2025-12-23 BBI

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Big Blue and sider Dick Gabriel with
you Tuesday edition of our show. Here Christmas week, and
it's been a good day already for the Wildcats for
the Big Blue Nation. Kentucky beats Bellerman. Not the prettiest win,
but a win is a win and a calculated risk
basically for Mark Pope and his staff as they decide
not to play Jalen Lowe, they go with acquaintance for

(00:20):
just eight minutes. A good move. I know. It wasn't
a pretty game. It wasn't a blowout. Everybody won it.
Even though Kentucky scored ninety nine, gave up eighty five.
Bellaman ends up shooting fifty two percent. The Princeton cuts
that offense, Man, they were good. Jack Gibbons talked about
it throughout the radio broadcast. You might have seen it
on SEC plus. Between those layups they shot seven to nineteen.

(00:43):
Did Bellerman thirty seven percent? That's healthy from beyond the
arc hit twenty six of thirty from the free throw line.
So Kentucky basically outscores Bellerman because the Wildcats had fifty
nine percent and it's sixteen out of thirty from beyond
the arc. And have a game. Cam Williams eight of
ten from beyond the arc, Denzel Aberdeen four of seven,

(01:07):
finding his eye, Jasper Johnson was three of five. Probably
the only surprising thing was that Chandler went one of
four from beyond the arc and Trentoah just oh of two.
Those are the guys early in the year who was
carrying Kentucky and when it came to three point shooting,
so it all worked out. Oh Take Oway two rebounds

(01:27):
from a triple double. In thirty three minutes. He had
ten points, ten assists, and eight rebounds to will sell
a game for him. And once again, Oway gets to
the free throw line. Just two of seven from the outside,
but six of eight from the line. That is going
to be a key going down the rest of the season,
throughout the rest of the year, him getting to the

(01:48):
free throw line, because if other teams don't foul him,
he will score. He's good enough. And of course if
Jalen Lowe's healthy, o Take Ohway will become that much
better and Jane and of course being healthy Otega Oway
becomes that much more dangerous because he's roaming out there.
You got a guy who can get him the ball.

(02:09):
You got a guy in Quaintons who can attract the
defense inside, and now that makes Oway that much more dangerous.
So yeah, I mean, and he wins a good win.
And as Jack pointed out more than once in a
radio broadcast, this was yeah. I was in a pregame
he said it could be a trap game. During the broadcast,
he said it's a getaway game because now they got

(02:31):
eleven days, not eleven days off, but eleven days before
they play again. But now they get loose for the
holiday season. Usually teams come back on Christmas evening. Mark
Pope may have mentioned this in a post game, but
to be honest, I was busy putting the show together,
so I didn't got a chance to listen to Mark Pope.

(02:53):
But at any rate, they get a little bit of
time off of the family. Then back to work on
January third at Alabama noon tip off with a Crimson
tide and at Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloos, the first place
I ever covered a Kentucky road game. How about that?
Then it's back home that Wednesday from Missouri, then Mississippi State.

(03:15):
After that's a year, you're into the teeth at a
conference schedule and it's tough night after night. Texas comes
to town on January twenty first. That ought to be interesting.
Vanderbilt playing great basketball. The Wildcats have to go down
there at the end of January. January twenty seventh on
a Tuesday night. That's a nine o'clock game. So there's

(03:35):
nothing easy at all. There are no weeks off, no
night's off. They play Vandy twice, by the way, and
then wrap up the regular season with Florida in Rapperina
on March seventh. So scrolling through the schedule, what's weird
to see is at least right now, and I don't
think they'll add any no non conference games. This is

(03:56):
it for the Wildcats in the conference play. They gotta
win these squad one games help themselves going into the
nca Tournament, and that'll be that. Coming up tonight, we're
gonna talk with Cameron Mills of the UK Network. He'll
break down tonight's win and also look back on the
huge win over Saint John's when all the ex Cats
were there urging on their teammate, their former teammate, Mark Pope.

(04:18):
Hour number two. We'll talk from college football, we'll talk volleyball,
we'll talk about the Cats and the Final four with
Hunter Mitchell, Volleyballerdrenaline dot Com. That's all I d here
on the Big Blue and Siders say with us six
thirty e Wlap welcome back as promised. Cameron Mills joined
as you heard him on the pregame show this morning.
There was a two o'clock or one o'clock start actually,

(04:38):
and Cam, before we talk about Kentucky Bellerman. There's been
so much postgame shatter on that already, but I need
to ask you about and you talked about it some
on the pregame show about getting together with your teammates
down in Atlanta with Mark Pope at dinner the night
before the game. How much fun was that? How did
that come together?

Speaker 2 (04:58):
You know what's funny? I well, I was gonna say
I don't remember, but the reality is I do remember.
I didn't plan on it. Oddly enough, as far as
my job with the Youth Pay Network, because we started
back in I want to say August September, maybe Mark
called a conference call. Coach Boat called a conference call

(05:20):
with all as many of the ninety six guys that
could they could jump on, which is about ten of
us and basically just said, hey, look, this is our
thirtieth anniversary, which should be honest, I don't think any
of us realized that this was the thirtieth anniversary of
the ninety sixteen. But he said, thirtiesth anniversary. Tell me
what you guys want to do. I want to blow
it up and make it, you know, as big as

(05:42):
as we can. Or if y'all want to do something
you know, small, subtle, private, we can do that. But
whatever you all want, let's do. And I think you know,
we settled on two things. We settled on a going
to Atlanta, and it was a different thing. So many
guys that couldn't go Atlanta because they're coaches, whether a
high school or college, but some of us, we're gonna

(06:04):
go to Atlanta. But and and go about that. And
that was the big thing about that was Coach p
was gonna, you know, we were gonna do dinner with
Coach P right and then we're gonna do uk Is
celebrating the thirties anniversary at an SEC game later this year.
So that's the game where we're really like, we are
efforting to get everybody back. And we knew Atlanta would

(06:29):
be maybe four to six of us, you know, with
coach p and Coach Pope, and it was a blast,
but uh, that's kind of thing. We're sitting there and
we're like, man, it's so and so is here because
we were we would be laughing at them about something
that had happened thirty years ago. And then you know,
you kind of sit there and think this would be
funny year if they were here to try to defend themselves.

(06:50):
And so it's just but that's basically how it happened.
Is and Mark put it together, and Mark planned it.
Not the details obviously, but yeah, you know, he just
he got coach p there. What was funny to me, though,
among the myriad of last that night, was that both
coaches were very specific about the timing of dinner and

(07:11):
when dinner would be over, because basically dinner interrupted their film.
Steff Oh, yeah, So it was like, okay, we're going
to be there at this time, which I think was
like seven, and then they were both going to leave.
So they were watching film with both both both coaches
watching film with their teams, and then they came in
had dinner and they didn't feel rushed. I don't mean
to make it sound like that, but you know, eventually

(07:33):
they were like nope. Then they both left at the
same time to watch the film again with their teams.
And what was funny is and I don't want people
to pick this the over analyze or overthink what I'm
saying here, but I think both coaches they were both loose,
They were both fun you know, they both had some
pressure on them because they've lost the games that maybe

(07:55):
they didn't expect to or or how many they lost
a lot more than they expected to, even though Kinsucky
don't expect it was any But I think both coaches
probably more than anything, because it was you know, the protege,
a mental relationship, right Jerry and uh And so I

(08:17):
think that's why there was a little I want to
say nervousness, but I think the bottomize, both coaches just
wanted to win real bad. And it wasn't just because
of a big you know, we lost the last game,
you know, we had I think Saint John's maybe had
or maybe had lost a game or two earlier. But
they both wanted to win because of who they were playing.

(08:38):
And you could kind of sense that in the room,
just I mean just a little.

Speaker 1 (08:42):
And it was not a comfortable for lack of a
better word, situation. I mean, you know, to to want
to be like like Patino said on the TV pregame.
You know, you love the guy you're coaching agains and
Pope feels the same way. You know, and you want
to win for your team, but you'll see feel bad
for the guy you beat. Although Pope was funny he said,
I won't feel bad.

Speaker 2 (09:04):
Yeah, no, And you know the funny thing is I
believe Hope when he says that, Like typically I would say, no, Wait, Mark,
Mark is one of the most sympathetic people I know.
He you know, even even when it comes to competitiveness
and sports. Sure he would feel bad. You know, he's
happy to win, but now he feel bad in this situation. Look,
one guy has coaching national championship, the other guy has

(09:28):
a playing national championship. They're both coaches now, so coach me.
Who is you know, let's at the end of his career.
Mark is in, let's say, in the middle of his career,
at the prime of his career. I can't understand why
Mark would say And then you add to it that
I'm sure in Mark's mind, just like all of our
minds when we were heaving dinner that night. Basically all

(09:49):
the things that were said to us over you know,
three to four year period, you know, all the all
the all the times we were quote unquote thrown off
the team, all the times. You know. Yeah, I mean
I cannot, by the way, not believe that that was
a part of Mark's motivate, even if just a little bit.
It's like, especially with the comeback and all, and it's like, yeah,

(10:11):
I got you back.

