2025-12-15 BBI Statewide

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:15):
From border to border across the Commonwealth of Kentucky. This
is Big Blue Insider. Talk to Tick Gabriel. Call eight
five nine two eight zero Cats that's eight five nine
two eight zero to two eight seven. Or state wide
that's one eight hundred six oh six game. That's one

(00:35):
eight hundred six oh six four two sixty three. Or
you can tweet the show that's Big Blue Insider one.
Now here's Tick Gabriel.

Speaker 2 (00:45):
Everybody through the facilities of the iHeartMedia megaplexus is Dick Gabriel.
This is the state wide edition of the Big Blue Inside.
Or you heard what's left of Mark Pope's voice talking
about the win over Indianity upcoming game with Rick Pattino.
You also car talking volleyball. We'll talk basketball, football, and
volleyball tonight the cole Park Jeff Bcorrel and one of

(01:06):
the volleyball Cats will join us here on the state
wide BBI Quorder to Border. It is the Big Blue Insider,
Dick Gabriel cole Park here in the studio now as
the beat writer for the for the cast Ball as
you write about him, winner, lose, pretty or ugly going

(01:27):
into that game Saturday, did you have an impending sense
of dread. You can tell me the truth. I'm not
saying you wrote the story ahead of time, which every
writer in the business with two minutes ago has their
story written, and then there's a great comeback and you
got to rewrite it. We talked about that, But walking
into Repperena that night, where were you mentally?

Speaker 3 (01:48):
So weirdly enough, walking into Rupperena, I was saying, I
think Kentucky can get a win. I said it on
another show I do during the week, believe in Kentucky.
I said, Hey, I'm predicting Kentucky to win this one.
I think they could record. I did, Kentucky can beat Indiana. However,
when the game started, we all saw the game started,

(02:09):
I was like.

Speaker 4 (02:09):
I'm not so sure.

Speaker 3 (02:11):
Did my story say that they that they lost before
it said they won? Maybe it did, Maybe.

Speaker 2 (02:16):
It did, which you typed at halftime.

Speaker 4 (02:18):
Yeah, it wasn't. Wasn't super capful?

Speaker 2 (02:20):
Well, and who can blame you? What change in your
eyes from where you sat way up in the those
blades where the media are now most of us. Anyway,
what did you see?

Speaker 4 (02:32):
Yeah, honestly, I saw a team with a lot of heart.

Speaker 3 (02:34):
I think that Mark Pope perhaps said it best when
he said that they willed themselves to this win. We saw,
you know, some great stuff out of Brandon Garrison, a
great response from him after the NC Central game. He
played with a lot of intensity, and he wasn't perfect.
He was still you know, there's still some mistakes there.
He played hard and he fought and some of those

(02:54):
rebounds of some hi get I said, some of those rebounds.

Speaker 4 (02:56):
There was one in particular.

Speaker 3 (02:57):
I can't remember winning the game it happened, but he
fought for one and I I turned to whoever was
next men I said, that might be the most impressive
thing I've ever seen him do.

Speaker 2 (03:04):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (03:05):
I didn't think he had it in him to fight
for that rebound, and he did.

Speaker 4 (03:08):
He got it.

Speaker 3 (03:09):
We saw absolutely the birthday boy. Mohammed Diabat had a
fantastic game in his return, first game since the Michigan
State debacle he's been back. He played really, really well
and Jalen Lowan started heating up late there too. The offense,
I think the biggest thing I saw was this team
realized the three ball was not there for them, and

(03:29):
boy was it not. They finished the game three for fifteen.

Speaker 4 (03:31):
From beyond the arc.

Speaker 3 (03:32):
It was not there, and instead of trying to force
the issue, they did what they said they were going
to do before the season. They were led on defense.
They pressured Indiana, and Indiana, let's keep it honest, did
not respond very well to that. Indiana struggled with that,
and they were already in foul trouble, which they did
to themselves. I mean, I'm not gonna you can say

(03:53):
there were a lot of whistles. There were also a
lot of fouls, so it wasn't like they were calling
soft things all the time. Some rough fowls there. Indian
was already infel trouble when they did not respond to
Kentucky's defense well enough. And then it felt like Kentucky
made a conscious decision to say, Hey, if the three
balls not there, we're going to push it down low.

Speaker 4 (04:14):
We're gonna fight down low.

Speaker 3 (04:15):
And at the end of the day, you look at
points in the paint, Kentucky outscored them thirty six to
eighteen down low. I think that's really the end all
bill this game. Is Kentucky a team that you go
into the season thinking they're going to be a three
point shooting team adapted to the moment played played going
down low. They scored forty points in the second half.

(04:36):
It was all around one of the most unique Kentucky
victories I think I've ever seen for Mark Pope, especially
in the sense that it felt like they won in
spite of their identity, which they're still trying to find
their idea. But it felt like they won a game
where Indiana forced them to not play like themselves and
they still did better at it than Indiana.

Speaker 2 (04:54):
Which to me brings up the most interesting point of all.
We'll come back to some of the individuals, but watching
that game, I'm wondering, Okay, is this who you are
moving forward? In other words, last year's team didn't get
up as many three pointers as Mark Pope would have
liked to have seen, as much as they shot it.
I just don't think this team can survive that now

(05:16):
because you don't have the shooters. Everybody knew that going in,
and I heard about Jasper Johnson and this guy and
that guy, and Otega is going to be better. No,
they are who they are. You know, Johnson can hit
the occasional three. We've seen that, but left unchecked against
sin C Central is different from what he's going to
see Saturday in Atlanta. With all due respect, mean kids

(05:38):
is going to be a nice player, But do you
really I'm wondering if Mark Pope will move this team
forward by saying, all right, don't worry about getting thirty threes,
you know what I mean?

