Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
Welcome back to the state wide edition of the BBI
Border to Border. We are chatting with Cole Park. He
is in the studio with us, usually on Monday nights.
Buddy is a traveling man. He and his young lady
friend are on the road. They are Myrtle Beach, where
it is warmer than it is here. But Cole, before
we talk any sports. When you notified me that you
all were hitting the road, you told me your girlfriend
(00:29):
was taking you somewhere kind of exotic tomorrow and you're
gonna check part of your bucket list. Now tell everybody
about that.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Yes, she's taken me to this. It's listed as a
zoo online, but it's called Alligator Adventure. If you know me,
know me well, I love alligators. I've got a ton
of alligator stuff in my apartment, my favorite animal by far.
Every time I go down to Florida or LSU or
anything like that. And we're going down LSU later this month,
but next month technically fills it's January already.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
God.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Anytime I go anywhere like that in the in the SEC,
I always make a pit stop or a detour to
find an alligator along the way, just to you know,
see him in Alligator or Adventure. You know they're gonna
do some feedings, They're going to see the alligators, maybe
hold some and it's going to be a real fun time.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
You made the Gainesville trip, didn't you? Or have you
been to Gainesville yet?
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (01:18):
I have.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
I drove drove down to Gainesville by myself a few
years back when they played in basketball.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
It was the Aaron.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Bradshaw game, if you remember. Drove down to Gainsville for that,
and after the game was over, I wrote my stories
and I was supposed to just drive back right after that.
It was when I was a student journalist. I didn't
have a hotel booked for me, and I ended up
staying an extra hour or two in Gainesville because I
drove out of the way to this pond near campus
that's supposed to have had alligators, and it just walked around
(01:48):
the pond for an hour until I finally saw an alligator.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
There's a James Bond movie, Live and Let Die. Well,
he's he's in a spot surrounded by alligators that are
going to going to eat him. Any escapes. Have you
ever seen that movie?
Speaker 2 (02:03):
I have?
Speaker 1 (02:04):
What did you think?
Speaker 2 (02:07):
I think it's misrepresenting my favorite animal. Me personally, I
think I could. I could get that situation just fine,
in a slightly different way than how he did it.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
But you know, but you know what a stunt man
actually did that. He stepped on the backs of several
crocs and got a cross. But those are crocs. I guess,
maybe not. I don't know. You probably very impressive, you
know the difference. One last question before we get to sports.
Can I assume you've eaten alligator? Because I have?
Speaker 2 (02:37):
I have not. I actually I've had multiple, multiple opportunities
to do so, and I've, believe it or not, turned
it down every time I had. Most people offer me alligator,
you know, especially when Florida comes to play Kentucky, you
know how the Telgate scene goes. All I've had it
offered me plenty, and I politely decline every time.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Why respect for the animal.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Yeah, I just don't want to eat him. You know,
it's kind of like I guess it's it's a little silly,
but like you know, alligators are my favorite animals, So
it's kind of like as crass as it sounds to be,
no different than like offering the average person a dog,
Like I would get it a dog.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
I get it. Yeah. No, there's a sports writer I
know who was at the Olympics in China and had
a chance to eat dog, and he turned it down
for the exact same reason you and And for instance,
if I were overseas and horse was on the menu
or dog, I wouldn't need it either, So I can relate.
All right, well, let us let us quickly get back
to sports. I was just fascinated. I didn't know that.
(03:32):
I mean, we've gotten to know each other of the
last year or so, but I know you're a Patriots nut.
I didn't know you were an allegant fan either. So
we'll talk about the Patriots coming.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Up here AF champions.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Hey, how about that? You need a T shirt? Right?
Speaker 3 (03:47):
I do?
Speaker 2 (03:47):
I need to give me a T shirt?
Speaker 1 (03:48):
All right, Well, we'll come back to that. But uh,
the basketball Wildcats of course have a conference play on
the horizon watching this roster come together. How do you
feel in general about the future of Mark posts back club.
Let's assume they stay relatively healthy. What do you think?
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Yeah, well, let's be honest about it. I feel a
whole lot better about it now than I would have
a few weeks ago, right, Obviously, like you touched on there,
the biggest thing is can they stay healthy. That's a
very very important thing. I don't want to put any
player down because the team is a team, but let's
be honest about it as well. It's the bigger question
is more can Jalen Lowe stay healthy because we can
(04:35):
see how this team looks when it has its true
point guard versus when it doesn't. But in general, assuming
they can all stay healthy, assuming this team can stay together, Modiabat,
Jaden Quainton, Jalen Lowe, all these guys, I actually feel
pretty good about Kentucky right now. I don't know. You
know me pretty well. I tend to be a bit
of a sports pessimist at times, so I don't know
(04:57):
that i'd say national championship. But people that you know
are higher up on this louder than I am, have
said that they have that upside, and I'm not going
to say they don't. I like a lot of what
I've seen out of this team, and I think it's
very exciting. I think even if Bellerman was playing the
zone a little bit, you know, getting Cam Williams some
confidence going eight for ten from you know, making him
(05:18):
feel more comfortable in that shot can only mean good
things for this team. Modiabatte Jaden Quaintin's this smash mouth
basketball they've branded playing down low has looked really, really
good Jaalen Low. When he's you know, when he's playing well,
even when he's not scoring the most points, you can
just tell the offense just flows through him so much better.
And I would take it away kind of feeling like
(05:40):
at times he's getting more comfortable in himself, especially compared
to how we saw at the start of the season.
Just so many players in this team they're they're finding
It feels silly to say that Mark Pope was right,
But maybe all those times he was telling us after
the losses they're trying to find their identity, maybe he wasn't,
you know, fully just saying coach, he's there.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Maybe he really is.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Trying to find this team's identity. And it feels like
we're getting right at the right time. As you're moving
towards SEC player, they're starting to kind of figure that
out a bit more. And I'm liking what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
And you know what, you bring up a great point
when you talk about identity because I hadn't even thought
about that. I just kept thinking, Look, this isn't the
team that I saw pre season in workouts when I
got a chance to watch them, because of all the injuries.
But you bring up a great point, because how do
you establish an identity when you don't have everybody, when
you don't have all the guys who are responsible for
(06:33):
creating that identity? Right?
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Yeah, absolutely, I mean I asked Mark Prope that question
after the Michigan State game and it got a quote
that went pretty went pretty viral from his little lanps
that he went on mini rants. But obviously at the
time he wasn't hearing that. I mean, he's a coach
that just lost the game, and you can't say that
our team isn't going to be what it needs to
be until we get our players back. But it is true, right,
I mean, the players that are less than the shoes
(06:59):
of Mark Pope has told me that, Yeah, there is
some of that. It's hard to really have an identity
when half your roster is going out any given moment,
and it's not like just one players had injury issues.
We've had Modia Bate miss times, Jalen low Jad and
Quaintance missed the first start of the season, Trent Noah
start of the season's injuries. I mean, there's been a
ton of players in this roster. O Tega Away missed
a lot of the offseason with his turf toe. They
(07:21):
had to figure things out, and it felt like a
lot early on. You know, we talked about it, but
it felt like at times early on they were trying
to fit a round peg into a square hole. How
they were trying to play with this team. And now
it feels like they've got everybody back, they're being able
to see what works and doesn't work, and I think
they're able to It's definitely different than how we came
(07:42):
into the season expecting them to play, but it might
just be exactly the way this team needs to play.
And I've always said the makings of a great coach
it's not necessarily just a coach who wins a lot,
but a coach who can adapt and who can win
with multiple different styles of play. And this team is
very different than last year's team. The way they play
is different team, but the way this year team is
playing right now, and the way we saw against Saint
(08:03):
John's in that second half there when Jalen Low came back.
Even some of the Indiana games, even though it was
more of an ugly game, a gritty game, that might
be the way this team needs to play. And if
this team is going to play that way, I think
that they have a much higher ceiling than when they
were trying to play how they were at the start
of the season.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
There is a twelve day gap or there will be
between games for the Wildcats Bellerman to Alabama. Alabama tonight plays.
Yale obviously is favored to win that one by a
comfortable margin in Tuscal lose even though Yale's eleven and one,
Bama's lost three games, which has surprised the people. But
how concerning do you think it is for Pope, for fans,
(08:44):
for whoever, that there might be a little bit of
rust attached to these Wildcats going into a road opener
in the conference when Alabama essentially with all due respect
to Yale, has a tune up game tonight.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Yeah, I mean, there's always a factor. We asked Mark
Pope about that after the Velopment game, and he was
pretty candid about saying, you know, honestly, I'm just glad
for the rest, right now get some guys healthy, get
us back where we need to be before we go back.
I mean, I see this game at Alabama the same
way I see, you know, next year's football schedule with
Alabama and Week two in Texas at Texasan in Week three.
I mean, there's only so much you can really do
(09:19):
regardless of this is if this team had been playing
healthy all year long or is just now getting healthy.
I mean, playing at Alabama in Coleman Coliseum for your
first conference game was always going to be ridiculously tough,
and anyone in the conference would tell you that anytime,
especially lately with natos as Alabama teams, going to Coleman
Coliseum is not usually a fun trip for SEC schools,
(09:40):
and Mark Cope in particular. So far Kentucky has struggled
against Alabama, so this was always going to be a
tough game. But I think where Kentucky's at right now,
you can worry about rust a little bit. I do
understand that. I it wouldn't shock me if they do
come out a little you know, trying to figure out
at first. But I also think for Kentucky and where
they've been this season, it might just be more valuable
(10:00):
to not have one of those team up games and
just let your guys rest, get healthy, and then do
what you need to do in practice and work on
getting everybody integrated together as you need to before you
go in arguably one of the toughest games you're going
to play all year at Alabama.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Yeah, and by the way, the three losses were in
all fairness to Purdue, third game in the season, ranked
at the time number two, Gonzaga we know how good
they can be, ranked number twelve at the time, and
of course top ranked Arizona.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Which was a casual, the number one team in the country.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Which was a bit of a blowout earlier in December.