Speaker 1 (10:13):
And by the way, Rick Rix got two titles, so
he's two ahead of Mark Bo.

Speaker 2 (10:17):
You know what. Thank you, Thank you. You are absolutely right,
because it it bothers me that that was ever quote
unquote what taken away.

Speaker 1 (10:25):
From them the crime.

Speaker 2 (10:28):
Now, well, look they won a national Jamia hip. It look,
if you will, I know when we could go, I
thought about Ncuba. Yeah, but if you look, if you
want to pitch him during the season, fine, catch him
during the season and don't let it win one. But
when they win one, they win one. Because it's not
like you're giving the runner up team the championship. You're
deplaying at No. And Voyd. So it's stupid.

Speaker 1 (10:47):
It's thirty years. It's amazing, camp. It's been ten years.
Since we did that documentary on the twentieth year.

Speaker 2 (10:54):
Yeah, I was thinking about that. I was thinking about that.

Speaker 1 (10:56):
One, you know what. I was talking to somebody about
that at the other day because this was in regard
to volleyball, because early in the season, I said, hey,
this volleyball team could get to the final four, they
could win it all. And I feel I'm proud of
myself for saying that. And I remember, I don't know
if there was a moment when Craig Skinner knew that.
He claimed it was early in the year. You know,

(11:18):
I don't know if he claimed that, but he said
he could see it. But I do recall one of
my favorite takeaways from the documentary we did was when
Anthony Epps and all of you guys said, we don't
win it all without Anthony. Walter McCarty led that charge,
but Anthony asked, Rick, when did you know we had
what it took. Do you remember Rick's.

Speaker 2 (11:37):
Answer, I don't. Well, if you gave me, if you
gave me more time than you will give me, I
would think of it.

Speaker 1 (11:43):
Who's in the house, who's in the house tonight? What
he said, what he said when he heard you guys
in the tunnel chanting that which I believe Walter created.
He said, that's when I knew. That's when I don't
know what it was about that, but that's when he knew.

(12:03):
So to lead into a question about perhaps this year's team.
Let's say, let's pretend this team stays healthy. What could
something like that do?

Speaker 3 (12:12):
What?

Speaker 1 (12:12):
What kind of galvanizing moment was that for you guys?
How vital could They're not going to chance something, but
you know, maybe a moment like that that could help carry.

Speaker 2 (12:22):
A team, you know, well, I mean maybe maybe that's
what the Saint John's game was. I would say about that,
that moment or that chance, that wasn't ever galvanizing, That
wasn't ever.

Speaker 1 (12:35):
Maybe it was to remember.

Speaker 2 (12:37):
If I'm not remembering correctly, And this is a this
is a question that I really need to ask the guys.
I think we did that in ninety four, ninety five two.
That wasn't a ninety six only thing, because if Walter
came up with it, and I'm pretty sure he did, well,
I don't think he came up with ninety six. Now
maybe I'm wrong. Maybe we just started doing it ninety
five ninety six, and again thirty years ago. But as

(13:00):
far as this year's team, I mean, there's going to
be something because if I go to the two championships
that I was a part of, I can point to
two things that is not are not the champ in
the ninety sixers, but I can point to two things
that I think catapulted us to the national championships. And
in ninety six that was the lost Mississippi State and

(13:21):
SEC tournament, and in ninety eight that was the lost
Ole myss on that time because to me, and look,
that's my experience, and my experience is that's why I
always preach losses can be the greatest gifts you ever get.
And even this year, I mean, yeah, I don't like
getting beat by thirty or thirty five. So whatever was
frong scorers by Gonzaga, I hate that. I hate it

(13:43):
for market, hated for the team. It doesn't feel good. However,
it is a forty game long season. And as I'm
reminded to think of by a Louisville fan that I
was at the State Fairs signing autographs league back in
ninety nine, two thousand, like a couple of years even
removed from playing. Me and Shep and maybe paget. We

(14:08):
were at the state fair sni agus, right, and a
Louisville san comes up and starts talking trash about the
fact that they beat us right that year, which of
course it's like a fourteen and twenty Louisville team, right,
one of one of the worst Louisville teams, you know
up to that point. Maybe we're in a long time
and yeah, and so he comes up to talking trash

(14:30):
and I'm like, yeah, you beat this, and I happened
and I rarely had my ring on, were rarely wear it,
I think because I was going to Sonatogas to stay fair,
I'm lighting the both of my rings on, but which
I would never do, but I might I at least
had my ninety eight went on. I'm like, but this
that we did this, you see that, you know, like

(14:50):
he's being kind of sonny and Philly. So I'm being
a little sonny and silly, and but he got serious
and said you know what, though, He goes, man, I'd
rather have beaten you all than win a national championship.
And I'm like, are you so crazy? Because this is
what I said back to I said, I would rather
have lost to you all and won a national championship,

(15:11):
and I will take that every single year. I will
take a lost to Louisville every year if the year
ends in a national championship for contesting every single year.
So to me, there's always that defining moment for this
year's team. Maybe it was Saint John's game. I mean,
it might be hard to see that because even though
we won today, I don't think anyone expected this to
be much of the game. I know we certainly didn't

(15:33):
based on you know what Andrew Cap has shared on
the pregame show as far as Dellerman stats and their
Kim Palm raiding and all that stuff. But look, I
think Jack said this during during the broadcast, this was
this was a tailor made track game that we didn't
get trapped in ultimately because we won, but look, we didn't. Look.

(15:55):
They had a very different defense or offense than that
we've seen, even though I know they were quote unquote
prepared for it. They had seen it in practice and
excuse me, preparation, but that's a look the Princeton office.
The bizarre offense to prepare for it reminds me a
lot of the body night motion offense. You can watch it,

(16:19):
study it, you can learn it yourself. But it's like
offense in general. If it is run correctly, you cannot
stop it. Then that's any offense if it is executed correctly.
The best defense cannot stop the best offense. And so
today we just didn't have our best defense and we
still won. I mean, you know. And then you've got

(16:39):
that in the middle of the Saint John's game, which
is a big, you know, big time game for us
to win, you had to come down play Bellerman at home, right,
So everyone goes home for Christmas, they get a little break,
which is ironic to me because that's not what Christmas
is for. Christmas is for three days and throwing up
in the trash cans and getting thrown off the team.
That's what Christmas is for.

Speaker 1 (16:59):
That's what you do thirty years ago if you were
a coach. Is Cameron one.

Speaker 2 (17:07):
Of these old funny does it's just my gosh, he's.

Speaker 1 (17:10):
Cameron Mills of the UK Network. We'll come back and
talk more Kentucky basketball. On the other side of the break.
Around six thirty w l a P Welcome Back with
chatting with Cameron Mills of the UK Network. He hit
him on the pregame show. And now we're talking about
Kentucky's win over Bellarman, but also looking back on his
experience in Atlanta with his teammates, Mark Pope, somebody got
a great picture you guys bumping fist. But you were

(17:32):
right behind the bench. You sent me some pictures. What
was it like for you because you often go home
and watch the game on TV after you do the
pregame show, if you don't stay in Roperina, But you
sat right behind the bench, probably Cameron for the first
time since you played.

Speaker 2 (17:48):
Well close close actually last year. Those were Mark tickets.
By the way, Mark Marcus comin to give me Shep
see as far as I know, and I'm just telling
you the people that are around us, and I don't
know how many tickets they gave Mark for the for
the State Farm or the CBS Classic, but it was

(18:10):
Shep Cricket me. J P Blevins was there, Jim Lemasters
was there. And then I said, Jim Master, Jim Masters,
what I was getting confused? Sorry, Jim, But I sat
in front of Lamont. Yeah, and I'm sitting I was thinking, yeah,

(18:32):
all right, put them up behind me. I mean, he's
more recent player. I'm sitting in front of Lamont. All right,
there you go, Pope, that's your allegiance. That's what that's
the way it all bess. So anyway, so we sat
up there. But last year I got to sit in
post seats that rocked one one game or very good
and again behind the bench, but did not notice the things.

