2025-12-30 BBI

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Big Blue and sider Dick Abriel with
you on a Tuesday edition of our program. One more
show after this one and then we wrap up the
calendar year twenty twenty five. Hard to believe, but that's
the way it is. And tonight we're going to talk football, baseball,
basketball as usual, although this time of the year it's
usually basketball with a little bit of football. But coming

(00:20):
up at the bottom of the hour, Maggie Davis will
join us. We'll talk primarily about the basketball Cats and
in our number two Greg Stottlemeyer of the UKU Network
and Greg will talk both football and basketball for the Colonels.
Also doctor Ben Kibler of the Lexington Clinic. He is
a long time orthopedic surgeon here in Lexington and has

(00:42):
worked with the minor league team here in Lexington usually
called the Lexington Legends, and the major.

Speaker 2 (00:48):
League teams that work along.

Speaker 1 (00:49):
But he's also a shoulder specialist and with all this
stuff about.

Speaker 2 (00:55):
Jalen Lowe's shoulder, I thought we'd reach out.

Speaker 1 (00:58):
To a guy who is one of the pre am
and the doctors in the US when it comes to shoulders.
And again he is not treating Jalen Lowe. He's not
examining him or anything, but he can tell us why
this injury is so challenging to athletes, how they happen,
how they're treated, that sort of thing. So that's coming
up in our number two. But before we get started,

(01:21):
first of all, a happy birthday. A ninety eight the
Sandy Kofax, some believe maybe the greatest left hander in
the history of baseball, pitched a short amount of time
compared to what he did with his career, but in
arm injury or multiple injuries shortened his career by a
great deal, and he still managed to win three Cy

(01:44):
Young Awards in nineteen sixty three, sixty five, sixty six.
Was the first pitcher ever to win a PSI Young
Award three times, and back then there was only one.
There wasn't one for the American and the National leagues.
He wanted the ward spanning both leagues. Pretty amazing. So
Sandy Kofak's ninety years old. Dude, need to mention uk

(02:08):
as the new running backs coach. Colby Smith has been
named by Will Stein. It's official now, it was announced earlier,
but he is the new running backs coach for the Wildcats.
Spent the last two years at Arkansas. In a minute,
we're gonna hear from Mark Pope, the UK coach, at
his weekly news conference today, looking into Alabama. But I

(02:29):
also wanted to mention that coming up after the break,
we're gonna hear from John Caliperi, And you can roll
your eyes, but try to forget about the late stages
of Caliperi's career at Kentucky. Just think about what's going
on in college athletics right now. And he has been
extremely outspoken of late, So we'll hear from some of

(02:49):
his thoughts, and I promise you you'll agree with just
about everything you hear. Keep this in mind, and right now,
the portal's not even officially open. More than thirty three
one hundred athletes have announced for the portal, so that's
coming up following the break. But Mark Pope talked to
us today about Alabama, which destroyed Yale last night one

(03:14):
two to seventy eight was the final in Tuscaloosa, Aton
Holloway at twenty six points and Bama made eleven three
pointers last night and shot fifty percent from the floor overall.
So the Crimson Tide right now on top of its game.
You gotta hope the Wildcats are as well. They played
some of their best basketball down in Atlanta the second

(03:35):
half when they had all their weapons available.

Speaker 2 (03:38):
Mark Pope talked about.

Speaker 1 (03:39):
Seeing his entire team for the first time really playing
well during that second half against Saint John's.

Speaker 3 (03:46):
Well, usually you usually would like to do it before
the end of December, but it was. I thought it
was awesome, and he gave us just a tiny glimpse
and I think what we could be and and so
we're going to try and capitalize on it.

Speaker 1 (04:00):
They absolutely look like a different team with Jalen Lowe
and Jane Quintin's and Mohammed Diabode, as you knew they would.
And when it comes to low and JQ, Pope had
an injury update.

Speaker 2 (04:12):
They're doing incredible.

Speaker 4 (04:13):
You know.

Speaker 3 (04:14):
We just had three practices in thirty six hours and
JQ was in every single moment of the live play
went full yesterday. J Low was in all the things
we wanted him to be in and then he was
doing some extra condition on the side. Both those guys
are doing great.

Speaker 1 (04:32):
And if you saw that Saint John's game, especially the
second half, that's easy to believe.

Speaker 2 (04:37):
Somebody asked Pope what.

Speaker 1 (04:38):
He learned about non conference action going into conference plan.

Speaker 2 (04:43):
Of course, it included some really ugly losses.

Speaker 3 (04:46):
I think we walked out of Michigan State with some
really serious lessons about what we were trying to earn
for ourselves on the offensive end, and I think that's
been something that we've reflected on a lot and maybe
been a defining feature for us. And also our uh,

(05:07):
you know, kind of our on the catch focus early
in games with every single college basketball player was really important.
From there, I think that was a I think that
was kind of a beginning of us getting into a
space where we could really grow that way. I think
the Nashville debacle was something that, you know, kind of

(05:29):
touched us deep to our soul and and kind of
tested the the resolve of this group and and made
us kind of redefine who we were going to be
as human beings and as a team. So I think
there's great takeaways from that. I think Indiana and Saint
John's both with with second halves that were elite level
basketball in both cases I think confirmed some of the

(05:52):
work that the guys had been doing and and some
of the direction we were going. And I think that.
You know, the way our guys are comfortable approaching the
game on offensive defense has been an evolving piece that
we'll learning about more every day.

Speaker 1 (06:06):
Alabama, of course will have the home court advantage, but
the other advantages. Last night's game and yeah, I was
a walkover for the Crimson Tide.

Speaker 2 (06:15):
But it was a game.

Speaker 1 (06:16):
It was more than just a controlled scrimmage or a
hard practice. It was an actual game situation. And yeah,
I've got to think that the arena was probably half
empty because the students aren't around. But they play an
exciting brand of basketball Alabama, and they've had success of
late and anytime you can get in a game like

(06:37):
that prior to a big game, and they'll have a
full house when the Wildcats get their Saturday. What a
great edge Kentucky. Twelve days off. On the one hand,
there will be RUSS but on the other hand, more
time to rest and work back in for the guys
who've been out with an injury. And Mark Pope says
on court communications will be vital on Saturday.

Speaker 3 (07:00):
Maybe in no case more important than at Alabama. You know,
they they have a little bit of an Indiana vibe
in terms of they you know, they're in the top
one percentile in usage of ballscreen actions, and they're in
the top four percent or three percent in terms of
effectiveness using them. They're bringing two and three players together

(07:21):
all the time around the ball and putting you in
all kinds of gray areas, whether it's peels or flip peels,
or screens or push screens, or you know, any assortment
of different things, UH to try and get you in
a gray area where you can't guard elite level.

Speaker 1 (07:38):
All right, up next John Caliperian again, put your prejudices aside.
If you're still mad at him, listen to what he
has to say. May have already heard some of this.
I guarantee you you agree with a lot of it.
That's next six thirty WLAP.

Speaker 2 (07:52):
Welcome back.

Speaker 1 (07:52):
Coming up in a few minutes, Maggie Davis of BB
and Tonight.

Speaker 2 (07:55):
The Lax eighteen.

Speaker 1 (07:56):
We'll talk to you UK sports and our number two
doctor Ben Kibler Ortipeda Surgeon's sports doctor, will talk in
general about shoulders, not Jalen Low specifically, but we'll learn
more about shoulders and knees and elbows. Also, our number two,
Greg Stodemeyer.

Speaker 2 (08:10):
Of the EKU network.

Speaker 1 (08:12):
We'll talk about the Colonels, football and basketball, but I
wanted to share with you, as I mentioned earlier, some
comments made through the last week or so by John Caliperi.
He's really going on the offensive. And look, no matter
how you feel about cali Perry and what happened with
him here at Kentucky, if you've seen any of the
comments he's made at press conferences, at speaking engagement, specifically

(08:35):
when he made to one of the rotary clubs in Arkansas,
he has really gone I don't want to say ballistic,
but very aggressively speaking about what's happening in college athletics
right now. And I will stipulate to the fact that
coaches have been a part of the problem because they've
landed these huge contracts and coaches move around, not the

(08:57):
same way players are moving around, but there has been movement,
and it is not fair to players who are recruited
by a guy, they commit, they signed, and the next
day he's gone, and there ought to be rules that
cover that, and Calipari's for that as well. But he
is saying a lot of the things that his colleagues

(09:20):
are saying as well. And one of the things he
said in one of the comments was about the fact that, yeah,
there have been a lot of lawsuits that have kind
of hamstrung the membership of the NCAAA.

Speaker 5 (09:35):
Which is an easy role. We can do this at CIA.
Don't tell me about lawsuits.

Speaker 1 (09:40):
And that's easy to say, and you can bury your
head in the sand and say, I don't want to
hear about lawsuits.

Speaker 2 (09:46):
You know, I can't hear you. I can't hear you. Look,
it's real. That's why they're in the mess they're in now.

Speaker 1 (09:52):
Because whoever argues for the members of the NCAA, and
this is all the schools, whoever writes their policy whatever,
they've done a bad job because they don't hold up
in court. I don't know if they should in the
first place, but they have not. And that's why guys
like Caliperi, specifically a guy like Caliperi who has one
of the biggest voices, let's face it, in many ways

(10:15):
in college athletics, but he's gone on the offensive, especially
about things like mid season transfers.