Speaker 3 (05:50):
Yeah, I think it's somewhere in the middle. I do
think that Mark Pope was being honest when he said
after that they're pretty tight, you know, the same way
that all of us felt going into this one that
Kentucky needed to win this game. I'm sure Kentucky themselves
felt in the same way. I'm sure we all were
frustrated after you know, the Gonzaga game. They were the
ones on the court they had it happened to them.

(06:12):
So I do believe Mark Popeny says this team was
tightly lot. I think they can be a better shooting
team than they were against Indiana. But I kind of
to your point. I don't think being a shooting team
is going to be this team's identity this year. I
don't think they have the shooters to do it. I
think they can be better than they showed against Indiana.
They can start, you know, I'm not saying they need
to abandon the three ball by any stretch of the imagination.

(06:32):
I think they can shoot it a lot better than
they've displayed that they were just a bit tightly wound.
But now that you have this one, theoretically, that should
loosen you up a bit. You know, you should feel
a bit more comfortable. Not that you want to be
comfortable with where they're at right now, but you feel
a bit more comfortable now that you have a win
over an opponent who could be an NCAA TAR Tournament
caliber team in Indiana. But I do I like a

(06:54):
lot of what I saw forcing the ball down low.
And they don't even have JQ yet. You know, if
you go into the season saying, well they're going to
really be a download kind of team, you're like, okay,
So after JQ gets back, they're gonna start going through him,
not like they're doing this before he's back. Mohammed Diabat.
Brandon Garrison showed a lot of good stuff. Otaga Oway
is often best when he's cutting, getting down low, even

(07:14):
getting to the line if he needs to, like we
saw in some of these games. But I like that
they showed they're capable of doing this so that when
games come or maybe they are hitting the three bit better,
they can really run away with it. Whereas now you
also know if it is, you know, the three is
not falling, they can they can win a grit kind
of game, a tough it out fight down low. They
showed they're capable of doing that, and that's going to be,

(07:36):
in my opinion, especially as we getting closer to SEC play,
very very important for this team.

Speaker 2 (07:40):
And and you make a good point, and then we're talking
about free throws. This is a really athletic team, and
you've got guys who can go get their own shots.
They got to do it within the scope of the offense.
But indianakut putting him on the line, you know, and
that's not a bad thing. You hit your free throws.
Now you gotta hit your free throws. And they missed
the first million.

Speaker 3 (07:59):
Right to say, if I'm in the I'm okay with
putting on the line. If they're gonna go sixty five
percent from the free throw line out, yeah, coalkey felon.

Speaker 2 (08:04):
That was what they missed, six at their first seven
or something, and after that they hit almost everything.

Speaker 3 (08:08):
They ended up finishing at twenty five or thirty eight
from the line.

Speaker 4 (08:11):
Yeah, it was a rough spell, oh man.

Speaker 2 (08:13):
And the good shooters, yeah, we're missing them. That's the
thing you mentioned, j Q. And it reminds me of
two years ago. And I was in Toronto when they
played up there, and I spent three games punching Dick
Weiss in the arm and him punching me by way
of saying, did you see that, because you know you're

(08:33):
talking about you know, Reed, Shepherd and Billingham and all
those guys. And they were so much fun and won
all three games, and they weren't easy games either. But
the three bigs weren't there. One of them got injured
on that trip, you know, remember, so we kept saying,
I guess you were still with a colonel at that point.

(08:54):
We kept saying, well, when the bigs get here, this
team would be different, it all chance. Well, it never
did because none of them was a good rim protector.

Speaker 4 (09:03):
None of them.

Speaker 2 (09:03):
I don't think none of them was even as good
offensively as Quaintance.

Speaker 3 (09:08):
Yeah, I mean I remember, especially after that Kansas game
they lost in Chicago that year, You're like, man, if
they just had any of their Biggs, that would have
been different. By the time, you thought. But to your point,
and I'm not trying to make any kind of common
any kind of specific player, but out of the three bigs,
none of them are really tough enough to be SEC bigs.
It felt like all three of your seven footers come

(09:29):
in and then all three of them would rather try
to shoot a three than to actually play out there.
And you're like, well, it doesn't really help you to
have a seven footer that wants to shoot threes.

Speaker 2 (09:36):
Well, big Z comes in from Europe. That's what bigs do.
Bradshaw just didn't have that kind of drivehis and then yeah,
and then I can't even remember a third onion, so
oh yeah, yeah, and you know, every now and then
he could block a shot. But he just didn't have
a real strong inside game.

Speaker 3 (09:54):
But I think that a game into Arkansas and that
felt like the peak of his season.

Speaker 2 (09:57):
He did. And but but quaintins Is is the classic
aircraft carrier to use the old Amaguire line, and we
don't know how good he might be, but they've got
to try to get better as though he might not
be back. Maybe he's not back till March, who knows,
but they got to move forward. Yeah, you know as
though they don't have him, and you know, everything they

(10:17):
face from Rick Patino if nothing else will be pressure defense,
maybe not full court, but in your face defense. And
they got to live with that.

Speaker 4 (10:26):
Yeah, they do.

Speaker 3 (10:27):
I feel I think that getting this one against Indiana
is really good. I think more than anything, especially when
you look at who the opponent is. The conversation would
have gotten very uncomfortable had they lost this one to Indiana.
But they get the win. But that doesn't mean that
it's all sunshine rainbows.