(18:53):
Things didn't stick out to me the way they did
this time because I was literally this The row in
front of me was the second row of the bench,
so I literally had the managers and the walk ons
and the support staff sitting in front of me. And
so that's what gave me an entirely different experience. This
look when I just to go to practice, I just

(19:13):
to watch. That's I get to watch practice. I actually
hear more, believe it or not, at the game Saturday,
So I got to watch in here. I got to
experience more. I got to he had more of an
inside window into what goes on and one of the
coolest things to me and I shared this during the pregame.
But we were really rushed during the pregame because we

(19:36):
had you know, we had three walkout chats with three
formed players because today was uko it was alumni day
former players, and but one of the coolest things I
experienced a couple of things, and I'll try to be
quick about them, but is that there was a moment
during the second half where we had made our comeback
and I think we were up around ken Louisville. Obviously

(19:56):
the second time I've done that. I said, louis during
pregame two, Saint John, Sorry, Saint John's was you know,
coach isn't gonna go away. He's not gonna lit his
team go away, so he's you know, they're they're we're
kind of going back and forth around at ten point lead,
were you know, pushing at twelve they're coming back to
tim Well, there was a little scrum for the ball
went out of bounce. They called it Saint John's vall

(20:17):
our video coordinator, a kid named I think it's Centaurro
or Centaurro who the level of film and video and
access that these guys had now compared to what we have.
I mean, the closest we ever came to watching the
game after the game was when we played Louisville in
ninety four ninety five, and we drove to Louisville and

(20:41):
on the and we played bad. So because we played bad,
coach wanted to watch the film on the bus on
the way home. Worst bus ride I've ever had in
my life. We literally got back to Memorial Coliseum at
two in the morning, and we're not let off the
bus until we finished the second half, which took another hour,
maybe hour and a half, because he pasites it and
rewinds it and shows us again holding messed up. That's

(21:01):
the closest. These guys are watching the game in real
time off the bench, and it blows me away. I mean,
I look, I realized technologyalize, you know amazing things. Kentucky
has the money to do these things. But I mean,
they're watching the broadcast basically as far as I know,
immediately on their tablets on the bench, and the video guy,

(21:24):
the head video coordinator, noticed that no, no, the rest
blew that call. That was without a doubt as far
as he was concerned, off of Saint John's and should
have been all the ball. And I've watched, I watched
him and dedmore the s I do. They were both
immediate and thank you, thank you. Yes, because I wanted

(21:47):
I wanted to, I so badly wanted to give him credit.
I just, I just, I wasn't sure of his name,
so pan dab and merely start trying to get the
coach's attention, which again wasn't fard. They were right in
front of them, but the coach's got to get it
to Mark. And you've got what ten seconds for that
ref inball in bounds the ball and you're it's no
on boyd. It's just like NFL. Once the next play

(22:08):
goes on, you can't you can't challenge it. So they
were trying to get Mark's attention, and then I saw,
I mean, so basically, what'd you say, Matt was his name?

Speaker 4 (22:17):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (22:18):
So Matt is I mean adimantly lily telling whoa it?
Whatever they do, I don't know what they did. They
don't have it son, they have a flag and in CBA,
but adamantly saying challenge, challenge, challenge. So that went from
him basically to to the coaching staff. The coaching staff
had to get Mark's attention because he was about at
half court coaching, and then it went to him and

(22:39):
he neither said, well we got the attention the rest
ball or rest attention they threw through the flag whatever
it is. And then they of course reviewed it, and
it didn't take long to review it because it was
if you saw the replay, it was fairly obvious. But
it made me think. I realized how important managers, support staff,
training staff, all those people are when I played. But

(23:02):
then you kind of forget about it because they're never
on the court, right And let's not be silly. I mean,
obviously the big gun Saturday were Jalen and Jason, I
mean the two of them, just, I mean they especially queens.
He had this coming out party and if I've been
told he wasn't in game shape, well he didn't look
like he was missing. And then to have Jay go

(23:23):
out and all of us because I mean, as you
can imagine that place, just the floor the season was, Yes,
that you know what that is. I will not say
the players felt that, but that I tell you I
did too. I just kind of thought, you know what,
we're just not a great team right now without him,

(23:46):
with without him, And then you find out during that game,
because that was such a be ending game that not
only are we not a great team without him, we
are with him and with you. Well, shoot, I mean
I saw articles written this week, I mean last week
did I saw articles that were written, is did Kentucky
overpay for their for their for their team right, which,

(24:07):
by the way, the twenty two million number nonsense. It's nonsense, folks.
Stop believing that it's not been verified anywhere anywhere. Okay,
it's been repeated and repeated and repeated and repeated. There's
no truth to it. So anyway, so last week I'm
seeing all you know, we saw all the anger, all
the frustrations of the fans, all this stuff, and even

(24:29):
the sports media they're talking about, you know, Kentucky's you
see this stuff. Is it time for Kentucky fans to panic?
Same outlets on Sunday? Is Kentucky a Final four contender?
I mean, it's literally baffling to me. I get that
they got two of their big players back and that
I guess everyone forgot how good Quaintance was. But if

(24:54):
you've did practice recently, you weren't you were waiting for
this because he was I mean, look, remember he's only
doing two on two and three on three. He wasn't
really going full born practice, and I mean he was
just and no offense to Malachi or Brandon or anybody
that was trying to do anything with this dude. But
you're not moving him, and he is going to move you,

(25:15):
and he's going to get where he wants. Oh and
by the way, she don't guard even don't hit a
three on your face too. I mean, he just was
dominating practice. And Jack and I were talking and practice
one time, like man, if he gets if they clear him, instantly,
things change. And it wasn't like instantly things or you know,
we're a contender, because again, you're never as good as

(25:37):
you think you are, and you're never as bad as
you think you are. But you know, once he was,
once he got out there and and you know he
was okay, it was it was it was just like
this the electricity And all credits to ukay fans who
came to the game because my far more than than
anybody else, and even those that didn't couldn't come to
the game. But haven't given up on this team because

(25:59):
I'm not sure anybody should be even coming close to
question whether or like you should this team.

Speaker 1 (26:04):
Mark Goo on his Coaches show talked about the phenomenal
job that the trainers did, that the strength draft did,
that McKim McClean did working with him one on one
but he also talked about the fact that it was
a calculated I don't know if gamble is the right word,
but a calculated move to take a guy in the
portal who's got a bum leg, he's got, you know,

(26:25):
an ACL tear, and he's coming back. And look, everybody
knows the stories of hundreds of athletes who will come
back from ACL injuries, but they're all different. You know,
I've come back from three meniscus surgeries in my knee,
but they're all different. I'm not about to tell Brooklyn
Delay here's what's going to happen, you know. So no,
I mean, you know, everybody's different, everybody's you know, and

(26:47):
I'm not yet, you know, been invited to play college basketball.
But this guy is made a little bit different than
I am. So different than a lot of Oh yeah,
So I mean you've got to give them credit, you know.
And and and they've been patient with him, And how
tempting could most it have been to listen to him

(27:07):
saying coach, I'm ready, I'm ready to go.

Speaker 2 (27:10):
Yeah, and the coaching staff and and and and Brandon Wells,
the trainer saying not yet yet, and and and the
team doctors let's put them in there as well. Not yet.
And while we're talking about Brandon, let me turn this
out real quick. Okay, Well, I tell you what you
want to go to break, and let me tell that
they have to break.

Speaker 1 (27:27):
Sounds good.

Speaker 2 (27:27):
Let me produce your show. Let me produce it, please.

Speaker 1 (27:29):
Well you on radio show, you know what what? All right,
we'll step back back in a minute here on six
thirty w l A. P. Welcome back to the Big
Blue Insider. We're talking with Camera Mills. We're about to
talk about UK Bellerman. Right now, we're talking about Jaden
Quainton's and his his comeback.

Speaker 2 (27:45):
No no disrespect to Bellerman. And I realized we didn't
play great today. Well we didn't score ninety nine points,
but they also scored eighty five or whatever, you know whatever. Yeah,
So I mean, look, there's stuff to talk about with
the Beloman game. But and I'm sure market and then
will review film, they will make corrections. And I think,
as I started saying earlier, it comes that trap game.

(28:06):
It sits right in between two big games and Christmas break.
That's where apparently, as you said back on the broadcast, said,
you know, coach all, would you know wear them out
because something done. I'm like, for one game. I mean
that was all we did during I mean, you're not
talking about this for Christmas break is when you get better.
And the reason that is is because you not only

(28:27):
don't have class or other distractions. Well, we practice three
times a day because there's no NCAA rules. There's no
four hour rule, there's no twenty hour rule, there is
no day off a week rule. It is the most
miserable time as a player, but it is the most
glorious time as a coach because you see your team
improve and improve quickly.

Speaker 1 (28:47):
What did the previous coach call it? Camp col Yeah,
and his best teams got markedly better over the Christmas break.

Speaker 2 (28:56):
And you tell people that all the time and it
look just and I kind of know it's a cliche
for me to say, but we're not hanging banners now.
Nobody Gazaga didn't get to hang a banner after they
beat us, right, So I get it. It matters when
it comes to quad one, Quad Two's where we sit
and instill of a tournament. I will argue too, I'm
blowing the face with anyone who tells me that. Ultimately

(29:18):
getting that number one feed is the most important thing.
I mean, I won't tell you it's not important, but
I will tell you that ultimately, what really matters is
you win your last six games. If you win your
last six games, that's what matters.

Speaker 1 (29:31):
Get back, get back to your JQ come backstory.