Speaker 6 (10:21):
If you join a program at mid season, you cannot
play that season.

Speaker 5 (10:27):
If you're in school and have to get yourself eligible,
that's okay.

Speaker 6 (10:32):
You could play the second term without playing it first.
What So, now, let me ask you this, what does
that do for the kids in the program that you're
bringing kids into mid season when it was their opportunity.

Speaker 5 (10:46):
I mean, I just don't get any of this.

Speaker 2 (10:49):
Well, it's pretty simple.

Speaker 1 (10:50):
It's about winning, and it's about coaches protecting their jobs.
And you can't blame them because they got a job
they wanted and it might pay them really well. Most
of them do, and they want to do anything, most
of them within reason, within the rules.

Speaker 2 (11:04):
To keep their jobs.

Speaker 1 (11:05):
And now there are no rules, especially when it comes
to collectives in Caliperi has something to say about that.

Speaker 6 (11:13):
The collectives on our campuses, whether you're doing it through
your media people, whatever, cannot be involved in recruiting in
any way or transfers. But if a kid's on your
campus for a year, give them what.

Speaker 5 (11:28):
You want to stay so we'll get more kids staying.
How about this. It'll be great for them academically.

Speaker 6 (11:36):
They'll probably make more money, but they'll be academic. We're
not going to have kids leaving after transferring four times.

Speaker 2 (11:44):
Now, Originally that was the rule.

Speaker 1 (11:46):
Collectives were not allow our schools were not allowed to
use nil offerings, meaning collectives to recruit a player, and
now collectives could get involved.

Speaker 2 (11:57):
But all of that.

Speaker 1 (11:57):
Stuff's out the windows. So many of these rules are
out the window. And I've often talked about the fact
that this is classic tail wagging the dog. Everything that
the media, we as the media, talk about right about
it all involved Oh, they got to do this, they
got to do that pertains to the one percent, maybe
two percent of kids who go pro. And overwhelming majority

(12:20):
of this stuff does not affect student athletes.

Speaker 2 (12:23):
Male and female.

Speaker 1 (12:25):
And there are women who go pro, yeah, but it's
still maybe two and a half percent who play pro sports.
And yet this is all worrying about right now. This
is what the rules are designed to cover, and it's ridiculous.

Speaker 6 (12:36):
What's the percentage of kids that make the NBA Unless
you play for me, what would be the percentage, Like
it's like one percent or less. That means ninety nine
percent of the college players that are getting.

Speaker 5 (12:49):
Money, it's foo gayzy, foo gayzy.

Speaker 6 (12:53):
Because they're getting four hundred, five hundred eight hundred a
million and are not pros. So now they have to
go get a job after four stops. No college degree,
no loyalty, from the state or the program or anybody.

Speaker 5 (13:10):
You were a mercenary.

Speaker 1 (13:12):
Now, he did slip in that little recruiting play unless
you play for me, hay, recruits, come on, you know.
And he has been a part of this now, the
one and done movement. He didn't start it, but he
probably benefited more than any other coach by using that.
And that's what people hated about people here in Kentucky.
They love the results, they love the final four after
final four after final four, but they hated the fact

(13:35):
that they were done a lot with one and done's.

Speaker 2 (13:38):
And yet that's what it took.

Speaker 1 (13:40):
It took the best players, and it often does, but
not always. People have won national titles with older rosters.
But that's where we are now. And as I mentioned earlier, yes,
coaches come and go, but not nearly as often as
these players leaving through the portal. And there are contracts
involved in schools don't hold coaches to contracts and all that.

(14:00):
But cali Peri believes that if your coach transfers or leaves,
you should be allowed to transfer immediately, even if you've
already transferred once you should get basically a freebie.

Speaker 6 (14:11):
But other than that, you got to sit out because
now you get three years at one school, you're going
to get a college degree. You can't be thirty. You
got five years.

Speaker 5 (14:22):
Clock is ticking.

Speaker 6 (14:23):
If you go pro, I don't care what country you're from, you.

Speaker 5 (14:28):
Leave your name in.

Speaker 6 (14:28):
You cannot play college basketball. If you transfer a mid season,
can't play.

Speaker 5 (14:35):
You got to sit out.

Speaker 1 (14:37):
Cali Perry's big on five to play four And guess
what that was the original rule hat five years of
eligibility to play. For that extra year, you might get
an additional if there's an odd injury situation. If you're
injured playing, then you're injured again. And in my opinion,
that's the way it ought to be. Quite frankly, these
comments came in a press conference, but there again was

(14:59):
another speaking engagement where he brought up the fact that
kids will make some money, but then they won't go pro.

Speaker 2 (15:05):
Next thing.

Speaker 1 (15:06):
You know, they're in the real world looking at a
real situation and a real job that doesn't pay nearly
as well.

Speaker 6 (15:12):
If a kid transfers four times, is he going to
graduate from that school?

Speaker 5 (15:19):
It's no way. You can't graduate.

Speaker 6 (15:22):
So now you're going to be done playing without a
college degree. You have no ties to the last school
you went to where they feel that you're from Arkansas.
You played here, we're here, You're gonna have opportunity.

Speaker 5 (15:35):
That's done.

Speaker 6 (15:37):
You're offered fifty five thousand dollars in your first job
and you go, what fifty five thousand do I have
to show up?

Speaker 5 (15:48):
Are they gonna you got? You got me an apartment?

Speaker 6 (15:51):
Right?

Speaker 2 (15:51):
Or a car?

Speaker 6 (15:53):
I mean they I'm worried about mental health, mental health.
That I've been poor, and you know, it's worse than
being poor, coming across some money and then being poor again.

Speaker 5 (16:12):
That's the worst.

Speaker 6 (16:14):
That's probably why I am cheap because I'm not going
back there.

Speaker 1 (16:19):
And how odd does that sound for any of us
who have not been pro athletes?

Speaker 2 (16:23):
And I'd say that's most of us.

Speaker 1 (16:25):
You come out of school, and I know this day
and age is different, but fifty to fifty five grand
coming out of college, that's a pretty good starting spot.
I think we'll all agree way more than I may
coming out of school a million years ago. But and
he's right, there are kids who are not going to
be able to cope with the real world after spending four, five, six,

(16:46):
seven years on the dole in college. So Caliperi with
good comments, and again it's not real when he talks
about almost ignoring or getting past the lawsuit situation.

Speaker 6 (16:59):
We can do it without having Congress and the Senate
getting sixty votes.

Speaker 5 (17:04):
We can do that. Let them sue us on that.

Speaker 1 (17:08):
Stuff, and that's the problem right now, as we've seen,
they can't do it. I don't know what the answer is,
but as long as the air lawyers out there and
people wanting to sue, players wanting to sue until they
work things out, it's gonna keep happening. I'm not a
huge Bruce Pearl fan, but he did put it well
when he tweeted that he said there's two options to

(17:30):
save intercollegiate athletics. Congress gives the NCA antitrust protections to
make the old system work, which is unfair to student
athletes and that's why it ain't gonna happen. Or we
have collective bargaining. But there are legal roadblocks to that
as well. But as he said, the longer we wait,
the more it costs everyone. Matt Painter of Purdue talked

(17:50):
about needing guidance, needing guardrails, and it's exactly what Mitch
Barner talked about when all this nil stuff first started
and people were ragging on Barnhard And again I don't
agree with everything he does and says, but I did
agree with him here. He said, give us rules, give
us guidelines, so we all know what we're doing and
we're all playing by the same rule book. And that

(18:12):
hasn't happened, has it. But Matt Painter today saying the
same thing, although now it's probably way too late.

Speaker 2 (18:19):
It's definitely way too late.

Speaker 7 (18:22):
We just want to know the rules so we can
abide by them, like we don't. We don't know what's
going on. So that that's what I would say, Like
we need some leadership, We need someone to step up
and like here's how it's ran. Here's name, image and likeness,
here's the transfer situation, like whatever. Like we can go
on to all these different examples and give us the rules.
We'll abide by them, you know, because that's who the

(18:43):
rules are for. The rules aren't for the people who cheat.
The rules are for the people that abide by them.
And so like that's where this is all goes down,
and there's no communication, like we just want to know,
like tell us what to tell us what to do,
tell us how to go about it, and then like
you know, we'll go from there. And it's just there's
just a lot of gray.

Speaker 2 (19:02):
Area right now.

Speaker 1 (19:03):
And again he's spot on, and you had that twenty
point five million dollar limit basically, but TEA schools have
blown by that, and they basically said, we're not playing
by those rules because we don't agree with them. Tennessee
was one of the first to say we're not agreeing
to this. But they got to come up with something
or it's all going away. And I'm not I told

(19:24):
you so kind of guy. But I did say this
the moment the NIL and the portal all came into
to focus or whatever you want to call it, I said,
this is the end of college athletics as we know it.
And the next thing that's going to happen universities they've
already started, are going to start dropping sports.

Speaker 2 (19:41):
UK will be fine for a long time.

Speaker 1 (19:43):
I worry about the Ekus, the Morehead States, the Western
Kentuckys of the world. It's going to happen. Well, shift
gears when we come back. Talk to Maggie Davis of
BBN tonight on six thirty WLAP Welcome back and joining
us on the Big Blue Insider, longtime friend the show
Maggie Davis, So BBN tonight, do you see it in
lax eighteen? Maggie has been traveling quite a bit, but

(20:06):
let us start closer to home with basketball though.