Speaker 5 (10:44):
Now.

Speaker 3 (10:44):
Saint John's, I think, is gonna be tougher than Indiana.
They're gonna give you more pressure down low than any
I mean, Rick Patino is going to try to explain
Saint John's has had their own struggles this year from
where they want to be. But he's gonna throw everything
just because Mark Pope is one of his players.

Speaker 4 (10:59):
He's not gonna take it on him.

Speaker 3 (11:00):
He's going to look for any possible weakness he can
in this team and if he finds one, and let's
let's be honest from what we see and there are
a few, he's going to try to exploit those with
this team and it's going to be a real test
in Atlanta, luckily, should be a similar to Nashville, a
friendly environment for Kentucky. You know, we call that cat
Atlanta Fans travel down there a lot. It's a lot

(11:21):
closer to Lexington, it is New York City. So hopefully
it should be a good crowd there. But that can
also work against you, as we saw at with the
Gonzaga game in Nashville.

Speaker 2 (11:32):
So we'll see.

Speaker 4 (11:32):
We'll see what we get in Atlanta.

Speaker 2 (11:34):
Well, the shots fall, that's the key. Well, the free
throws fall. You know, if they do, they look like
every team looks like a different team and a better team,
and you know, then you've got a shot at a
ball game. All right, when we come back, we're going
to talk a little more basketball later on, but when
we come back, we'll talk volleyball with one of the
Wildcats heading for Kansas City. That's up next year on
the state wide BBI. It was a great day Saturday

(12:01):
for the Big Blue Nation. Of course, the basketball Wildcats
beating Indiana, as we were just mentioning, but of course,
prior to that, the volleyball Wildcats not only beat Creyton,
a really good Creton team, they swept in fat Kentucky
did not lose a set this past week, and one
of the big reasons is on our celebrity hoighline, Mally
Bresowitz is with us. Good evening, Molly, thanks for joining us.

Speaker 6 (12:24):
Good evening, Thanks for having me.

Speaker 2 (12:25):
You being a Wisconsin native, I trust you're a Packers fan.
We'll get to that a little bit later on me
being a Packers shareholder and owner. But what's it like
being around the girls now, being around the team? I mean,
how exciting is this?

Speaker 6 (12:41):
You know, it is super exciting.

Speaker 7 (12:44):
Our program, our coaches, players, supporting staff has just been
like taken every moment and taking all the feels, all
the motions, excitement. We're even a little bit stressed because
we just leave. We played and then we leave tomorrow.
So there's just so many motions going on, but a
lot of them are very good emotions and positive things

(13:05):
going on in our program.

Speaker 6 (13:06):
So super exciting stuff going on this week.

Speaker 2 (13:09):
Well, volleyball fans know your sister played on the championship team.
Now you've got two Final four appearances in the family,
which is very cool. When you transferred here from Marquette,
what did she tell you? And I know this was
the goal for you to win a national title like
she did, But just tell me about that process and
what it's been like for you.

Speaker 6 (13:29):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (13:29):
I was talking to one of my coaches a few
days ago and I was like, Wow, I was in
a completely different state of mind a year ago. A
year ago, I entered the portal and kind of didn't
know where I was gonna go, didn't where I was
gonna end up. And I'm just so grateful that I
ended up following my sister's footsteps and choosing Kentucky.

Speaker 6 (13:48):
It's probably been the best decision of my life so far.

Speaker 7 (13:51):
And yeah, no, she I got to follow along her
journey when she was going to the final four and
then she ended up winning a national championship, and then
it's just been super cool for her to just be
at these games and support me and something that she
has already done.

Speaker 3 (14:06):
Yeah, when you look at this team, I mean, this
team has accomplished so much this season. Obviously, you know
job's not finished. You guys have higher ambitions than just
what you've accomplished. When you look at all the wins
you've gotten, all the ways you've gotten wins, and all
the things you've had this season, something that really impressed
me from the match against Creighton volleyball, I feel like
can often be a very momentum driven sport. You kind

(14:27):
of killed them there in the second set, but to
start the third set, when before you guys got the sleep,
it felt like they really jumped on you there. They
were ahead a little bit in that third set, and
you guys buckled down, took the lead back and ended
up winning it.

Speaker 4 (14:39):
To get this sleep.

Speaker 3 (14:39):
I mean, what does that say about this team's confidence
to respond to that adversity and to really not flinch
in the face of a great team like Creighton, really
kind of laying it on you earlier in the third set.

Speaker 7 (14:50):
Absolutely, I mean, Creighton is a great team, and they
have a lot of same seniors and we honestly don't.
We have one senior, and so a senior every team
like that is gonna because they do not want their
season in career to end. And so when we went
in the locker room after the second set, we knew
they were going to come back strong and fiery and competitive,
and so we were kind of expecting a closer third set,

(15:13):
and it was.

Speaker 6 (15:14):
It was super competitive, but I was.

Speaker 7 (15:16):
Really proud of my teammates and I have just holding
our composure and being super confident and able to get
that third set done.

Speaker 2 (15:24):
Molly is a defensive specialist, but is a tremendous server.
And the Creighton coach and kids and the cow Polly
kids as well, talked about just how difficult you guys
made it on them with your serving. You guys are
very aggressive, you're crafty for lack of a better term,
A lot of you all, can you, Trinity Ward, you

(15:45):
take a lot of pride in that, don't you, because
that's such a key element of your attack.

Speaker 6 (15:51):
Yeah, no, absolutely.