So it's not like Alabama's tripping all over itself and
they're going to be primed and ready when the Wildcats
come to town. Cole Park of the Cats Balls is
on the Celebrity Hotline. We'll come back and talk more
Kentucky basketball and football at Cole On the other side
of the break, it is the state wide Big Blue
Insider Welcome Back stay Why border to border from Pikeville
(10:58):
to Paduka. It is the Big Blue and side Dick
Gabriel with Cole Park on the celebrity hotline Cat's Paul's
beat Ryder covers football in basketball. Let me stray from
basketball for a minute. Cole get your reaction to the
fact that Ty Bryant, He's not made it official yet
with UK, but the word is out he is coming
back to Kentucky. No one would have been shocked, no
(11:19):
one would have blamed him if he had moved on.
He's a really good player, one of the best d
backs in the SEC. And as we all know, player
movement is the lead story really in all the college
sports right now. Are you surprised he's coming back? What
does that mean for will Stein and his new coaching staff?
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Yeah, so real quick on that note. Obviously it was
confirmed by his mother on Facebook. I believe Terry Bryant.
I've talked with you know, Tye a little bit. I've
talked more with his father's go a bit more. But yeah,
I mean ty Bryant is a phenomenal, phenomenal football player
who is a great defensive back. Had multiple interceptions season,
picked off Austin Simmons twice and that on game and
(12:02):
from what I heard, he was having offers from all
across the country in conference out of conference. I mean,
he was a hot commodity come off season time. But
does it shock me he's back. Not so much. I
mean he's a Lexington guy, Frederick Douglass graduate, has ties
to this program, he cares about. It wouldn't have shocked
me necessarily from the league. But it also doesn't shock
me that he's back. As for what it means for Kentucky,
(12:24):
I think this is huge. I think it means more
than people are even letting on because it's easy to
just see. Especially, you know, maybe if you're not covering
the team as much, you're not in the practices, you're
not talking to these players throughout the week and after games.
But Ty Bryant's not just a fantastic football player. We
obviously know what he can do on the field. He's
very good at what he does. But Ty Bryant is
a fantastic person as well. He's got such a good
(12:47):
energy to him.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
He's a very.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Upbeat guy, very positive guy, willing to talk candidly about things.
I mean, this is a guy who when you're establishing
a culture somewhere, you want a guy like Ty Bryant
on your team. You want a guy who not only
cares about Kentucky, cares about this program, but also just
like a guy who's going to lift other guys up,
you know, that kind of uplifting culture, kind of guy
(13:09):
in the locker room. So I think this could be
absolutely huge for Kentucky, especially on the defensive front. We
know Will Stein's going to get that offense looking right,
We know that the offense is going to be exciting.
But on the defensive side, I'm still excited about what
I see and a lot of that comes from you know,
we also know that we expect Mikey Humphrey Grace to
be back. We expect ty Bryant to be back. Now,
both of those guys are very very good football players,
(13:31):
and when it comes to ty Bryant, just what he
brings off the field as well as on it. I
think this is huge for will sign in year one,
and I think Ty Bryant, he's a kid that I think,
regardless of where he goes the NFL is in his future.
He's just that kind of player and what he brings
to Kentucky and the way he cares what this program is.
I would I would honestly go as far as the
(13:52):
irreplaceable in some ways with what he's going to be
able to do.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
You might remember the news conference I think you were
there after the spring during the spring when ty talked
about the goals for this year's team and obviously they
fell a little bit short. But he referred to last
year and he said it more than once. He said
it multiple times after practices and whatever. He said, nobody
wants to go through that ever again. Yeah, you know
(14:17):
you rarely hear players they feel that way, but Tyd
Bryant wasn't afraid to put it out there was.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
He No, it wasn't. And even during this last season
something that he said to me. I remember being there
at the practice fields after one of their practices interviewing
some of the players, and it was one of those things.
I'm sure you've had it when you're interviewing someone, and
he said it and I was like in my head,
I was like, WHOA, I'm surprised you actually said that
to us holding our microphones at you. But he admitted,
you know, someone asked him things weren't going as well.
(14:46):
This is obviously before they wanted Auburn. Just you know,
you're going through all these weeks of practices, you feel
like there's teams where you want it to be, but
you're the wins just aren't being there. How do you
keep from getting discouraged? And he he was pretty candidates.
He said, I was talking with those of my teamate
the other day, asked me why why should we care? Like,
why should we still fight for this? And he gave
his Actually, as he said, because we don't want to
(15:07):
feel that. He's like I was here last year. I
went through that obviously the four and eighth season. He's like,
I went through that, and we don't want to go
through that again. We care about we want to win,
we know we can win, and we just got to
keep going forward. And that's kind of what I was
getting at a little bit there with what he brings
off the field. I mean, this is a guy who,
through thick and thin, good times, bad times. He's the
epitome of never get too high, never get too low.
(15:28):
When he has a fantastic game, he'll you know, he'll smile,
he'll tell you about it, he'll be grateful, but you know,
it's about getting the win. To him, it's about, you know,
his team playing well and when the losses are there
and you know things aren't going the way you want
them to go. He's not going to get too low.
He's not going to say, well, it's we did our best,
but we don't have it. This team's just not good enough.
He's like, we just need to, you know, play our
(15:48):
brand of football. We need to get back to it
and trust that. Trust the process is going to work.
So you hear it's it's almost a cliche, almost roll
your eyes when you hear a coach they never get
too high, never get too low. How often you or that?
But he really epitomizes that kind of concept to me,
and I think he's gonna be huge.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
Just got a minute or two left, and I'll ask
you about your beloved Patriots. They are division champs. They
are coming up a huge win over the Jets. Uh,
it's not really a rivalry right now because the Jets
are so awful. I heard, well, let me let me
put this to you. Now, the Patriots. One of the
Knox says, well, they beat bad teams. They you know,
haven't really beaten many good teams in the league. But
(16:27):
I contend that that's what good teams do. They win
the games they're supposed to win. And I think we
show he showed in the They showed in the Bills game.
They're capable of playing with some of the best teams
in the league. You gotta feel pretty good by Packers
stink right now. You must feel pretty good.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
Oh, I feel great. You know who doesn't feel great
is all my friends who are Bills fan. I was
talking crazy. I was talking crazy on Sunday. I'll be
honest with you.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
I was.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
I was pretty happy about that won the division for
the first time in a little while. Drag May is
the future. This team, even with some of our injury,
can just playing fantastic football.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
But like you said, I.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Can understand some of it in the college game when
coaches have more flexibility to make their schedules. But I
always thought that the schedule argument was kind of silly
in the NFL because it's not like the teams are
making their schedules, are they They can only play the
teams that are in front of them, And the Patriots
have were given this schedule by the league. I can
recognize that maybe they got lucky in some of it.
(17:24):
They didn't have to play certain teams who are the topague.
They have played some tough teams and they've showed well
in those games, and I'm not going to come out
and say that I might be one of the more
rational fans and not going to come and say like
they're clearly the Super Bowl favorites right now. I think
they could win it, but I'm not going to say
like they're by far the favorite. But at the end
of the day, these are the games they were given
and they can only play the games that are in
(17:44):
front of them. They can't go out of their way
and schedule the Rams, they can't go out of their
way and schedule the Seahawks. They can only play the
games that are put in front of them, and they've
made the most of those opportunities. Yep, we're going to
pretend the Raiders game never happened. That was before the
Raiders fell off a cliff. Ashon Jinky is just really
really good. No shade to Darryl Bird, who's a big
(18:05):
greater sin, but we're gonna pretend that didn't happen. And
other than that, the Patriots have just played the games
that are in front of them, and Dave ever record,
they've earned this division title, and I'm very excited to
see what they do going forward. I think that this
team more than anything else I understand. I'm a Patriot
thon who could understand wh people hated the Tom Brady,
Bill Belichick Patriots. This team is just so much more likable.
(18:27):
I feel like and I love this team.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
A park of the cast balls. Be careful with those
Gators down there.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
I will.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
We'll get a full report on the Gators. When he
joined us in STO, I think he's back in the
studio by next week. Coming up in just a few minutes,
Jeff Pcorl joins us from the UK Sports Network. We'll
talk a little more football and get just response and
reaction to Ty Bryant coming back, apparently cutter bully coming back,
the new staff falling into places. We'll talk some basketball
with Jeff as well. But you heard if you case
(18:57):
you're just joining us, or if you heard earlier Darren
talking to Kenny Brooks. He's got another good team now. Yeah,
Georgia Aymore is gone, but there are new faces in
the lineup and something similar to last year's team is
this is a really good defensive Kentucky women's team led
by Clara Strack of course, and yeah, Hostro was out
(19:20):
manned eighty to forty two is the final. Wow Cats
now thirteen and one. They were thirteen and one last
year going into this stage of the season, and their
defense is phenomenal. I mean, they're just outstanding, at least
they have been so far. Eight of their fourteen opponents
this year fifty or fewer points forty two yesterday, and
(19:46):
you know, hitting shots. Yeah, Hostra not that great defensively,
but the bottom line was Kentucky did what a good
team should do against a team with all due respect
like Hostra. But I really like the defense and you
really had to like thirty one made baskets, twenty seven assists.
