2025-12-10 BBI

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
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?

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Yes, it is hump Day. Dick Gabriel with you on
a Wednesday edition of The Big Blue and Sider. Happy
to have you along. Much to talk about tonight. Kentucky
basketball Wildcats bounce back with a blowout win over one
of the have nots with all due respect in See Central,
Wildcats did what a team is supposed to do. I'm
not going to say a good team, because we don't

(00:33):
know yet just how good Kentucky is. But Mark Pope
had some pointed questions put to him after the game,
and we'll hear from that coming up in just a minute.
We'll also hear Pope talking with Kevin Greevy, who was,
of course, part of the seventy five Final four team
that upset top ranked Indiana and an Elite eight. So
Kentucky went to the final four, not Bob Knight's IU team.

(00:54):
That's coming up in our number two. Cam Schitzoch, the
former Kentucky defensive space list part of the twenty twenty
UK Championship team, will preview Kentucky's volleyball match tomorrow with
cal Poly that is cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Now
they just colors as cal Poly. That's somewhere between Monterey

(01:15):
on the coast, Monterey and Santa Barbara. That's where the
school is. Most famous sports alum Ozzie Smith for my money,
former Cardinals shortstop. But Cam Schitzak worked the TV with
me last week and she'll preview the match coming up.
In hour number two. Bottom of the hour, Sean Woods
will join us the Unforgettable Guard. We'll also hear in
hour number two from our West End Bureau chief Gary Moore.

(01:38):
But need to talk about last night's win for the
Wildcats and fans probably won't remember the final score, but
what they will remember is Mark Pope visibly angry early
in the game after a runout by NC Central and
Brandon Garrison, who I thought against Gonzi Zaga played with energy.

(02:01):
I thought in the first few minutes that he got
in played with energy. But he loafed down the floor
during this runout and Mark Pope yanked him, called a
time out and if everybody was reading the lips, said
go sit down, and he never came back to the game.
Mark Pope really showed a tougher side in a game

(02:25):
he might have he's been doing this in practice, I
know from what Cameron Mills tells me, but showed in
the game last night, and he's been working on combinations.
He played some guys a lot, played some guys very
few minutes, shook up his starting lineup again. And then
after the game he talked about and he kind of

(02:46):
hedged on the answer, kind of gave a generalized answer
about his demeanor on the sidelines and his approach to
his players last night. And I will tell you this
that and he's a thoughtful guy. But Mark Pope didn't
the answer that question for about six seconds. He sat
there measuring his thoughts before he made his answer.

Speaker 4 (03:10):
Yeah, we we just have a standard that we have
to live up to and we're not and we have
to and so we'll keep fighting until we do.

Speaker 5 (03:21):
Kind Of along those lines, Mark, you kind of let
into BG there with about eight minutes left, called the
time out. He obviously didn't play again. That's about as
fired up as I've ever seen you since you've been here.
Are you intentionally taking a different demeanor with this team,
because it seemed like you kind of stayed with that
the rest of the game.

Speaker 4 (03:43):
We We just have a lot of growing that we
have to do right now, and and we'll grow. We
have good guys, we have competitive guys. We don't know
really what it means to compete yet, which is terrifying,
but we will.

Speaker 1 (03:58):
We'll learn.

Speaker 4 (03:59):
We're gonna learn Ortler fast.

Speaker 2 (04:03):
The first question was general. The second question and that
came from Ben roberts A, the Herod leader, who I
respect greatly. That was a great question. That was a
question that needed to be asked, and it was put
to the coach directly. It wasn't a gotcha question, but
it was a direct question, and it wasn't exactly a

(04:23):
direct answer. But I think Pope spoke volumes in his
generalized answer about the fact that he said we didn't
know how to compete yet, which is terrifying. What an
interesting choice of words. And he's right, you don't know
by now. That is terrifying. It also means that there
are veterans on this team, guys who have played a

(04:44):
lot of college ball, played for Mark Pope, played a
lot for Mark Pope, including O take a oway, you
have to wonder about knowing how to compete. I thought
we saw a little bit more of that in old way. Again,
I've said before, I think he's been drifting a little bit.
And last year he was able to be a complimentary
player to Jackson Robinson, Lamont Butler, Kobe Braa, but that

(05:09):
enabled him to take up when the Wildcats needed him
and have great games. Now he's the marked Man preseason
Player of the Year. He's gonna have to do a
lot to win that award based on the start he
said this year slowed by the injury team not playing well,
but I thought he looked more like his old self

(05:29):
last night. He's gonna need to be his old self
Saturday when it comes to Indiana. But after the game,
he told reporters he predicted a great ending for this team,
a great future for this team. And remember ten years ago,
maybe eleven, Aaron Harrison made the same prediction. So our

(05:50):
story is not finished yet. We're going to rewrite the
ending or something like that. And sure enough, they went
to the Final four. It's kind of like what always
sounded like.

Speaker 6 (06:00):
But I feel like everything happens for a reason. I
feel like it's probably gonna be one of the most
remembered years for all of us individually, because we're going
to turn it around. So it's gonna end up being
the best year, but it wasn't the prettiest start. So
I feel like that's something we just got to look at. Individually,
we're great like. Individually, we're great like it's a matter
of you know, just us playing together having that one.
I feel like once we get one, we about to

(06:22):
start rolling. And on top of that, it's still early,
like we still got three months left. We just know
that it's only us. It's only us, you feel me. Obviously,
win or lose, there's always gonna be comments on, you know,
what we could have done better. So now we're we've
been losing, so it's definitely only us. We just gotta
lean into each other.

Speaker 2 (06:40):
Really, that's otaga away again. Look better. The team looked better,
of course, the competition nowithstanding Jalen Lowe got in for
a while. Team look better with him on the floor.
We'll hear from Sean Woods, of course, the point guard,
former point guard talking about him coming up at the
bottom of the hour. One thing thing we haven't heard

(07:00):
from Mark Pope his excuses and people love to say
are tired of hear an excuses. You haven't you haven't
heard it from Mark Pope. He has talked about the
fact that he's missing players only when it's brought up
to him that he's still without Jaden Quainten's He's been
without Diabate, one of his most physical players, and Jalen
Lowe is day to day from here on. And it

(07:24):
was interesting to me because just the other day I
came across this SoundBite from kind of a motivational speech
given by Rick Patino. When it comes to excuses, you're.

Speaker 7 (07:35):
Not allowed to give excuses because excuses are a sign
of weakness. We give no excuses when we fail. Failure
is just fertilizer to help us grow as a team.
We make no excuses. We say the other team was
better that night, but tomorrow we become better than them.

Speaker 2 (07:55):
That's Rick Petino, of course. And again I have not
heard Mark Pope making excuses. He has shouldered to blame.
He has talked about the fact that he has not
done a good enough job. It has always started with him,
And of course there are always the outliers who want
the coach fired immediately. I always go back to what

(08:16):
I believe means someone needs to be punished. I'm upset
as a fan I'm angry. Somebody needs to pay the price,
someone needs to be punished. Usually it's the players who
are at fault. Sometimes it's the coach. Oftentimes it's a
combination of both. But Pope has not made excuses at all.

(08:38):
He could, he could bring that up. He could just say,
everybody be patient when we get JQ back, when we
get mohammed about day back. If Jalen can get healthy, now,
we're gonna have a heck of a team. He has said,
we're gonna have a great team. We're gonna have a
great season. But when you hear people wailing about making excuses,
maybe some people are. And I bring that up a lot. Hey,

(09:00):
the guy ain't got this old roster, so you can
blame me. But you know Mark and Mark Pope didn't
need me to carry his water. But he has not
made excuses. And his former coach, Rick Patino says, you're
not allowed to up. Next, Kevin Greevy called the Mark
Pope Show. He was a guest to talk about that
huge upset UK pulled of Indiana back in the day.

(09:21):
We'll hear it next on six thirty WLAP Welcome back
to the Big Blue Insider. Last night, or actually it
was Monday night on the Mark Pope Show. Special guest
Kevin Greevy called in and it was a great move.
I don't know if it was a producer Brad Tucker,
Tom Leach's idea or whatever. But coming up, of course
Saturday is Kentucky Indiana and for my money, the greatest

(09:44):
game that I ever covered, and I think it is
the best game from the UK in the things in
the Kentucky Indiana series. I know what game Indiana fans love.
That's the one in the twenty eleven twelve season where
they upset the eventual national champs. As I mentioned earlier.
For me, it was the nineteen seventy five Mid East
Regional championship game. That's right, the one in Dayton where

(10:07):
Kentucky beat the undefeated Hoosiers who had beaten them by
twenty four points in December of that year. That's the
year that they're the game where Bob Knight cuffed Jobie
Hall on the back of the head assistant coaches wanted
to fight Bob Knight. Cats got blown out at Assembly
Hall in Bloomington, then got their revenge in Dayton, Ohio.