Speaker 2 (29:34):
So so Jalen goes well, not just JQ okay, JQ
coming back. That was a whole big thing that took
nine months. Right, he was hurt. Mark took a chance
on him, I mean, and that I think that's what
was important for a lot of people, including Coach Pope,
including I mean, that's probably most importantly JQ. For him

(29:55):
to get out there and not we get up. He
didn't struggle. He hit his first shot, which I think
I don't think he meant to bank that in, but
the little little fadeaway banks. But the moment that went in,
you just met this feeling that oh he's gonna go
off in me, He's just gonna go off. And look,
he didn't. I don't know what he wound up with
the point wise, but he's been close to a double double.
And if he didn't do that, he just there was

(30:18):
nobody that Saint John's had that was going to physically
move him. So and that's what you've we've been seeing
in practice. And again he's got that a cl that's
lateral movement. Doesn't matter lateral or not, you're not moving
this dude, and he is I think. I mean, there's
a reason everyone saying he's gonna go lottery even with
acl so Mark taking a chance on him, I think,

(30:39):
And I hope as long as there's no injury from
here on forth with him the same thing whatever. I mean,
it's gonna look like a genius move. But what I
wanted to talk about was Jadan Low. So Jalen goes
out quickly, dislates the crowd, deflates the keeam. You know,
I can't speak to the team, is what I'm saying.
I say, I don't, I won't. I won't say they
thought the season is over. But the rest of us

(31:00):
were thinking, you know what, we're an average team without
this dude. So he goes out and we think and
we're didn't. By the way, remember I said I sat
behind the bench, topped the bench not to strout Road
in the second row. They didn't even know he was gone,
like he just he ran out so quickly and Uh,
Brandon the trainer, Uh, Brandon Wealth. He immediately like it's

(31:25):
like he knew, they all knew. Okay, come on back
with me. So if he goes back and we just
think he's gone for the game, well not only does
he come out in the second half and dominate, because
apparently he was telling the team and this may have
been in the journey video that they always do after
every game, but I think he was telling the team guys,
I'm good, I'm good, I'm good, and and and it
was one you know, now we know he meant no,

(31:47):
i'm good, guys, we're rolling, I'm good, I'm playing. But
what was really cool he was after the game, after
the win, the comeback. The coaches are celebrating, you know,
everybody's celebrating JQ rightfully. So, but I saw Coach Figure
and another coach and I do not remember who the
other coach was. It's just it's just the point of
my memory works. Get around Brandon Wealth and just start

(32:11):
hugging him, laughing, being silly, and Coach Figure pointing to
him like this is the MVP. This is the MVP.
And to me, but because and look, I don't know
how many people saw it, but I was focused on
it because to me, what was saying. What he was
saying was he's the reason Jalen's playing. So today at Rupp,

(32:32):
I saw Brandon and I said, look, I said, I
don't know how much credit you would take for it.
And I said, but I just want you to know
I noticed this happened Saturday in Atlanta, and I said,
I just thought it was really cool. I said, because
you know and I know that people like you don't
get the credit that you deserve for all the hard
work you do. And I just love that moment. And
he thanked me for saying that, but then again deflecting.

(32:54):
Just this is Brandon deflecting the credit. He said, Cam.
He said, look, sometimes it's as simple as the mental confident.
It's as simple as them believing that they're okay. And
I get that. I mean, just just do this. Had
jail And has had that shoulder ripped out of its

(33:16):
socket twice playing basketball. Now hard do you think it
is for him to get in there? And when he
gets hit really hard, I'm sure he feels a twinge.
I mean, I can remember the times when because I
had so many progressively sprained ankles, when I played that.
The moment I slightly tweaked an ankle, my immediate thought was,

(33:38):
I'm out for two weeks. Even though I would literally
be back in practice within an, you know, thirty minutes,
I would go put ice, we'd tape, we'd elevate. Actually
with what we really did is we'd walk it off, right,
but you can't really walk off the shoulder. And so
I completely understand, you know that That's what Jay was
and I loved that. Brandon's attitude was, Hey, you know,

(33:59):
because I'm I'm imagining this, I'm imagining what happened is
he went back there, he worked on his shoulder and
basically kind of helped rebuild Jalen's confidence. But I'll tell
you this, they had a lot of confidence in the
second half, not just in the shoulder. I mean he,
I mean he just he dominated. And so you know,
and another reason I love coach post decision today to

(34:21):
look THO, T and Q gus you know what, we're
gonna sit this one out. Yeah, I mean we don't.
It's not that we don't need you, it's that we
got to. We gotta be careful with you, you know,
until we can't afford to be careful with you anymore.
So be careful with you, to be careful with it.
And I so just jay Din got what eight minutes
or something, and Jaylen didn't play. So I like that movie.

(34:46):
And maybe we would have one by thirty if we had.
But he w's w doesn't matter how many.

Speaker 1 (34:50):
Feving us up with Cameron Mills. So let's let's look ahead.

Speaker 4 (34:54):
Now.

Speaker 1 (34:55):
They'll they've got eleven days off. You know, they got
a couple three days to themselves. They come back, they
go back to work, not I know, not as hard
as you work. SEC is coming up teams that have
no fear of Kentucky. Now they respect, but there will
be no brand name intimidation. Uh, it's it's a brand
new season. What do you see. Let's let's pretend again
that this team stays healthy.

Speaker 2 (35:19):
Well, it's funny to me. I don't think anyone ever
feared Kentucky. I don't understand the idea of and maybe
the members of the media and the fans, maybe they
saw something we didn't see. But you know, I don't
I don't care who you play when you're when you're
a competitor. The guys on the team, the team that
we would play. I think we ever went into an
sec opponent's layer and they were scared of us. I

(35:44):
heard that term use the other day, you know. You know,
someone say said, really scared of We're talking about a conversation.
What are they scared of? This is competition? What are
they scared of? And maybe it's just a term that's
been used, you know in a in a fun, silly
kind of maybe lighthearted white.

Speaker 1 (36:00):
I'll tell you one thing, if I may interrupt you,
I've seen non conference teams come into rupp Arena and
when Kentucky would get on a roll, especially your best teams, uh,
and the crowd will get into it. You could see
the looks on these guys' faces like, oh my god,
what are we involved?

Speaker 2 (36:14):
Here's the thing.

Speaker 1 (36:15):
But that's that's a non conference opponent.

Speaker 2 (36:18):
Yes, yes, but that's also different because what in that
moment here, there is something to be scared of getting
rolled by one hundred? Yes, right right, you're interrupt That
may not scare you. You're playing Kentucky. That may not
scare you. You're playing Kentucky and you're ten minutes in
and we're up thirty five, that might that might make
you feel a little, a little bittrified because you're scared

(36:39):
of being embarrassed.

Speaker 3 (36:40):
All right.

Speaker 2 (36:40):
I don't think we've ever gone into any place and
a team has taken the floor and at that moment,
oh been scared.

Speaker 1 (36:47):
No, not on the road, on the road. They want
you on the road. You're at our house and we're
gonna pull off the f set and all that stuff.

Speaker 2 (36:52):
Yeah, but I don't think they ever came into ruptiself
that either. I mean, I maybe don't.

Speaker 1 (36:57):
Yeah, anyway, I just don't.

Speaker 2 (36:58):
I don't think if your competitor, you ever go into
a place and you're immediately scared of your opponent because
you're your attitude is I don't care what's across their chests.
I don't care what that name is. We're coming out
and playing them. So, I mean, ninety eight, that could
be a scary name. How about when we're down seventeen
in the Elite eight game in ninety eight, Well, I'll
tell you this, don namey. Wayne Turner wasn't scared of

(37:19):
that name. So anyway, But as far as what we
look at or what we look right, look, if we
stay healthy, what will we look like a completely different
team than we've seen? I think, yeah. I think most importantly,
I think what we'll see if we continue to market

(37:39):
to in again. Because back to the Journey video that
UKA videos for Studio release, Mark was saying, welcome to
who you are. Welcome to who you are. This is
your identity. And to me what he was saying, because
I'm thinking, okay, well what does he mean by identity?
After that Saint John's game and the thing I saw
that kind of open my eyes the most was even

(38:03):
before Jalen went off and Jayden went off, right, we
were playing hard, tough basketball. True, we were getting the
snot I want to say, we're gonna stomb beat out
of us. You know, the pre throws were I mean,
we got like ten free throws in the game, maybe
fifteen total. Lou Well sorry, Saint johnh has like thirty five.

(38:27):
We were getting the snot beat out of us, and
we were hanging in there. Not only that, but we
made the comeback and then we went up this team
and it was fourteen or whatever. We fought hard, and
I don't think that's been our identity yet this year consistently,
but I do think that's what's going to be.

Speaker 1 (38:42):
I got you sounds good, to me. Hey, thanks a lot.
We will be listening pregame next time. Have a great
Christmas you and Susan and Alex and we'll see you soon, Hope.

Speaker 2 (38:50):
Thank you, Bud. I appreciate it you too, And.

