He was, which shows you how well respected he is.

Speaker 1 (01:03:03):
This is so ironic, Gary coincidental that we're talking about
this the day after Kentucky gets blown out by a
Michigan State team that has about maybe well less than
thirty percent in terms of the money it's plowed into
its basketball roster as Kentucky has. But yeah, this is
new law being written and it needs to be because

(01:03:25):
this is the new frontier, isn't it for college athletics?

Speaker 5 (01:03:28):
Yeah, it is.

Speaker 11 (01:03:29):
As we move on our second swig here, So this
is something else. This involves some college football. We now
have sort of a sports version of the movie Fatal
Attraction and the role of Michael Douglas. You got every
media outlet that accepts betting service dollars and has special
shows dedicated to betting odds, and then in the role

(01:03:52):
of Glenn Close, we have all the gambling companies sponsoring
advertising and creating quote unquote content for TV, radio, onlineights, etc.
In bed with these said media outlets. What could possibly
go wrong? Well, over here, something did go wrong. In
college football, Jeff Brohm and his family and his quarterback
were threatened after a last second loss to Cal by

(01:04:15):
some loser in Texas, and he was also told this
loser not to gamble during his arraignment last week because
they hauled him in because of these threats. We just
got a big NBA gambling scambal. Three NBA stars busted,
including former UFL player Terry Rozier. Portland coach Chauncey Billups

(01:04:35):
is in on them. We got two Major League Baseball
pitchers indicted for pitch rigging for prop bets. Even Otawani
got tainted this year.

Speaker 5 (01:04:46):
He didn't even bet.

Speaker 11 (01:04:48):
These terroristic threats that Jeff Brom got to me are
just the tip of the iceberg here the start, we've
had verbal abuse from guys who aren't happy with some
of the players that they've bet on during games. That's
been going on for a while. I think organized sports,
in my opinion, should completely disassociate itself from every gambling
entity before somebody decides to fix a Super Bowl or

(01:05:11):
a World Series or dies trying.

Speaker 1 (01:05:15):
If they haven't tried to fix already. Sadly, the Brahms
situation smacked of something that happened here back in the
nineties when Bill Curry's wife got some nasty voice fails
after Kentucky blew a play late and enabled Auburn to

(01:05:35):
cover a spread that it was not going to cover.
There were ugliness, death threats, that kind of thing, you know,
against Bill Curry and his wife. So this has been
going on for quite some time, but yeah, it is.
It is so much more magnified now. And what drives
me nuts is situations like this where you can say,

(01:05:55):
didn't we learn this from X y Z.

Speaker 5 (01:05:58):
This has been.

Speaker 1 (01:05:58):
Happening in Europe with soccer man for many, many years. Look,
let's start with doing away with prop bets. We'll never
do away with sponsorships, do away with prop bets.

Speaker 11 (01:06:09):
It seems like that is the root of most of
this evil are one hundred percent all right, let's go
to something lighter our third swig here talking college football, Dick,
my Hilltoppers are gonna be traveling to Baton Rouge for
a potential buy you beat down LSU's a twenty three
and a half point favorite. Just pick up the check
and do your best, boys. UK a nine and a

(01:06:29):
half point underdog at Vandy where you'll be Hey, look,
three game winning street. Why not make it for shock
the CFP world or at least Music City and you
know what if unranked Louisville to complete the the trifecta here.
If unranked Louisville plays as stupidly on Sunday or either

(01:06:49):
Saturday at SMU as they did at home last Friday
against Clemson, the Cards will definitely lose again. I cannot
recall Dick a more undisciplined lower Football IQ Jeff team.

Speaker 5 (01:07:00):
Then this one.

Speaker 11 (01:07:02):
Clearly Miller Moss ain't the right guy at quarterback. Not
to sound like Captain obvious on this. That's going to
be at noon on ESPN two. SMU is a two
and a half just a two and a half point
favorite in Dallas for UK and Vandy right here in
WLAP also on ESPN the Mothership at three point thirty
and Western and LSU on regular sec Net not SEC plus.

Speaker 5 (01:07:25):
Which they may regret.

Speaker 11 (01:07:26):
That's a seven forty five Saturday Night Dick. A month ago,
the Governor's Cup game looked like a pretty solid Louisville
win not anymore.

Speaker 5 (01:07:34):
Huh.

Speaker 1 (01:07:34):
Just about to say if you had flip flopped a
month ago two programs going in opposite directions, and I
was flabbergasted, like you, I went back and I recorded
the U of L game. Really surprised at the level
of neptitude, if you will, from a Jeff Brohm coach team.
And this SMU game is not going to be easy.