(20:09):
We talked a lot last year about Mark Pope's ball
club with assists to make buckets, ratios and at times
just outstanding, and yesterday season high twenty seven assists and
a lot of those were outside shots as well. Wildcats
(20:31):
with eleven triples. They've had at least ten threes and
back to back games and seven times this year. Now,
what does this mean going into Thursday's opener with LSU. Well,
in terms of the one loss record, nothing because you
start over in n SEC. But in terms of the
way this team is executing, it means a Lot. They're
(20:53):
playing their best basketball right now and it's going to
take that going into Baton Rouge and opening up against
the mighty LSU women's basketball squad, the Tigers. But Kenny
Brooks says, another special team happening and it's gonna be fun.
(21:13):
We'll talk Jeff mcarl on the other side of the
break here on the State White BBI Welcome Back, Stay
Wild edition of the Big Blue Insiders to Gabriel with
you and joined now by one of my colleagues on
the UK Sports Network, mister Jeff macrol, who of course
played for the Wildcats back in the day, grew up
in Lexington, and Jeff, I want to ask you right
(21:34):
off about tdd Bryant. He's the son of one of
your former teammates. Kind of an obvious question, but and
when they make it official, he is, you know, I
think his mom as Cole Park has talked about it,
mentioned on social media and ties talked to some media people.
Nothing official yet from the UK, but him returning with
this new coaching staff. How vital is that?
Speaker 3 (21:58):
Well, I think it's huge and we can make it
official because I've already talked to him and to Cisco.
I think it's huge. And I just thought there were
two guys, and really three you have to add Willie Rodriguez.
But Cutter and and Ty were such leaders, and Willy
is going to become one now that that that catis
(22:20):
has graduated. So I think those three guys are imperative
to keep. And you've already had Tie now saying that
he's coming back. And don't be surprised if there's another
announcement here pretty soon of another defensive player that had
entered the portal that's going to come back too. And
but I just think it's imperative to have those guys
(22:41):
because there's such leaders. I mean, kid like time. I
mean he led the sec and interceptions last year. Plays
his heart out then, no matter if it's forty two
to nothing up or down, you know, he plays just
as hard and and he's he's become a leader that defense,
and they have to have that. Cutter's become a leader
of the offense, Willie has become a leader that of
(23:02):
the offense. They know they need those guys to help
the transition.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Yeah, and Ty and I'll get to the others you
guys in a minute, is a good talker. He's a
good SoundBite, a good quote, if you will, A lot
like dad, isn't he.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
Yeah, he's he's he's very well versed. He is just
a great athlete. He cares about the university, cares about
this team. Yeah, he grew up here. You know, he's
a local kid that's made good and he's he had
a lot of opportunities. I mean, he had a lot
of other SEC schools that were after him. But after
(23:38):
talking with uh, with coach Batemany and with Will, he
decided to you know, to come and finish his career
as a Wildcat. So, uh, you know, I I I
applaud him for doing that because, uh, you know, look,
you go, you go to Georgia, you go to Florida,
and you follow your your your coach and Brad White there.
(23:59):
You know, you don't know what the future holds in Florida.
But to turn them down and to stay here, I
think that was huge for Kentucky.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
He is, as we said, you know, the son of
your former teammate. So he's a legacy guy. Will Stein
in an odd way, is a legacy guy. Didn't play
every but his dad did exactly and grew up here.
And then it's something. There's just a little extra something
for guys. And you know who else I think about
in that regard is another one of your former teammates,
(24:29):
Bill Ransdell. I mean, people, may I know his dad
was an outstanding quarterback at Kentucky. Like Bill, there's a
little something more there is there.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
Yeah, And Will wanted to come to UK and they
wouldn't take him. He even wanted to walk on and
they wouldn't take him back then, So you know, he
loves UK. He bleeds blue and I you know, look,
it was a great get by Mitch and UK to
get him. But no, you're right, it's a little bit
different when you're from here Lexington and playing for the team,
(25:05):
and it's huge. He's a kid that plays for the
name in front, not the name on the back, and
that means so much, you know, to the other guys
to see that as well the other his teammates, and like.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
Jeff Bercoro and a lot of other guys, he's going
to learn a new coach, a new system and new
way of doing things. I don't know how different the
verbiage will be. But I've asked you this before because
you came in under Frank Cercy but played basically Andrew
Jerry Claiburn, and that was not a smooth transition. I mean,
that's one of the biggest reasons that that Clavern's first
(25:42):
team went winless is because there was a lot of pushback.
I haven't seen that since with coaching changes here, but
it's still it's still difficult, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
It is. I'll just say this about like, for instance,
the type Bryant or anybody else of events, it's a
little easier on defense than it is on offense because
offensive terminology changes with the system that you're you know,
a China route is still a China route if you're
in a West Coast offense or you're in a drop
(26:14):
back offense or even a beer offense. You know that's
a post is always going to be a post. A
corner is always going to be a corner, you know.
But defensively, it's a little bit easier because it's either
two deep or three deep or a man. I mean,
that's all you can have and it's just basically a name.
But it's a little bit easier that way. But you know,
you're right, and the transition that we went through from
(26:36):
Kersey to Clavern, was was volatile. I mean, guys left,
Guys were upset, they didn't want to change, they didn't
you know, that was a really hard I mean, I'm
just a freshman, right, I'm going my red shirt year,
my freshman year. So I was a young kid. I'm
nineteen years old and I'm just following the older guys.
(26:58):
But there were guys that were really upset about the
whole situation with Coach Kursey. And there were some big
people like Happy Chandler that were very upset that they
let him go too. But you know, it was you
could do a whole story on that, I'll tell you that.
But yeah, it could be, it could be hard. But
I think this is seamless because of the people that
(27:20):
he's retaining, because, let's face it, you're not only trying
to get guys to come in the portal, You're trying
to retain your own guys from leaving in the portal too.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
Yeah, and we talked before about annear Stewart staying and
you know, again like a legacy himself, which was big.
But and you know, speaking a Happy Chandler, I was there.
It was an open meeting when they voted to fire
Frank Cursey and the only no vote was Happy Chandler.
So anyway, that's that's taking a long way back, but yeah,
(27:52):
it should be a lot smoother. And let me ask
you this. You hear all the time about this guy's
of players. Fran Cursey was a players coach. You never
heard that about Jerry Clavern. You did hear it somewhat
about Mark Stoops. I. You know, we'll find out about
will Stein. I suspect he'll be called because he's younger.
But in your mind, what is there anything that differentiates
(28:14):
a player's coach? And I don't know what the opposite
of that is.
Speaker 3 (28:19):
Yeah, I think well, and again this is an old
analogy because I'm sixty three years old. But Frank Kersey
was a player's coach and Jerry Clavern was not. You know,
he was an old school here's how we're doing it.
There's no if ands or butts, even to his own coaches.
I mean, every year coach Bailey and you know all
the other Chip Garb or all the defense Terry Stroke
(28:42):
said we need to change this defense to a five
to two or a four to three. And he said, no,
we're staying with the wide tackle six come Hellner high water,
and you know we're going to living and dying by
this defense. And you know, unfortunately he ended up dying
by it, you know. But it's you know, it's I
don't I don't know. I think the younger guys tend
(29:02):
to it. Will is a younger guy. The terminology the
way they coach should be. It should be an easy
transact transition from from coach Stuup's over because you know,
you look at the staff and it this might be
the youngest staff in any power for school, don't you think?
Speaker 1 (29:22):
Yeah? But you know what, the more I think about it,
and again trying to differentiate your right, it's either players
coach or old school. But you know what, you can
be both and it's rare. But Rich Brooks, Rich Brooks
was the player the players they loved. I don't know
anything about about him, but I know that Brooks, the
(29:44):
players loved him. And I know he was a strict disciplinarian,
you know, but but they he treated everybody equally, everybody
the same, but everybody equally. So you know that's the market,
and you know, you gotta hope will Stein grows into
that right exactly.
Speaker 3 (30:01):
You know, we talked about you, and I talk about
this a lot. How many players when they leave a
program and I I think I've talked to you this
about you. You don't hear a lot of players to
leave an Urban Meyer program and say he's the greatest coach,
I'll do anything for him. And I'm I'm not knocking him,
just saying use him as an example. And then you
(30:21):
don't think Nick Saban is one of the you know
you better if you get out of line with him,
you're gone. Right. How many players you hear, every single
player almost it's ever played for him say he's the
greatest thing that's ever happened in my life. Yeah, yeah, right,
oh yeah, you know. So it doesn't matter if you're
young or old, you could still be a discip. And
I really think that an athlete is starving for discipline.
(30:49):
They want that in their life because everything in their
life is so regimented.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
And you know, there's another word for discipline, and that's coaching. Now,
there's discipline, yeah, the sake of discipline, but getting a
holding a player accountable, that's coaching. That's discipline as well.
And when you lose that accountability, and guys like us
who cover the team, especially you who have you know,
(31:15):
friends who have played and coached. You hear about that
when when teams get away from coaches because there's a
lack of accountability.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
Right.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
I'm really interested to see how does a young guy
like will Stein grow into this role because here's his
first head coaching job, brother, and it's in the toughest
league in college football.