Speaker 2 (20:08):
The Wildcats, of course.

Speaker 1 (20:09):
Are on the road on Saturday, opening up with Alabama.
You guys have an sec special coming up. But you
couldn't pick a much tougher way to begin conference play
from Mark Pope.

Speaker 8 (20:20):
Right, absolutely, and yet I'm excited about it, Like, why not,
Let's go on the road. Let's play at Alabama, a
team that is the looking free good off of their
non conference schedule. They just hit a record breaking twenty
two to three pointers in a game last night against
cl It's the most they've hit in a single game
at all this season. Their previous high I think was

(20:41):
like fifteen or sixteen. So they blew it out of
the water. And their best player, their highest score, Laberi
on Pylon, wasn't even available. He wasn't even playing. He's hurt,
Nato said after the game. Most likely he will be
back on Saturday, so don't get your hopes too high. Igglue.
They said that he might have to set this one out,
but for them to take and that many threes they
took over fifty three point attempt I mean, it is

(21:04):
just going to be such a unique matchup and Kentucky
last year, I remember, obviously they played Alabama three times.
Every time we talked about the contrast of styles, right,
because on paper, yes, these Pope offenses take so many
three pointers, et cetera, but it is nothing like the
level that we see Alabama run this and this year
in particular, we're not seeing mar Cope run an offense

(21:26):
like that because he doesn't have a team that's been
built like that. So this year in particular, I'm really
excited and intrigued by this particular matchup and just the
number of three pointers they get taked. Alabama was just
outscoored by Yale by twelve points, I believe in the
paint the other night. So the fact that that happened
against Yale, I can't wait to see what the Kentucky's

(21:47):
front court looks like. But of course there's at Alabama
backcourt you always have to worry about too.

Speaker 1 (21:52):
And of course Alabama didn't much care about the plane
because we're bombing away from the outside, like you said,
and one in one two to seventy eight over Yale.
They were up so early they are fifty five thirty
one at the half. They actually just swap buckets in
the second half. But you make a great point about
style of play. Although Mark Pope's having to adjust on

(22:13):
the fly, isn't he with the personality.

Speaker 2 (22:15):
As now he is?

Speaker 8 (22:18):
And I think a big part of that is he
was actually having to do that for the better part
of the season to this point because of the injuries.
And I remember, I'm sure you were there for this,
but he talked at one point about the sort of
risk when you build around the particular person, and it
really seems like this whole offense, and maybe not necessarily
the defense, but certainly what this team wants to do

(22:38):
on offense was built around Jalen Low at the point guard,
without a real clear option or contingency plan for who
would be the next man up if something terrible happened
to Jalen Low, and of course when it did, he
missed all those early games. You saw them in real
time struggling to figure out how this offense even looked
semi effective with out him. At point, we've tried the

(23:01):
Dinzel Aberdeen experience, we tried to Colline Chandler experience. We've
now tried the Jaffer Johnson experience, and each one had
pros and cons. But I think when we have seen
Jalen Lowe, especially in that Saint John's game, there was
such a difference in the first half and the second
halfened to me. Obviously, Jade Quaintons was the big story
of that game, but Jalen Lowe's ability to change the

(23:21):
way this offense runs was the overarching scene. And for
them to have to play without him for so long obviously, yeah,
we were seeing how they wanted us to see them.
Now that hopefully he's back, obviously he sat out that
Bellarman game. Seemed like that was just precautionary to me.
Hopefully they could keep him healthy, because I think that's

(23:42):
going to be the story of the season the rest
of the way.

Speaker 1 (23:45):
Oh if they don't, then, yeah, it's going to be
a struggle to get even as far as they got
last year. And we're talking to Maggie Davis of BBN
tonight on LAX eighteen, But you know, you make a
good point about Jalen Lowe and Jaden Quainton's. But I'll
tell you, guy, I think who is I don't think
he's understated or underappreciated, because it's pretty obvious what he brings.

(24:07):
But I think such a key is Mohammed u Bote
in his physical style of play, and he returns basically
at the same time as Dalen Lowe and Jaden Quainton's.
But you know, especially in that Saint John's game, his
effort and the way he played I thought was contagious.
And when Law is not available and Kentucky has to

(24:30):
ratchet down and play that physical style of play, I
believe he is the key to that style. So it
kind of goes hand in glove, you know what I mean.
Does that makes sense?

Speaker 8 (24:38):
Yeah, definitely I agree with that. And I think when
Dubote initially committed to Kentucky, he's the one, at least
from my perspective, that I would point to and say,
this is Mark Pope wanting to do something different this
year than what he wanted to.

Speaker 9 (24:52):
Do last year.

Speaker 8 (24:53):
Because Moa, especially when you see him play the four,
is a completely different type of player than Andrew Carr
or anybody else who played there last year. He is
way more physical in theory. He is a much better rebounder,
but he is a worst shooter. And of course we've
heard all off seasons, we'll we're gonna lot of take three.
He has the green light all these great things while
he's not shooting particularly well at all from the three

(25:15):
point line, but inside the line, especially right there around
the baska, we saw him be really effective against Bellerman.
I know he had a ginormous size advantage and a
genormous physicality advantage, but to go nine for eleven from
the field against Bellerman, after having so many games where
he wasn't his most efficient, he wasn't his most assertive,
I thought that was a really positive step in the

(25:36):
right direction for Mo that got overshadowed by such a
great step for Cam Williams. And so I'll be intrigued
by how that transition looked for Mo, especially into SEC play,
which will be a much more evenly matched front court
from here on out, especially in this first game, which
you know will have heightened emotions playing against his former team.
Is he gonna look like Otega? Oh wait against Oklahoma.

(25:59):
I don't know that high art set, but we saw
what otaked it under these circumstances in two separate games
last year, and obviously we'll get that this year with
Mo and with Denzel, and this first one comes up Saturday.

Speaker 2 (26:11):
It's really interesting to me speaking of Oway.

Speaker 1 (26:15):
He is such a different type of player, just just
looks different with all those pieces on the floor, you know,
which I don't know what that says about him, except
that you know, he was able to make that transition
last year from being a complimentary player to being the
guy carrying the load when when Jackson Robinson went down
and when Lamar Butler went down, Olway really stepped in

(26:38):
and shouldered such a big load. And he's been slow
to do that this year.

Speaker 2 (26:41):
What do you make of that?

Speaker 8 (26:43):
Well, I will always wonder, and I don't know that
we will ever get an answer, but I will always
wonder what was going on the first five to seven
games of the season with Otago, because genuinely, there could
have been lingering impacts from the turf sow injury that
he had over the summer that was kind of avoided,
not talked about for a super long time. Then we

(27:05):
start seeing him out in the booths, right all the
stuff we hear he's not practicing than he is practicing,
and I still don't really know exactly how much time
and how much work was missed during that period. And
then I think it's easy for a guy to say, well,
I've been hurt, I was trying to take some time
off rust recover my body this offseason. I had a
great last year. I'm going to come back and still

(27:26):
be great. And I think we saw a little bit
of that, maybe a combination of injury and just not
playing with that same fire level of intensity and like
urgency that made o'tagas so special last year. I don't
think he's gotten enough credit though, for what he's done
in the last four or five games, right, because there's
been this real dichotomy between how the season started. There
were so much sort of negative narratives around how he

(27:48):
was playing, why he was playing that way. Of course,
it coincided with the team not playing particularly well, losing
those couple of big marquee matchups, so it was really
easy for her to be this sort of pile on,
and then he wasn't helping himself by not playing great individually.
But here recently, I really think he's looked much more
like the Otego we saw last year. And even to

(28:10):
his credit, even early on in this season, he has
scored a double figures every single game this season. That
means he's scored in double figures I think in all
but three games maybe four in his entire Kentuckey career
at this point. So he is still this model of
consistency when you look at his points scored per game.
But how he's getting those points. I think we've seen

(28:31):
become more efficient here recently, and that's what he needs
to carry over into SEC play.

Speaker 1 (28:37):
She's Maggie Davis with BB and Tonight. We'll talk more
UK sports on the other side.

Speaker 2 (28:41):
Of the break here on six thirty WLAP.

Speaker 1 (28:44):
Welcome back for chatting with Maggie Davis. She is the
co anchor, producer, reporter, writer, editor. She does it all
for BB and Tonight LA X eighteen. She and Keith
Farmer came in anchoring Monday through Friday and they've got
an SEC basketball special coming up.

Speaker 2 (28:59):
When is that.

Speaker 5 (29:01):
We do?

Speaker 8 (29:02):
Yes, that is airing Saturday morning here in Lexington or Cinal,
Kentucky on LAX eighth, and we have our normal episode
of BB and Game Day as well, so check it
out because they're airing done kind of like back to
back in the morning, so you can get a boat
in before that early tipoff between Kentucky and Alabama. So
we're having to squeeze a lot in on Saturday morning,
but it's going to be really great. We're talking about

(29:23):
all things SEC basketball, of course, how Kentucky's gotten to
this point, what is coming up for them, what the
plate looks like, this year's SEC versus last year's. I'm
checking in on all of the pre season all SEC
first Stemmers. We have a few New Year's resolutions for
the team, how they can get a little better here
in Toty twenty six as we start a new year.

(29:44):
And then Keith Farmer has an amazing story with Malachi
Marino as some of the service work he's done in
the community over the past couple of years, dating back
to when he was in high school. Actually, so it's
a really great story that we are excited to share
with the Big Dealvation.