(10:28):
I was at that game covered it for the UK
student newspaper, The Kentucky Colonel Kevin Greevy called in Monday
night to share his memories of that game. And Kevin
has always been one of my all time favorite players.
From the time I covered his team at UK, knew
him just that way, and then he and I became

(10:48):
friends when we worked together on the NCA Radio Network
two or three times. It was so great because I
was assigned as the producer, he was assigned as the
color analyst. So we get together wherever we were. Hey,
how you doing. You know, we just hung out quite
a bit, got to know each other even better and
have stayed in touch through the years. He's appeared in
a couple of the documentaries I did. So Kevin called

(11:11):
in last night and shared with Mark Pope and Tom
and the audience the story of how that team came
back against Indiana from December to March, and Mark Pope
actually interjected some information his side of that story, or
his view if you will, which really added to it.

(11:32):
But here's part of that conversation. You can go to
it via UK Athletics and pull up the Mark Pope
Show from Monday, but here's some of the highlights. Kevin
Greevy talking about as a freshman when he and his
teammates the Super Kittens couldn't play varsity, but they watched
the varsity Kentucky team beaten by Indiana, which under the
new coach Bob Knight, was putting together some pretty good teams.

Speaker 1 (11:55):
We knew how good Indiana was getting with Bobby Knight,
and he was a mark. I mean it was like
a pro team. They were unbelievable. They were really, really good.
And we lost to him. My Sopho Lawyer lost to him,
you know, my junior year and lost to him in
that game you're referring to in December and Bloomington, and

(12:16):
you know, there's karma. Bobby Knight was a great coach.
There was no question about it. I mean, history will
tell you one of the greatest college coaches ever. He
was from Army. He was a tough guy. You could
see him on the sidelines, how he was demanding and
pushing those guys. And back then, you know, you can
put your hand on a player. You could see him
in puddles, you know, pointing this, you know, into their
chests and WHOA I would never want to play for

(12:37):
this dude, and sure enough, Karma got his ass in
that game. We were getting we were getting our butts kipped,
and Coach All took all the starters out, put him
next to the bench, and I mean next to him,
and I'm I'm I'm sitting right next to Coach All.
And there was a couple of minutes left in the
game and they're up in the twenties. And he looked

(12:58):
over at Bobby Knight said, Bobby, I got all my
starters out. How bad do you want this? You know?
He had kept at Benson and Scott May and Abernathy
and Butner and these guys were just having so much
fun beating our ass and Bobby Knight looked at him, said, Joe,
you coach your team and I'll coach mine. And with that,
Coach Hall stood up, walked over. They met. I couldn't

(13:20):
tell what was being said, and the game is still
going on, and then Bobby Knight coach turned and Bobby
Knight slapped Coach Hall in the back of the head.
Glasses go flying, and you know, Len Nash was our
assistant coach, and Dicky Parsons they run up and Jimmy
Dan and I run up and we get Coach Hall
back to the bench. And of course the story after

(13:43):
the game wasn't the humiliating loss that we sustained by
twenty four points. It was what happened there at center
court when Joby got slapped and yes, go ahead, go ahead,
I'm sorry. The last thing he said to us before
we left that locker room he said, look, guy, we
got humiliated. I was humiliated, but we're going to take
the high road. And some tells me we're going to

(14:06):
see these guys again. And that sort of set the
stage for the tournament game. We knew if we were
going to be the team that we thought we could
beat to win a championship, we were going to have
to beat Indiana.

Speaker 2 (14:17):
Now. Before Kevin could finish the story, Mark Pope interjected,
because and I had forgotten about this. Lynn Nance, the assistant,
one of the assistants on Joe b squad, the guy
who wanted to fight Bob Knight after that incident, ended
up as the head coach first Iowa State, then Washington.
He was the head coach who recruited Mark Pope out
of Belliam, Washington local kid to play for the Huskies

(14:41):
beat out Rick Patino, for Pope. Then when Nance got fired,
Pope transferred to Kentucky. But Mark Pope knew the lynn
Nance side of this story, and he learned even more
about it by reading an article on the Athletic website.
But four or five years ago, when Bob Knight passed
away and Kyle Tucker wrote about Knight's relationship with Jovie Hall.

Speaker 3 (15:03):
It says that after Bobby slapped Coach in the back
of the head, Coach Nance came running at him, was
being held back by other sissors, and he said he yelled, hey,
try that stuff with me, pal, and and Coach Coach
was trying to kill him all by himself.

Speaker 8 (15:21):
If you remember it that way, Oh yes, I do.

Speaker 1 (15:24):
Well. You know we we knew how tough len Nance was.
We heard all the stories read about him, fall him
in action. You know, man, you never wanted to cross
len Nance. And it's a shame that Coach Hall or
somebody stopped him, because that he would have tore Bobby
Knight into one hundred pieces, There's no question about him.

Speaker 2 (15:42):
But it didn't happen, so they had to wait on revenge.
And Kevin Greevy finished up the story. I could I
could listen to the story all night.

Speaker 1 (15:50):
Well, you know, we had a gauntlet off out of
conference play. We had to beat Kansas Notre Dame North
Carolina to get ourselves back on track. And so by
the time the new year starts and we started SEC play,
we righted the ship. We're eight and one. Then we're
feeling good now about our South, always knowing that our
ultimate goal was to win a championship, and so you know,

(16:12):
we had a great run in the SCC. I think
we finished like fifteen and three. We go into the
tournament one of the fifth sixth best records in college basketball.
I think we were fifth seed back then, Mark, you know,
they didn't see so our first game in the NCAA
Tournament was against Marquette and now McGuire had a hell
of a team and they were ranked higher than us.

(16:32):
And that's our first game Ben in TUSCA lous Alabama.
We beat them. Now the sites are on the region
and Indiana's in our bracket and we beat a pretty
good Central Michigan team. Had three pros on that team,
and we beat them handily. And then we go in
and watch Indiana play. I think it was Oregon State
and coach home because we were putting our jackets. Sony said,

(16:55):
let's root for Indiana, guys, let's root for Indiana. We
want them. Is like really setting the stage for us.
Sure enough, you know count with the upsetting date. Let's
let's play these guys. And they blew out Oregon State
and then coach he had a great game plan. Mark
had shoot around the next day, there's Kirk Couty and

(17:16):
Jerry Lucas the broadcaster, sitting in the sand. He told
him to get out. He said, you got to get
out of the building. I said, we we got patches, code,
we're allowed to be there. We're brought And he said, no, Jerry,
you were a teammate of Bobby's night.

Speaker 9 (17:27):
I know what side you're on. Get out.

Speaker 1 (17:29):
We got a game plan to go over and he
put us out on the court and he said, it's
going to be the most physical game your kids ever
played in, and we're gonna pancake every time one of
those moving screens come. And so boy, he's like, hey,
we got we got big to can match up with Indiana.
We got depth. They're not going to call every found.
We're going to not go under a pick or over
a pick. We're going to go through the pick, and

(17:49):
that's how we're going to set the stage for the game.
And sure enough, the stiff goes up, we get the ball,
we score, They come down and they run all these
moving screens at us, and Bob Guyett put his shoulder
in to Steve Green and wading down. Of course it
called a foul, but that's how we were going to
go through those greens. And he also said at halftime,
he said, okay, but I think it was tied at halftime,

(18:12):
and he said, we're right there now, guys, we are
going to have the Damnas party after this game. We're
going to cut down the net. I don't want anybody
get hurt cutting down the nets. We're going to use scissors,
and then we're going to have a police escort back
to the Memorial Coliseum. And we're like, God, this is
sound a good coach.

Speaker 9 (18:30):
And then we're going to have.

Speaker 1 (18:31):
The damas celebration of Memorial Coliseum has ever seen. And
when we go up or down I seventy five South,
every viaduct is going to have Kentucky fans rooting us
back into electing in Kentucky. So let's go out take
care of business. We are going to have the greatest celebration.
I mean, it was all about putting in our minds

(18:51):
the wind we're going to do this. There wasn't any
strategy talk. We had already covered that and I couldn't
wait to take the court in the second half, and
it was the battle. I mean, Ken Benson must have
had one of the best games of players ever had
in the NCAA tournament. He had thirty two points and
twenty some rebounds as well. But it was also Coach
Hall freed up our guards, Jimmy Dan and Mike Flann

(19:12):
and let those guys just play loose and free, and
they were scoring on their guards. So we had a
big team with Roby and Phillips in the middle and
back down on one wing. I'm on the other, and
we just played about as good as you could play
against an undefeated team. And that right back to the
Electionington is Born.

Speaker 2 (19:31):
I'll never forget same here. Drove back the election and
saw those fans out on the highway and it was
an unbelievable memory in a great moment. And the Cats
lost in the final forty UCLA, but Kevin and some
of his teammates. He said, you know, we hated losing
that game, but our championship came against Bob Knight in Indiana.

(19:53):
So I could listen to Kevin Greevy and his teammates
tell that story night after night. Up next, don't forget
Dole guard Sean Woods on six thirty WLAP Welcome back
to the Big Blue. Saturday is Wednesday, meaning we visited
with the unforgettable guard Seawan Woods. He is the head
coach at Scott County High so far undefeated. You want
to know, congratulations, thank you. We will double back to that,

(20:17):
but of course we love talking college basketball and football.
Sean grew up in Notre Dame country, so I want
to talk about Notre Dame a little bit later on. Uh,
but let me get your reaction. Earlier in the show,
I played a comment from Rick Bettino, your old coach,
about no excuses, and uh, I've got to give it

(20:38):
to Mark Pope and we will talk about the Wildcats.
He has had some prime excuse opportunities, but has not
made any excuses for his team. But the comment that
Patino made, you told me right away you'd heard that
probably more than once have you drawn upon that that
parable a little bit as well, that you know, losing
his fertilizer, that sort of thing.