Speaker 3 (31:34):
Right right, Well, I think one thing he's already given up,
the thing that he holds closest to him, and that's
play calling. Yeah right, he said, no, I'm not going
to call the plays. He's calling the plays. That's why
I named him the offensive coordinator.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
Right Yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:52):
I think that that was a huge move by a
young coach. And that's one thing that we said about
Mark Stoops early on. He tried to do every everything right.
He tried to coach the defense, he tried to call
the plays defense. You've got to let your assistance because
at this point now, especially as it's grown, you're basically
the CEO of a team instead of the coach, and
(32:13):
you have to delegate the authority to your assistance. And
as Mark continued on, he released that and let Brad
call defense and he let the offensive coordinators call the offense.
I think that was a huge move on his part
to do that, but you know, you have to trust
those guys. And again, it's going to be interesting to
see if if will does or if he goes to
(32:35):
them and says, look, we need to throw it more,
we need to run it more, we need to slow
it down, we need to speed it up. Whatever.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
Yeah, and I think with Stoops as well, not that
he was calling actual plays informations, but he had brought
in you know, he went with Neil Brown, and you
talked about it early on Jeff, when he was here.
They kept trying to match defensive personnel and there was
too much player movement and guys would run down the
to go on in defense. They're winded by the time
(33:03):
they get there. Once he got the right offense in place,
not the break the jail break kind of break nick,
kind of you know, lack of ball control.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
You know, the success began to follow whoever's calling plays
under will Stein if it doesn't work or whatever. At times,
people all the offense and the offense, well, it's will
Stein's offense. Whoever's calling the plays it's his offense, right, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (33:30):
Dick, let me let me make one point to you.
And this is something in you. I know you're going
to remember this. When Joker was the coach, Remember I
made a chart of all the players that came out
of the Cincinnati area. Yeah, yeah, that were three, four
and five stars, and then all the people in the
entire state of Kentucky that were even rated, and it
(33:50):
was it was what one hundred to one, right, And
I told Joker and he's like, Yef, they're not going
to come here. You're just not. I can't get those
guys to come here. I am amazed. In just the
last couple of days, and I'm sure you've seen this
on Twitter and other things, the announcements. He's going after
five star top you know, number two offensive lineman in
(34:13):
the country, number three edge rusher in the country, number
four offensive lineman the country. He's going after five high
four star and high five star players to come to Kentucky.
That I was like, whoa. I mean, you talk about
jumping in the deep end and if you get one
of them to come, that's all you need. Remember we
(34:34):
always said you've got Tim Couch, everyone else will follow
and that happened for.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
A few years, right, Yeah, especially receivers. But you know,
your greatest achievement as a guy who bugged Vince Merriw
and Mark Steobs. I always give you credit from Mike Edwards, you.
Speaker 3 (34:52):
Know, Yeah, Mike Edwards.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
Yeah, two Super what three? Two or three? Yet these
two Super Bowl rings.
Speaker 3 (34:58):
Wins twice?
Speaker 1 (34:59):
Yeah, yeah, and wanted to come here and no one
was talking to him. Every Big Ten team in the
league was talking to him, but he and his family
wanted the SEC And I do remember Frank Cursey trying
to get into Cincinnati. At the time, it was much
tougher for Kentucky. But yeah, they've got to keep that
up and make that happen. Jeff Picarrel's on the line
(35:21):
with us. We'll come back and talk more football and
some basketball with Jeff on the other side of the break.
Here on the state wide BBI, Toyota thun is on
and it's the Welcome back to the Big Blue Cider
from Pakefield to Paduca. Coming up Thursday on some of
these same stations, it's Kentucky women's basketball, the Wildcats taking
on LSU conference opener for Kenny Brooks's team and on Saturday,
(35:44):
the UK Men open up down at Alabama. Jeff Picorol's
on our Celebrity Hotline from the UK Sports Network. By
the way, Jeff, my apologies, I didn't ask you. Did
you have a great Christmas? I hope you and the
Pacoros did.
Speaker 3 (35:57):
Of course, every Christmas is fantastic. You know, when you
have children and grandchildren, it's a black.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
Well one of that it was great. One of our
little ones had a flu, so it was a little
bit oh boy, yeah, yeah, yeah, I think you told me, Jeff.
Of course's family its roots in Italy like mine. Uh
do you guys do this the Feast of the Seven
Fishes on Christmas Eve?
Speaker 3 (36:20):
Of course?
Speaker 1 (36:21):
See, we never did that. We never did.
Speaker 3 (36:23):
Know you didn't.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
No, I didn't even know what it was until I
came away to school. We were from a very very
very poor family.
Speaker 3 (36:33):
Oh I see. By the way, Keith Farmer Greg gorm
All say hello Tea, oh hi to the guys.
Speaker 1 (36:38):
I know you guys are having at gathering mostly of
w L e X people, but you used to work there,
I know until came in. I'm terribly sorry that my
packers let down the Steelers. But the Steelers didn't help
themselves either, did that.
Speaker 3 (36:54):
No they didn't.
Speaker 1 (36:55):
Yeah. Yeah, Keith and Greg Gorham from UK Sports video
used to work for me at one point a long
time ago. But anyhow, Yeah, the seven fishes I think
is interesting. But yeah, we never did that, although we did.
We did on Fridays we ate fish for the longest time.
Tune of fish spaghetti and all that stuff.
Speaker 3 (37:14):
Well, yeah, people can't believe that we have two to
fish in our spaghetti sauce. Oh man, it's good stuff, fantastic.
Speaker 1 (37:21):
And you know people who eat linguini with red clam sauce,
same thing, that's the same. They're the same.
Speaker 3 (37:27):
Yeah yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
What do you see for this Kentucky basketball team, which
you also cover going into this this first game. I
mean they're going to be off for twelve days. Alabama's
got a game right now against Yale and uh, you know,
so they got a little bit of a warm up game.
Speaker 3 (37:48):
Yeah, I you know, it's it's interesting. Quainton's makes a
big difference in this team, right Oh. I just just
his his his pressure and the way his presence of
the inside. I mean that guy's a beast man. I Yeah,
I just if they can get the point guard figured out,
(38:08):
you know, if if Jalen can get healthy, or they
could find somebody else, which a lot of people are
doing right now, they come in. Yeah, well that it
would be awesome.
Speaker 1 (38:19):
Well Josh Hopkins of course with a phony tweet that
Chris Paul was coming Alabama by the way, Oh Alabama
leaves Yale fifty five thirty one, So I don't think
there's going to be an upset there. Interesting from Mark
Pope tonight and somebody asked him finally, why don't you
start Jalen Lowe? And I suspected this was the case
(38:43):
with his answer, it's it's he didn't use the words
load management, but I think he's trying to protect him
as best he can. And also I thought this was
interesting that, you know, he doesn't practice as much with
the lead rotation, so he wants to put the starters
on the floor who have had the most reps in practice,
which in a way makes sense, doesn't it.
Speaker 3 (39:05):
Yeah, No, I look, I agree one hundred percent. He's
got to be healthy, and it's almost like one of
those things with a hamstring, yeah, where he can blow
at any minute. So I'd rather be in a game
in a stressful situation than in practice. The guy's been
doing this since he was a little kid, you know.
And you know, as long as he's his his endurance
(39:30):
is where it should be. He really doesn't need to
practice that much for what he's doing. They're not asking
him to score twenty five points a game. That's the
key too.
Speaker 1 (39:37):
Yeah, you know, watching Quainton's play and I've watched him
on video of course when he was healthy at Arizona. Yeah,
who is right? And I'm trying to equate his skill
set to other Kentucky biggs and I'm having a hard
time doing it. He is really mobile, protects the rim,
he's a shot blocker, he can get to the basket.
(40:01):
He's got a little bit of cousins, some Patrick Patterson
and him, some Sambooie and him. I'm really enjoying watching him.
Speaker 3 (40:09):
Yeah, I was gonna say Bowie, but with more physicality. Yeah,
you know, before Boo got hurt, man he could run
the floor. He could. He was as good a defender
as Anthony Davis was. I mean he was. He was
a monster. He just didn't have the physicality that that
(40:29):
quaint said. Six guy is is massive. He's a difference maker.
I mean, he really is. It's gonna be really interesting
to see how this team now comes together over the
next couple of weeks as you get into SEC play,
and you know, this is almost a team like a
Caliperi team where we're going to get better. Cal would say,
(40:50):
we're not getting ready to win a championship in December.
We want to win a championship in March. This is
the way this team looks like it's going forward.
Speaker 1 (40:59):
And he's got to me with all the injuries, and
it's especially vital given the quad lack of Quad one wins, right,
I mean, you know, now you can help yourself in
the SEC. And by the way, exactly acquaintance on the
floor with Brandon Garrison that was intriguing, wasn't it.
Speaker 3 (41:17):
Yeah, it almost gave you the old Roby Phillips, you know,
two yeah, big guys who can knock people around inside,
which Kentucky hadn't had in a long time.
Speaker 1 (41:28):
You know, even Sam and Melvin they were the bigs,
but they weren't physical like Roby and Phillips. That's a
great point. Yeah, all right, Jeff bro thank you so
much and we will see you down the Roagayet my best.
Speaker 3 (41:39):
All the guys all right, man, take it easy.
Speaker 1 (41:42):
Thanks again to Jeff, Thanks to Cole Park for joining us,
and I want that full report on the Alligators when
he comes back. And again coming up Thursday, UK Women's
Basketball Conference opener, eight o'clock, tip, seven forty five pregame. Saturday,
it's noon, Kentucky, Alabama. That work covers begins on most
of these same stations at ten thirty AM for bol
(42:05):
Robinson di Gabriel. That's say good night from Lexington
Welcome back to the state wide edition of the BBI
Border to Border. We are chatting with Cole Park. He
is in the studio with us, usually on Monday nights.