Speaker 1 (29:58):
Well, in high school, I interacted often with my daughter
who taught at a great crossing special needs children, and
Malachi was often there to help out with her kids.
So yeah, I'm especially interested to see Kman's story on that.
But let me shift you over to another sport. You
and I both were in Kansas City for the volleyball
Final four. Didn't end the way we had kind of envisioned.

(30:21):
But what was your takeaway, Maggie from an arena that
was absolutely jam packed eighteen thousand plus and a lot
of them were there. They were Nebraska fans, their team
wasn't even there. But what did that tell you about
where women's volleyball is right now?

Speaker 6 (30:39):
Oh?

Speaker 8 (30:39):
My gosh. Well, I think we've seen it over the
past couple of years, and Nebraska is a great example.
I mean, they sell out their football stadium for volleyball games,
so I think that's another level. I think it was
very very clear watching that game. Obviously you and I
were there a person. I'm sure you could tell on
TV as well that the Kentucky fan base was not
on that level. The Texas A and M fan base
was not on that level. The Wisconsin fan base in

(31:01):
the earlier game was not on that level. I don't
think I saw hardly any pit fans, and they had
the national player of the year, you know, trying to
try to make it into the national championship match. So
it's definitely this sort of level of things right, because
there is such growth to the sport. We saw it
here in Lexekon all season long. Craig stood on every
surface possible around this Commonwealth in order to get people

(31:24):
to the games. And I give him credit for this
because he worked his scale up to get people there.
And I think that's a testament to him individually, because
we don't see any coaches doing that. I mean here
even just looking at UK like, I've never seen a
coach market their own team better than what Craig Skinner does.
And obviously it helps when your team is winning, and

(31:44):
his team did so much of that this year. It's
easy to sell. And you have Steva Hudson and Brooklyn
Delay and all these great pieces and this great story
and it is a great sport and it's so fun
to watch it a fat piece. But there is still
levels to this and there is a for level that
Nebraska is on. So I think that was very evident
when you were there in person just looking at the crowd,

(32:05):
but watching the actual games, I mean, man Texas and
in what a buzz. So all congratulations to them the
great season. Kentucky was able to beat them in the
regular season, but even in that matchup, I remember thinking
my brand, the Daggy's team could figure it out and
could get really hot, and they certainly did, and they
had some great individual players, but just played so well
as a units, whereas I feel like that's where Kentucky

(32:25):
was struggling a little bit in that National Championship match.
They figured it out enough to get out of the
Final four into that National Championship, but again they just
met a team that was red hot and made very
very few mistakes will Kentucky was now quite its best
that day. And it happens, right. It happens in any
sport and volleyball, it can slip away so quickly, momentum

(32:46):
can shift, and it's sometimes power to get a dishift
back to oor direction once you get down more than
five or six points. But I think, watching the way
Kentucky played all season and even into the final four,
they deserve to be there. They were one of the
best teams. Just because they didn't win the whole thing
and cut down the net, they deserve to be there.
They were one of the best teams in the court
all season long. They were very consistent. It was great

(33:08):
to watch. They were great to work with They great
to cover and I'm definitely going to miss this particular team,
but I'm also very excited to see how this team
and the score in general can continue to grow.

Speaker 2 (33:19):
Let me shift over to football with a few minutes
we have left.

Speaker 1 (33:22):
As we talk with Maggie Davis of BBN tonight, Ty
Bryant says he's coming back. Cutter Bowley apparently coming back.
Those are two incredibly big building blocks for will Stein.
He's still putting his staff together. What do you think
of the way things are coming together on that end
of campus.

Speaker 8 (33:40):
Well, I'm excited about those two pieces. Obviously when we
heard the Cutter Bowie news that that's a big releaf
just because people had really started, I think, to buy
in the Cutter. But at the same time, you want
your new coach to have his guy. I think we've
seen in recent years what it looks like when they don't.
I think Liam Cullen was a good example of that.
Would he'd recruit a quarterback and he'd leave, a new
OC would come in. You have to find someone that's

(34:01):
going to work in your system. But I think Willson
is the kind of coach and again just getting to
know him, but based on his offensive background and his
coaching background at this point, I don't think he would
have let Cutter stick around or talked him into sticking
around if he didn't envision Cutter specifically in the offense
he wants to run at UK. So to me, that

(34:23):
signifies that there is that clear vision and that it
works with what Cutter still set is. And then Ty
Bryant on the defensive end, I mean, is one of
the interception leaders in the SEC last year, maybe first overall,
depending on how this postseason shakes out, of course for
some of the other teams, but for him to come back, obviously,
it's so much bigger than just what he was able
to do on the field. I think Ty was a

(34:44):
real leader on that side of the ball. Especially, he
reminds me a lot of DeAndre Square. I know, you're
around these guys a lot, you might have seen the
same thing. But so when he talks, the way he
communicates with his teammates reminds me a lot of DeAndre,
who I love. And I thought DeAndre did an amazing
job of really kind rallying his troops. I think Tie
is a great example of that too, And so all
of those guys. Honestly, we'll just say it. To have

(35:05):
them be from Lexington and want to stick around, that's
a big culture piece. And when you have so many
new people coming in, I do think there's a benefit
in having a few key pieces to stick around, particularly
one who not only have been here to play here
in college, but have grown up around the programs, who
are familiar with the area, who understands the fan base,
the school, the campus, everything else that goes into it

(35:26):
to help all these new pieces get accomedic in their
own times.

Speaker 1 (35:30):
And you know one thing, and I talked to Jeff
Picoro about this last night. Jeff, of course, growing up
in lexingon playing for the hometown team Bryant is a legacy.
His dad played here, and you've talked to him a
number of times. You know how passionate he is about
Kentucky football from when he was a little kid. So
he's got a brand of ownership in this program, unlike

(35:54):
almost everybody else on the team. That is so rare
now in college athletics with all the player moving and
you know as well as I he could have gone
just about anywhere if he decided to test the portal.

Speaker 2 (36:06):
But you know, he decides to stay put. That's huge
in this day and age, isn't it?

Speaker 6 (36:11):
It is?

Speaker 8 (36:11):
And I'll be interested to see if there are many
other holdovers, not because they don't want to be here,
but just I think when there is a new coach,
it's sometimes in the best interest of everyone involved to
do a full reset and figure out who's really going
to work in this new system that we have. But again,
to have those culture pieces stick around too. Are so
bought in to your point to this program and being

(36:34):
proud of wearing the jerseys. There is an element of
that that's more rare today than it ever has been,
and so to cultivate that I think is important too.
And we've got a lot of local guys on staff now,
so we got to keep some lekging guys around too,
for everybody's sake.

Speaker 1 (36:48):
I think, yeah, But you know what, there are recruits
to be had in Louisville, and that's yeah, that's going
to be vital as well.

Speaker 2 (36:55):
Just a few minutes left with Maggie Davis.

Speaker 1 (36:57):
But you've got so much going on around you right now,
and yet this portal story never ruins, does And I've
ran a series of John Calipari comments earlier in the show,
and say what you will about Cali Parry, think what
you will, but he's saying what every other coach in America,
it seems, is thinking right now about player movement. And yeah,

(37:17):
coaches have to be held accountable as well because of
their movement, but their movement is nothing like this player movement.

Speaker 2 (37:24):
You know.

Speaker 8 (37:25):
Well, I think, to Calipari's credit, he's really been preaching
this very same idea for four or five years. I mean,
this whole like five years to play four thing that
he's still saying. I remember him saying that during the
COVID season, because when everyone was getting these extra years
because of COVID, which totally made sense to me. I
remember even then him being like, this is how it

(37:46):
should be. You should get five years to play four seasons,
and where you spend it is your choice. But you know,
he's been barking up the same tree for a long time.
And yeah, like you said what you want about John Caliparry,
I do think he has a real understanding of the
sport and this era of it, whether or not it
was working here or we'll work there, whatever, But he
is so well connected and I think he does have

(38:09):
a very good, big picture focus on the sport. He's
seen it through so many changes, and there are that
many guys around who are so coaching, who have been
a part of this game now for as long and
as successfully as coach cow hasband, and so to hear
his perspective. Even though there is always a lot of
craziness mixed in his press conferences, I do think he
makes good points, and like you said, he's saying what

(38:31):
a lot of coaches are saying right now. There needs
to be some guardrails on this thing. If it's not
too late to find some.

Speaker 2 (38:37):
She is Maggie Davis.

Speaker 1 (38:39):
Follow her on Twitter, ex at Maggie Davis TV, and
of course check out back to back programs on Saturday,
a Big Blue Game Day, as well as the SEC
preview on LAAX eighteen. Thank you, ma'am, hav a happy
New Year.

Speaker 8 (38:52):
Takes so much.

Speaker 2 (38:53):
You feel slay without us out Number two is next
on six thirty. Wlap everything then.

Speaker 10 (39:05):
Anything any.

Speaker 11 (39:08):
Such such stake.

Speaker 10 (39:25):
That tap.

Speaker 11 (39:45):
On the showing an anything, do anything.

Speaker 1 (39:58):
Any Welcome back to the Big Blue Sider joining us

(40:57):
now was a longtime friend and a guy who was
my doc. They're one of my doctors for many years.
That's doctor Ben Kibler, an orthopedic surgeon. Basically I call
you a sports doctor. Is that okay to call you
a sports doctor?