Speaker 7 (15:52):
I mean a lot of people who watch the sport
don't really realize how important serving is, but the players
and the coaches know exactly like how crucial serving is.
And if it's on, then it could be really good
because we can get the other.

Speaker 6 (16:05):
Team out of system.

Speaker 7 (16:06):
But if it's not on, I just hope that my
teammates serve can pick up for me.

Speaker 2 (16:11):
Yeah yeah, because if not, then the other team's got
their A or B plays coming at you, and they
got a pretty good swing coming at you. And you know,
probably Molly, before you all even won your first SEC
title ten years ago or more, back when you were
before you were even in high school. I remember Craig
Skinner talking about how they've got to be more aggressive serving,

(16:35):
and that was like a conscious effort he made to
improve that element of the UK game. And, like I said,
nine straight conference championships later, here you are going to
the Final four. But yep, one of the other things
you're known for, of course, as I said, is defensive specialists.
You've made tremendous defensive plays all year long. But what

(16:56):
I think is so great about your team is Eva
Hudson plays great defense. Brooklyn Delay. I mean, everybody you
got out there on the floor does that.

Speaker 5 (17:05):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (17:06):
Tell everybody who listening know might not know the sport
what that's all about.

Speaker 6 (17:12):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (17:12):
So defense is just kind of a game of keeping
the ball off the ground. And that's kind of what
I tell myself when I'm ready and facing some of
the best attackers in the country, and I just tell myself,
it's it's a game. It's supposed to be fun, and
my goal is just to keep the ball off the court,
and sometimes hitters make it really hard to do that.

(17:33):
But as defenders, Malli Tuzzo, Trinity Ward and I are like,
that's our job. Our job is just to read the attackers,
see where we think we're going, kind of predict what's
going to happen, and yeah, just continue to fight to
not let that ball at the ground.

Speaker 3 (17:48):
Now, for you personally, I mean, obviously you guys are
a fantastic team, and you know, nobody's really out here
just for the personal accolades, But for you personally, I mean,
right there, for the point that ends up clinching not
just the set, but the game. You sub in right
before that. And obviously we can say what we want
about Cassie Bryant phenomenal with forty assists, but you had

(18:09):
one and it was the one that clinched it all.

Speaker 4 (18:12):
I mean, how special is.

Speaker 3 (18:13):
That just to get that game clinching assist right after
you come in there and kind of help set up
Brooklyn to win the game.

Speaker 5 (18:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (18:22):
No, that moment I kind of blacked out. I was
just like I kind of just heard the crowd cheering,
and I'm like, Wow, this is absolutely insane and I
am living a dream since I was a kid, and
I just Molly Tezzo gotten insane day and I was
just like, all right, I just need to put Brooklyn
in the best possible situation, so she can score this

(18:42):
ball and we can go to the final four. And
so that's what I did, and it was just so fine.
I mean, we watched that video my teammates, and I've.

Speaker 6 (18:51):
Watched that video. My mom has showed me that video a.

Speaker 7 (18:53):
Million times, and it just makes me smile over and
over again. So it was a pretty pretty pretty cool
moment in my college ball.

Speaker 2 (19:00):
It will until you're a grandmother, It'll make you smile. Yeah. No, absolutely, again.
You transferred in from Marquette, Eva and Lizzie. Lizzie Carr
was just done with Darren Hendrick transfer in from Purdue.
Tell me a little bit about Lizzie. Everybody knew about Eva,
but everybody knew Lizzie would give you all. Obviously more

(19:22):
size in the middle. We're figuring I have more blocks,
but offensively, she's been a terror at times, hasn't she.

Speaker 7 (19:29):
No, Absolutely, I have seen Lizzie improve so much since
we got here about a year ago, and it's been
so fun to watch her grow both on and off
the court. And she's one of my best friends and
I'm roommixed with both her and Eva, three of the transfers,
and so it's just been super fun, And I mean,
we don't even see ourselves as transfers anymore because we

(19:49):
just we feel like this program is our home.

Speaker 6 (19:52):
And we love it so much.

Speaker 3 (19:54):
Now you guys get a chance to go ahead to
Kansas City for the NCAA Volleyball Championship Final four.

Speaker 4 (20:00):
Guys will have Wisconsin in the final four.

Speaker 3 (20:02):
The winner of that will take on Pittsburgh and m
just what have you you know, what have you guys
already looked at with Wisconsin?

Speaker 4 (20:07):
What do you know about them?

Speaker 3 (20:08):
And what excites you about that matchup against one of
the another one of the premier brands.

Speaker 4 (20:13):
In the Big Ten.

Speaker 7 (20:15):
Yeah, I mean it excites me because I grew up
I'm from Wisconsin, so I actually I actually grew up
going to those games and I like remember my background
on my computer screens was Wisconsin Volleyball because I was
just absolutely obsessed with them.

Speaker 6 (20:31):
And so that's just crazy itself.

Speaker 7 (20:33):
It's just such a full circle moment that I get
to play Wisconsin and I have a really good friend
on the team.

Speaker 6 (20:39):
So but no, we they played.

Speaker 7 (20:42):
Texas really tough yesterday and we've kind of just rested
a little bit the last few days and tried to
recover our bodies and get ready. But I think tomorrow,
in the next two days, will be full swing on film,
watching film and scouting and seeing what they're doing. But
I think they're uh really good, talented team and they've
hit their peak at the end of the season, which

(21:03):
is what team's goals are.

Speaker 2 (21:05):
You don't have to play Texas the third time, and
I know you wouldn't have shied away from that, and
you have beat them twice, but it's so hard to
beat teams obviously two times, much less three. Are you
glad that you're seeing a different opponent.