Speaker 1 (38:53):
That's it for our number one. Coming up, in our
number two, we're gonna talk volleyball of Hunter Mitchell. We'll
talk college football as well. More to come. Six story
Grab late thir Welcome back to the Big Blue Sider

(40:57):
Dick Gabriel with you following the Wildcats win over Bellor
mit Gotta shift gears a little bit here In hour
number two. Coming up at the bottom of the hour,
we're going to recap the Kentucky volleyball season with Hunter Mitchell,
who has covered volleyball for quite some time now, but
this season for volleyball adrenaline dot Com and his podcast
with Leah Edmund called Courtside with the Cats. We're going

(41:19):
to talk about the portal, specifically football. Couple of coaches
with interesting comments to share with you. Coming up a
little bit later on. I did want to talk about
the fact that we talked about this before, but now
it's official since I got back from Kansas City. Catching
up and I see Kentucky has made it official signing
anwar Stewart to will Stein's staff. He's retaining the UK

(41:42):
defensive line coach. This will be in war seventh season
as the D line coach. He had two other years
as a student assistant. This of course after he played
at Kentucky under Bill Curry and how Mummy, and then
went off to Canada. Had a great, great career in Hanada.
In fact, four gray cups, that's the equivalent, that's their

(42:03):
Super Bowl. And one year was the defensive Player of
the Year, a D lineman was the defensive player of
the Year in the Canadian Football League. He was just
not quite big enough to play in the NFL, but
his skills perfectly fit kind of a faster, slimmer game,
if you will, in the Canadian League. And what a
great coach he has been at Kentucky. As a student assistant,

(42:26):
he helped develop Josh Allen and then he as the
line coach since twenty twenty coach four different guys selected
in the draft. Quinton Bohanna still playing. Phil Hoskins played
for the Panthers. I don't know if he's still active.
Josh Pascal of the Lions, Dion Walker now playing for
the Bills. There was so much hope that they would

(42:49):
hang on to him, specifically from Kentucky Letterman. They wanted
one of their own un staff and they've got it.
So anwar Stewart will be on will Sneinstaff now and
a good move by the new Kentucky coach. Something else
that kind of popped up down the stretch here with

(43:09):
Kentucky volleyball. Really after the game was over, we found
out Brooklyn Delay has been playing at a torn meniscus
that's the cartilage in your knee. And I've done that
three times. I've rehab three different knee surgeries, and I
will tell you this, Yeah, it's not like blowing your
acl but it can be really painful. And when some

(43:30):
of the fragments float around on your knee, it can
get in a joint and lock things up, and that's
really painful. I can tell you that I can't imagine
what it was like for her to play the whole
season basically with that injury. We'll talk to Hunter Mitchell
about that a little bit later.

Speaker 3 (43:45):
On.

Speaker 1 (43:45):
A couple of anniversaries today of big moments in sports,
and I want to share them with you. I love
stuff like this, and tip of the cap to anybody
who posts these things on Twitter, these clips that come up,
I just love them and I like to share them
because there's so much fun. And there are the moments
that pop up in sports. We all kind of live

(44:06):
for it, don't we. One of them if you're a
Kentucky fan. Happened in Maui. They old Maui Classic, which
I think is gone now. But Kentucky under Rick Patino
playing back in nineteen ninety three is a ninety three
to ninety four season, and they were down to Arizona,
coincidentally enough, the team that beat Patino in his last

(44:28):
game as a Kentucky head coach four years later, five
years later, No, four years later, in a championship game.
But Arizona had taken a one point lead on a
free throw in the closing seconds. And here's the call
as Kentucky wins it from John Saunders, the late Gray
John Saunders of ESPN and Bill Raftery. As Jeff Brasso

(44:52):
gets the winning tip.

Speaker 3 (44:54):
In, does not decides elect Kentucky bring it up Roads
for three, doesn't get.

Speaker 5 (45:11):
Press tips up there.

Speaker 1 (45:21):
Bill raft for ESPN. Rod Rhodes jack up a three.
He only had about a second and a half to
get the shot off and with zero point three I
think seconds left, Brasso tips it in.

Speaker 5 (45:33):
Man.

Speaker 1 (45:33):
That was fun, wasn't it. And they celebrated that like
it was the national championship. They had shots of Arizona's
kids looking stunned. But that was one of the fun
moments in UK sports history. Now there's another historic call.
It's even bigger. Of course, what bigger than Kentucky basketball. Yeah,
on this date in nineteen seventy two, the immaculate reception.

(45:54):
Steeler fans know this one. Raider fans know this one.
This is where Franco Harris did or did not only
scoop up a deflected pass and ran it in for
a touchdown. This is a huge call in the history
of the NFL. Jack Fleming called this for CBSTV.

Speaker 2 (46:12):
Bradshaw back and looking again.

Speaker 3 (46:16):
Bradshaw running out of the pocket looking for somebody to
throw to fires a downfield and there's a collisions that's.

Speaker 5 (46:23):
Put out of the air. The ball is pulled in
by Frank Noel Harris. Hair's a boy Fred touchdown for Pittsburgh.
Harras a boy ve took it not for the clock, right,
oh Harris pull in the football. I don't even know
where cave tall kill cub was in a collation. There

(46:45):
are people at the end zole where did the pup
bof absolutely unbelievable, Holy.

Speaker 1 (46:54):
Moly, Holy moly is right. And to this day the
Raiders and Raider fans say it was not a clean
pickup by Frank o'harris. But this was a course well
before the technology we have now, and there were no
angles anywhere, NFL, film, CBS, nobody had any definitive video

(47:19):
or angle of the pickup. ESPN, I guess it was
a thirty for thirty. I don't know. I think it was.
ESPN put together a documentary some years later. This just
aired two three years ago, where they got the principles involved,
everybody was around in that play, got them back together.
They relived the play and they interviewed everybody, and of

(47:41):
course the Raiders were saying, no, that was not clean,
and Franco everybody else for the Steelers said yes it was.
But you know, the last thing I think is I
recall in that show was Frank o'haris basically saying, yeah,
I caught it but he had kind of a gleam
in his eye that basically said or did I, which

(48:05):
just adds to the fun. But Darryl bird my Man
from the Catspaws, a Raiders fan, I'm sure he'll tell
you it was not a clean catch. Keith Farmer from
BBN Tonight l e x eighteen, Jeff Drummond from Cats Illustrated.
They are devout Steelers fans. They will tell you it
was a clean catch, giving the Steelers the victory on

(48:27):
this date back in nineteen seventy to a divisional playoff game.
And by the way, the head coaches Chuck Knowle for
the Steelers, John Madden for the Raiders. Man that was
back in the day right. Coming up next, we will
talk about the transfer portal. We'll hear from a couple
of coaches, some wise words from D one football coaches.
Later on we'll wrap up Kentucky volleyball here on six

(48:50):
thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big Blue Sider. Coming
up in just a few minutes, Hunter Mitchell is going
to join us one more time, and I'm sure we'll
have him on the future. But as far as the
volleyball season is concerned, Hunter with volleyball adrenaline and he
has covered UK volleyball passionately all year long notches this year.

(49:11):
But I do want to get his thoughts because he
went to Kansas City as I did, and we'll talk
about the final four and what it meant to the
Kentucky Wildcats and their fans. I mentioned Will Stein, the
keeping anwar Stewart on his staff. There's other stuff to
talk about with regard to college football, and right now
that is, of course, the playoff and the portal. And

(49:35):
we talked last night a little bit with Jeffikorro on
the show and with the Cole Park about the playoff
and you know, the group of five, the group of four,
this and that, and somebody pointed out, and I'm in
this camp that I'm good with Tulane and James Madison
being I'm good with Tulane and James Madison being in

(50:03):
the playoff. I'm not for the elitism and all that.
And yeah, I know that would benefit the SEC. And
if somebody pointed out, yes, of course Tulane got blown
up at good Old Miss team. But there have been
so many blowouts through the years. Tennessee got blown out,
Alabama got blown out in the playoffs. TCU of Big
twelve got embarrassed in the championship game by Georgia, and

(50:25):
nobody said anything about excluding that conference from the playoffs.
So it's just ridiculous. And I'm okay with Miami getting
in over Notre Dame. And not enough as being made
to the fact that James Madison scored thirty four points
more than anybody at Oregon this year at Austin Stadium

(50:45):
Rich brooks Field and put five hundred and something yards
on offense on the Oregon defense. Is nobody's talking much
about that and they should be. The other thing that's
happening right now, of course, with college football and sports
in general, is the portal, is the nil situation? Who's
transferring where for more money and all that? And somebody

(51:08):
asked Kirby Smart, whose team is in the playoff and
preparing to try to win another national championship, would be
his third. So now when Kirby speaks, people listen. The
more you win, the smarter you get. It's fun for
me to recall that Will Muschamp and Kirby Smart, once
upon a time were defensive assistant coaches at Valdosta State

(51:33):
under Chris Hatcher, the former UK assistant who's now the
head coach at Samford. I just love that. And both
of course went on to high profile assistants jobs, and
Kirby maybe the highest profile of all. Anyhow, somebody asked
him about balancing game prep and roster management with regard

(51:55):
to the portal, and nil, not as much who's coming in,
but who's talking about leave. We're focused on this team.