(01:07:55):
It's a program that has slowly rebuilt itself. They're on
Mockingbird Road or lane. I can't remember. It's I'm Mockingbird
in Dallas because it was right up the street from
the SWC office where I used to work, and right
in the other direction from the Doctor Pepper Plant. There's
more information than you need on SMU. Do you know
that Western Kentucky is the first, no, the third non

(01:08:17):
conference team ever to play at LSU with at least
eight wins going into the game since nineteen thirty three.

Speaker 5 (01:08:28):
We'll be damn.

Speaker 1 (01:08:29):
That says a lot about scheduling, But I like Western
chances of at least covering the twenty three and a
half Kentucky Vandy nine and a half. The hook's big.
You could see that being a ten point game, but
you could see Kentucky with a couple of breaks winning
that one.

Speaker 5 (01:08:42):
So it's going to be an interesting weekend.

Speaker 11 (01:08:45):
Boy, Clemson kept saying, here, take the game. Yes you're
on your home fields, and nah, you're ever gonna be
good hosts. You guys, go ahead, yep, our fourth swig.

Speaker 5 (01:08:53):
Here.

Speaker 11 (01:08:54):
As far as ranked versus ranked on Saturday, there's only
a couple really, The biggest one obviously in Eugene, number
SiO seventeen, Southern Calid number eight Oregon. That'll be a
three thirty Saturday on CBS. Ducks a nine and a
half point favorite. You also got number twenty two Miszoo
at number eight Oklahoma Sooners seven and a half. So
I'll take the Ducks and Boomer Sooners in those games.

(01:09:15):
And by the way, I will take Duke at six
and a half at North Carolina to make the Heels
go four and seven and ruin their Bowl chances. So
Bill and what's her twenty something face can get back
to Nantucket just a little bit sooner than they hoped.

Speaker 1 (01:09:29):
Yeah, I agree with you. In Oklahoma, I would take Miszoo.
I don't know why. I just kind of liked that team.
Chief among the reasons I'm I Hardy, the great running
back with Oklahoma, sneaky good and has an eye of
course on the college football playoffs. So they're going to
be playing for an awful lot. My heart, says Duke,
in my head says Duke as well.

Speaker 5 (01:09:48):
Why we're all rooting against Belichick?

Speaker 1 (01:09:51):
But you know, Duke is always a perennial underdog, it seems,
so yeah, go ahead and give me the Blue Devils
in that one.

Speaker 11 (01:09:58):
Did you see the Bill almost handshake or d handshake
at the end of the game. Just be a sport,
Just be a good loser. You call the Mountain third down,
So yeah, you're.

Speaker 1 (01:10:10):
Talking about the wake Forest He barely even I don't
even looked at the wake Forest coach in the eye.
And you know, the thing, too, is a guy like Belichick.
And here's me lecturing a guy. But I really believe,
especially in sports, he knows he's an icon. So why
not be the bigger man and at least congratulate.

Speaker 5 (01:10:29):
A guy who's who's done a nice job at a.

Speaker 1 (01:10:32):
School that doesn't have nearly the wherewithal that North Carolina
does In wake Forest? I mean, I remember when wake
Forest went to the Orange Bowl. Dean hood now in
staff of Kentucky was the decoordinator there. That's like Vandy
going to the cotton or the Sugar Bowl, you know,
Wake Forest making and so you know Belichick, come on,
be a bigger man.

Speaker 11 (01:10:52):
Yeah, and the guy took his hat off before he
has tochick. Yes, great pointspect that's right, that's right. Fifth
swig here, let's keep it on football. A better Thursday
Night NFL game tomorrow than last week. Well, anything's better
than watching the Jets these days. So you got perennial
MVP Josh Allen and Buffalo there are six point favorites
over Texas, which will not have CJ.

Speaker 5 (01:11:12):
Stroud by the way at last check.

Speaker 11 (01:11:15):
But how about these five look pretty good On Sunday,
Steelers at the Bears. Bears could go eight and three. Ugh,
and you got more guns on the Steeler quarterback situation
than a bit. I know your Packers home at Lambeau
versus the Vikings for the first time this year, Indiana
Jones and the Colts at Kansas City. That looks like

(01:11:35):
fun about Kansas City will probably they never lose at
home really, except for Philly at the beginning of the season.
Eagles speaking of are at the Cowboys always a cordial
contest between Philly and Dallas, especially with the fans, and
Sunday night Tampa at the Rams looks like a good game,
and even Monday Night might get interesting. Dick Carolina at
the Frisco the Panthers, we know already somehow inexplicably beat

(01:11:59):
your pack in Green Bay. If they found out exactly
why that happened. Have the scientists come up with the
reason exactly what exactly the hell happened in that game.