Speaker 6 (21:20):
I'm personally glad that we're playing Wisconsin.

Speaker 7 (21:23):
I think something that I told myself like before the
game was like that theory is not true, that you
can't be the team three times. I just kept saying
that to my teammates. I was saying that to my family,
my friends, and I was just like, that's a theory,
and so I was saying, like, whoever we play, it's

(21:46):
a free for all.

Speaker 6 (21:47):
It doesn't matter who we play, Okay, But I am.

Speaker 7 (21:49):
Super excited to see a new team, obviously because we've
played Texas twice already. So I'm super thrilled to play
Wisconsin and.

Speaker 2 (21:56):
It's your home state, and that's it. I gotta been
a minute left, and I got your sister, and I
talk Packer football now, and then do you share the
same feeling about America's favorite pro football team.

Speaker 6 (22:09):
I am a Packer pretty upset. I was pretty upset yesterday.

Speaker 7 (22:13):
Yeah, yeah, but hey, they've had a good season.

Speaker 6 (22:18):
They've had a good season and.

Speaker 2 (22:19):
It's not over. But we lose Micah, that's gonna be tough.

Speaker 6 (22:22):
I know.

Speaker 7 (22:23):
I'm pretty I'm pretty disinvited to that. I might be
trying to make a Packer game over Christmas break, so
I'm hoping I can, hoping I can get.

Speaker 2 (22:30):
Up there, and with any luck at all, you're going
to be showing off a championship ring or at least.

Speaker 6 (22:34):
Hey, that's that's what we're hoping for.

Speaker 2 (22:37):
That's true. Hey, listen, thank you so much. We'll see
in Kansas City. Best of luck.

Speaker 6 (22:42):
Awesome, thank you so much for having me appreciate that.

Speaker 2 (22:45):
Molly Bretherwiz defensive specialist server. You see her diving on
the floor, hands flat on the floor. That's called a pancake.
If you can get your hand under the ball, then
you've saved your team, and as Molly said, keep it
off the floor. But yeah, that was a tough loss
from my guy, your guys, your patriots.

Speaker 4 (23:02):
I know that. I don't know what happened.

Speaker 2 (23:04):
We got on them early twenty one, nothing.

Speaker 3 (23:06):
Playing fantastic football. I was ready to talk so much crap.
My my friend is a good Bills fan, and then
I just fell apart.

Speaker 4 (23:14):
Man just fell apart. It was very tragic. I took
it very well. Glad that people.

Speaker 3 (23:21):
Aren't on my private store. No, I just went on
a few small rants on private store.

Speaker 2 (23:27):
I got you.

Speaker 3 (23:28):
But uh, you know, we're going to keep it rational
about a regular season football game for a team that we.

Speaker 2 (23:34):
Beat once you're still going to win a division. Yeah,
but you got to keep the T shirts that they
had in those boxes. Got to be in the boxes
released another week. All right, We'll come back and talk
more football with Jeppicol and Cole Park here on stay
wide edition of The Big Moon Siders. Stay with us

(24:06):
Quorterer to border it is the Big Mow Insider Dick
Gabriel Colespark let us welcome Jeff Mcoro, the UK Sports
Network and the sports director WTVQ Here in Lexington and Jeff,
there is still a lot of football to discuss. We'll
get to basketball because now with your your other job,
you have to pay attention to all sports, or you
get to pay attention. But lots going on with the

(24:27):
UK program, hirings and firings. But you were talking on
and off the air during Kentucky's loss to Vanderbilt about
how much you admire Diego Pavia, and we talked about
him being to his team probably the most valuable player
in college football. Didn't make the playoffs, but what a player,
and then he does not exactly represent himself for a

(24:50):
school handsomely at the Heisman event. What was your reaction
to that?

Speaker 5 (24:57):
Well, I think he is a wonderful, wonderful, full football
player and needs to mature quite a bit as a person.

Speaker 2 (25:06):
Old or something, isn't he I.

Speaker 5 (25:08):
Know, I know that's it. Guy played seven years in college. No,
I mean, you know, you look at you look at
his accomplishments, and you look at what he meant to
that team, and it was it's gonna be really interesting
to see this team next year without him. Yeah, because
he did things that I'm not seen on a football
field in a long long, long, long time. And but yeah,

(25:29):
he just everything good he did was just and if
And you know this, Dick, because you when you were
in Texas, I know you know about the Cowboys. They
do not they frown on that type of behavior, and
especially from a quarterback. You know, quarterback in the NFL
has to be maturity, its be a leader and you

(25:51):
just cannot do the things that he did that night
after the Heisman.

Speaker 3 (25:56):
Yeah, well, first I wanted to share a little anecdote
for me. I was in in the media row covering
Kentucky Indiana that was when it wasn't going as well
for Kentucky. When it was announced that Mendoza won the Heisman.
I think I told the person next to me, I said,
it makes me sick that it's very possible to be
an Indiana fan right now with terrible cell service, that's

(26:16):
gonna watch your team beat Kentucky and then leave and
find out your quarterback on the HIGs. That makes me
sick to my stomach. But beyond that, it really comes
back for me. The Heisman race this year really came
down to the question that I think is often debated
in sports, and I'd love to have your input on
it should the MVP, and that's basically what the heisman
is if we're being on it's basically an MVP. Should

(26:37):
the MVP be the best player or the player who
makes the biggest impact on their team? And for me,
I mean what I mean by that is you can
look at Mendoza.

Speaker 4 (26:50):
Was he better than Pavia? Maybe?