Speaker 6 (52:01):
I think it would be you know, remiss to say
that we're focused on roster management. We're not focused on it.
We're focused on you know, prep and getting better. And
for a while it's been like intrinsically looking at ourselves
and asking each player, did you come here to develop?
Did you truly come here to develop? Because if you did,
all your buddies are out there right now. Everybody's you know,

(52:22):
announcing what they're doing. I'm announcing that I'm going in
the portal. I'm announcing that I'm resigning. How about you
announced that you're getting better and you're going to practice
and like actually do what the twenty and thirty years
of college football players did before you, which was practice
in December when they're on good teams and get better,
because if you're going to play somewhere else, you know

(52:43):
what you need to do. You need to get better.
If you're going to play here, you know what you
need to do. You need to get better. If you
want to go to the National Football League and play,
this is your last chance to get better because they're
not going to give you much opportunity. They're going to
cut you or keep you based on how you do.

Speaker 4 (52:56):
They don't be to.

Speaker 6 (52:56):
Practice in pass but so many days, so development occurs
in December for us, and that's what we've been focused on.

Speaker 1 (53:04):
Words of wisdom. And I remember Mark Stoop's talking about
during bowl season having to still deal with people coming
and going. And so as Kirby Smart put it, you know,
he put the message to his players, and you know
who else put message to his players. Thomas Hammock. He
is the Northern Illinois coach and two or three years

(53:25):
ago Northern jumped up and upset Notre Dame first week
of September last year, sixteen to fourteen. And at one
point he was asked about the portal and the nil
and of course Northern Illinois is a program where they're
gonna get poached. I'm sure some kids will transfer in.

(53:46):
But if you've got a great player these days at
Northern Illinois, very likely someone's gonna throw thousands of dollars
at him and they're gonna leave. Somebody asked Hammock, how
do you deal with that? Do you worry about that?

Speaker 6 (54:00):
With you?

Speaker 7 (54:00):
I love the challenge, you know, it don't bother me
one bit, because you know what, in life, you're gonna
make decisions right. Sometimes it's gonna work in your faith,
and sometimes it's not. I told our team the other day,
you know, we lost all these guys. Let's see who plays.
So it's all good when people put it on Twitter. Hey,
all glory to God. I'm going on the transfer portal.
Let's see if they play. How many of other guys

(54:22):
gonna play or travel or get snaps? You know, I
was thinking I was gonna tweet something the other day
a picture of me and say, you know what, I
enjoyed my college experience. I didn't get one dime, but
the lessons I learned was more valuable than any money
you can ever pay me. And I appreciate that because.

Speaker 1 (54:41):
That is long term.

Speaker 7 (54:43):
People are losing the fact that this is short term.

Speaker 5 (54:47):
I coached in the National.

Speaker 7 (54:48):
Football League for five years. Five years, right, don't lose fact,
don't lose focus or work the long term. Get your degree,
learn valuable lesson that's going to help you in the
long term of your life. That's the whole purpose. This
is a transition from being a kid to a grown up.

(55:08):
And I hope people don't lose focus of that. Everybody's
talking about everything else besides, what is the most important
thing for going to college? Because if you going to
college to go get a couple of dollars, you might
as just go get a job. This is too hard
to go get.

Speaker 5 (55:23):
A couple dollars.

Speaker 7 (55:25):
Learn the lesson that you need to learn to be
successful in life for the next forty to fifty years
of your life. That I would do it again for free,
for free, because of the things I learned. That's why
I'm standing here today, because of what I learned in college,
not because of how much somebody gave me. That's what
I would tell people and parents they need to learn

(55:46):
that lesson too. Stop trying to live through your kids.
Teach your kids what are the things they need to
learn to be successful. That's what I'm telling my kids.
I don't care about no NIL, no revenue share.

Speaker 1 (55:59):
I can care less.

Speaker 7 (56:00):
You need to learn things in college to get you
prepared for life, to be a father, a husband, to
work everything else. Those are the most important things. That's
what people are missing in my opinion, just my opinion.

Speaker 1 (56:17):
That's Thomas Hammock, the head coach at Nordon Illinois, which
I had forgotten about. This left the MAC, left the
Mid America Conference and joined the Mountain West looking for
more stability. That's why last year, this past season they
played San Diego State. It was a bad year for
Huskies football. They went three and nine, won their opener
against Holy Cross, had to play a couple of money

(56:38):
games at Maryland only lost twenty to nine. Played at
Mississippi State, lost to a good Mississippi State team thirty
eight to ten, but it was part of a six
game losing streak. They won two out of three, then
lost their last couple of games. But I bring that
up because you root for a guy like Thomas Hammock
with a head on his shoulders like that ability and

(57:05):
the outlook he has on the portal in NIL. You
root for a guy like that, you know guys are
going to benefit from playing for him, and yet you
and I both know that as good as a coach
he is, as good as a man he is. If
he doesn't win enough games, you're gonna get fired. But
that's part of it. He knows that he played, he

(57:27):
played at Northern Illinois, and he knew after beating Notre
Dame that it's all about what happens next. So you
root for a guy like that, and you've got to
respect the take he has on the portal and nil.
Up next, we'll talk with Hunter Mitchell about Kentucky volleyball.
He is with volleyball Adrenaline dot Com also does a

(57:49):
podcast with Leah Edmond, the UKL American and my sometime
broadcast partner on SEC plus. But before we hit the brake,
I wanted to share with you if you didn't see
this this it was a between games interview with Matti Bresowitz.
Okayla Chester did the interview for ABC and ESPN. She
is a fixture on ESPN, primarily as the sideline reporter

(58:11):
on a former player herself. But Matti Breswitz was part
of the Kentucky twenty twenty national championship team and of
course she was there to watch her sister Molly try
to win one as well. Molly transferred in from Marquette
to play at Kentucky. She got know the year of eligibility,
by the way, and she is one of the biggest
reasons Kentucky made it to the final four. She's an

(58:32):
incredible defensive player and server. And Matti Bres was primarily
a backup, didn't play much for Kentucky, but love being
a Wildcat and loves the fact that her sister is
Now It's unbelievable.

Speaker 8 (58:45):
It's so cool to see how many people show up
for national championship too. Our year was COVID, so there
was like just our families and friends, and so just
to see the love for volleyball and how much the
growth of the sport in this gym, it's unbelievable.

Speaker 5 (58:58):
Tell us about your.

Speaker 2 (58:59):
Relationship growing up with all of your sisters that played
volleyball and how cool it is to now be.

Speaker 6 (59:05):
In this part of life.

Speaker 8 (59:06):
Well, I was a little bit older and so I
always like would be mad when they play with me
because they were as good. Well now they're way better
than me. So it's just so cool to see. I'm
so proud of them all and everything she's done. She
made a huge leap coming to Kentucky and that was
the best decision she's ever made.

Speaker 6 (59:19):
What's it like for you watching her?

Speaker 8 (59:21):
Oh my gosh, I'm just like filled with pride. I
live for the Big Blue Nation, our whole family does,
and so it's just unbelievable to be able to be
in the biggest game of her career and just in
front of everyone we love.

Speaker 1 (59:32):
The day did not end the way she wanted, but
it was pretty cool to see that she was there,
and I was enjoyed talking to Mattie she was She's
a real pistol and, of course, like her sister, being
a native of Wisconsin, a proud Green Bay Packers fan.
Although we are hurting after that lost Saturday night to
the Bears when all they had to do was recover

(59:53):
an on sidekick and the Packers would have won it.
But I digress and we shall move on. Was the
next six thirty wlap Welcome Back to the Big Blue Cider.
As mentioned Hunter Mitchell, who works with Volleyball Adrenaline and
of course Courtside with the Cats is podcast with Leah Edmund,
the great uk All American who was in Kansas City

(01:00:14):
as was Hunter. And it's tough, Hunter, isn't it going
through sifting through social media after the fact, seeing all
the Texas A and M celebration and they deserved it,
But just give me your general thoughts now from you.
You have a little more time to digest what happened
out there, and clearly the better team that night, and

(01:00:34):
it was just an odd feeling, wasn't it.

Speaker 6 (01:00:38):
It was.

Speaker 4 (01:00:38):
One of the thing is is that you kind of
have anail in the head. Since I that game ended,
my social media has been nothing but A and M
celebrating Because we've covered volleyball so much, our algorithms are
just like, oh, let's give more volleyball content, and that
is the one thing I think we want to see.
So much credit to A and M. Like I tweeted it, like,
that's one of the most impressive title wins I've ever

(01:00:58):
seen in any sport. Like to beat three number ones
in a row, including the undefeated champion on their home floor,
HS is incredibly impressive what they accomplished. And I thought
Kentucky came in and got started so high. I thought,
oh wow, this is the total opposite of the Wisconsin game.
But A and M service pressure really kicked up and

(01:01:19):
they got Kentucky still out of system that the Cats could.

Speaker 2 (01:01:22):
Just never recover from it.

Speaker 4 (01:01:23):
So it sucks to go out that one with such
whem were so close. But I think the Cats still
have so much to be proud of, and hopefully I
know those athletes are hurting, but hopefully they can still
sit back and look at what they accomplished and be
proud of it.