Buddy is a traveling man. He and his young lady
friend are on the road. They are Myrtle Beach, where
it is warmer than it is here. But Cole, before
we talk any sports. When you notified me that you
all were hitting the road, you told me your girlfriend
(00:29):
was taking you somewhere kind of exotic tomorrow and you're
gonna check part of your bucket list. Now tell everybody
about that.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Yes, she's taken me to this. It's listed as a
zoo online, but it's called Alligator Adventure. If you know me,
know me well, I love alligators. I've got a ton
of alligator stuff in my apartment, my favorite animal by far.
Every time I go down to Florida or LSU or
anything like that. And we're going down LSU later this month,
but next month technically fills it's January already.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
God.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Anytime I go anywhere like that in the in the SEC,
I always make a pit stop or a detour to
find an alligator along the way, just to you know,
see him in Alligator or Adventure. You know they're gonna
do some feedings, They're going to see the alligators, maybe
hold some and it's going to be a real fun time.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
You made the Gainesville trip, didn't you? Or have you
been to Gainesville yet?
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (01:18):
I have.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
I drove drove down to Gainesville by myself a few
years back when they played in basketball.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
It was the Aaron.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Bradshaw game, if you remember. Drove down to Gainsville for that,
and after the game was over, I wrote my stories
and I was supposed to just drive back right after that.
It was when I was a student journalist. I didn't
have a hotel booked for me, and I ended up
staying an extra hour or two in Gainesville because I
drove out of the way to this pond near campus
that's supposed to have had alligators, and it just walked around
(01:48):
the pond for an hour until I finally saw an alligator.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
There's a James Bond movie, Live and Let Die. Well,
he's he's in a spot surrounded by alligators that are
going to going to eat him. Any escapes. Have you
ever seen that movie?
Speaker 2 (02:03):
I have?
Speaker 1 (02:04):
What did you think?
Speaker 2 (02:07):
I think it's misrepresenting my favorite animal. Me personally, I
think I could. I could get that situation just fine,
in a slightly different way than how he did it.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
But you know, but you know what a stunt man
actually did that. He stepped on the backs of several
crocs and got a cross. But those are crocs. I guess,
maybe not. I don't know. You probably very impressive, you
know the difference. One last question before we get to sports.
Can I assume you've eaten alligator? Because I have?
Speaker 2 (02:37):
I have not. I actually I've had multiple, multiple opportunities
to do so, and I've, believe it or not, turned
it down every time I had. Most people offer me alligator,
you know, especially when Florida comes to play Kentucky, you
know how the Telgate scene goes. All I've had it
offered me plenty, and I politely decline every time.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Why respect for the animal.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Yeah, I just don't want to eat him. You know,
it's kind of like I guess it's it's a little silly,
but like you know, alligators are my favorite animals, So
it's kind of like as crass as it sounds to be,
no different than like offering the average person a dog,
Like I would get it a dog.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
I get it. Yeah. No, there's a sports writer I
know who was at the Olympics in China and had
a chance to eat dog, and he turned it down
for the exact same reason you and And for instance,
if I were overseas and horse was on the menu
or dog, I wouldn't need it either, So I can relate.
All right, well, let us let us quickly get back
to sports. I was just fascinated. I didn't know that.
(03:32):
I mean, we've gotten to know each other of the
last year or so, but I know you're a Patriots nut.
I didn't know you were an allegant fan either. So
we'll talk about the Patriots coming.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Up here AF champions.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Hey, how about that? You need a T shirt? Right?
Speaker 3 (03:47):
I do?
Speaker 2 (03:47):
I need to give me a T shirt?
Speaker 1 (03:48):
All right, Well, we'll come back to that. But uh,
the basketball Wildcats of course have a conference play on
the horizon watching this roster come together. How do you
feel in general about the future of Mark posts back club.
Let's assume they stay relatively healthy. What do you think?
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Yeah, well, let's be honest about it. I feel a
whole lot better about it now than I would have
a few weeks ago, right, Obviously, like you touched on there,
the biggest thing is can they stay healthy. That's a
very very important thing. I don't want to put any
player down because the team is a team, but let's
be honest about it as well. It's the bigger question
is more can Jalen Lowe stay healthy because we can
(04:35):
see how this team looks when it has its true
point guard versus when it doesn't. But in general, assuming
they can all stay healthy, assuming this team can stay together, Modiabat,
Jaden Quainton, Jalen Lowe, all these guys, I actually feel
pretty good about Kentucky right now. I don't know. You
know me pretty well. I tend to be a bit
of a sports pessimist at times, so I don't know
(04:57):
that i'd say national championship. But people that you know
are higher up on this louder than I am, have
said that they have that upside, and I'm not going
to say they don't. I like a lot of what
I've seen out of this team, and I think it's
very exciting. I think even if Bellerman was playing the
zone a little bit, you know, getting Cam Williams some
confidence going eight for ten from you know, making him
(05:18):
feel more comfortable in that shot can only mean good
things for this team. Modiabatte Jaden Quaintin's this smash mouth
basketball they've branded playing down low has looked really, really
good Jaalen Low. When he's you know, when he's playing well,
even when he's not scoring the most points, you can
just tell the offense just flows through him so much better.
And I would take it away kind of feeling like
(05:40):
at times he's getting more comfortable in himself, especially compared
to how we saw at the start of the season.
Just so many players in this team they're they're finding
It feels silly to say that Mark Pope was right,
But maybe all those times he was telling us after
the losses they're trying to find their identity, maybe he wasn't,
you know, fully just saying coach, he's there.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Maybe he really is.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Trying to find this team's identity. And it feels like
we're getting right at the right time. As you're moving
towards SEC player, they're starting to kind of figure that
out a bit more. And I'm liking what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
And you know what, you bring up a great point
when you talk about identity because I hadn't even thought
about that. I just kept thinking, Look, this isn't the
team that I saw pre season in workouts when I
got a chance to watch them, because of all the injuries.
But you bring up a great point, because how do
you establish an identity when you don't have everybody, when
you don't have all the guys who are responsible for
(06:33):
creating that identity? Right?
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Yeah, absolutely, I mean I asked Mark Prope that question
after the Michigan State game and it got a quote
that went pretty went pretty viral from his little lanps
that he went on mini rants. But obviously at the
time he wasn't hearing that. I mean, he's a coach
that just lost the game, and you can't say that
our team isn't going to be what it needs to
be until we get our players back. But it is true, right,
I mean, the players that are less than the shoes
(06:59):
of Mark Pope has told me that, Yeah, there is
some of that. It's hard to really have an identity
when half your roster is going out any given moment,
and it's not like just one players had injury issues.
We've had Modia Bate miss times, Jalen low Jad and
Quaintance missed the first start of the season, Trent Noah
start of the season's injuries. I mean, there's been a
ton of players in this roster. O Tega Away missed
a lot of the offseason with his turf toe. They
(07:21):
had to figure things out, and it felt like a
lot early on. You know, we talked about it, but
it felt like at times early on they were trying
to fit a round peg into a square hole. How
they were trying to play with this team. And now
it feels like they've got everybody back, they're being able
to see what works and doesn't work, and I think
they're able to It's definitely different than how we came
(07:42):
into the season expecting them to play, but it might
just be exactly the way this team needs to play.
And I've always said the makings of a great coach
it's not necessarily just a coach who wins a lot,
but a coach who can adapt and who can win
with multiple different styles of play. And this team is
very different than last year's team. The way they play
is different team, but the way this year team is
playing right now, and the way we saw against Saint
(08:03):
John's in that second half there when Jalen Low came back.
Even some of the Indiana games, even though it was
more of an ugly game, a gritty game, that might
be the way this team needs to play. And if
this team is going to play that way, I think
that they have a much higher ceiling than when they
were trying to play how they were at the start
of the season.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
There is a twelve day gap or there will be
between games for the Wildcats Bellerman to Alabama. Alabama tonight plays.
Yale obviously is favored to win that one by a
comfortable margin in Tuscal lose even though Yale's eleven and one,
Bama's lost three games, which has surprised the people. But
how concerning do you think it is for Pope, for fans,
(08:44):
for whoever, that there might be a little bit of
rust attached to these Wildcats going into a road opener
in the conference when Alabama essentially with all due respect
to Yale, has a tune up game tonight.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Yeah, I mean, there's always a factor. We asked Mark
Pope about that after the Velopment game, and he was
pretty candid about saying, you know, honestly, I'm just glad
for the rest, right now get some guys healthy, get
us back where we need to be before we go back.
I mean, I see this game at Alabama the same
way I see, you know, next year's football schedule with
Alabama and Week two in Texas at Texasan in Week three.
I mean, there's only so much you can really do
(09:19):
regardless of this is if this team had been playing
healthy all year long or is just now getting healthy.
I mean, playing at Alabama in Coleman Coliseum for your
first conference game was always going to be ridiculously tough,
and anyone in the conference would tell you that anytime,
especially lately with natos as Alabama teams, going to Coleman
Coliseum is not usually a fun trip for SEC schools,
(09:40):
and Mark Cope in particular. So far Kentucky has struggled
against Alabama, so this was always going to be a
tough game. But I think where Kentucky's at right now,
you can worry about rust a little bit. I do
understand that. I it wouldn't shock me if they do
come out a little you know, trying to figure out
at first. But I also think for Kentucky and where
they've been this season, it might just be more valuable
(10:00):
to not have one of those team up games and
just let your guys rest, get healthy, and then do
what you need to do in practice and work on
getting everybody integrated together as you need to before you
go in arguably one of the toughest games you're going
to play all year at Alabama.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Yeah, and by the way, the three losses were in
all fairness to Purdue, third game in the season, ranked
at the time number two, Gonzaga we know how good
they can be, ranked number twelve at the time, and
of course top ranked Arizona.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Which was a casual, the number one team in the country.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Which was a bit of a blowout earlier in December.