Speaker 3 (26:53):
But Pavia to Vanderbilt meant more than I think Mendoza
to India.

Speaker 2 (26:57):
I think you agree with that, Jeff, don't you?

Speaker 5 (27:00):
Yeah? I do. I in what you're saying there. Yes,
I agree. I think that if you take if if
Cutter Bowley was Vanderbilt's quarterback, they don't do what they
did this year. And that's not a knock at Cutter.
It's a totally different style that they play. I don't

(27:23):
know how they call plays, and as a receiver you've
got to love it because on every single pass you
just try to get to an open spot on the
field because somehow he's going to find you, and that
just doesn't happen. I mean, he's Johnny Manzel and fran Tarkington,
but he plays like he's Tim Tebow. He acts like

(27:44):
he's six four and forty five pounds and I just
thought that he was he was their team, and they
fed off of him. I didn't see a lot of Indiana.
I did see them play at Ohio State Francisco Mendot,
And I tell you what, you talk about the antithesis
of those two players, at least the way that they

(28:05):
come across in public, you know, one hundred and eighty
degrees from each other, right, I mean complete opposite. I
thought Mendoza's speech was fantastic, you know, talking about what
his mother's meant to him and her fights with multiple
sclerosis and stuff, and he just seems so mature beyond
his years. And then you look at the numbers and

(28:28):
they're fantastic numbers. And I don't you know, I can't
say that Pavia Dick was that much better than Mendoza,
meaning to his team, Yeah, because he was. I mean,
Mendoza's numbers were ridiculous this year too.

Speaker 2 (28:43):
Yeah, I would have to study them. But I will
tell you what to Cole's question, if I had to vote,
I would vote for the best player you or I don't.
That's correct. I've got votes in other polls, and I
voted Pavia for one of the top quarterback awards. I did,
but I think in a way that's almost expected from
someone in this region, this part of the country. But uh,

(29:05):
if I had a Heisman vote, I would vote for
what I perceived to be the best player in For instance,
I would have voted for Endamakan Sue when he was
tearing up your teams. Will Anderson with the Houston Texans,
I might have voted for him. Oh my god. No,
you know, so it's turned into to Cole's point, you know,

(29:26):
stats a quarterback award, and I wish it were more
than that, you know what I mean? Does that make sense?

Speaker 5 (29:32):
Oh? Yeah, I agree one hundred percent. I mean you
could go back, even just a year or two ago
and look at look at the and I forget his name,
the running back from was it Boise.

Speaker 2 (29:45):
Yeah, gent the guy bush Hamps.

Speaker 5 (29:48):
Yeah, the Jets. Look at be Sean. I mean those
guys were barely even considered for the awards. You know,
that's the way you go. Come on, man, it's become
a quarterback centric type of award, and they throw in
another player. It's Caleb Downs, you know, this year, the
safety at Ohio State and people they just throw guys
in there. But yeah, if there was a Dick Buckiss

(30:11):
around now. I don't know if he if he'd win
the award. And look at all the backlash that Desmond
Howard got for winning that year. I mean there are
people to this day that will die on that mountain
that he shouldn't have won it that year. You know
it was that was that Peyton's senior.

Speaker 2 (30:27):
I think, no, Charles Woodson, one, Charles Woodson won your
Peyton didn't. And I will say that Peyton Manning should
have won it over Woodson, and Woodson was a tremendous player.
But you know, I think if if ESPN, and this
is a hill I will die on if ESPN had
the SEC contract back then they would have led all

(30:48):
their sports centers with SEC highlights, not big ten highlights. Yes,
right the way, but talk.

Speaker 3 (30:53):
About contracts impact and that. Don't even get me started
on Christian McCaffrey at Stanford.

Speaker 2 (30:58):
He should have won games, he should thank you, he
should have won You're right, that's a great point, Jeff.
Let's get over the week.

Speaker 5 (31:06):
I just want to say one we're thinking. I don't
know if he knows this, but you and I know
of a young lady who's who's a Heisman voter, and
I don't even think she does sports anymore. It's it's crazy.
I don't know how they find these voters for different awards,
but I've never been asked, and I'm and I do
what how many games? We do for? Thirteen games? Th

(31:27):
team games a year? And we watch every other game,
you know, And some people like the woman. Uh and
I'm not saying it's a woman or guy, but there
was a woman who said, I don't even watch it.
Remember she just.

Speaker 2 (31:40):
Florida got beaten. She moved him up or something like that.

Speaker 5 (31:43):
Yeah, she moved him up, you know.

Speaker 2 (31:46):
Yeah. Yeah, Well, Jeff, let's let's bring a closer to home.
Kentucky's new head coach hires two new coordinators.

Speaker 5 (31:54):
What was your reaction, I'm I'm happy with it. Look
here's what he's doing too. And you look at this.
They're they're a lot younger, and you know, you know,
Will doesn't have that big of a tree coaching tree, right,
I mean, so he's he's going with guys that he knows,
guys that he worked with, guys that worked under some

(32:15):
of these great coaches. And he's been around because let's
face it, he's been around some pretty some pretty big
names in his stops in Louisville and Texas and uh,
San Antonio and Oregon. So he's bringing these guys that
Dan Lanning had a good, you know, uh good rapport with,
and he's leaning on some people there. It's a young staff,

(32:37):
and I like that because I really think in nowadays
college football, I really think the old, tried and true guys.
And we see him jumping ship, you know, every year.
It started with Saban and it's trickled down, and you know,
you've got a guy like Whittingham who said I've had enough,
you know, and and he's leaving at Utah after all

(32:58):
those years too. So I like the youthful approach he's
taking with the people. I think it's fresh. These guys
are hungry. It's gonna be real interesting to see, you know,
as he continues to fill out his coaching staff.