Speaker 9 (21:00):
I've lived my life, especially through athletics and basketball, my
coaching with that philosophy. I live my whole, my whole
professional and professional coaching life through that because he he
you know, he drained that in us. I mean, he
poured that in us. And that's why losing was not
an option with him, because you know, we were scared

(21:24):
to lose, because he does not take losing, uh quite.
I mean, you know.

Speaker 2 (21:34):
Where did you first get Where did you first hear
you said, all your life? Then where'd you first hear that?

Speaker 9 (21:39):
Well, not all my I'm talking about once I got
with him, and then also and then when I was
a little leaguer, I had coaches like you know, Zach
Carter and Park Robinson and James Tendall, you know who
preached that when we were kids. You know about you know, excusees,
all sign of weakness. You know, just you know, that's
why you try to outwork people in practice and things

(21:59):
like that. And you know, you learn from a loss,
you know, you learn from getting dealt with and you
know you don't take it in pout you're taking them,
what can I do better? Why were they better than
us that day? And then you make sure that doesn't
happen again.

Speaker 2 (22:12):
At what age do you believe kids should start worrying
about winning and losing? Because you always hear about leagues
where they don't even keep score. The kids aren't even
kept up to speed on who's winning or losing. But
the parents lose their minds over it. But what's it?
What do you think? Is it good? And I'm sure
it varies from kid the kid, maybe from sport to sport,
I don't know, But what do you think about that?

Speaker 9 (22:35):
I mean, you got any I mean now, because life
is about winning, you know, and life is competitive. And
you know there's an old saying, you know that that
that that sport is you know saying it's easy, but
life is hard. And you know, you learn about life
through athletics, I think, and you know there is a

(22:55):
winner and a loser and everything, you know, And that's
what's going on with these parents now. You know what
I'm saying it was making it tough is they think
that everybody should get the same and they don't, you know,
And I think we're going back, we're setting things back
so far with this n I L and things like that,
because now kids think they should get paid already and

(23:18):
they're not professionals. You know, you got you got to
be a good player to make to make it to
the NBA or play overseas and things like that. Now
these kids are doing it right now, and they're they're
getting softer and softer and softer, because what is there
what else is there to do when you're already getting
generational wealth? I mean what I mean, we we go

(23:39):
to we go to college to become professionals, you know,
we we we we try to get better at in
high school to be to get to college, and we
do try to do great in middle school to attract
the high school coach so we can play on the
high school team. Right, so you know, now we're we're
setting we're going totally against the American way. I think
when you were.

Speaker 2 (24:00):
In college, you played for a guy who made a
lot of money, not nearly the money college coaches are
making now. Believe it or not, but that was thirty
years ago. But did you ever resent the fact that
there were some college coaches and administrators who were making
big money? And I'm offended by people who say scholarships

(24:20):
weren't worth anything, because they were. They are, they still are.
But there was quite an imbalance in what athletes were
producing for universities and what they were getting when it
came to when you looked at what a lot of
coaches were making, did that bother you when you were playing?

Speaker 9 (24:38):
No, because you look at us this coaches are professionals.
You know, they've earned the right to be. It's just
like in any type of fortune five hundred company. You know,
if you're an employee of that company, depending on how
good you are, that's how many raises you get. You know,
you only pay for what your worth is. And these
you know, coaches back then, coach Bettina was considered one

(24:58):
of the best coaches in the country. Why not be
paid like the best country coach in the country. It
wasn't about money then, you know what I'm saying. For us,
you know, it was about you know, poor kid. You
know I wasn't poor, but I wasn't rich either. You know,
our parents with a middle class family. But the best
thing to to from an athletics standpoint, is to get
your athlete to get your academics paid for. You know

(25:20):
how many kids now that are not athletes will will
wish that they can get their academics paid for. You know,
I teach jag now, and I'm trying to teach kids
how to get financial aid or if they don't want
to go to school. You know what I'm saying, Because
at the end of the day, you got to make
a living, and you become a professional, real real quick. Well,
as long as there's an amateur tag on your name,

(25:43):
and the and the and and the corporation that you're
working for, that's what you are. But now it's not that.
And these kids are thinking way ahead, and that's why
you can't coach them anymore. That's why you can't give
them constructive criticism anymore, because we live as such a
microwave society that it's about now. And how can you

(26:06):
coach a kid that's making two million dollars? You tell
him to get on the line, Well, you tell me
to get on the line, or I need you to
win for Kentucky. Well, you think that kid really cares
about Kentucky. You think he cares about somebody in eastern
Kentucky that he doesn't know that lives sleeps in dreams
about Kentucky basketball. No way, it's impossible.

Speaker 2 (26:26):
I don't know that. Do you really believe it's impossible.

Speaker 9 (26:28):
I do think I believe what I'm saying. I'm not
saying it's impossible, but I'm just saying it's the norm.
These kids are not coming to Kentucky for Kentucky. They're
coming to Kentucky for the money. We're the highest paid.
We have the highest paid roster in America, and we're
probably the lowest. We're not We're getting the lowest for

(26:49):
our buck out of anybody in the country.

Speaker 2 (26:51):
Probably speaking of nil, you sent me because Sean and
I swap stuff all the time. Something about John Caliperry's
booster insurance, which it says here will be a major
hit with universities and donors across this new landscape of
nil back by Lloyd's of London. It's a three percent
premium place to an all nil payments separately. If the

(27:14):
player gets hurt or doesn't play before January fifteenth, the
donor receives all of its nil payment back after January fifteenth.
It's only half. That's good business, isn't it. But that's
where we are right now, aren't we.

Speaker 9 (27:28):
That's great business. Can you imagine now you're looking at
eighteen to twenty two year old athlete and you got
to sit across the table fit for him and negotiate
where are we going with this? I know, you know,
nothing's pure anymore, you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (27:42):
Oh yeah, yeah, but there is. Like I said, there
was and has been such an imbalance. But I've always said,
you know, in sports, especially life in general, the pendulum
swings in both directions. Right now it's swinging wildly to
one side. I think it's a level off at some point,
but it's going to take a couple three.

Speaker 9 (28:03):
Years, isn't it, No doubt about it. And now people
are going to be pissed because here's the deal. It's
just like the NBA draft. Okay, I think back in
nineteen ninety three or ninety four when they start capping
the rookie salaries. Before the rookie salaries wasn't capped. Oh yeah, yeah,
Now the rookie salaries are capped. You see what I'm saying.

(28:23):
Just like now, you know this is kind of similar.
You know, college, it wasn't a cap. Now they're going
to put a cap on it. You know, So some
of these kids right now already negotiating for next year
before the cap starts.

Speaker 2 (28:35):
Yeah.

Speaker 9 (28:36):
Interesting, you know, and there's some people that I'm here
or you know what I'm saying in our camp and
a lot of other camps that already have their let
next year's deal already negotiated. So everybody's trying to beat
the curve you can get, stay ahead of the game
so they can maximize the situation.

Speaker 2 (28:53):
Yeah, and we all kind of saw this coming when
when NL took its place in college athletics. Sean Woods
is my I guess he is the unforgettable guarded Jersey
Hans in the rafters of RUP. We'll talk more about
the Wildcats and some football on the other side of
the break here on six thirty WLAP Welcome backward chatting
with Shan Woods. He is the unforgettable guards Jersey Hans
and the rafts of rough Head coach at Scott County

(29:15):
High School. The Wildcats destroyed North Carolina Central and last
night at the talk of the game was Mark Pope
visibly angry, especially at Brandon Garrison benched him for the
rest of the game. In one point. Couple of other
guys some of that emotion that you like to see
Sean coming out of Mark and rightfully so if you

(29:37):
watched it, Garrison, I thought started the game fairly well.
But the next thing you know, he's loafing down the court,
and after that, the next thing you know, his butts
on the bench. Could this have been a turning point
for this team? I know NC Central is one of
the have nots, with all due respect in college basketball
and has been an NCAA tournament team four or five times,

(29:57):
but right now it's kind of a havenck compaired to Kentucky.
Could this be a turning point?

Speaker 9 (30:04):
I don't know, you know, I can't say. You know,
we thought that when we played Tennessee teg and somebody
else would be a turning turning point too. So I
got to see them really play against a top tier team.
They'll get it, they'll get their chance against Indiana. I think.
I think it's a game that we can win. Uh.

(30:25):
But you know, things have got to change, you know
what I'm saying. We can't be part time basketball players.
You know, we play good, you know for two minute stretches,
and all of a sudden we have a lull because
we're getting out tough and now hustled and you know,
looking like we don't know what we're doing, especially from
a defensive standpoint. You know, one thing that I'm still,
you know, not happy with is we don't score good

(30:47):
enough in transition and we don't get enough easy buckets
to allow you to score more points in bunches. And
that's because we don't have a point guard, of course.
And I know that's becoming a broken record, but it
is what it is.