So it's not like Alabama's tripping all over itself and
they're going to be primed and ready when the Wildcats
come to town. Cole Park of the Cats Balls is
on the Celebrity Hotline. We'll come back and talk more
Kentucky basketball and football at Cole On the other side
of the break, it is the state wide Big Blue
Insider Welcome Back stay Why border to border from Pikeville
(10:58):
to Paduka. It is the Big Blue and side Dick
Gabriel with Cole Park on the celebrity hotline Cat's Paul's
beat Ryder covers football in basketball. Let me stray from
basketball for a minute. Cole get your reaction to the
fact that Ty Bryant, He's not made it official yet
with UK, but the word is out he is coming
back to Kentucky. No one would have been shocked, no
(11:19):
one would have blamed him if he had moved on.
He's a really good player, one of the best d
backs in the SEC. And as we all know, player
movement is the lead story really in all the college
sports right now. Are you surprised he's coming back? What
does that mean for will Stein and his new coaching staff?
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Yeah, so real quick on that note. Obviously it was
confirmed by his mother on Facebook. I believe Terry Bryant.
I've talked with you know, Tye a little bit. I've
talked more with his father's go a bit more. But yeah,
I mean ty Bryant is a phenomenal, phenomenal football player
who is a great defensive back. Had multiple interceptions season,
picked off Austin Simmons twice and that on game and
(12:02):
from what I heard, he was having offers from all
across the country in conference out of conference. I mean,
he was a hot commodity come off season time. But
does it shock me he's back. Not so much. I
mean he's a Lexington guy, Frederick Douglass graduate, has ties
to this program, he cares about. It wouldn't have shocked
me necessarily from the league. But it also doesn't shock
me that he's back. As for what it means for Kentucky,
(12:24):
I think this is huge. I think it means more
than people are even letting on because it's easy to
just see. Especially, you know, maybe if you're not covering
the team as much, you're not in the practices, you're
not talking to these players throughout the week and after games.
But Ty Bryant's not just a fantastic football player. We
obviously know what he can do on the field. He's
very good at what he does. But Ty Bryant is
a fantastic person as well. He's got such a good
(12:47):
energy to him.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
He's a very.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Upbeat guy, very positive guy, willing to talk candidly about things.
I mean, this is a guy who when you're establishing
a culture somewhere, you want a guy like Ty Bryant
on your team. You want a guy who not only
cares about Kentucky, cares about this program, but also just
like a guy who's going to lift other guys up,
you know, that kind of uplifting culture, kind of guy
(13:09):
in the locker room. So I think this could be
absolutely huge for Kentucky, especially on the defensive front. We
know Will Stein's going to get that offense looking right,
We know that the offense is going to be exciting.
But on the defensive side, I'm still excited about what
I see and a lot of that comes from you know,
we also know that we expect Mikey Humphrey Grace to
be back. We expect ty Bryant to be back. Now,
both of those guys are very very good football players,
(13:31):
and when it comes to ty Bryant, just what he
brings off the field as well as on it. I
think this is huge for will sign in year one,
and I think Ty Bryant, he's a kid that I think,
regardless of where he goes the NFL is in his future.
He's just that kind of player and what he brings
to Kentucky and the way he cares what this program is.
I would I would honestly go as far as the
(13:52):
irreplaceable in some ways with what he's going to be
able to do.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
You might remember the news conference I think you were
there after the spring during the spring when ty talked
about the goals for this year's team and obviously they
fell a little bit short. But he referred to last
year and he said it more than once. He said
it multiple times after practices and whatever. He said, nobody
wants to go through that ever again. Yeah, you know
(14:17):
you rarely hear players they feel that way, but Tyd
Bryant wasn't afraid to put it out there was.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
He No, it wasn't. And even during this last season
something that he said to me. I remember being there
at the practice fields after one of their practices interviewing
some of the players, and it was one of those things.
I'm sure you've had it when you're interviewing someone, and
he said it and I was like in my head,
I was like, WHOA, I'm surprised you actually said that
to us holding our microphones at you. But he admitted,
you know, someone asked him things weren't going as well.
(14:46):
This is obviously before they wanted Auburn. Just you know,
you're going through all these weeks of practices, you feel
like there's teams where you want it to be, but
you're the wins just aren't being there. How do you
keep from getting discouraged? And he he was pretty candidates.
He said, I was talking with those of my teamate
the other day, asked me why why should we care? Like,
why should we still fight for this? And he gave
his Actually, as he said, because we don't want to
(15:07):
feel that. He's like I was here last year. I
went through that obviously the four and eighth season. He's like,
I went through that, and we don't want to go
through that again. We care about we want to win,
we know we can win, and we just got to
keep going forward. And that's kind of what I was
getting at a little bit there with what he brings
off the field. I mean, this is a guy who,
through thick and thin, good times, bad times. He's the
epitome of never get too high, never get too low.
(15:28):
When he has a fantastic game, he'll you know, he'll smile,
he'll tell you about it, he'll be grateful, but you know,
it's about getting the win. To him, it's about, you know,
his team playing well and when the losses are there
and you know things aren't going the way you want
them to go. He's not going to get too low.
He's not going to say, well, it's we did our best,
but we don't have it. This team's just not good enough.
He's like, we just need to, you know, play our
(15:48):
brand of football. We need to get back to it
and trust that. Trust the process is going to work.
So you hear it's it's almost a cliche, almost roll
your eyes when you hear a coach they never get
too high, never get too low. How often you or that?
But he really epitomizes that kind of concept to me,
and I think he's gonna be huge.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
Just got a minute or two left, and I'll ask
you about your beloved Patriots. They are division champs. They
are coming up a huge win over the Jets. Uh,
it's not really a rivalry right now because the Jets
are so awful. I heard, well, let me let me
put this to you. Now, the Patriots. One of the
Knox says, well, they beat bad teams. They you know,
haven't really beaten many good teams in the league. But
(16:27):
I contend that that's what good teams do. They win
the games they're supposed to win. And I think we
show he showed in the They showed in the Bills game.
They're capable of playing with some of the best teams
in the league. You gotta feel pretty good by Packers
stink right now. You must feel pretty good.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
Oh, I feel great. You know who doesn't feel great
is all my friends who are Bills fan. I was
talking crazy. I was talking crazy on Sunday. I'll be
honest with you.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
I was.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
I was pretty happy about that won the division for
the first time in a little while. Drag May is
the future. This team, even with some of our injury,
can just playing fantastic football.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
But like you said, I.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Can understand some of it in the college game when
coaches have more flexibility to make their schedules. But I
always thought that the schedule argument was kind of silly
in the NFL because it's not like the teams are
making their schedules, are they They can only play the
teams that are in front of them, And the Patriots
have were given this schedule by the league. I can
recognize that maybe they got lucky in some of it.
(17:24):
They didn't have to play certain teams who are the topague.
They have played some tough teams and they've showed well
in those games, and I'm not going to come out
and say that I might be one of the more
rational fans and not going to come and say like
they're clearly the Super Bowl favorites right now. I think
they could win it, but I'm not going to say
like they're by far the favorite. But at the end
of the day, these are the games they were given
and they can only play the games that are in
(17:44):
front of them. They can't go out of their way
and schedule the Rams, they can't go out of their
way and schedule the Seahawks. They can only play the
games that are put in front of them, and they've
made the most of those opportunities. Yep, we're going to
pretend the Raiders game never happened. That was before the
Raiders fell off a cliff. Ashon Jinky is just really
really good. No shade to Darryl Bird, who's a big
(18:05):
greater sin, but we're gonna pretend that didn't happen. And
other than that, the Patriots have just played the games
that are in front of them, and Dave ever record,
they've earned this division title, and I'm very excited to
see what they do going forward. I think that this
team more than anything else I understand. I'm a Patriot
thon who could understand wh people hated the Tom Brady,
Bill Belichick Patriots. This team is just so much more likable.
(18:27):
I feel like and I love this team.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
A park of the cast balls. Be careful with those
Gators down there.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
I will.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
We'll get a full report on the Gators. When he
joined us in STO, I think he's back in the
studio by next week. Coming up in just a few minutes,
Jeff Pcorl joins us from the UK Sports Network. We'll
talk a little more football and get just response and
reaction to Ty Bryant coming back, apparently cutter bully coming back,
the new staff falling into places. We'll talk some basketball
with Jeff as well. But you heard if you case
(18:57):
you're just joining us, or if you heard earlier Darren
talking to Kenny Brooks. He's got another good team now. Yeah,
Georgia Aymore is gone, but there are new faces in
the lineup and something similar to last year's team is
this is a really good defensive Kentucky women's team led
by Clara Strack of course, and yeah, Hostro was out
(19:20):
manned eighty to forty two is the final. Wow Cats
now thirteen and one. They were thirteen and one last
year going into this stage of the season, and their
defense is phenomenal. I mean, they're just outstanding, at least
they have been so far. Eight of their fourteen opponents
this year fifty or fewer points forty two yesterday, and
(19:46):
you know, hitting shots. Yeah, Hostra not that great defensively,
but the bottom line was Kentucky did what a good
team should do against a team with all due respect
like Hostra. But I really like the defense and you
really had to like thirty one made baskets, twenty seven assists.