Speaker 3 (33:15):
And I wanted to ask you even closer to home,
for you we could go on this show we are talking.
You know, maybe we hoped that some of them might
come there with la Damian Washington. Obviously we now know
that to not be the case. I don't know that
Penn has officially been put to paper yet I don't.
I know UK hasn't official announced themselves. We do know
UK is planning to hire Joe Price from UTSA to

(33:35):
be the new wide receivers coach.

Speaker 4 (33:36):
For you, as a former receiver, what do you know
about him? What do you know about how he works
with receivers?

Speaker 3 (33:42):
And do you think that's it exciting High?

Speaker 5 (33:45):
Yeah, I think it's it exciting High. I don't know
him personally. I can't wait to meet him. But what
I do is I look at the team, and the
road Runners for the last two or three years have
been exciting. They score a lot of points. Their fun
offense to watch, I just I like what I see

(34:07):
from that offense. I think it's I think it's a
fun offense, and I think that's what you need. And
I appreciate the higher by Mitch to get will because
it changes at Dynamics from a defensive centric team to
more of an offensive team because and I think everybody

(34:29):
has finally decided that and knows now that you've got
to score in the mid to upper twenties to win
games anymore, and most teams thirties and forties. That's just
the way it is. And Kentucky simply wasn't built that
way the last couple of years, and we always said it,
and Mark was the first one to tell you we
can't file behind. He would say by more than a

(34:52):
two touchdowns because we're not that type of team. How
many times did we hear him in his press conference
to say that, you know, we've got to get first,
We've got to control the ball. We can't fall behind.
And you know that's so. I really think that that
style of play, that aggressive style that we're going to
see that that Texas san Antonio plays, that Oregon plays,

(35:14):
I think it's going to be a breath of fresh
air for fans around here.

Speaker 2 (35:18):
Speaking of defense, though, you got to know some defensive
linemen intimately trying to like block the likes of Wilbur
Marshall when you were playing and things like that. But
they did keep Anoir Stewart on staff. How big is
that in your opinion?

Speaker 5 (35:36):
I think it's huge. I really do. He to me
is one of these unsung heroes. You look at what
he's done and how these guys. The thing that I
always talked about and hopefully you guys appreciate this is
when a player gets here that's an accomplished player, three
or four five star player. We don't get many five stars,

(35:57):
but how do they progress when they're here? And at
Kentucky you get a lot of two and three and
some four star players here. Right, They got better under
these coaches. They got bender under Brad White. I mean,
you know, you brought Josh Allen in here. He didn't
have that many offers as a two star coming out
of high school. He ends up being, you know, one

(36:17):
of the top number six draft pick in the NFL.
He progressed. You look at these defensive linemen, you know,
you look at the interior guys and how they've they
have gotten. They've just gotten better that you. So you
go out and you have an are now on the inside,
and then you get you get the guy that played
at the Oregon and scored a touchdown on the Rose Bowl.

(36:39):
He was what in Ohio State? Who's now you're outside
linebackers and that edge rush guy. So uh, you know,
I just when you think of those teams, you think
of the Bosas, and you think of these great players
that have played at those positions, and now you're bringing
guys to the coach them. So that to me is.

Speaker 3 (37:00):
Huge obviously, Tony Washington there out of Ohio state. Also
to your point about Josh Allen should have gone higher, Yeah,
my boss Daryl Bird obviously a Raiders fan.

Speaker 4 (37:12):
I'm sure he would even tell you. Oh yeah, I
don't know what they were thinking.

Speaker 3 (37:15):
Draft of the number four people end up taking Cleveland
Ferrell Fair, Cleland Fair.

Speaker 4 (37:20):
I remember that.

Speaker 5 (37:20):
But how about the turnaround in Jacksonville though, oh Man, Liam,
Liam Cohen and and you know, Josh breaks the all
time record there and and Leo. They just keep winning
every week and now they're suddenly in the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (37:33):
Well they went out and drafted a good quarterback, but
he just did not develop right and all that he
showed flashes of what they wanted and needed. And now
you know, and they've they've just they've got better player.
I mean, that's what happened to Kentucky under Mark three
better players, but they've developed them properly, right.

Speaker 5 (37:52):
That's correct, And that's that's the key. And that's what
I'm talking about with these coaches. You've got guys that
have developed a players, is it, and they've gotten better.
An War is a perfect example of that. I think
he's just a he's a very personal guy. I really
like him. He's just a good guy and he knows

(38:13):
the SEC and he plays here, yes, so he knows
what it takes to play in the SEC and really
what he needs to get out of guys here at Kentucky.

Speaker 2 (38:21):
Well, and you know that you just touched on this, Jeff,
And I think about all the former whether their letterman
now they're not former letterman, their letterman who had their
whole their own section, you know. And you went over
and visited with him before you had to start shooting video.
But an war is a link to the past, and
so and then that's not why will Stein hired him.

(38:41):
That's a bonus. And he's a damn good coach and
and as you've pointed out, he's got the track record
to prove it. But that's a huge plus, isn't it
to have guys who you know, can sit down and
talk to Derek Ramsey and Bill Ramsdell, you know, and
and Carrie Baird and those guys who played back in the.