Speaker 10 (31:01):
Uh.

Speaker 9 (31:01):
But I thought when he did finally put Low in,
we got more paint touches, and guy's got more open
shots in the rhythm because you shoot more rhythm when
you get you know, penetrating kicking and things like that.
And I think that's what he brings to the table.
I don't think he has to score much right now.
I just think he needs to stay within himself and

(31:21):
try not to do much so he didn't have to
really extend. But every time somebody runs him off a
screen or something like that, our cringe because all it
takes when you got that laboring problem, that's all the
Texas won good bump. But you know, we do look
so good when he's in there, because we look like
we got a point guard, you know what I mean.
But when he's done, when he's not in there, it

(31:42):
just doesn't look look too good. And you know that,
you know what what they were able to do against
North Carolina Central, you know as well as I do,
that they're not gonna be able do that against again.

Speaker 2 (31:51):
And everybody knows that. Yeah, but you know, you go
back to that and Jagga game that everybody's so unhappy,
and rightfully so. But I shann I watch that game
Monday morning. I was working volleyball and I decided I'm
just going to go with football over the weekend. So
I waited until Monday morning to watch it, and I
knew what was gonna happen, So it wasn't really the

(32:12):
same as is watching of course unfold in real time,
and you know, there's no emotion attached to it. I
didn't spend any money to go to Nashville and sit
in the arena or just you know, drive there to
cover the game and watch this horrendous shooting exhibition. But
I kept telling myself that, you know, if some of
those shots had gone down, then it obviously would have

(32:34):
been a different game. They might not have won, But
I think that it would. It would have been fuel
I think for for more Kentucky fire. You know, they
would have just been a hell of a lot more competitive.
But when your shots aren't falling, what a nightmare. And
then you know midway through the second half they kind
of let go of the rope. As a as a coach,

(32:54):
as a former player, that had to be rough for
you to watch that mess.

Speaker 9 (32:58):
Well, you miss shots because the attitude is bad. You
know what I'm saying. You're not engaged. When you're engaged
in a game, you don't miss that many shots. I'm
just telling you. When you're engaged and you engauge defensively,
shots become they go in eat more easier. You know,
when you're out there moping and not together and and
and looking guys off and you know, not playing together,

(33:23):
that's what it looks like. You know, basketball is a rhythm,
and basketball offense is really created off your defense. And
when you're on your heels all the time and you
know you're getting out hustled for offensive rebounds that you're
giving up and loose balls, and when you come back
on the other end and nothing's easy and you're missing,

(33:43):
they're not missing wide shots they're missing. They're missing rushed,
wide open shots.

Speaker 1 (33:49):
Man.

Speaker 9 (33:49):
Just they're not towing up at the line neither. They're
shooting bombs. So they're taking tough threes and rush threes.
And we're not that type of team that could make
those type of shots on a consistent So we're always
going to have nights like that. We have to live
on our defense. We have to be a defensive team,
and we got to create offense from our defense and

(34:11):
transition situations. And even when we do get stops, we
don't get great transition looks because we don't have a
maestro or a guy who's fluent enough to make plays
get by the initial defender to go make a play
for himself with somebody else in transition. And when you
don't do that, and you've got to manufacture points every

(34:31):
time in the half court, you're not going to win
too many games and you're not going to score that
many points.

Speaker 2 (34:36):
Before I let you go just a few minutes level,
I want to ask you, because we've talked football throughout
the year, and you're a football fan. You played it,
and as I said, Shawn's from Gary, Indiana, the Gary,
Indiana area. It's notre Dame country up there? What as
a as a fan, as a coach, I know, you
don't coach football, but this Notre Dame business man, they're

(34:57):
getting killed in social media and Notre Dame, you know,
backers are trying to defend their school for uh saying
we're not playing in any ball game and complaining about
getting screwed out of the playoffs, which I do believe.
I thought they were hosed. But you know, take my
ball and go home. We're not going to play after this.
What's your take on that? Just as as an observer.

Speaker 9 (35:17):
As a fan, Yeah, I remember that Notre Dame has
always been an independent, especially in football. Notre Dame is
the number one brand in college football, always has been.
New Rotney is probably the most traditional traditionist coach in
all of college football. Notre Dame has always beated to

(35:38):
their own drum. Always the only reason why they're in
a conference in basketball because they just had to get
into a conference in basketball. But Notre Dame does not
care about anybody else's football deal. They've been like this
for years. Okay, they're mad now because Alabama from a
from a brand standpoint, has become more so than know

(36:00):
the Dame's brand, and that's the reason why Alabama is
in the playoffs. Date is in their minds more so
than the Notre Dame brand, and because and it hurts
because Alabama is in the SEC, which is considered the
toughest conference in the country. So if you can lose
two or three games in the SEC and get blasted
in the SEC championship and still make the playoffs, that's

(36:22):
a that's a smack into Notre Dame's face, yep, because
Notre Dame doesn't care about SEC, not the game. Not
the Dame thinks that they're just as big being an
independent in football as anybody else and that no matter
if they're in the SEC or not day and they
have been and they have been lately too, so for

(36:43):
them to be snubs out of the playoffs, you got
to understand the way they're feeling. And they're telling the
NC doub layer whoever, because you know, these bold situations
aren't really governed by the NC double A. From what
I understand, they're telling them to shove it.

Speaker 2 (36:57):
Well, it is a college football playoff, but that's a oh,
you know, that's neither here nor there. But it's just
you talk about a bad look. But on the other hand,
having read, I did not know that Notre Dame back
in the day wanted to join a conference, the Western Conference,
and they said no, you know, and you know, we
don't need you, we don't want you. So when they
went on and cut their own deals, why shouldn't they

(37:19):
be an independent if they're cutting deals like that. But
you're you're spot on. I think with the Alabama I
did not think Alabama belonged in the playoff. I really
didn't after what happened in that game and that conference
championship game. And if that means these conference championship games
have to go away, so be it. You know, what's
the point with these things anymore?

Speaker 9 (37:38):
But I think you're spot conference championship. They say that
conference championship doesn't matter and conference tournament doesn't matter. Well,
it just showed just then because Alabama got embarrassed. They
didn't just get beat they got embarrassed by Georgia. Yeah,
but you know what, so.

Speaker 2 (37:52):
They're not going away, brother, because they make too much
money exactly.

Speaker 9 (37:56):
So that's what I'm saying. So you got to understand
I'm not backing Notre Dame, but I understand Notre Dame
because I understand their way of thinking and.

Speaker 1 (38:07):
They're right.

Speaker 9 (38:07):
So that's what how Notre Dame feels. And I'm gonna
tell you this, if it comes to this next year,
I guarantee you Notre Dame's in there.

Speaker 2 (38:15):
Wow. That's an interesting and well that's gonna have to
happen for this to happen falling place, but that's an
interesting prediction. We'll leave it as Daddy is Sean Woods.
He's the head coach at Scott County High School playing tonight.
Good luck coach, and the Billy Hicks Classic really all
week and if folks want to check it out, going
over to your gym, right Scott.

Speaker 9 (38:34):
County High School, that's right at six o'clock today.

Speaker 2 (38:37):
Very good Thanks coach. Talk to you soon, all right, Dick,
And that'll do it for our number one. Coming up.
In our number two, we'll talk volleyball with Cam Schitzock.
She worked with me on the SEC plus broadcast last
week of UK Volleyball and also played on the twenty
twenty national championship team at Kentucky Plus. Our West End
Bureau chief Gary Moore will check in on the other side.

(39:00):
Know the news break here on six thirty Light.

Speaker 11 (39:02):
P think.

Speaker 9 (40:28):
Don't have to.

Speaker 11 (40:45):
Do things.

Speaker 2 (40:59):
Welcome back at the Big Blue Insider. I re number
two of our program. Coming up in just a few minutes.
Cam Schitzock will join us. Former Kentucky volleyball player, she
was a part of the twenty twenty NCAA championship squad.
She also made her broadcasting debut last week with Yours
Truly on SEC Plus, working the nca tournament as the
Wildcats won their first two matches and moved on. So

(41:22):
she will chat with us coming up in a few
minutes and preview tomorrow afternoon's match with Cayle poly Came
did a great job last week. Also coming up in
a couple of minutes. Gary Moore, our West End bureau chief.
I want to look back at the Kentucky game one
more time. Here our comments from Mark Pope earlier in
the show in a later note. If you saw the
game to this conclusion, you saw Zach Tao, the walk on,

(41:46):
hit a three pointer from right in front of the
Kentucky bench, and the joyful celebration was incredible. Anybody who
wants to think there's dissension on this team, No, nobody's
happy when you're losing, but people are trying to kind
of pigeonhole his team a little bit. I don't buy it.
I've been to practice. I don't buy it. Again, i
haven't been in practice in a while, but I just

(42:07):
don't see it anyhow. This is a great example of
how these guys they always do when the walk Ons
get in root for each other. He hit a big
shot his first three pointer as a Wildcat. Here's how
Tom Leach and Jack Gibbons called it on the UK
Radio Network.