(20:09):
We talked a lot last year about Mark Pope's ball
club with assists to make buckets, ratios and at times
just outstanding, and yesterday season high twenty seven assists and
a lot of those were outside shots as well. Wildcats
(20:31):
with eleven triples. They've had at least ten threes and
back to back games and seven times this year. Now,
what does this mean going into Thursday's opener with LSU. Well,
in terms of the one loss record, nothing because you
start over in n SEC. But in terms of the
way this team is executing, it means a Lot. They're
(20:53):
playing their best basketball right now and it's going to
take that going into Baton Rouge and opening up against
the mighty LSU women's basketball squad, the Tigers. But Kenny
Brooks says, another special team happening and it's gonna be fun.
(21:13):
We'll talk Jeff mcarl on the other side of the
break here on the State White BBI Welcome Back, Stay
Wild edition of the Big Blue Insiders to Gabriel with
you and joined now by one of my colleagues on
the UK Sports Network, mister Jeff macrol, who of course
played for the Wildcats back in the day, grew up
in Lexington, and Jeff, I want to ask you right
(21:34):
off about tdd Bryant. He's the son of one of
your former teammates. Kind of an obvious question, but and
when they make it official, he is, you know, I
think his mom as Cole Park has talked about it,
mentioned on social media and ties talked to some media people.
Nothing official yet from the UK, but him returning with
this new coaching staff. How vital is that?
Speaker 3 (21:58):
Well, I think it's huge and we can make it
official because I've already talked to him and to Cisco.
I think it's huge. And I just thought there were
two guys, and really three you have to add Willie Rodriguez.
But Cutter and and Ty were such leaders, and Willy
is going to become one now that that that catis
(22:20):
has graduated. So I think those three guys are imperative
to keep. And you've already had Tie now saying that
he's coming back. And don't be surprised if there's another
announcement here pretty soon of another defensive player that had
entered the portal that's going to come back too. And
but I just think it's imperative to have those guys
(22:41):
because there's such leaders. I mean, kid like time. I
mean he led the sec and interceptions last year. Plays
his heart out then, no matter if it's forty two
to nothing up or down, you know, he plays just
as hard and and he's he's become a leader that defense,
and they have to have that. Cutter's become a leader
of the offense, Willie has become a leader that of
(23:02):
the offense. They know they need those guys to help
the transition.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Yeah, and Ty and I'll get to the others you
guys in a minute, is a good talker. He's a
good SoundBite, a good quote, if you will, A lot
like dad, isn't he.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
Yeah, he's he's he's very well versed. He is just
a great athlete. He cares about the university, cares about
this team. Yeah, he grew up here. You know, he's
a local kid that's made good and he's he had
a lot of opportunities. I mean, he had a lot
of other SEC schools that were after him. But after
(23:38):
talking with uh, with coach Batemany and with Will, he
decided to you know, to come and finish his career
as a Wildcat. So, uh, you know, I I I
applaud him for doing that because, uh, you know, look,
you go, you go to Georgia, you go to Florida,
and you follow your your your coach and Brad White there.
(23:59):
You know, you don't know what the future holds in Florida.
But to turn them down and to stay here, I
think that was huge for Kentucky.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
He is, as we said, you know, the son of
your former teammate. So he's a legacy guy. Will Stein
in an odd way, is a legacy guy. Didn't play
every but his dad did exactly and grew up here.
And then it's something. There's just a little extra something
for guys. And you know who else I think about
in that regard is another one of your former teammates,
(24:29):
Bill Ransdell. I mean, people, may I know his dad
was an outstanding quarterback at Kentucky. Like Bill, there's a
little something more there is there.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
Yeah, And Will wanted to come to UK and they
wouldn't take him. He even wanted to walk on and
they wouldn't take him back then, So you know, he
loves UK. He bleeds blue and I you know, look,
it was a great get by Mitch and UK to
get him. But no, you're right, it's a little bit
different when you're from here Lexington and playing for the team,
(25:05):
and it's huge. He's a kid that plays for the
name in front, not the name on the back, and
that means so much, you know, to the other guys
to see that as well the other his teammates, and like.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
Jeff Bercoro and a lot of other guys, he's going
to learn a new coach, a new system and new
way of doing things. I don't know how different the
verbiage will be. But I've asked you this before because
you came in under Frank Cercy but played basically Andrew
Jerry Claiburn, and that was not a smooth transition. I mean,
that's one of the biggest reasons that that Clavern's first
(25:42):
team went winless is because there was a lot of pushback.
I haven't seen that since with coaching changes here, but
it's still it's still difficult, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
It is. I'll just say this about like, for instance,
the type Bryant or anybody else of events, it's a
little easier on defense than it is on offense because
offensive terminology changes with the system that you're you know,
a China route is still a China route if you're
in a West Coast offense or you're in a drop
(26:14):
back offense or even a beer offense. You know that's
a post is always going to be a post. A
corner is always going to be a corner, you know.
But defensively, it's a little bit easier because it's either
two deep or three deep or a man. I mean,
that's all you can have and it's just basically a name.
But it's a little bit easier that way. But you know,
you're right, and the transition that we went through from
(26:36):
Kersey to Clavern, was was volatile. I mean, guys left,
Guys were upset, they didn't want to change, they didn't
you know, that was a really hard I mean, I'm
just a freshman, right, I'm going my red shirt year,
my freshman year. So I was a young kid. I'm
nineteen years old and I'm just following the older guys.
(26:58):
But there were guys that were really upset about the
whole situation with Coach Kursey. And there were some big
people like Happy Chandler that were very upset that they
let him go too. But you know, it was you
could do a whole story on that, I'll tell you that.
But yeah, it could be, it could be hard. But
I think this is seamless because of the people that
(27:20):
he's retaining, because, let's face it, you're not only trying
to get guys to come in the portal, You're trying
to retain your own guys from leaving in the portal too.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
Yeah, and we talked before about annear Stewart staying and
you know, again like a legacy himself, which was big.
But and you know, speaking a Happy Chandler, I was there.
It was an open meeting when they voted to fire
Frank Cursey and the only no vote was Happy Chandler.
So anyway, that's that's taking a long way back, but yeah,
(27:52):
it should be a lot smoother. And let me ask
you this. You hear all the time about this guy's
of players. Fran Cursey was a players coach. You never
heard that about Jerry Clavern. You did hear it somewhat
about Mark Stoops. I. You know, we'll find out about
will Stein. I suspect he'll be called because he's younger.
But in your mind, what is there anything that differentiates
(28:14):
a player's coach? And I don't know what the opposite
of that is.
Speaker 3 (28:19):
Yeah, I think well, and again this is an old
analogy because I'm sixty three years old. But Frank Kersey
was a player's coach and Jerry Clavern was not. You know,
he was an old school here's how we're doing it.
There's no if ands or butts, even to his own coaches.
I mean, every year coach Bailey and you know all
the other Chip Garb or all the defense Terry Stroke
(28:42):
said we need to change this defense to a five
to two or a four to three. And he said, no,
we're staying with the wide tackle six come Hellner high water,
and you know we're going to living and dying by
this defense. And you know, unfortunately he ended up dying
by it, you know. But it's you know, it's I
don't I don't know. I think the younger guys tend
(29:02):
to it. Will is a younger guy. The terminology the
way they coach should be. It should be an easy
transact transition from from coach Stuup's over because you know,
you look at the staff and it this might be
the youngest staff in any power for school, don't you think?
Speaker 1 (29:22):
Yeah? But you know what, the more I think about it,
and again trying to differentiate your right, it's either players
coach or old school. But you know what, you can
be both and it's rare. But Rich Brooks, Rich Brooks
was the player the players they loved. I don't know
anything about about him, but I know that Brooks, the
(29:44):
players loved him. And I know he was a strict disciplinarian,
you know, but but they he treated everybody equally, everybody
the same, but everybody equally. So you know that's the market,
and you know, you gotta hope will Stein grows into
that right exactly.
Speaker 3 (30:01):
You know, we talked about you, and I talk about
this a lot. How many players when they leave a
program and I I think I've talked to you this
about you. You don't hear a lot of players to
leave an Urban Meyer program and say he's the greatest coach,
I'll do anything for him. And I'm I'm not knocking him,
just saying use him as an example. And then you
(30:21):
don't think Nick Saban is one of the you know
you better if you get out of line with him,
you're gone. Right. How many players you hear, every single
player almost it's ever played for him say he's the
greatest thing that's ever happened in my life. Yeah, yeah, right,
oh yeah, you know. So it doesn't matter if you're
young or old, you could still be a discip. And
I really think that an athlete is starving for discipline.
(30:49):
They want that in their life because everything in their
life is so regimented.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
And you know, there's another word for discipline, and that's coaching. Now,
there's discipline, yeah, the sake of discipline, but getting a
holding a player accountable, that's coaching. That's discipline as well.
And when you lose that accountability, and guys like us
who cover the team, especially you who have you know,
(31:15):
friends who have played and coached. You hear about that
when when teams get away from coaches because there's a
lack of accountability.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
Right.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
I'm really interested to see how does a young guy
like will Stein grow into this role because here's his
first head coaching job, brother, and it's in the toughest
league in college football.