Speaker 4 (41:10):
That's fine.

Speaker 1 (41:10):
Sure, you became somewhat of an expert on shoulders a
long time ago.

Speaker 2 (41:16):
You worked on my knees three times, as well as
other parts of me. I kept limping into your facility
at the Las Clinic. But at one point, I don't
know if you get.

Speaker 1 (41:27):
Bored with knees or you saw a need to get
into the shoulder business. But I know you literally went
to school on that, and I went to a lot
of places and learned all about shoulders. And now with
a Jalen Low injury, I think everybody is probably in
the dark a little bit on this. And let's be
clear now, doctor Kibler does not care for Jalen Low.

(41:47):
That's not one of his patients.

Speaker 2 (41:49):
I don't even know.

Speaker 1 (41:50):
I doubt if you've even seen an X ray or
M or whatever. But what are people doc What do
they need to know about athletes who have similar injuries
when it comes the shoulders, And let's face it, basketball
is a contact sport.

Speaker 2 (42:06):
Right you know?

Speaker 4 (42:07):
I got interested in shoulders back in the nineties when
all of a sudden, as we're doing more with artha
scope learning about these joints, and there's a dearth of
information and we're still playing ketchup in shoulder knowledge compared
to knee knowledge. So we're we're learning more and more
and more about this and we're getting some pretty good strides,
and we're learning about these complexity. Shoulders actually more complex

(42:30):
joint than the than the knee. It's a it's a
it's got a lot of moving part, so it's very,
very very complex. But in general, you got to realize
that it's it's not a stable joint. It's a ball
in the socket, a big ball in small socket, and
so it can be torn apart pretty not easily, but

(42:50):
you know, unfortunately to too frequently by the forces that
we apply to them, whether they be traumatic such as
falling down on the ground and things like that, or
through velocity and through motions that are approaching the stress
limits that these tissues have. So there's a lot of
ways that we can get into trouble. There's a lot

(43:13):
of ways we're learning now about how to kind of
mitigate that problem or try to decrease the injury risk.
I mean, if you're a football quarterback, some three hundred
pound guy lines on you, you can't mitigate. They have to.
But if you're a baseball pitcher or something like that,
there are things that we can do to kind of
keep you within the bounds as much as we can.

Speaker 1 (43:33):
Our basketball injuries shoulder related, our basketball related shoulder and
he's a little more rare.

Speaker 2 (43:38):
I would think they are.

Speaker 4 (43:41):
Yes, because it's not the same kind of contact as football.
It's not the same kind of velocity you have in baseball.
But you know, if you want to make sure, you
know what the gurus say, if you want to make
sure you get you good shot, you got to have
that same motion of your arm in that same position
every time, which means you're shoulder has got to be
exactly in the right position. There are many We took

(44:04):
care of a couple of NBA NBA players whose shoulder
blades weren't right and therefore their shoulder blade cannot hold
their arm in the right position, so their shot was
all over the place. So there are some problems with
that you get into with basketball. And then if you
do have the contact injury, which is probably sounds like
what low handed. Then then that just adds that much

(44:25):
more problem to the need for a stable joint.

Speaker 1 (44:30):
I was interested to hear you say it's a more
complex joint, but it makes sense than the new because
it is bigger and there's there's a different action going
on with that ball joint. I know every injury is different.
I learned that obviously from all the time I spent
with you. And when people have knee surgeries, I'll tell
them I've had it.

Speaker 2 (44:49):
But look, man, do what you're told. You'll be fine.
You know, everybody's different, that's the thing.

Speaker 1 (44:54):
But in a general sense, can a shoulder can there
be a comeback? You know why you're playing or because
somebody told me. You know, look, it's just going to
take rest and rehab. But there's constant stress on it
if you're still playing, you know what I mean.

Speaker 4 (45:12):
Yeah, I mean obviously if you have symptoms or something wrong,
and if it's kind of mild, like there's an inflexibility
or a muscle weakness or a muscle and balance and
getting those things tuned back up, which is to be
honest with you, if you're talking about the recreational athlete,
most of the time that's the case, and so you
can you can kind of you know know, rest is

(45:33):
one thing, but you've got to realize that you got
that way in one place, and so you rest, you
put everything, and you don't put much stress on it.
You get a little stiff, a little weak. You got
to be careful. You got to build that back up
because you're going to be throwing, you're going to be lifting,
you're going to be batting with swinging. What are we're
going to do. So it's the very important component of

(45:53):
the return to play that has to do with, you know,
getting back into playing shape. And we're learning so much
more about what those demands are for recreational, for competitive,
whatever you want to say. So there are good protocols
now that you can use to build yourself back up
and to be honest with you, to even sometimes like say,

(46:14):
prevent this or mitigate this from occurring in the first place.

Speaker 1 (46:18):
Talking to doctor Ben Kibler, longtime orthopedic surgeon at the
Lexington Clinic, became something of a shoulder specialist, but just
basically knees.

Speaker 2 (46:27):
Elbows, you name it, he can fix it.

Speaker 1 (46:30):
By the way, speaking of knees, I don't know if
you've got a chance to see if you were watching.
But when I was happening to be watching when Patrick
Mahomes went down with his season ending knee injury, and
it was just an odd step, which seems like I
talk about when it comes to horse racing, but it
sure happened with him. And I mean, he really wrecked
his knee, and it just looked like he had kind

(46:52):
of just landed awkwardly or hyper extended it. It wasn't
in one of those nasty, awkward bending kinds of injuries.
But I guess it can happen in any.

Speaker 2 (47:01):
Way, can it?

Speaker 9 (47:02):
Oh?

Speaker 4 (47:03):
Boy, you know this flash back to Derrick Anderson. Remember, oh,
oh gosh, exactly the same thing. You're going down the court,
look back over to get a pass and stepped wrong. Actually,
that's a very very common mechanism. You you lose a
little bit of off balance, a little bit out of
control and all that load and momentum going and you
just hit and twist and it's just a little twist.

(47:24):
But you know, I flashback, remember Anderson, That's exactly what happened.
But I knew exactly when I saw this, Derrick and you.

Speaker 1 (47:32):
Really no kidding, Yeah, Because like I said, nobody fell
on Mahomes and there wasn't that that awful moment where
the negos one way that shouldn't.

Speaker 2 (47:40):
But you do mention da and one other thing. People
Kentucky fans who remember that chapter, No that he could
have played in the final four. The fact that he
was healthy by the end of the year. Did that
defy medical standards doctor Kibler? Or was that? I mean
everybody's different, right, and he was a world class.

Speaker 4 (48:01):
Well, I mean there's there's a limit. I mean you
say he could have played that, he couldn't have played
with any degree of security or accomplishment. I mean they
tried Jerry, Jerry Rice tried it and he blew it
out again. I mean, so yeah, you can Jerry Rice
say I'm four months, I'm Jerry Rice. I'm gonna go
back and play. Well, So yeah, there's there's limits on
when you can come back as soon. And because it's

(48:23):
just there's a healing. I don't care who you are,
there's healing has to occur and then all the strength
and we know now a lot more than we knew
then about how to rehabilitate it. But still we're saying
rather than shorter we're saying longer to get back to
that max because it takes so much well to get
this last little bit. I mean, you go out there
and playing touch football is one thing, but going out

(48:44):
there on the Sunday afternoon is the entirely different level
of strength and everything that you need.

Speaker 1 (48:49):
Yeah, yeah, before I hit the break, you consulted on
a surgical procedure for Joe Montana many many years ago.
You told me about it after the fact. He couldn't
really say anything.

Speaker 2 (49:02):
Well, he was here in town. Can are you free
to speak about that?

Speaker 4 (49:06):
I talked with him. He says, it's okay to just
be general about it.

Speaker 1 (49:10):
Well, to tell our listeners just quickly what that was like,
because I thought that was fascinating because they went in
to fix something here in his arm, but you told
the surgeon you better fix something over there in general terms,
because I thought that was a cool story.

Speaker 4 (49:25):
Well, just basically, you know the elbows in the line.
We know that in baseball this is the end of
the line, and throwing and accumulated problems up the line,
whether it be the shoulder core or whatever, can obviously
put a lot of extra load on the elbow, and
so even though you still have to fix the elbow.
All these Tommy John's and everything, you know, you got

(49:47):
to fix the elbow. But and he didn't have a
Tommy John. He had actually a tear of his muscle.
But the same principle applies that you looked at him,
so you examined the poor guy comes on this distance
go up there, and he comes in the office, and
I start looking at his back and his shoulder, and
he says, hey, man, my problem is my elbow. Understanding this,

(50:09):
but so when you fix the elbow, he still has
all this imbalance and strength, does this and one out
in the shoulder in the back that while he's recovering
from his elbow, you can rehabilitate all th others. So
he's ready, but his elbows ready, then his kinetic chains ready.
And that's exactly what we're doing with Tommy John's. Now

(50:30):
is that we're learning that I don't know if you
know or not, but in major leaguers the chance of
having a shoulder problem after an elbow surgery is relatively high.
And now does that mean that you put more load
on because your elbow or maybe the shoulder was putting
stress on the elbow as far so you don't know
about but you've got to rehabilitate every bit of this

(50:53):
or else you're going to be Robin Peter pay Paul
type thing. And so yeah, and so he did well.
He was able to get back out there and play
for another couple of years. Yeah, and the surgery, but
the surgery was only as successful as obviously had to
fix what he had to fix. But then you have

(51:13):
to make sure that once again he's ready to throw
those thirty yard down outs or you got to throw
that ninety five up and the end, you know, you
got to be able.