Speaker 1 (42:22):
That was past left corner towel open three.

Speaker 10 (42:28):
Bingo from a left corner Zach.

Speaker 5 (42:30):
Tow Oh man, they love best guys, They love these
walk on say, just don't get that much recognition.

Speaker 2 (42:41):
Honestly, that's as excited as I've ever heard Tom Leach.
And I've heard every football game except for a couple
that he's ever done. I've listened to so many basketball games,
and he just loved that shot and you could tell
and you know who else loved it, Mark Pope, and
he shared an interesting story in the postgame show about
that kid and that shot.

Speaker 4 (43:02):
I'm gonna tell you what. That was the second great
thing that Zach did tonight. So Zach gave our pregame speech,
and we all know Zach's story, Like he just is
this incredible kid who's working so hard to get in
law school here at the University of Kentucky. He's taken
the els at twice. He's got a qualifying score. So
if anybody has any in with the law school here

(43:24):
at the University of Kentucky, Zach taw you want to
have him in the next class man. He's just an
incredible young man. So he's really special. And so he
gave a speech before before before to our team before
the game, and he talked about how for his brothers,
if somebody asked him to run through a wall, he

(43:46):
would do it, and he had tears in his eyes
because it's in his heart. And he talked about what
it means to wear this jersey and we're still trying
to understand that in this late in the early part
of the season. But he's an incredible example. And so
you know, when you have a guy talk about that,
believe that, believe that cry, that shared that with his team,
it's only appropriate that he's going to roll in the

(44:07):
game and get a shot in the in the in
the deep corner you know, and and bang it because
it's how he's built. He's really special and I'm grateful
for you. I'm grateful we get to coach him, grateful
these other.

Speaker 2 (44:17):
Team tears in his eyes giving a pregame speech. Can
you imagine having a lawyer that passionate working for you.
That's a great story by Mark Pope. So I hope
you got to see the shot. You can find it
if not on Twitter x whatever. But uh yeah, that
was kind of fun, wasn't it. A couple of notes

(44:38):
from around college athletics. Troy Aikman, NFL analyst, I think
is great piece. Some people don't like him for some reason.
I think they're bound to determine just not to like people.
But he works with Joe Buck and he's terrific. But
he did an interview with Richard Nitch, who's actually been
on our show as a great podcast for gosh, I'm
not sure who he does it for now, but he

(45:00):
writes for The Athletic and he writes covers media and
he interviewed Aikman, who talked about the age of nil
and Troy Aikman started his career at Oklahoma, finished at UCLA,
went on to a great pro career. Now he's a
terrific broadcaster. But he mentioned the fact that he donated
money as an alum as a letterman to UCLA, and

(45:24):
he said, I gave money to a kid. Nil money.
I gave money to a kid. I won't mention who.
I've done it one time at UCLA. Never met the
young man. He was there a year. He left. After
the year. I wrote a sizeable check and he went
to another school. I didn't even get so much as
a thank you note. So it's one of those deals

(45:47):
to where I'm done with nil. I want to see
UCLA be successful, but I'm done with it. How about
that that's a high profile alum, a donor and he's
done with it. Couldn't be more interesting, I think. I
think it's a fascinating story. And he also said what

(46:09):
a lot of us believe. He said, there's got to
be some leadership at the very top that kind of
cleans all of this up. They need a czar of
college football. I don't know who that could be, if
it's Saban or whoever, but desperately needed in college football now,
it's never been more popular based on TV ratings, I
can tell you that and College Game Day. He has

(46:32):
panas saying it's the most watched season ever. Starting with
Lee Corso's farewell episode in August built an audience for
that episode, and it just kept growing. They said it
had an average of three and a half million viewers.
More than five million tuned in for the grand finale.

(46:53):
That's when Corso made his what half a dozen picks?
Got them all right? Got them all right? And I'll
tell you what if I'm Pat McAfee, I'm making noises
about a record or about a raise. The program averaged
two point seven million viewers, up twenty two percent in
year over year viewership. It also scored its top nine

(47:16):
regular season shows in program history, So College Game Day
popular with the viewers college football. I can't wait to
see what the ratings are going to be like for
the playoffs upcoming. Now, while we're on the subject, the
Big Ten championship game Indiana Ohio State one versus two

(47:36):
and in the overall scheme of things, didn't mean anything
when it came to the college football playoff, but it
drew a huge audience in the end of winning it
first outright Big Ten titles since nineteen forty five. Defensive struggle.
Evidently nobody turned away because it had a huge audience.

(47:57):
According to Fox Sports, eighteen point three, three million people
watched Saturday night in prime time, the most watched Big
Ten Championship in the fourteen year history of the event.
And again, you gotta think there were more than just
Who's your and Buckeye fans. I watched. Yeah, it was

(48:17):
a great game, thirteen to ten, still a great game.
So college football is feeling it right now, feeling very
muscily Up. Next, Cam Shitzock to preview Kentucky cow Poly
Volleyball on six point thirty WLAP. Welcome back to the
Big Mowon Sider, joining us down on celebrity hotline for
the first time, although we worked together last week on

(48:39):
the UK Volleyball. Cam Schitzock, former volleyball player, herself national
champion with the twenty twenty team. Cam, I'm excited are
you for this week? This tournament not quite the same
as you were playing, but I gotta think pretty close,
am I right?

Speaker 12 (48:54):
Absolutely? Yes, Thank you Dick for having me on. Just
so excited for them and they've just had a great
run at the energy's high and I think this will
be a really good match before we talked it.

Speaker 2 (49:05):
A wildcads, let's talk about that about why it's going
to be a good match. Cal Poly one of the
teams that pulls off and upset be four seeded us SE.
Did you get to see any of that match? I
saw a little bit of it. They're big, They're strong,
aren't they.

Speaker 12 (49:20):
Yes, I didn't get to see the match, but I
know that they have had a good year and are
coming in hot and kind of just you know, if
you're an underdog team coming in, you're just swinging, you
have nothing to lose and just playing loose. So they're
looking really good right now.

Speaker 2 (49:35):
Well, they had three players with double digit kills. But
and you know, this game infinitely better than I do.
USC had a better hitting percentage, they had more kills,
they had more blocks. How does the team survive and
pull out a five setter when the numbers are like that?

Speaker 12 (49:54):
Yeah, sometimes the numbers don't add up with what the
score is at the end of the day. But I
really think it plays just their scrappiness, their great kind
of just their defensive side that you know people are
able to hit that well, are they making tough serves
and getting them out of system and just really having

(50:16):
some crazy plays and crazy ups throughout the game. I
think are kind of being the difference makers for that well.

Speaker 2 (50:22):
And to your point, Southern cal had seven more service
errors Kentucky. You and I talked about this on the broadcast.
Is an aggressive serving team and Kreig Skinner made that decision.
You and I discussed this several years ago, really preceding
the championship year. I said, we've got to be more
aggressive serving because more and more teams across the country

(50:46):
we're having success like that. Explain to the listeners why
that's so vital.

Speaker 12 (50:53):
Serving is really the first step of I mean, any
point in the game, and it really starts with your service.
You can put speed a good float serve if you
can kind of put it in between two passers that
might be a little bit more hesitant, and really locate
that ball. You're doing really well. And what you look

(51:13):
for with a strong serving team, it's not only those
three things tempo, you know, speed, locations, but also getting
the team out of system because if they are able
to pass off the net, if you're a really good
serving team, you get to the other side pass off
the net. It's really hard to run an offense and
get people like your middle blockers involved and run in

(51:34):
tempo games. So it really starts with serving and.

Speaker 2 (51:38):
That's something I learned watching this game. That's why they
serve at the other team's best players, don't they. They
serve at the big hitters, or they serve at Oftentimes
people serve in Molly Tuzzo, the libro, trying to disrupt
that offensive float, don't they? Yes?

Speaker 12 (51:54):
And sometimes it also depends where you know Tuzzo could
be on the court. If she is mirror where you
have a lot of like the middle blocker and the
right side tin on her side, and you serve it
specifically to her, it just causes a lot of congestion
on that side of the court, and so it's hard
to run plays from that perspective.

Speaker 2 (52:14):
Do you think Kentucky's playing its best volleyball right now?
I do.

Speaker 12 (52:19):
I think they there's just some flow about them. There's
this intensity. You can feel it when you watch them
in any stadium, but you can also see it on TV,
like there's such intensity and grit behind the way they play.
I really feel that they are just the momentums in
their favor. They are just playing loose and just the

(52:40):
will to win is so high.

Speaker 2 (52:42):
So we talk with Molly Tuzzu on their state wide
show Monday night, and I asked her about exactly what
you just mentioned intensity, specifically in Eva Hudson, and before
I could finish the question, cam she was chuckling because
it's just so evident, you know when you see Eva Hudson,
not just the look in her face now, I mean
pumping her fist and screaming. I mean, have you ever

(53:04):
seen anybody who plays with more intensity?