Speaker 1 (01:12:06):
If they did, they need to let me know. I
fear the Vikings now I didn't in the past, and
my packers aren't exactly playing really well that we got
it out to win over the Giants Kansas City. You
know they're ticked off now. But I do think that's
gonna be a great game.

Speaker 5 (01:12:23):
I really do.

Speaker 1 (01:12:24):
Indianapolis, I think they are for real. When I lived
in Dallas, the only thing that was better in Philly
against Dallas was Washington against Dallas because back then it
was the Redskins and they were much better than they
are now. But man, those are two fan bases that
hate hate each other, which make it which makes it fun.

(01:12:44):
Tampa Bay's for real, Carolina beats my guys, and then
they turn around to stink it up. So who knows
about the Panthers and who knows about San Francisco. But
it's the stretch run for the NFL and it's getting fun,
isn't it.

Speaker 5 (01:12:58):
Yeah? And week to week some you just don't know.

Speaker 11 (01:13:01):
Yeah, Yeah, sixth and final swig dick the vote. The
votes are in, the people have spoken. There's no jerry mandering.
Nothing was rigged as far as we know. Awful announcing
dot Com ask its readers to vote on the top
twenty five college football announcers and I guess announced teams,
And in the interest of time, here are the top three.
At number three, it's Chris Fowler and Herbie They probably

(01:13:23):
would have been my number two in this poll. Number
two is Noah Eagle and Todd Blacklitch. I like those
guys a lot. They probably number one in my book.
And then at number one Sean McDonough and Greg McElroy.
I don't know, I think be in my top three.
They're all good, is the thing. As for sideline reporters,
there wasn't any voting on that, but suffice to say,

(01:13:43):
if they ain't named Dick Gabriel, they ain't number one
to begin with, okay, because you wrote the book on
this a clinic every game. In fact, you know what, Dick,
most every it's the sound misogynists done this most every
woman side outside of say Katie George and Holly Row
both of them I really like a lot. They need
to take the Dick Gabriel masterclass on how to ask

(01:14:03):
a question to a coach or player and spit it
in ten freaking seconds or less. Hurry up so we
can get to the to the innocuous stock answer. Okay,
Awful announcing has not asked for NFL announcers, but I
will tell you my number one play by play guy,
still the great one and only, Kevin Harlan. I think
he's starting in Jeriko Michaels nance all well.

Speaker 5 (01:14:24):
I like Joe Buck, but Kevin Harlan to me.

Speaker 3 (01:14:26):
Is the guy.

Speaker 1 (01:14:27):
I'm an iron eagle guy on the NFL, but Harlan's
terrific and I'll fold him in. His radio work is
as good as anybody's.

Speaker 5 (01:14:33):
Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (01:14:35):
Todd Blackledge, by the way, grew up in Lexington. His
father was a coach here under Jerry Clavern with the
Tates Creek Junior High School. But Herbstreet makes that Fowler
Herbstreet combo. I think he's terrific. Yeah, you know he
does NFL work. Yeah, but I agree with you on that.
I tell you who should be up there is the
SEC Network combo off Tom Hard, Jordan Rodgers, Cole Kublick.

(01:14:58):
To me, they are I'm I asked, that's more of
a regional thing. Is Tom Hart? God bless him. Does
what a great playbook play guy should do. And he
does a TV call. He does not do a radio
call on television. He's among the best at doing that,
and that's why I really like him, and I have
told him as much, quite frankly. When we come back,
we will have some hot reads for Gary Moore ins

(01:15:19):
just a minute here on the Big Blue Sider six
thirty WLAP. Welcome back. Gary Moore is our guest. He
is our West End Bureau chief. Couple of hot reads
for Gary following two guys and a six pack Gary.
On Tuesday the Steelers you mentioned, and they worked out
quarterbacks Jason Bean and Tanner Mordecai, who Jason Bean played

(01:15:40):
for two different colleges, including Cans. This had a decent career.
Tanner Mordecai played for three including SMU, where he led
the AEC one year with more than three thousand yards rushing.

Speaker 5 (01:15:51):
Yet we've never heard of these guys.

Speaker 1 (01:15:53):
Anybody named Mordecai strictly in sports should have only three
fingers and be a pitcher. It doesn't It underscore the
fact that there aren't enough reps in NFL practices to
develop back up qbs.