Speaker 7 (51:21):
To do that.

Speaker 1 (51:22):
Yeah, he has Doctor Ben Kibler, who for the longest
time an orthopedic surgeon out of the election in clinic.

Speaker 2 (51:27):
Still very active as a sports doctor.

Speaker 1 (51:29):
We'll talk baseball on the other side of the break
here on six thirty WLAP.

Speaker 2 (51:33):
Welcome back.

Speaker 1 (51:33):
We're chatting with doctor Ben Kibler, a longtime sports doctor,
orthopedic surgeon for the election and clinic. Try to keep me,
kept to put back together for many many years. But
I did a pretty good job. I'm still upright, doc.
But you and I have talked a lot of baseball.
You've worked with the minor league team here in lexingon
since it began, really And the last time you were

(51:54):
on with us, we talked and you just touched on
Tommy John.

Speaker 2 (51:57):
And more of the young people who are having time.

Speaker 1 (52:00):
I'm John surgery in the strain and stress on elbows
and shoulders, and I saw something on the interweb, So
it's got to be accurate that in twenty twenty five
there was a service that tracked one hundred and forty
minor league pitchers who threw at least one hundred miles
per hour in one ball game at least eighty two

(52:21):
major league pitchers who hit the century mark. And in
all fairness, now they're guarding or theyre using the gun,
of course, but they're measuring it out of the hand
of the pitcher as opposed to back in the day
when they measured it across the plate. But still, doctor Kibler,
people are throwing harder and faster more than ever, and
more and more teams are putting stock in that as

(52:43):
opposed to how well guys can pitch. And the last
time I spoke with you, you agreed with some other
baseball people who said to me, something's got to give.

Speaker 2 (52:52):
How alarming. Is this to you or is it alarming?

Speaker 4 (52:56):
Well, of course it is. It used to be going
and throw it to you, throw it out and we'll
fix it and be even better than before that. Well,
it turns out that's the case. It turns out that this,
you know, whatever you put in a a substitute is
a substitute. And you know, while it may be pretty good,
if you really look at five years or four years

(53:18):
after major leaguers, you know, there's they're they're not you know,
they took two years to get to that point. Two years.
You know, they do all the statistics, the all all
the funny names they use, and it's just not not
quite as good. And so we're learning that, especially in

(53:38):
the minor leaguers and in the worse than that, in
the high school and college age, that that's you know,
that's not good for your long term hope for employment
to have that kind of Now, it turns out, how
do you throw the ball, how do you make it
happen that the ball leaves your hand at one hundred
miles an hour, Well, that means that your arm and

(54:01):
your body has to generate enough force and load through
from the foot to the hand to allow that ball
to go that way. And so each if you don't
get this precisely right, then somewhere along the line, usually
it's sometimes it's the back you get these lap strains
all that kind of stuff, or in the shoulder or

(54:22):
in the elbow. Nowadays we're talking about the pronators, where
if you have to have this capability of doing all
this correctly to make that ball go one hundred miles
an hour, then are you really do you have that
capability right? And some people yes, But we're learning now
how to look at it. The study just came out

(54:44):
the other day I read where they looked at the
character is pitch characteristics of people who have Promi John surgery.
And it turns out that the pitch characteristics are the
ones that require the most forum protation, which is the
latest thing now that's turning into the arm. It turns
out that now we're moving all the way down the
line from the shoulder to the elbow to the forearm pronation.

(55:08):
And and we did a couple of studies here in
Lexington and show that throwing a baseball creates a tightness
of pronation rather than looseness. So if you've got to
have looseness in pronation. Therefore you have to have the
capacity to do that. Then you better check for it.
You better make sure you work toward it and maintain
it so if you can throw this. Now, not everybody

(55:29):
who's in college should be trying to throw a hundred mouths, right,
you know, some of them can and a lot of
them can't. And now we're learning what are the characteristics.
Mike Howell, the guy who does all of our throwing
programs Lection Clinic, has been on this for five years. Say, look, pronation,
the rotator cuff and pronation are the two things that

(55:51):
you have to have. And we've now been able to
really mitigate throwing injuries in our population here in the
high school and college by doing this by doing, among
other things, working on the shoulder blade, the core and
all that stuff pronation, so that we're learning more and
more about this. But there's you know, once again, the radar.

(56:11):
Jim Andrews said this, the radar gun is the worst
thing that ever was invented for question for for for
youth pitchers and high school pictures.

Speaker 1 (56:19):
Terrible, terrible because now they think that's the key to
the big bucks. If I can get up to trouble digits.
You know, I'm gonna make it. I just have a
few minutes.

Speaker 2 (56:28):
Stuff.

Speaker 1 (56:28):
We could talk about this all night, and we'll obviously
have you back again. But doctor Keviler, of course, is
as I said, work with.

Speaker 2 (56:35):
The minor league team, the Legends and whatever they call
themselves for.

Speaker 1 (56:37):
A while for the longest time here curly from day one,
uh and two different major league organizations, and you would
talk to the major league. You used to tell me
about conversation you'd have with the medical people at the
major league end, but you never got I would think
a chance to talk to the scouts and the gms
and all that.

Speaker 2 (56:54):
If you could tell the people in.

Speaker 1 (56:57):
The front offices who are looking at young pitchers and
sizing them up, and it seems like now that's all
they care about is velocity, And pitchers have said that
they don't care if I can pitch like Tom Glavin
they want to know, or Smalls they want to know,
can I break one hundred miles an hour?

Speaker 2 (57:12):
What would you tell.

Speaker 1 (57:13):
These people when it comes to these valuable commodities, these
young pitchers that they're trying to pick out of a
huge crowd.

Speaker 4 (57:22):
Yeah, well that's the point. If you're looking at a commodity,
then you only want it for one or two years
and you go throw it away again, know it. But
if you want somebody for a while. And so we're
learning what are the deals and the deals are okay,
Like you say, location good mechanics so that they have
a durability about them. You don't want them to look

(57:43):
like they're falling. They're blasting themselves apart every time they
throw a fastball. There are some things about mechanics. You
can look at the guys who are smooth, you know that,
you know they know how to throw the ball they've got,
and so there are some characteristics. Now, of course we
measure everything. Was working with the astros I was worked
with the Orioles last year spring training. We got into

(58:05):
a situation where we could kind of look at these
and kinds of say, right, if this guy's got a
good pronation, therefore, go ahead and let them throw that
really weird change that goes the way outside of you
really get that good sweeper, you know that requires a
lot of pronation, and you can let them throw that.
These other guys they don't have it yet. They're too tight.
You can't make them throw that. Let them work them.

(58:25):
There's a program we have now that we can improve
the amount of pronation, we can improve the biceps titles,
we can improve shoulder rotation. So give them a chance
to do that.

Speaker 5 (58:35):
You know.

Speaker 4 (58:36):
The other thing I think is worst thing is taking
them straight from college and put them in the pro ball,
in the minor leagues, take them to take them to
spring training team and let them work all that whole
year on their mechanics and getting used to that, to
learning what's going to be like to throw over four
days and lost it. There are a whole lot of
things that you need to nurture these guys. Uh so

(58:57):
so that they're the best picture of twenty five, brother,
the best picture of twenty And.

Speaker 2 (59:00):
That's where the calendar is. Right.

Speaker 1 (59:02):
With college ball, you know, they'll play deep into the spring,
early summer. Next thing, you know, if they're drafted, uh,
spring training's over and they'll drop them into Class A or.

Speaker 2 (59:10):
Even Double A ball.

Speaker 4 (59:12):
Yeah. Yeah, that's probably too much a jump for most
of us. But if you say you're good in college,
well that's fine. They got they got middle baths, they
got all that stuff, you know, but you know they're
not necessarily going to be good, and uh, when you're paying.

Speaker 1 (59:29):
Them, that's right, that's right. And metal bats is a
big deal. But we have to leave it there out
of time. But I thank you so much, Doc. Always
a pleasure, and we'll talk again soon. I know it's
freezing right now, but pitchers and catchers are reporting soon
and we'll have baseball soon enough.

Speaker 4 (59:43):
Right, we're ready for it.

Speaker 1 (59:46):
Up next, Greg Stottlemeyer the radio voice and does some
TV work as well on the e KU Sports Back
in a minute at six thirty w l a p.

Speaker 2 (59:54):
Welcome back to the Big Moone sider.

Speaker 1 (59:56):
Joining us now is a long time buddy and a
friend of the show, Greg Stottlemeyer, the radio voi of
the EKU Colonels. He has been doing that since the
world was young, since we were both neophyte.

Speaker 2 (01:00:06):
Radio guys and Stotts.

Speaker 1 (01:00:09):
This has been a real up and down year now
for the basketball Colonels that a long losing skid.

Speaker 2 (01:00:14):
Looks like they might be coming out of it. But
what have you wont to your last four or three
or last five? But what have you seen lately?