Speaker 12 (53:07):
I mean, you know, I've definitely had the privilege of
playing with people who are intense, especially like in the
big moments. But Eva Hudson, you just, you know, you
just draw up to her when you see her on
the TV. You just go immediately to her, and it
makes you want to play. Like as a former player,
it makes you want to be out there on the
court and play with somebody like that. So I definitely

(53:28):
think that it's contagious, it's energetic, and it really is
just like a piece of the puzzle of Kentucky's momentum
right now.

Speaker 2 (53:36):
It's inevitable that people want to compare teams, and of
course you played on the championship team, which was deep
and talented, so many ways to beat you. I will
say I think this Kentucky team is coming close to
that because, yeah, you've got the two great hitters in
Brooklyn delay Eva Hudson, but gosh, Asia Thigpen it only
five ten making huge kills, and you've got a middle

(53:59):
in six' Five Lizzie carr who can jump up and
hurt people as well as terrific. Defense you, know, again
unfair to, compare but what do you think of the
depth on This kentucky team top to?

Speaker 12 (54:11):
BOTTOM i, mean to your, point the list goes on and.
On if you, know if one player were to have
a bad night and not hitting what they needed to
be hitting or what they've done in the, Past kentucky
can rely on so many different, options whether it is
a middle blocker putting in six ten or daily or
somebody you, know switching it. Up they have such a

(54:32):
great death of arms on the, team of players of you,
know servers top to. Bottom SO i, think and you,
know each year that looks different for every, team and
for our team that's you, know the one that won
the national, championship it looked different and we had freshmen
even playing in The National, championship and they were just

(54:56):
our go to are. Consistent SO i think it definitely
to its, point looks different for every. Team but this
team specifically right, now has so much depth that if
somebody were to have an off, night you can rely
on other people to kind of pull that weight and
get the.

Speaker 2 (55:11):
Win, yeah we're talking To Cam, schitzock the Former kentucky
volleyballer now worked with us on THE sec plus last.
Week but, Yeah Kennedy washington played all four sets and
had three big kills and two block. Assists, Meanwhile Jordan,
daly who at times has been absolutely, heroic she only
got into the one. Set So Craig skinner basically mixing

(55:32):
and matching and does that as well as.

Speaker 12 (55:34):
Anybody does Any, Yes AND i think one thing That
craig really talks about during the season, is you, know
if you have fifteen players on a, team it's going
to take all fifteen of. You and so at any,
point at any that putting in. Somebody you, know you
may only play one set in this, match or you
may be the starter in the, next but being prepared

(55:56):
for the, moment and that starts with what you do in,
practice and also you know, Acknowledging, OKAY i might not
be the, starter but helping whoever is, starting like giving them.
Insight and then if you know they need a part
of my, skill a part of my game out there
on the, court THEN i can offer that and WHEN
i go, In i'm going to do my best at my.

Speaker 6 (56:16):
Job.

Speaker 12 (56:16):
Then SO i think it's definitely preparing for every. Moment
and it isn't a matter of just, like, oh it
just takes the starting. Six it's like it really takes
all fifteen of the.

Speaker 2 (56:26):
Girls Cal poly of, course has to come across, country
not being part of The big. Ten that was not
part of their regular. Routine they did go TO la
and UPSET usc on its home. COURT i got to,
think cam they're going to come in here playing, like,
hey we got nothing to, lose right against the number one.
Seed how much is the home court advantage big For

(56:47):
kentucky because, yeah they don't have to go three thousand
miles and obviously you get to sleep in your own,
bed but at this, juncture how big is.

Speaker 12 (56:56):
That it's and it's, huge it's absolutely. HUGE i, mean
just to continue to stay in your own, routine your own.
Rhythm you, know you know the, gym you know the depth,
perception you know what it's like to play in this pact.
Arena like that is an advantage in and of. Itself
and if you're cow poly coming into, this you want

(57:17):
to expect. That you want to. Expect, okay every seat's
going to be sold. Out the noise is going to be.
Crazy you, know look around the. Gym get the depth.
Perception when you're. Serving what does it feel like if
it's colder, Air, like how does that feel for the
grow if she's? Passing, like what does that feel on your?
Platform so there's so much that goes into, it AND
i really think it is such an advantage For kentucky

(57:38):
to be.

Speaker 2 (57:38):
Home wait a, minute you got to check the cold
air really, well just.

Speaker 12 (57:43):
Like i'm, thinking you know it's, cold it's maybe a little,
different you, know the, passing the balls that are being
served really, hard that might feel a little different feel you,
know create some red burns on your arms because it
just feels. Different so there's a lot that goes into.

Speaker 9 (57:59):
IT i feel.

Speaker 2 (58:00):
Well of, course now at air, conditioning you don't know
the big ass fans up there that might create an
air pattern a. Windflow that's what coach is always worried.
About just a minute or two left With Cam, schizog
but it's a huge match coming. Up what do you
think of the crowds you have seen In Historic Memorial.
COLISEUM i know they weren't quite, full but it's been really,

(58:21):
fun thanks in large part to the way the team has,
played but Also Craig skinner's done a great, job hasn't
he and trying to whip up the enthusiasm he really Has.

Speaker 12 (58:30):
And from the jump it's always about like playing for
The Big Glue, nation and you know you play for
the team on the front of your, jersey and SO
i Think Big Glue nation has really stepped in in
so many moments throughout the season and has really been
fun to play. For AND i think they'll do it
again This thursday for.

Speaker 2 (58:50):
Sure if you could give a piece of advice to
any or every player on this roster when it comes
to surviving and advancing in THE Nca tournament all the
way to the final four and, through what would you
say to?

Speaker 9 (59:02):
THEM a good.

Speaker 12 (59:05):
QUESTION i would say two, things, honestly do it two for?

Speaker 9 (59:10):
Here?

Speaker 12 (59:11):
YEAH i would say one is to be just so
present because IT i mean for seniors it's you, know
one and, done and it can be you, know you
step into this whole identity shift and. Everything SO i
think especially for, seniors like going into the tournament just
being so present with so much gratitude for not only your,

(59:33):
season where you come and just where you are right.
Now AND i think number two would be just to
go for, it like you are at your best when
you just go for, it when you take the heavy,
swing when you decide to you, know run the, play
when you decide to have this huge leadership. MOMENT i

(59:53):
just think you are your best version when you're going
for it in the tournament right. Now so those would
be my two, things being present and then just going for.

Speaker 2 (01:00:01):
It, hey sounds good to. Me and it worked in twenty,
twenty maybe it'll work again this. Year can't thank you so.
Much we will see you at the. Coliseum thank you so.

Speaker 12 (01:00:10):
MUCH i appreciate.

Speaker 2 (01:00:11):
It up Next West End Bureau Chief Gary moore here
on six THIRTY. Wlap welcome back to The Big Blue.
Saturday it Is, wednesday which is when we usually gather together.
Here through the miracle of digital, technology we're Our Western
Bureau Chief Gary moore on the enter end OF i sixty,
four Longtime West Coast bureau chief when he was covering
sports and spinning stacks of wacks FOR Kalos radio In Los,

(01:00:34):
angeles but now back IN la The louisville. Area what's,
happening you, man you're.

Speaker 13 (01:00:39):
Happening we got six things to talk, about two guys
in a six pack here and our first. Swig, Well
i'm happy to say That i'm FINALLY i believe thought.
Out at least my back end is thought. Out from
sitting on the, aluminum the non heated aluminum seats At
Kroger Field, saturday watching My Murray High tigers get throttled

(01:01:01):
by a really Outstanding Christian Academy louisville team for the
three to eight. CHAMPIONSHIP i left just out in the third,
quarters thirty five to. Nothing at that, POINT i, said you,
know there's a breadstick in. Pizza Joe b's calling my,
Name So i'm headed there try and thought.

Speaker 8 (01:01:16):
Out and it occurred to. Me and we've talked about this.
Before you can tell me whether or not this would
work or. Not it occurred to.

Speaker 13 (01:01:22):
Me it's just how unfair things are and how there
really ought to be other kinds of playoff scenarios In
kentucky high school. FOOTBALL i think it's kind of screwed
up for a couple of. Things first of, all group
all the private SCHOOLS i think in one bracket all
the public schools in, another like they do in several other.
States and AS i was freezing my rear end, off

(01:01:44):
it occurred to me that we need to move also
the playoffs Before, thanksgiving if, possible get them away From.
December it is so. COLD i know that hampers a
lot of people coming from wherever to watch some of these.
Games for, example take the first two meaning rounds in every, Class,
Dick there's no logical reason other than a cheap cash

(01:02:06):
cash grab for Your Trinity rocks to be playing one
to Nine Great crossing in the first. Round you know
The kuys can get. Hurt it just doesn't mean. Anything
and then playing six and Five Simon kenton after, that
and the same thing for Cal cal opened up with
a one to Nine Mercer county And murray even opened

(01:02:27):
up with a three and Seven Adare. County just get
rid of that, stuff maybe charge more for tickets. WHATEVER
i know that they're doing it for. Money and just
Because cal's a THREE a school doesn't mean they can't
punch above their so Called, wait you, Know cal beat
eventual FIVE a Champion owensboro thirty five to zip At.