Speaker 5 (38:59):
Day, and they to be around the program a little
bit more. I know early in Mark tenure he had
guys come in and talk and and hang around. What
you're You're invited to practice whenever you want to come.
And I think guys kind of maybe don't know that
because I've heard guys, you'll call me and go, hey,

(39:21):
one day when you go over there, you think I
can go with you, And I tell him you're you're
allowed to go whenever you want me. Yeah, really, I said, yeah,
you got Do you know Tommy.

Speaker 2 (39:32):
Kay knows every one of you guys. Tom Kalinowski saw
every one of you guys come through there going back
to nineteen seventy six. We can vouch for every one
of you guys before I let you go. Jeff, you
do cover everything in your in your other job, your
day job, if you will. And uh, how exciting is
his volleyball business.

Speaker 5 (39:54):
I was hoping you were going to ask me about it.
I think Craig Skinner is the best coach at the
University Kentucky. I mean, a year in and year out,
he just has a fabulous team. And you look at
this team he has this year with the audition at EVA,
look at what she's done. You've got the reigning and

(40:14):
defending SEC Player of the Year right on the same team.
Then you've got then you all of a sudden this freshman.
Cassie comes here and she's a freshman. She had what
does she have thirty one assists the other night and
it doesn't and what she does involves everybody. It's not

(40:34):
just those two Lizzie carr had and Kennedy. I mean
it's swand right after the other. And then heck, we
mean we talk about too. So who to me is
the glue of that team?

Speaker 2 (40:45):
Right yep? And won the SEC MVP down at the tournament,
So yeah, you're right, yeah, so yeah, it's it's fun.
And Cassie O'Brien, you bring up a great point. Freshman,
she gets killed, she gets blocked, she digs ye assist
and she was not the starter when the year began,
but she quickly won the job. And uh, and that's

(41:05):
been that's been a real key. All right, Jeff Roy,
I appreciate it. Thursday night will be fun. I'll be
over there in Kansas City if you need me. That's
where I am. All right, thanks, man, We'll come back
and talk a little more basketball, and we will talk
with Bo because he is very close to one of
the go Big Blues brothers who made an appearance when

(41:26):
the crowd was at its best on Saturday. That's next
on the BB. A few minutes left, I thought we
would double back to basketball because, as I mentioned, our
producer Bo Robinson behind the controls for so many UK
broadcasts through the years, but he's very close to one

(41:48):
of the Go Big Blue brother Go Big Blues brothers,
and I couldn't get over And again I went from
the coliseum. I went home because it was too close
to tip off for me to try to get over
there after the volleyball, but I could tell what kind
of crowd it was, and that was a good old
school crowd. Bowls it was.

Speaker 8 (42:06):
There was a lot of excitement, and I think a
lot of that has to do with volleyball being played Cole.
You were talking about it earlier and a lot of
eyes were glued on the big screen there at Rapparna.
But for the fact that this series has not been
played in a long time, and I made the comment
multiple times on Saturday Night, this series means quite a

(42:29):
bit to the older generation. Yeah of fans, maybe even
more than Louisville, maybe because I go by tonight right
Bobby Knight, But I also go back to nineteen seventy
five of them in the Mid East Regional up and
Dayton and Ruining. I use perfect scenes. There a lot
of old school Kentucky fans.

Speaker 2 (42:48):
How that feel to you, young Cole?

Speaker 3 (42:51):
I think I just remember being happy for a victory.
I don't think I knew the significance of it.

Speaker 2 (42:55):
Yeah, but that was the first one you've ever covered
Kentucky Indiana, right, Yes, dating back three your years with
a Colonel now and growing up in Richmond, do you
even remember well, no, yeah, I'm sure you remember the
championship year. Yes, that was a big win for Indiana,
but inspiration for Kentucky it was.

Speaker 3 (43:13):
I do remember that contest. I remember a few Indiana games.
I mean my dad would tell me about it a lot.
But yeah, certainly this was my first time really properly
seeing Kentucky Indiana like, especially since I've been covering. I
will note I have covered a game in Assembly before.
That would have been the unfortunately the Saint Peter's men's
basketball year. I was in Indianapolis for that game. Then

(43:35):
as soon as that was over, me and our photographer
at the Colonel, I was a freshman in college, Jack Weaver,
we drove about an hour and a half to Bloomington,
for the women's in CAA tournament because Indiana was the
host of that. Kentucky lost to Princeton in that as well,
so I got to watch two firsture and upsets in
two days. That was a lovely time for me. But regardless,

(43:56):
I have covered a game in the arena. It's a
it's a cool place, it's a unique place.

Speaker 2 (43:59):
But the only game I've ever covered there was an
e KU game they played at Indiana Men's way back
in the day.

Speaker 8 (44:07):
But the UK Indiana games up in the RCA Dome
and the old Hoos those and I would make that
trip between Freedom Hall and up there to the RCA Dome.
That was a lot of fun.

Speaker 2 (44:17):
And was that when they would rotate, like one year
they play Indiana and then Notre Dame.

Speaker 8 (44:21):
Well that was the Big four class, the big They
had Kentucky, Notre Dame, Louisville, and Indiana. So we went
up for a couple of those.

Speaker 2 (44:29):
That that is a that is a rivalry that needs
to stay alive. I hated it when they backed out.
Yeah the fans swarm the floor. Yeah you can you
can fix that, you know. But as I've always said,
that game sparked that championship team. I mean it inspired them.
They never lost again except the SEC tournament game. So anyhow,

(44:50):
thank you Cole, thanks to Molly Breswiz, thanks to Jeff
Pcorrel and to Bo Robinson. Give my best to the
Blues brothers and we'll see you next week. That's it,
good night from Lexington.

Speaker 7 (45:00):
Most must