Speaker 3 (31:34):
Right right, Well, I think one thing he's already given up,
the thing that he holds closest to him, and that's
play calling. Yeah right, he said, no, I'm not going
to call the plays. He's calling the plays. That's why
I named him the offensive coordinator.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
Right Yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:52):
I think that that was a huge move by a
young coach. And that's one thing that we said about
Mark Stoops early on. He tried to do every everything right.
He tried to coach the defense, he tried to call
the plays defense. You've got to let your assistance because
at this point now, especially as it's grown, you're basically
the CEO of a team instead of the coach, and
(32:13):
you have to delegate the authority to your assistance. And
as Mark continued on, he released that and let Brad
call defense and he let the offensive coordinators call the offense.
I think that was a huge move on his part
to do that, but you know, you have to trust
those guys. And again, it's going to be interesting to
see if if will does or if he goes to
(32:35):
them and says, look, we need to throw it more,
we need to run it more, we need to slow
it down, we need to speed it up. Whatever.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
Yeah, and I think with Stoops as well, not that
he was calling actual plays informations, but he had brought
in you know, he went with Neil Brown, and you
talked about it early on Jeff, when he was here.
They kept trying to match defensive personnel and there was
too much player movement and guys would run down the
to go on in defense. They're winded by the time
(33:03):
they get there. Once he got the right offense in place,
not the break the jail break kind of break nick,
kind of you know, lack of ball control.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
You know, the success began to follow whoever's calling plays
under will Stein if it doesn't work or whatever. At times,
people all the offense and the offense, well, it's will
Stein's offense. Whoever's calling the plays it's his offense, right, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (33:30):
Dick, let me let me make one point to you.
And this is something in you. I know you're going
to remember this. When Joker was the coach, Remember I
made a chart of all the players that came out
of the Cincinnati area. Yeah, yeah, that were three, four
and five stars, and then all the people in the
entire state of Kentucky that were even rated, and it
(33:50):
was it was what one hundred to one, right, And
I told Joker and he's like, Yef, they're not going
to come here. You're just not. I can't get those
guys to come here. I am amazed. In just the
last couple of days, and I'm sure you've seen this
on Twitter and other things, the announcements. He's going after
five star top you know, number two offensive lineman in
(34:13):
the country, number three edge rusher in the country, number
four offensive lineman the country. He's going after five high
four star and high five star players to come to Kentucky.
That I was like, whoa. I mean, you talk about
jumping in the deep end and if you get one
of them to come, that's all you need. Remember we
(34:34):
always said you've got Tim Couch, everyone else will follow
and that happened for.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
A few years, right, Yeah, especially receivers. But you know,
your greatest achievement as a guy who bugged Vince Merriw
and Mark Steobs. I always give you credit from Mike Edwards, you.
Speaker 3 (34:52):
Know, Yeah, Mike Edwards.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
Yeah, two Super what three? Two or three? Yet these
two Super Bowl rings.
Speaker 3 (34:58):
Wins twice?
Speaker 1 (34:59):
Yeah, yeah, and wanted to come here and no one
was talking to him. Every Big Ten team in the
league was talking to him, but he and his family
wanted the SEC And I do remember Frank Cursey trying
to get into Cincinnati. At the time, it was much
tougher for Kentucky. But yeah, they've got to keep that
up and make that happen. Jeff Picarrel's on the line
(35:21):
with us. We'll come back and talk more football and
some basketball with Jeff on the other side of the break.
Here on the state wide BBI, Toyota thun is on
and it's the Welcome back to the Big Blue Cider
from Pakefield to Paduca. Coming up Thursday on some of
these same stations, it's Kentucky women's basketball, the Wildcats taking
on LSU conference opener for Kenny Brooks's team and on Saturday,
(35:44):
the UK Men open up down at Alabama. Jeff Picorol's
on our Celebrity Hotline from the UK Sports Network. By
the way, Jeff, my apologies, I didn't ask you. Did
you have a great Christmas? I hope you and the
Pacoros did.
Speaker 3 (35:57):
Of course, every Christmas is fantastic. You know, when you
have children and grandchildren, it's a black.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
Well one of that it was great. One of our
little ones had a flu, so it was a little
bit oh boy, yeah, yeah, yeah, I think you told me, Jeff.
Of course's family its roots in Italy like mine. Uh
do you guys do this the Feast of the Seven
Fishes on Christmas Eve?
Speaker 3 (36:20):
Of course?
Speaker 1 (36:21):
See, we never did that. We never did.
Speaker 3 (36:23):
Know you didn't.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
No, I didn't even know what it was until I
came away to school. We were from a very very
very poor family.
Speaker 3 (36:33):
Oh I see. By the way, Keith Farmer Greg gorm
All say hello Tea, oh hi to the guys.
Speaker 1 (36:38):
I know you guys are having at gathering mostly of
w L e X people, but you used to work there,
I know until came in. I'm terribly sorry that my
packers let down the Steelers. But the Steelers didn't help
themselves either, did that.
Speaker 3 (36:54):
No they didn't.
Speaker 1 (36:55):
Yeah. Yeah, Keith and Greg Gorham from UK Sports video
used to work for me at one point a long
time ago. But anyhow, Yeah, the seven fishes I think
is interesting. But yeah, we never did that, although we did.
We did on Fridays we ate fish for the longest time.
Tune of fish spaghetti and all that stuff.
Speaker 3 (37:14):
Well, yeah, people can't believe that we have two to
fish in our spaghetti sauce. Oh man, it's good stuff, fantastic.
Speaker 1 (37:21):
And you know people who eat linguini with red clam sauce,
same thing, that's the same. They're the same.
Speaker 3 (37:27):
Yeah yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
What do you see for this Kentucky basketball team, which
you also cover going into this this first game. I
mean they're going to be off for twelve days. Alabama's
got a game right now against Yale and uh, you know,
so they got a little bit of a warm up game.
Speaker 3 (37:48):
Yeah, I you know, it's it's interesting. Quainton's makes a
big difference in this team, right Oh. I just just
his his his pressure and the way his presence of
the inside. I mean that guy's a beast man. I Yeah,
I just if they can get the point guard figured out,
(38:08):
you know, if if Jalen can get healthy, or they
could find somebody else, which a lot of people are
doing right now, they come in. Yeah, well that it
would be awesome.
Speaker 1 (38:19):
Well Josh Hopkins of course with a phony tweet that
Chris Paul was coming Alabama by the way, Oh Alabama
leaves Yale fifty five thirty one, So I don't think
there's going to be an upset there. Interesting from Mark
Pope tonight and somebody asked him finally, why don't you
start Jalen Lowe? And I suspected this was the case
(38:43):
with his answer, it's it's he didn't use the words
load management, but I think he's trying to protect him
as best he can. And also I thought this was
interesting that, you know, he doesn't practice as much with
the lead rotation, so he wants to put the starters
on the floor who have had the most reps in practice,
which in a way makes sense, doesn't it.
Speaker 3 (39:05):
Yeah, No, I look, I agree one hundred percent. He's
got to be healthy, and it's almost like one of
those things with a hamstring, yeah, where he can blow
at any minute. So I'd rather be in a game
in a stressful situation than in practice. The guy's been
doing this since he was a little kid, you know.
And you know, as long as he's his his endurance
(39:30):
is where it should be. He really doesn't need to
practice that much for what he's doing. They're not asking
him to score twenty five points a game. That's the
key too.
Speaker 1 (39:37):
Yeah, you know, watching Quainton's play and I've watched him
on video of course when he was healthy at Arizona. Yeah,
who is right? And I'm trying to equate his skill
set to other Kentucky biggs and I'm having a hard
time doing it. He is really mobile, protects the rim,
he's a shot blocker, he can get to the basket.
(40:01):
He's got a little bit of cousins, some Patrick Patterson
and him, some Sambooie and him. I'm really enjoying watching him.
Speaker 3 (40:09):
Yeah, I was gonna say Bowie, but with more physicality. Yeah,
you know, before Boo got hurt, man he could run
the floor. He could. He was as good a defender
as Anthony Davis was. I mean he was. He was
a monster. He just didn't have the physicality that that
(40:29):
quaint said. Six guy is is massive. He's a difference maker.
I mean, he really is. It's gonna be really interesting
to see how this team now comes together over the
next couple of weeks as you get into SEC play,
and you know, this is almost a team like a
Caliperi team where we're going to get better. Cal would say,
(40:50):
we're not getting ready to win a championship in December.
We want to win a championship in March. This is
the way this team looks like it's going forward.
Speaker 1 (40:59):
And he's got to me with all the injuries, and
it's especially vital given the quad lack of Quad one wins, right,
I mean, you know, now you can help yourself in
the SEC. And by the way, exactly acquaintance on the
floor with Brandon Garrison that was intriguing, wasn't it.
Speaker 3 (41:17):
Yeah, it almost gave you the old Roby Phillips, you know,
two yeah, big guys who can knock people around inside,
which Kentucky hadn't had in a long time.
Speaker 1 (41:28):
You know, even Sam and Melvin they were the bigs,
but they weren't physical like Roby and Phillips. That's a
great point. Yeah, all right, Jeff bro thank you so
much and we will see you down the Roagayet my best.
Speaker 3 (41:39):
All the guys all right, man, take it easy.
Speaker 1 (41:42):
Thanks again to Jeff, Thanks to Cole Park for joining us,
and I want that full report on the Alligators when
he comes back. And again coming up Thursday, UK Women's
Basketball Conference opener, eight o'clock, tip, seven forty five pregame. Saturday,
it's noon, Kentucky, Alabama. That work covers begins on most
of these same stations at ten thirty AM for bol
(42:05):
Robinson di Gabriel. That's say good night from Lexington
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