Speaker 11 (01:16:07):
Well, yeah, look at you know they're talking about Sanders
at Cleveland didn't get any reps with the with the
first team, which is a big deal and is Jeff
Saturday has pointed out, you don't get the same you know,
it takes him a while for the guys to hear
the cadences and learn how they're going to be calling stuff.
That's a big deal in terms of the timing. But yeah,
you're right, some of these guys like who where? What
are some of these guys? I mean, if you can

(01:16:27):
stick around like a Bailey Zappi, who's who's done the
same thing and he's on a practice squad and and
still can get in and manage an offense, you got
a shot at it. But it looks like Rogers they
won't know if Rogers is going to play until maybe
what Friday, the.

Speaker 5 (01:16:43):
Right, Yeah, that's the cutoff. So yeah, it's it's huge.

Speaker 11 (01:16:47):
And then of course your guy I still think that
with with Rudolph and is next time you see Mason
Rudolph with the mustache, think Freddie Mercury.

Speaker 5 (01:16:56):
Okay, it looks like Freddie Mercury with a helmet on.

Speaker 11 (01:16:59):
I swear I told the friend of mine Steelers family
is now I'm never gonna see that man.

Speaker 1 (01:17:03):
Mason Rudolph won two of the major quarterback awards in
college his senior year. That's how good he was. So
he is a career backup as well. But some of
these big name quarterbacks that come and go in college
ball because they just can't develop them. Speaking of quarterbacks,
this is the anniversary of one of the biggest butt

(01:17:23):
fumbles in the history of the end National Football League,
the Miracle at the Meadowlands, when the Giants led the Eagles.
Here's the TV call from Don Crickey.

Speaker 4 (01:17:34):
But a late interception by the Giants, We'll preserve a
Giant victory and upset win. As the Giants lad seventeen
to twelve, were inside thirty seconds the Eagles have no timeouts.

Speaker 3 (01:17:43):
Wait a minute, here's a freak fo I don't believe it.

Speaker 8 (01:17:46):
The Eagles kicking up at Herman Edwards runs it in
front touchdown.

Speaker 7 (01:17:51):
An incredible development.

Speaker 5 (01:17:53):
I don't know who called that play.

Speaker 1 (01:17:54):
Was it Joe Pisarcik or a coordinator or whatever, Gary,
but somebody got fired and it still amazes me on
this day.

Speaker 5 (01:18:03):
And Herm Edwards, who went on.

Speaker 1 (01:18:04):
To be the greatest moment ever for wasn't exactly returning
Dick Vermeil celebrating on the sidelines, but that is incredible
and now that always comes up in victory formation, at
least mentally, nobody wants to replicate the miracle at the Meadowlands.

Speaker 11 (01:18:21):
Speaking of the Meadowlands, it was about what fifteen sixteen
years later that Marino faked the spike with about thirty
seconds to go because they thought that he was gonna
They're gonna spike it and go for the game tying
field goal, but instead he throws the touchdown pass.

Speaker 1 (01:18:35):
Yeah, same field, Meadowlands in nineteen seventy. And then some
years later was in Mark Sanchez the butt fumble with him?

Speaker 5 (01:18:44):
Is it?

Speaker 1 (01:18:45):
It's it that'll follow a guy we followed Gary Moore
every Wednesday is our Western bureau chief, and he joined
us on Twitter as well at.

Speaker 5 (01:18:55):
What at nine to five five? Gary, where you're at?

Speaker 1 (01:18:59):
I'm also at Blue Insider one. Try to stay warm
and drive this weekend. If you can, you do, have
a good time down in nash Vegas. We will have
it for a three point thirty kickoff Eastern time. That
means our coverage begins here on WLAP at one thirty
with Christy and Jeremy and Ricky and then Tom and
Jeff and I will have a call. Thanks as well
to all my guests. Once again, for Gary Morrow, I said,

(01:19:20):
Bureau chief, I'm forgettable Guard Sean Woods, and of course
to Mike de Corsi via the Leach Report, that's it.
Good night from the garage in Lexington.

Speaker 3 (01:19:29):
No, I can't make you do it. You gotta look
at the guy next to you. Look into his eyes.

Speaker 12 (01:19:35):
Now.

Speaker 7 (01:19:36):
I think you're gonna see a guy who will go.

Speaker 5 (01:19:39):
That inch with you.

Speaker 8 (01:19:40):
You're gonna see a guy who will sacrifice himself for
this team because.

Speaker 5 (01:19:46):
He knows, when it comes down to it.

Speaker 3 (01:19:48):
You're gonna do the same for him.

Speaker 1 (01:20:01):
Statue tact Senath.

Speaker 8 (01:20:57):
Back out station and.

Speaker 3 (01:21:13):
Don't have to back the tension in doing the

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