Speaker 9 (01:00:22):
Well, they've won two on the road and they come
into conference play, which begins on New Year's New Year's
Night at four and nine. I've seen a team still
trying to find its identity. It's been hit by a
couple of injuries when in eligibility and so from late
October heading into the season. When they started the season

(01:00:45):
they were without three players. They expected it at points
during November. So I just think it's one of those
things where you hope that you see the non conference
schedule is what it is, you learn from it, and
you try to reset and retool for conference play. That's
the only thing you can do. They have just not
found a groove, and I think it's one of those

(01:01:08):
things that we're going to have to wait and see.
But like most mid majors, especially at this level, the
A Sun Conference has a lot of that portal turmoil turnover,
and I think a lot of teams are in the
same situation.

Speaker 1 (01:01:19):
Yeah, no doubt, But like you say, you know, they
seem to be turning a corner. Maybe at the corner
in terms of the injuries the roster.

Speaker 9 (01:01:29):
What do you see now, Well, what I see is
that they've had to move Turner. Butchery, a former Kentucky
Mister Basketball, a senior A veteran and they weren't even
the two guard where they can hide even find shots
for it. He's had to play point guard a lot
of the years. They try to develop a freshman who
has been up and down, and butter he's done a

(01:01:49):
great job top thirty in the country and assist turnover ratios,
but that's really not the role they want himn So
you hope that maybe the bumps here into in November
and December will lead to more minutes for guys so
that you can settle into a better pattern as you
get guys back. What I see is in these practices,

(01:02:12):
in these two days over the holiday break before conference,
aw Hamilton are really focusing on physicality and being hard
to defensively because Eku has given up eight games, they've
been out shot and they themselves have shot below forty
percent seven times. And you know, we can make a

(01:02:34):
complicated game simple by saying, if you shoot better than
the other team, you're usually going to win, right And
that has that hasn't happened for Eastern Kentucky. So my
fingers crossed that they'll get it going.

Speaker 4 (01:02:46):
But who knows.

Speaker 9 (01:02:47):
It's a mystery to me. I don't have a feeling
whether this will head the right direction or not, but
I certainly hope it will. And I trust you know
what aw Hamilton's done and his volume of working EKU.
But again, I hate to go back to it. And
I know you talk to a lot of people. This
portal thing has really impacted the mid majors. I mean

(01:03:09):
just it decimates rosters where you have to turn it over,
and you see it at the high level, but the
turnover at the higher level, you're going and picking the
best fruit off the tree.

Speaker 2 (01:03:21):
That's right.

Speaker 1 (01:03:21):
Yeah, yeah, you lose one really good player, you can
add another. One guy goes for the big bucks sumwhere
you offer big bucks to somebody else. And it's like
I told you before we went on here, I do
worry about the Ekus of the world, having covered this
program off and on for as long as I have,
and I know you know how passionate you are about it.

Speaker 2 (01:03:41):
And really it's almost like the schools at that level
don't have a voice. I mean, the John Caliperiy's of
the world.

Speaker 1 (01:03:47):
They're banging the drum right now as loudly as they
can a little bit of a typocritical but a lot
of it is what needs to be said.

Speaker 2 (01:03:54):
But is anyone going to listen to an aw Hamilton?
You know what I mean?

Speaker 9 (01:03:59):
Yeah, I think he makes a good point. Now I've
heard this from other coaches, but when I talk to
coach Hamilton about this, he says the piece that the
kids are missing. And we understand trying to have a
financial improvement, but they're missing the developmental piece. If you're
a freshman and then you move after your freshman here,

(01:04:19):
what happens by the time you leave, you go into
the portal, you get to the next place, you start
to learn a system, and you lose that ability in
the off season to be developed by the same structure.
And so I think it's going to hurt the quality
of many of these players. Now, not some of them,
but and then how many of them?

Speaker 8 (01:04:38):
And you and I have talked.

Speaker 9 (01:04:39):
Privately about this. How many people we hear about the
guys that move up in the portal and they are
the leading score here, they're the leading sort of there.
We know about the Jani Brooms that leaves Morehead and
the Wendell Green that leaves Eku and they both go
to offered. What about the guys that don't make an improvement?
Or get left behind and are just left on the ground.

(01:05:00):
And I think that part of the piece of the
puzzle has to be addressed to try to put these
guardrails that everybody talks about about this transactional era that
we're in.

Speaker 1 (01:05:10):
Yeah, and you use the key word guardrails. They've been
crying out for guardrails since this thing began. That was
Mitch Barnard's favorite where when all this stuff began, and
they're just aren't it And whatever guardrails are there, people
ignore it, seems like right now because they don't have
to follow rules. But any of our cut we get
a little bit off track as we're talking about Greg Stottlemeyer.

(01:05:31):
It's hard not to though, isn't it Greg?

Speaker 2 (01:05:33):
Greg? The voice of EKU athletics.

Speaker 1 (01:05:35):
But the Colonels play Queen's University done in Charlotte on
January first odd time for a game. I don't know
if you're a New Year's Day or New Year's Eve
kind of person, but you'll be at the hotel, I
guess in New Year's Eve. But you mentioned earlier road wins,
and sure enough, EKU wins at Jacksonville State, wins at
Eastern Illinois, not easy places to win. Why do you

(01:05:58):
think this team has been capable of pulling together.

Speaker 2 (01:06:02):
And winning on the road.

Speaker 9 (01:06:04):
Because of the veterans that have stayed in the program
in Montmyrie who followed Isaiah Cozart who plays in France
now and has developed. I mean, he was a seldom
used player, left Northern Illinois, went to a JUCO, comes
back sits a year behind a star player, and he's
developed into a really good big same thing with Turner

(01:06:25):
butchery in the program for four years.

Speaker 4 (01:06:27):
They had to lean on.

Speaker 9 (01:06:28):
Their veterans as they wait for their young kids to
try to develop. So we'll see. And you know, another
thing in defense to Ku and the four and nine record,
they have played three teams in the top fifteen of
the Mid Major poll that the mid major poll includes
even Belie but they're always number one Gonzaga, but it's
twenty three conferences that are below the P five. And

(01:06:51):
they've also played Vanderbilt who and Vanderbilt and Miami of Ohio,
the two of the teams they've lost, or two of
the six that are still undefeated. So the schedule's been
tough and they've played a lot of tough road games.

Speaker 2 (01:07:04):
That's it. Yeah, like you say, not just playing Vandy,
been playing Vandy down in Nashville, and.

Speaker 1 (01:07:08):
Vandy's one of the pleasant surprises in all of D
one basketball this year. So it's been a tough road.
But conference play begins. Let's switch you over to football now.
And it was not, of course, the season that wal
Wells and his crew expected. They were in it down
the stretch, but just couldn't pull off wins when they
had to. And now you've got guys moving on again.

(01:07:29):
Although you've got eleven members of Equ's team recognized by
the Phil Steel All America All Conference Teams, including Jahem Ward.
It was a four team All America. But are we
looking at another rebuild for the upcoming year?

Speaker 9 (01:07:45):
Yeah, And unfortunately, I think the biggest part of the
rebuild is going to be on the defensive game, because
they had a really good defense this year. They're going
to lose Ward and veto Tisday all out of the back,
the back of the defense because of eligibility they're on.
But then up front, they had a really good defensive line,
a couple of really solid linebackers and the last I checked,

(01:08:07):
and it's hard to keep up with it, you know,
everybody that had really good stats and has had good
years is in the portal, and so they're going to
have to rebuild defensively. Offensively, they had a really rugged season.
They just never found their mojo. A couple of games.
They had a good running attack, but their line wasn't

(01:08:29):
very good. It was in experience. They lost, you know,
three three veterans from the year before. Their quarterback was
up and down all year. And I've noticed in the
signees that they've had, or at least the commitments that
they're trying to find those wide receivers. They may keep
their quarterback. But you know what I do, really Dick,
And because I don't have to cover it for a

(01:08:50):
blog or for a you know, a daily show, I
just kind of say, I'll talk to you guys after
the portal's closed to the coaching.

Speaker 2 (01:08:59):
I just just go do your job.

Speaker 9 (01:09:00):
I know you're busy. I don't want to bug you.
I'm just going to kind of put it to bed
and forget about it, and I'll get it back out
of the closet and worry about it, you know, once,
once the dust settles. But it's really it's going to
be interesting because this this one portal window is going
to open and close, and then what do you do.
I mean, at least kids can't leave af their spring practice.

(01:09:21):
But have you made the right decisions? And as things
spilled her down, you're having to make decisions on the
fly that may or may not be the right decision
in the long run.

Speaker 1 (01:09:33):
You mentioned uk or Eku is rather defensive secondary. Ek
You had what ten picks last year a terrific defensive
passing efficiency. What does that tell you about Rashad Watson
the defensive secondary coach. I got to think that people
may be coming after him. He's getting it done over

(01:09:55):
there in Richmond, isn't he.

Speaker 9 (01:09:57):
Well, we'll see if if guys are going to stay,
you know, stay in the coaching staff. That's one thing
what Wells has been able to do is he's had
the same defensive coordinator, the same offensive coordinator throughout his
six years. But they've had a couple of guys move on.
Jeremy Hawkins I think's got a head coaching job now somewhere,
and he was you know, he moved on. So the

(01:10:19):
one place that they've really turned guys over for the
most part has been their defensive line coaches. But Again,
when as you get near the end of a coaching contract,
the assistants are going to look too. And I think,
you know we were talking this this is an e
KU but when we talk about a coach losing their job,
here's what it gets all the headlines, right. But what

(01:10:42):
you don't think about, or what the average fan doesn't
think about, is the impact of all the people under
the head coach. Where does their career go?