Speaker 8 (01:02:43):
Owensboro this. Year they also beat.

Speaker 13 (01:02:45):
SIX a semi Finalists ryle At ryle and FIVE a
Powerhouse Bowling Green small. Consolation My murray. Hype tigers are
the number one THREE a public school in the. State
But i'm just wondering would that kind of scenario public
and private school brackets ever.

Speaker 2 (01:03:02):
Work, well you really raised two issues. HERE i wouldn't
have any problem with. That it's it's it's and then,
Look i'm An i'm A trinity. Shamrock. Uh it has
become really unbalanced in the state Of. KENTUCKY i don't
know what they do in other states. ANYMORE i lived
In texas for a couple of. YEARS i don't remember
how they handled it down, there but there there's got
to BE i, think a way to to kind of

(01:03:24):
try to level the playing, field if you. Can back
in the, day WHEN i was in high, school we
had a city champion AND a and a state champion
within THREE, a which is What trinity was back. THEN
i don't know what the answer is in terms of
the uh classifications with the, brackets but, uh the m
word is exactly where you went. Money AND i agree

(01:03:46):
with the. Playoffs i'm, sorry but, hey we made the. Playoffs,
yeah you're one to. Nine he had a, pulse you,
qualified you got to you gotta do away with. That
but you know THE catchsa doesn't have a whole lot of.
Bucks And i'm not talking about the office down On
Winchester road, HERE i mean in general and the football.
Playoffs that's a revenue. Producer so when you, change you

(01:04:09):
start to look at, Changes you've got to keep that in.
Mind you, know how do they fund how do they
chase dollars that are becoming more and more.

Speaker 13 (01:04:16):
Scarce, hey here's a good. Fundraiser have cal And trinity.
Play let's see that out of The Cardinal. STADIUM i
would love to be right our second swig. Here you,
know one of the great things for me About indiana
BEATING osu over the weekend was being able to shut
Up buckeye Backers Herb street And Urban meyer at least
for the time, being Especially Herb street after you said

(01:04:38):
last year The hoosiers didn't even belong on the field
With Notre. Dame, yeah how's that working out, Now? Kurt
so we've got The who's as the number one overall,
seed and here is How i'm predicting it's all going
to play, out BECAUSE i did predict them to beat
The buckeyes on Se so in the upper, BRACKET i
Got oregon And oklahoma. Advancing Texas tech will Beat. Oregon

(01:05:00):
indiana is gonna Beat, oklahoma and then The hoosiers will Beat,
tech and that's gonna be a great, GAME i think
of it gets that far and they'll go into the.
Finals then in the lower, BRACKET i Got, Ole miss
AND a AND m moving On georgia beating The rebels.
Again The buckeyes will beat The aggies and then The
dogs will AND i love watching them beat The. Bucks
so it's gonna be quite The Georgia indiana, finals AND

(01:05:23):
i will once again Predict indiana to win for a storybook.

Speaker 8 (01:05:26):
Season thank you very.

Speaker 2 (01:05:27):
Much and disclaimer he is married to AND i you
grad BUT i like your predictions quite. Frankly and now
You're Indiana. Tech that's gonna Be it's gonna be ugly
because it's gonna be a defensive, game believe it or.
Not but it's still gonna be like a one Nothing pitchers,
duel you know what can be a thing of. BEAUTY
i agree with. That, Yeah and and you know you're

(01:05:49):
kind of root For oregon because you want to see
as much as a Will stein offense as you. CAN
i think Maybe oregon does pull off a win there
in that first, round BUT i could see the whosi'res
completing The cinderella. Story how about? That and the great
thing about it, is you know it ain't. Fluky. Uh
they've got an outstanding. Quarterback they've got a tremendous defense

(01:06:12):
with to, ME i think a linebacker who Deserves heisman
consideration through talking About indiana now and h and a
coach who knows how to get it. Done so it's
gonna be.

Speaker 13 (01:06:22):
Fun i'm watching to see How georgia peaks because you,
know they're playing, really really well on all. Cylinders our
third swig, Here, DICK i have to admit THAT i.
Am i'm really naive these days at my older. Age you,
know after The sunday selection, SHOW i kept waiting For
Notre dame to be mature adult enough to say something, like,

(01:06:42):
quote you, know we vehemently disapprove of the committee Choosing
miami OVER us and especially Putting bama in with what three,
losses even though we didn't take care of business against
The canes on the.

Speaker 2 (01:06:54):
Field but you know, what.

Speaker 8 (01:06:54):
We're gonna go to a great bowl.

Speaker 13 (01:06:56):
Game we're gonna play our hearts, out especially for the
seniors because they see of having a football team is
to play, football and that's What Notre dame is.

Speaker 9 (01:07:04):
For.

Speaker 13 (01:07:04):
UNQUOTE i was expecting, that but, no they played the,
spoiled petulant toddler, card took their Golden dome helmets and
quit on the. Postseason, yeah they showed, us didn't. They
so the obviously answer to how you fix, that, well
join a conference college football playoffs promises slots the top

(01:07:25):
five ranked conference, winners which is Why tulane And James
madison are. In But Notre dame will never join THE
acc in football, now even though you play in what
twenty four OTHER acc sports as a, member and even
after all, this but hurt, hooey they don't have to
join because they signed some entitled memo of agreement guaranteeing

(01:07:45):
them a slot in The College Football playoffs if they're
ranked in the top. Twelve that goes into effect next.
Year plus they've got so many pushovers that they themselves
control on their schedule that being in the top twelve
is all but a.

Speaker 8 (01:07:58):
Given so until then went like a. Champion that was
one of the great.

Speaker 2 (01:08:03):
Memes And gary's referring to the sign over the. Tunnel
let's just play like a champion, today and then people
had a lot of fun with. THAT i agree with
you in. Part, yeah they don't have to join a,
conference BUT i didn't know, this and maybe you had
read up on, it BUT i didn't realize That Notre
dame wanted to join a, conference the Old Western conference

(01:08:23):
back in the, day and was denied and then denied
again because of Anti catholic. Bias so they, said, okay,
fine we'll go our own separate, way and it worked
out for. Them SO i really don't blame them for,
that BUT i think they do have an incredibly strong
argument Against. Alabama you, Know alabama again AN sec guy,

(01:08:47):
here but not just three, Losses, gary but an embarrassing
loss in the conference championship, game and you know what
might have happened. There If alabama's left, out maybe they
take a look at that conference championship and, say, now
do we really need or want? This the answer is
always going to be, yes because of. Money. Money, yeah but,

(01:09:08):
yeah they've got to do something about. That And Notre,
dame which takes a lot of pride now in everything
it does academically and, athletically now is the shame of college.
Football quite, frankly, WELL.

Speaker 13 (01:09:22):
I think it was a, mistake not just from a pr,
standpoint but from a money, standpoint maybe a popularity standpoint
to PLAY byu and the Pop Tarts. Bowl Pop Tarts
bowl all of a sudden is Now america's favorite.

Speaker 8 (01:09:33):
BOWL i guess why wouldn't you want? That you know
there's money involved with that as.

Speaker 2 (01:09:38):
Well And i'm like, YOU i wonder how the seniors
feel about. That they may be on board with, it but,
YEAH i hope if it was put to a, VOTE
i hope they let us.

Speaker 13 (01:09:44):
Know fourth's wig here in the six. Packs so pro
football tomorrow. Night Last, thursday may recall how WRONG i
was saying That dallas was going to Beat detroit. GLAD
i was wrong BECAUSE i love The. Lions but as
for tomorrow, night The bucks will beat The falcons In.
Tampa really going out on a limb on this. One
BUT i was right picking Your pack over The bears

(01:10:06):
this Past. Sunday now This, sunday some major major matchups
including your. Boys first of, all the early games On,
Sunday chargers at The Chiefs Kansas city four and a
half point favorite in that, One buffalo At New england
finally a, rematch and The patriots are point and a
half underdogs at home because they finally have to play somebody.
Again in their last eight, games The patriots have only

(01:10:29):
played one, team The, buccaneers with a winning. Record we'll
see how this goes On. Sunday then in the late,
games Got detroit at The Rams rams five and a
half point, favorites and Your packers At Mile high Against.
Denver what a game this is going to? Be and
your boys are favored two and a half. Points packers
right now with the second best record in THE nfc
too The. RAMS i ask, You Dick gabriel and stockholder

(01:10:51):
of The. Packers if the conference championship was Played, sunday
who would? Win The rams or Your? Packers provided The
packers didn't wear a lane alternate?

Speaker 2 (01:11:00):
Jersey oh gosh if? HEALTHY i think The packers would
have a great chance because they could get all kinds
of pressure on The RAMS. Qb but it just seems
like The packers are doing just enough to win right,
now and that's no way to go through the. PLAYOFFS i, mean,
obviously if it's enough to, win, yeah but one mistake

(01:11:24):
and you're looking at the wrong end of a. Score
But i'm kind of back. ON i was off the
bandwagon for a. WHILE i was really. Concerned i'm back.
On and after watching him beat a pretty Good bears,
team you make a good point about The. PATRIOTS i Like.
Buffalo in that, game you, wonder As Kansas city just
gonna play out the. String you, know this is not
The Kansas city we've seen for the last several. Years

(01:11:46):
so it's crunch time in THE, nfl and it's.