Speaker 1 (01:01:35):
Yeah, and I want to come back to what you
mentioned to the serving because that was so critical. But
as I was walking back to the media room, I
bumped into League and Fine Swag, who at its national
Volleyball magazine online, and he said, this just doesn't happen
in our sport. He said, people need to realize and
he asked Craig Skinner about it, and he talked about

(01:02:00):
the fact that preseason A and M was ranked nine.
They were good. I mean, this was not shocking that
they had a great season, But generally volleyball, as you know,
has been dominated by three or four teams over the
last several years when it comes to national championships, and
now here comes A and M out of the SEC,
which has had exactly one national title winner. We know

(01:02:22):
that's Kentucky. Two teams that had been to the Final
four at all, Kentucky and Florida and now A and M.
Not only Hunter jumps up and wins it, but beats
three number one seeds and had to fight off what
two or three match points to pull off a reverse
sweep in the regionals against Louisville. This is just if

(01:02:45):
this had happened in basketball, I mean, people would be
ringing bells and shooting off fireworks, you know what I mean.

Speaker 4 (01:02:52):
Well, and also in basketball, the equivalent would be like
a team beating like Duke North Carolina, like all of
the blue bloods, Like yeah, we go back to the
Louisville game, Like you just said, it was literally Louisville
in Nebraska, Pittsburgh, Kentucky at four in a row. Teams
that have perennially, you know, in the in the late
twenty fifteens and then you know, obviously the early twenty twenties,
they have been the teams that have been there at

(01:03:13):
the end, you know, more often than not. So for
AM to go and run like that, and it's funny
when I when the bracket was announced, Dick I also
tweeted like, hey, Kentucky avoided A and M as their
three seat. I think they wanted to avoid them as
long as they can, obviously not knowing what was going
to come as the outcome. But I knew A and
M was hot going into that term, even though they
lost in the ft term with the Texas because of

(01:03:35):
the way they played, just having three players who were
so efficient offensively at three different positions on the net,
It's just really harder to defend a team like that,
and they got so hot at the right time. They
were so good all year, but really, especially after that
that Kentucky lost and the Texas lost the tournament, I
just felt they hit another gear. And when you have

(01:03:56):
players like Logan led Nikki and Finn the Costa Pala
and Kindos Dours even like who can just get so
hot on momentum so quickly. Honestly, I thought that match
was lost at the end the first day, and I'm
sure you probab without the same thing. When Kentucky let
that go and allowed A and M to get some momentum,
there was just no coming back from it, no, And.

Speaker 1 (01:04:14):
It's such a momentum sport. We've talked about that a lot.
You and I have through the season and when when
Molly Tuzzo acet was it made a twenty three to
twenty one yep, and dropped in that ace. The bottom
just falls out of that, and I thought, I think
they've got this. And then the next thing, you know,
five to one run by A and M. But and

(01:04:36):
you know, to your point too about uh the basketball powers,
that would be the equivalent. Somebody pointed this out then
in nineteen ninety seven, Arizona did just that by beating
three number one seeds but including Kentucky, to win the
national title. But Arizona didn't have the basketball equivalent of

(01:04:57):
a reverse suite. That would be like, you know, coming
from twenty down with ten minutes to play or something
like that and winning get in overtime. So yeah, so y'all,
kudos to A and M. And you mentioned a serving
And I asked, Craig Skinner, you might have been back
there after the game. I said, what was the difference?
You beat A and M regular season? Both teams have

(01:05:18):
come so far since then, but this was obviously a
completely different match. What changed? And he said serving, And
he basically said the way they served and the way
they handled Kentucky serving and that has been more than anything,
one of Kentucky's biggest weapons, hasn't it how well it
has served and turned other teams inside out.

Speaker 4 (01:05:39):
And their strength has been the fact that because they
had two pins in Brooklyn Billy and Eva Hudson, that inevitably,
when you sent over a free ball because of the
serve or if you just didn't get a good swing
on it, you had two pins that were so terminal
that they were immediately going to shove it down your throat.
And I saw a Stat's Twitter account tweet out that
A and M was the only team to hold Kentucky

(01:06:01):
below one point fifty on the season, and again, that
kind of is the story of that match. Like Kentucky,
who had been so efficient, solo error prone, such a
good passing team, all of the credit in the world
to A and N because they came into that match
and totally did everything that Kentucky has been so good
at against them. I thought A and M was the
team that was serving so well. A and M was

(01:06:21):
the team that was passing so well. An M was
the one that was siding out efficiently and able to
put the ball down, and poor Cassie O'Brien couldn't even
Someone asked me, like, why is Casfie not using her
She could use her hands, Like she literally could not
even set the ball with her hands because she was
having to run so much. And again, when you have
a blocker like a Feminicosta Paula in the middle and
you allow her to know, oh, they're just going to

(01:06:42):
go to the outside because they quite literally have no
other option, and she goes out there to camp, those
are going to be either block touches or stuff straight
down every time and A and M's offense, you just
can't give them that many points without putting the ball down.
And I thought Kentucky so early, started so hot, but
then once A them setled into it, they exerted their
will on Kentucky from behind the service line, and that

(01:07:04):
really proved the difference in the game.

Speaker 1 (01:07:05):
Yeah, I think that's the right word. They settled in
because they were completely off balance. You know, Kentucky jumped
out of the six to one lead, had a six
point lead, you know, I think three different occasions. But
then you could see A and M settling in, And
you're right, so many weapons on that front line, and
Kentucky has weapons as well, but I thought A and
M and Craig said this as well. They hit from

(01:07:28):
everywhere on the floor, everywhere. Everybody who was back there
could hit. So you know, that just proved to be
a little too much.

Speaker 4 (01:07:36):
Yeah, and again Kentucky has had so many weapons too
in this run, but again Kentucky couldn't even use them
because Body Carr couldn't get set out of the middle
because the pass wasn't good enough. And even agent Thinktan,
who I thought had been so good all tournament and
again was I thought was good in the championship game,
like they couldn't even get the ball to her because
again the passing was just so so often. That so

(01:08:00):
way to end it, just because you know, you hate
when your team loses because they're doing things that are
out of character for them. You know, it's one thing
to lose because another team is just better. Like it
if they had lost to Wisconsin, for example, like you
wouldn't have looked at that, like all Kentucky's offense failed them, right,
because Eva Hudson had twenty nine kills. It wasn't that
at all. It was just Wisconsin was so good offensive themselves.
When you look at the box score for A and M.

(01:08:21):
You know, they only hit like two fifty. Kentucky had
more kills. It was It's a very weird match to
lose because it wasn't like A and M was this
offensive flamethrower like Wisconsin was. I just thought the service
pressure they applied was so good that it didn't allow
Kentucky to get in any kind of rhythm and they
kind of turned to a team they haven't been all year,
and that wasn't being the different statistically.

Speaker 1 (01:08:42):
Brooklyn Delay did not have a great match defense. Again,
she's always good defensively, but what was it that A
and M did that enabled them to really take her
away from Kentucky. Hudson got her kills, Yeah, get you
got to pick your poison with them, obviously, and they
were able to minimize Brooklyn Delay.

Speaker 4 (01:09:03):
How they do that well for one thing? And again
this is not making excuse, but we do. We've got
the report of Brooklyn Delay being injured all season and
playing on my torminiscus, it did make a little bit
more sense as to why I thought Dick that kind
of as the tournament wound down, she felt like she
was getting worse in some ways, like she just didn't
have the same pop on the ball or the same

(01:09:25):
lift to her jump. I didn't think And when I
was talking to one of the some people from Kentucky,
I just said, man, they're set in Kentucky or Brooklyn
kind of low, you know. They kind of said, yeah,
that's just kind of what she needs right now because
she just doesn't have the lift to get off the
ground like she usually does, so she's being that. So
it's just hard when you're being set low again against
blockers like that, that's basically just a free for all

(01:09:47):
of They can line up easily and kind of stuff
that ball straight down. So I do think her injury
played a big part of it. I don't think it
would have changed the outcome because A and M was
that good. You know, if she was fully healthy, great,
I still think ANAM probably would have won. And so
I'm not saying that's why they lost, but that definitely
was a big part of it. We saw her kind
of offensive game for that UCLA game in c I thirty.