Speaker 1 (01:10:51):
You're exactly right, And that's why people just fire the coach,
move on. You know you it affects a dozen other
people and their families, which is why I'm super conservative
when it comes to something like that. A couple of
minutes up of Greg Stottlemyer, the radio voice and TV
of the EKU Colonels who take on Queens from down

(01:11:12):
in Charlotte in Charlotte only HER's Day. You can see
it on ESPN Plus, you can hear it on the
EKU Sports Network. Looking ahead to the FCS Championship game.

Speaker 2 (01:11:21):
And I know it's been a while since the Colonels
have been there.

Speaker 1 (01:11:23):
You called a lot of EKU playoff games, not as
many of late, of course, I know you want to
get back to that but you got Illinois State and
Montana State. Interesting to see Illinois State jump up, but
you know you've got the South Dakota's, the South Dakota States,
the North Dakota, Montana. Say what is it about football
in that part of the world, in the Pacific North

(01:11:44):
to Midwest that it just seems like on the FCS
level has exploded.

Speaker 9 (01:11:50):
Well, the Dakota schools have a lot of money and
they don't have competition. I mean there's no other schools.
I mean, you go look at Georgia. The numbers schools
playing football in Georgia or Florida or Texas. They're the
big show in town and so and you know their
successes has been good. Here's a funny story about Illinois State.

(01:12:12):
We played basketball up there. Illinois State needed a missed
extra point by North Alabama to beat them at home
in the regular season double overtime. Illinois State. North Alabama
finished next to last in the Conference of Eastern Kentucky

(01:12:33):
is in this year, so it's it can happen on
any I think Montana State's gonna run away with it.
They are really good. And I've always said this, and
maybe it's starting to change with the money in the portal.
But the number one in two teams in FCS are
right knocking on the door of top twenty five in FBS.

(01:12:54):
Now that may be changing now, but I really think
in North Dakota State over the years has been good
enough to compete and be as good as any G
five team or a group of whatever it is now. So,
but it's great football, you know. But deck any kind
of football is good if you catch a good game.

(01:13:15):
I just I caught twenty minutes of YouTube highlights of
a Division three semi final game against John Hopkins and
Wisconsin River Falls. It was a tremendous football game, you know,
so sometimes sometimes you know football is football. It was
a great game. But I again, I'm seeing that spread

(01:13:37):
because of what's happening now. I'm seeing the big boys
and everybody else be left behind because of I mean,
Indiana's a prime example. Yeah, find a good coach, get
your mojo going, have the money to do it, and
all of a sudden the playing field is different than
it used to be.

Speaker 1 (01:13:55):
Well, and the equation simple, but executing it is difficult.
We know that, especially with the when it comes to
raising the money. But you make a good point about
the Dakota's in the Montanas of the world, in the
Montana States. Of course, Montana State beat Montana in the playoff.

Speaker 2 (01:14:10):
That was a big one.

Speaker 1 (01:14:11):
I also find it interesting just a minute or two
left it Villanova goes to the final four, and that
was a very difficult loss last year in the playoffs
for Eku e Ka.

Speaker 2 (01:14:20):
You really I thought got host but anyhow, I know
you did too. But yes, Villanova once upon a time
did away with football.

Speaker 1 (01:14:29):
You know Howie Long is the great you know, example
of a guy who played really good football back in
the day under Novah.

Speaker 2 (01:14:35):
Then they did away with it. Now they're back, and
they are.

Speaker 1 (01:14:39):
A team that at the FCS or one double A
level has really grown quickly.

Speaker 2 (01:14:45):
I guess that's a good sign. I would think, what
do you think?

Speaker 9 (01:14:48):
Yeah, And they beat Tarlton out of the United Athletic
Conference that won the conference at Eastern Kentucky is in.

Speaker 2 (01:14:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 9 (01:14:57):
And Tarlton had the path pay to get to Nashville
where the national championship is this year, and they just
pretty much blew it in losing to Villanova. I don't
think Villanova was good enough to make the finals, and
obviously they didn't, but they've won the close games. And yeah,
Eastern Kentucky did get host last year. There were some

(01:15:19):
really really bad call by the crew.

Speaker 1 (01:15:23):
Yeah well, and then Nova lost to Illinois State, which
does play Montana State in the championship game on the
fifth of January at seven thirty down in Nashville. And
again it's e Ku and Queens on New Year's Day
down in Charlotte and Gregor love the call for you
on the UK Sports Network. You can also watch on
ESPN Plus.

Speaker 2 (01:15:43):
Thanks brother, have a happy New Year in a great trip.

Speaker 9 (01:15:45):
I'll talk to you next year sometime, Dick you two,
Well we come back.

Speaker 1 (01:15:49):
We'll talk more college football and the bowl games as well.
Here on the Big Moon Sider six thirty WLAP Welcome
back to the Big.

Speaker 2 (01:15:56):
Moon Sider, final segment of our show.

Speaker 1 (01:15:57):
And I thought I'd bring it back to football a
little bit of football earlier in the show. But during
that week off, it just seemed like there were so
many things that came across my social.

Speaker 2 (01:16:07):
Media feed that I wanted to comment on or reflect
on or whatever that just stuck out.

Speaker 1 (01:16:13):
And I will tell you this, one of them was about,
as always this time of year, Bowl games, and I
posted something at the beginning of the bowl season and
it got a lot of reaction on Twitter or ax
if you will, and I basically said, whenever I hear
people who are blathering on about how worthless bowl games are.

Speaker 2 (01:16:32):
It really ticks me off for a couple of reasons.

Speaker 1 (01:16:34):
Number One, generally it's people who only care about the
college football playoff, maybe don't cover college football, which I do,
and I'm terribly biased, and again a member of the
UK radio network, but I posted the photo that the
football Wiutcats took somebody took of the UK team after

(01:16:55):
the first Music City Bowl win, the upset went over
Clemson in twenty oh six. It was such a huge
moment just to get there for rich Brooks's team, after
everything Brooks and his staff and players had gone through
and they finally get there. They have a big win
over Clemson, a huge crowd parties all over Nashville. It
was a great football game.

Speaker 2 (01:17:14):
We're gonna lose. It was a great football game.

Speaker 1 (01:17:16):
And the team got together for his photo with the trophy,
and then Rich Brooks took a running leap and dove
and turned at the last minute and landed like a
mosh pit in the middle of his players.

Speaker 2 (01:17:27):
They loved it.

Speaker 1 (01:17:28):
They had a big cheer. Somebody got a great photo
with the trophy. Brooks had his fist shoved in the air.

Speaker 2 (01:17:34):
You may have seen a version of that photo. And
I always think about that moment when I hear these
idiots on there saying, you know, ball games don't mean anything.
You gotta do away with him.

Speaker 1 (01:17:44):
No, they meant everything to that team, to that coaching staff,
to the players. I love covering ball games quite frankly,
not just because it's an extra paycheck. And so now,
especially with the playoff system in place such as it is,
people keep talking about, oh, the balls, they're worthless.

Speaker 2 (01:18:01):
And look, some of them are, but a lot of
them are not. And Brent Key, who is the.

Speaker 1 (01:18:06):
Head coach at Georgia Tech, which lost its ballgame, was
asked about the viability of ball games these days, and
I loved his answer.

Speaker 12 (01:18:14):
I really don't understand. I think that the narrative that
has been created the last couple of years about these
games aren't important. I mean, who's to say a football
game is not important. There's three hundred and sixty five
days in a year that we live breathe work for
twelve guaranteed opportunities. There's another sport like that, and then

(01:18:36):
to have another opportunity to compete.

Speaker 5 (01:18:38):
I just don't get that.

Speaker 12 (01:18:39):
I don't understand people saying the value of a Bowl game.

Speaker 5 (01:18:44):
It's a game.

Speaker 2 (01:18:46):
That's Brent Key of Georgia Tech. And I'll say it again,
I think the overwhelming majority of.

Speaker 1 (01:18:50):
People in my business. Fans have their rights, of course,
to their own opinion. But media folks, I think they
want to have the hot take one number two. It's
the thing to say, you know, Bowl games are stupid,
they're well or whatever, but they underestimate the value to
the programs of the Bowl games, to the big picture,

(01:19:10):
you know. It is probably the best way to put it.
So I just wish they'd stop. Yeah, some Bowl games
need to go away, but it was described to me
a long time ago as a.

Speaker 2 (01:19:20):
Reward for the team, the players, the coaches, the fan base.

Speaker 5 (01:19:24):
Leave it at that.

Speaker 2 (01:19:25):
You can have your playoff and you can have Bowl
games as well. There's too many, but that's a different issue.
That's gonna do it.

Speaker 1 (01:19:32):
Thanks to my guest, Greg Stottlemyer, doctor Ben Kibler, Maggie Davis,
that's it.

Speaker 2 (01:19:36):
Good night from the garage in Luxington.

Speaker 11 (01:19:38):
Unless sure, Fisher, let me ask you something ahead.

Speaker 4 (01:19:41):
Six of you miss a play like that.

Speaker 8 (01:19:44):
When the ball jumped out of there.

Speaker 5 (01:19:45):
Soon as we make contact, number.

Speaker 2 (01:19:47):
Tack what you were told about you being on the field.

Speaker 5 (01:19:49):
Now watch.

Speaker 11 (01:20:01):
Stat tat tat tats toast athens.

Speaker 4 (01:21:29):
It don't

Speaker 11 (01:21:33):
Don't

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