Speaker 8 (01:11:48):
Fun fifth swig of the Sixth. Pack let's Talk kentucky.

Speaker 13 (01:11:52):
BASKETBALL uk to get well game maybe last, night and
just like The Eastern Illinois loyola See tech, games after
losses To louisville And Michigan, state they got their shooting eyes.
Back they fix some problems obviously with rebounding and, assists
and hoped it sticks against the next tough team on the,
schedule which happens to be formerly number twenty two and

(01:12:14):
now unranked eight and Two Indiana. Hoosiers Saturday, Night Ruckus
arena hated rivals renew With Charles barkley And DICKY v
together on the commentary ON espn seven, Thirty maybe all
the more reason to tune in for the audio here ON.
Wlap everybody knows what they're looking for The cats to
do On saturday, Night it's no. Secret but also one

(01:12:37):
week later Against Rick bettino and number twenty Two Saint,
john's and they also have at least nine games with
currently RANKED sec teams awaiting After Saint John's, saturday the
double whammy of a must win against a quality team
and slash longtime rival at That, So, DICK i asked
you After, louisville is this Mark pope's biggest game given

(01:13:01):
the tech context of, EVERYTHING i.

Speaker 2 (01:13:02):
Say, yes given the. Calendar also given what we saw
last night where it seemed Like kentucky got some of
its fire, back although there was that moment when it
was fourteen to ten In pope call time, out extremely
angry at one player who didn't seem to be giving
it his. All Brandon, garrison although you know, that you

(01:13:24):
know he had in the first few, minutes and really Against,
GONZAGA i Thought garrison had played pretty hard and it
made some nice moves in the game last, night and
then next you know he's loafing down the. Floor but
If pope sent a message last, NIGHT i got to
think it was received loud and. Clear the Key saturday
is going to. Be And i've already talked To Sean,
woods AS i do every. Week he always brings us

(01:13:47):
up point guard because of course he's a point. Guard
but when you see the ball sticking the way it
does the offense compared to last year's, team when it
never did Because Kobe bray was on the, Floor Lamon
butler on the, floor you, know if it sticks Against,
indiana they're not going to get good. Shots they got
shots they could make last, night But indiana is not

(01:14:08):
going to give up good. Looks so it could be
another grinder down the. Stretch it just depends on how
hard The wildcats, play And indiana.

Speaker 13 (01:14:17):
Warmed up with a blowout last night of their own
Against Penn's. State have you noticed some personality changes In,
mark either on the bench or afterwards as.

Speaker 2 (01:14:25):
WELL i don't know if it was a, change but
it was a. REVEAL i think that's been within. Him
but after, Losses gary he is a different, person which
which is you'd. Expect that's a good. Thing you, know
you want him to sit down and, say, well another butt.
Kicking that's What Billy gillespie, did or his predecessor to

(01:14:46):
Sit his predecessors would sit. Down we needed. This No
mark is wounded after, losses and we've seen that.

Speaker 13 (01:14:54):
Sixth and final swig Last. Sunday let's talk some baseball
Slug in Second, Basement jeff Can h was voted into
The Baseball hall Of fame by The Contemporary Baseball Era.
Committee that's the committee that covers the period from nineteen
eighty to The President kent was The National LEAGUE mvp
in two. Thousand he hit more home runs than any
second basement. Ever But Atlanta Brave Great Dale murphy and

(01:15:16):
The Yankees Don mattingly got some votes to get, in
but not. Enough how is a guy known As Donnie
baseball not already? IN i ask, you but think About
Murph MURPHY mvp, twice seven Time All star and he
was only on three teams at winning. Records his fifteen year,
career and plus he was great with the, media which
is a big key in all. This he was a
true star among some stiffs on those. Teams maddingly nineteen

(01:15:38):
eighty FIVE, mvp six Time All, star nine Time Gold
Glover manager of The. Year by the, way With miami
in twenty twenty, plus He's donnie Freaking. Baseball, Okay So
dale and don will be on the ballot again in
three years in twenty twenty. Eight, meanwhile those of us
who Believe Kurt flood should already have been inducted years,
ago we're going to wait.

Speaker 8 (01:15:58):
Till twenty twenty.

Speaker 13 (01:15:59):
Seven and they do this every three years when The
Classic Baseball era committee covering baseball before nineteen eighty is
going to vote. Again last year they Got Dick allen
And Dave parker, in two guys who richly benefited From
flood's one man crusade for free. Agency kirchud have been
voted in with those guys without. Question maybe better late than,
never but you, know all the major pro sports unions

(01:16:21):
have Endorsed kurt's place in The hall Of, fame as
have some congressmen as.

Speaker 2 (01:16:26):
Well, YEAH i agree with all manically And murphy are way.
Overdue not That ken didn't deserve, it but those two
are way. Overdue BUT i hate the fact THAT i
got to think that with these, voters and a lot
of them are. Hypocritical it goes back, to, well what
are their teams? Did this is not a team. Award
this is an individual. Award how did those guys stack
up within their? Era and they were, among if not the,

(01:16:49):
best of their, era which is why they should be
In he Is Gary, Moore west M berreol chief back
with a couple of hot. Regions just a minute here
on six THIRTY. Wlap welcome. Back we're chatting with Our
WEST nba Chief, Gary more time for a couple of
hot Reas, Gary Philip rivers getting out of the rocking,
chair putting the shawl down and going back to THE.

(01:17:10):
Nfl he's on the practice squad as we speak with
The colts who are in dire need of a. Quarterback
and by the, way you're just talking about The hall
Of fame for. Baseball now he puts off A hall
Of fame vote for himself by coming back to maybe
play in THE. Nfl is this, nuts?

Speaker 8 (01:17:27):
Dick i've said this for years some.

Speaker 13 (01:17:28):
Guys some guys will do anything to get away from
their ten, kids.

Speaker 8 (01:17:34):
Even for Co hall Of.

Speaker 13 (01:17:36):
Fame fuck you, know he and the coach stick and
talk every. Week, yeah And phil coaches his son's football
to high school football.

Speaker 8 (01:17:46):
Team he run the same, office run the same.

Speaker 13 (01:17:48):
Offense he already knows the offense before he goes in.
There BUT i ask you, this do you Remember Philip
rivers being a very mobile quarterback kind of something you
need for this day and. Age and who is he
playing or who could he potentially play in the first
game This? Sunday The. Seahawks, yeah the fourth most sacks
in THE. Nfl good luck.

Speaker 2 (01:18:07):
With, That, Phil, yeah and he knows his way around the.
Huddle should be. Fun our second hot, Read Anthony davis
now is being mentioned as trade. BASE i mean. Legit
The mavericks aren't going, anywhere so now they're talking to The,
spurs The, hawks The pistons who are all in playoff
contented Of, pistons and now ad may be changing teams

(01:18:28):
again after being part of the worst trade in the
history of THE. Nba but did you ever see for
sea a day When davis went to THE nba where
he keeps changing. Teams you would have thought he would
stay in one place and they'd build around. Him But New, Orleans, La,
dallas and now he's heading somewhere. Else apparently can't stay.

Speaker 13 (01:18:44):
Healthy, yeah you, know he has played in sixty three
or more games just once in the past wild. Seasons,
wow he's played well The mavericks heres for this?

Speaker 2 (01:18:55):
Year have you?

Speaker 13 (01:18:55):
Done what's he done for him? Lately The mavericks have
played twenty five games so, far.

Speaker 8 (01:18:59):
He's missed fifty of.

Speaker 13 (01:19:00):
Them, yeah you're gonna and with that kind of salary
that he's. Got he was he thirty, two thirty, three
and he's got a lot of money and he's gonna
miss twenty to thirty. Games If i'm any of those,
Guys i'm, thinking Let's pasadena on this.

Speaker 2 (01:19:12):
One sad but. Funny Charles barkley's nickname For Anthony davis Street.

Speaker 8 (01:19:17):
Clothes or day to Day.

Speaker 2 (01:19:20):
DAVIS i heard that was another one as well, too
as your Man Vince scully, said, well he's day to.
Day but aren't we?

Speaker 1 (01:19:26):
All we?

Speaker 2 (01:19:26):
All, yeah but that is the case For Anthony. Davis
he Is Gary. Moore you can find him on Extra twitter.

Speaker 13 (01:19:31):
At at nine to five to Five, gary we can
find you there At.

Speaker 2 (01:19:34):
I'm At Big Blue insider. One thank you. Sir enjoy
the football playoffs if you. Can good luck for your.
PACKET i gotta do it for, now thanks to my,
Guess Gary Moore Sean woods to Cam shite SOCK i
said good night from the garage In. Lexington come on
let's go take.

Speaker 9 (01:19:49):
Him look, Danger Will, robinson dan jer, Oh Will, Robinson, danger.

Speaker 10 (01:20:03):
Tact evening?

Speaker 11 (01:20:54):
Anything then back to pattacks.

Speaker 10 (01:21:25):
Them it don't

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