(01:10:08):
She only never looked like Brooklyn delay, so it was
kind of a weird thing. But also, again, like we
saw teams throughout the season, the best teams they kind
of went to that strategy dick of hey, let's shut
Brooklyn down because it looks like when we do that,
Kentucky has more success or had less success offensively. And
so the strange thing was that even though Eva Hudson

(01:10:30):
is so good and can carry an offense by herself,
when teams really keyed in on Brooklyn, it did affect
Kentucky pretty substantially. We saw Texas be back in the
championship game. We saw Wisconsin have some success with that.
Even though they got fifteen she had fifteen kills, she
still had nine errors, right, and they still almost won
that game. And then obviously A and M doing it.
So I think people kind of caught on that because

(01:10:52):
she doesn't look like Brooklyn. Obviously they didn't know that
it was an injury, but she don't like Brooklyn. As
we can shut her down, maybe it will give us
some success and I do things. That was part of
what it was. I will say so much credit to
Brooklyn because you know this, dick, you watched her as
a freshman. If she didn't have it offensively, she would
not have been doing what she was doing. For that
grow like her defensive leap that she took this year
on the back line was incredible. I was so impressed

(01:11:15):
with how she was able to become a player that
Kentucky could rely on for Diggs, not just like hope
that she can get them, but could legitimately rely on. Again,
she can hang her hat on those few that she
had in at Wisconsin match in the five setter in
that fifth, like, she had a few of them that
were just I have I still don't know how she
picked them up crazy crazy again for a player that

(01:11:37):
came in and would tell us all the time like, oh,
I don't really know how to play defense. I'm still
saying it out. So the fact that she is now
doing now on the biggest stage is, you know, such
a tester to her. When I talked to Meredith in
the preseason, that was the same that they were kind
of pointing out, like we want to get Brooklyn better defensively,
when we want to see her take another leap. Well,
I think that's safe to say that she did that.
And honestly, Dick, part of that I think goes back

(01:11:58):
to Eva Hudson. We saw be such a good DOCO
defensive player, and Brooklyn said to me several times like
I want to be a defensive player like Eva. She
inspires me to be able to do that. And so
I do think that even though she had that injury
and she was battling in and you know, really struggled
in that last match, the leap that she took in
her all around game, but especially on the defensive end,

(01:12:19):
there's no reason for her to hang her head.

Speaker 1 (01:12:20):
No, absolutely not. And when it comes to teams saying okay,
Eva Hudson may get hers, but nobody else will, it
reminds me I'm going to go way old school on here.
But back in the day, way back when Pete Maravitch
would play against Kentucky, you know, the preeminent scorer in
the history of college basketball, Rupp would say, Okay, he's
gonna get his nobody else's he's not going to beat us.

(01:12:44):
And that's what happened. He got I think sixty eight
one night against Kentucky and Wildcats won easily. So that happens.
We'll talk more volleyball on the other side of the
break with Hunter Mitchell here on six thirty WLAP Welcome back.
We're talking volleyball with Hunter Mitchell. He covers volleyball, of course,
for volleyball Atdrenaline Dot and the podcast he does with
the Edmond court side with the Cats. Is that going

(01:13:05):
to be rested now or what's the future of the podcast.

Speaker 4 (01:13:08):
So we'll still do like some Offstein and stuff. Can
I get somebody in the transfer portal or maybe in
the screen, will probably do some unpacked So we're gonna
take a little bit of a break. It won't be
as regular, but you'll still see us. We'll make sure
we tweet it out and put it on Instagram and
stuff every record. So a little bit of a rest,
but we're not going anywhere.

Speaker 1 (01:13:25):
Lee's kind of busy too with their pro careers, so right,
you gotta work around that. Let's let's talk about the future.
First of all, in general women's volleyball, and there is
men's volleyball. It's West Coast, it's what twenty twenty five
teams play. It not nearly as much fun you might
see it in the Olympics, but you know, don't blink
or you'll miss, because you know, the servers are just

(01:13:47):
rockets and every hit a rocket shot, and there are
no entertaining rallies, very few like the ones we see
in women's volleyball. It was a packed house. It was
a hard sellout in Kansas. Yes, Nebraska fans showed up
even though their team wasn't there, and a huge tip
of the BBI cap to Nebraska fans. I'm sure you
were impressed by that. So it also a hunter the

(01:14:10):
fact that that you've got a team like A and
M coming from nowhere to win this thing. It's a
packed house that the crowds Kentucky put into the coliseum
this year. What's that tell you about this sport?

Speaker 4 (01:14:24):
I mean, we've known that it's been growing for you know,
five years now, but I think it's been really cool
to see it kind of materialize this year when, like
you mentioned, there weren't the typical like staple blue bloods
of Texas or Nebraska or a Penn State or Stanford,
like the ones that we usually think of whenever we
think of the INSA tournament and who's in the final four,

(01:14:47):
they weren't there. This year. It was truly a kind
of a wide open final four, and so it was
cool to me to see that that place was still
able to sell out even though we didn't see the
traditional blue bloods there. I think it made it more fun,
and so you know, I just we've known the sports
grow and we've known that people are entertained by it,
but the fact that they got that kind of a turnout.

(01:15:09):
I love Kansas City. I thought the environment was great,
the arena was awesome, So it's so good for the sport,
and they did get some great games, even though A
and M swept their way to the championship. That Wisconsin
Kentucky game was musty TV and I think I saw
that it averaged like one point one or one point
two million viewers, which is awesome for ESPN broadcast. So

(01:15:29):
just so much cool work, and even in Kentucky, like
the way that they got two sellouts this year that
I don't think that's ever happened before, at least not
since I've been covering it, for them to get two
sellouts in the memorial, So they're just they're continuing to
grow the game in Lexington, but even global or even nationwide,
and that's been a blast to watch. And again, the
athletes that are coming through the sport now are better

(01:15:51):
than ever and that's part of it too. So just
an awesome season. And I hate this over because I
love watching volleyball so much, but I think there's a
lot to be excited for as they kind of move
forward and again, some of these the best players in
the country, they're all coming back, right, Olivia Badcock, Brooklyn Delay,
Tory Stafford, you know, all these players, Brig and Riley,
all the players that you know we kind of looked

(01:16:12):
at his staples this year. A lot of them are
coming back. So I think next season is going to
be a blast two Spanner.

Speaker 1 (01:16:17):
Next season, Kentucky's got five players who are already signed,
including a six y three, a six'. Four they've got
a setter coming uh from the Same houston club that
that Produced Molly. Tuzzo now they've only got one senior,
leaving so there's going to be some. Movement what do
you foresee For Craig skinners?

Speaker 4 (01:16:37):
Team, YEAH i, mean, look you're returning the Entire Championship
corps Except, eva and having to Replace eva is a big.
Deal SO i don't want to make it sound like
that's not that big of a, deal but you're bringing
back you, Know, Brooklyn Brooklyn, Delay Mally, Tazzo Mali, Brezowa cassie,
O'Brien both of your MIDDLE i, mean you're bringing the
back pretty much everything except For Eva. Hudson so it's

(01:16:58):
interesting BECAUSE i think that you're obviously probably not going
to be as talented as this year's team was because
of how Good eva. Was but we don't know What
craig is going to do. Yet right, now we play
the portal game of is there anybody in the portal
that he's had his eye on or that he has
his ion now that he's going to go After and if,
not does he that mean that he's trusting either one
of his freshmen coming in And Bellamie bus Or Hannah

(01:17:19):
Benjamin Georgia watson to come in and fill that. Role
and the thing about next year's team is whoever takes
that second outside pin, position they don't have to have
four and a half kills a set the way That
Eva hudson, Did, Right they can give you maybe three
and then hopefully you're expecting to jump From Asia thigpen
on the right, side who can give you all of
a sudden three and then you're making that production. Up so,

(01:17:41):
look it's still going to be a big ask to
try and recover all that stuff that you're losing With eva.
Leaving BUT i do think the staff is really high
On hannah And. Georgia i've heard a lot of really
good things About bellamy coming, in SO i do think
they have some good pins either on their bench already
or coming. In the question is just going to be
is it going to be them that are taking that
spot or do is he finds someone in the? Portal,

(01:18:03):
again if you're finding someone in the, portal to, me
that means you had to have somebody, leave BECAUSE i
just don't see how you're only losing one and bringing five.
In that must mean you're going to lose people if
you're going to the portal to get a. Pin so
and we expect, that, right we're probably expecting to see
one or, two maybe even three go in the. Portal
we don't, Know but you just got to see kind
of how the roster shakes. Out and that's kind of

(01:18:24):
the things the game that we're in now is once
we see on paper Who kentucky's, GOT i think we'll
be able to kind of make a better gauge of
how good that he truly can be next. Year but,
again you're returning so, much there's no reason to think
this team cannot get back to The final. Four next,
year because again you've got the entire core essentially.

Speaker 2 (01:18:43):
Back he Is Hunter.

Speaker 1 (01:18:44):
Mitchell he Covers kentucky volleyball For Volleyball adrenaline dot. Com
courtside with The cats is his podcast With Leah edmund
and if you, like if you've grown to Like kentucky,
volleyball you need to Follow hunter On. Twitter tell everybody
how to do that at.

Speaker 4 (01:19:00):
H mitchell fourteen is My twitter.

Speaker 1 (01:19:02):
Handle there it, is hey, Man thanks so. Much it's
been a fun season chatting with. YOU i appreciate the
time as. Always we'll talk again anytime.

Speaker 4 (01:19:09):
Day thanks, Buddy.

Speaker 1 (01:19:17):
And that'll do it for. Now coming up in the
next three, days we got the best of the big
Mo insider AS i spend Some christmas and holiday time
with a. Family hope you enjoy. It we'll be back
with the live shows starting Next. Monday but we got
the best of the Big goingsider coming up for the
next three nights to get you through the holiday. SEASON
i believe you will enjoy. Them have a Great christmas

(01:19:37):
and beyond that's. It good night from the garage In lexington.

Speaker 9 (01:19:47):
Up such sat, out such pact counts anything one can bat.

(01:20:57):
Out such STAPs from, typing donating to the