2026-1-2 BBI

UK news of the day: Kenny Brooks on the upset of LSU; Cutter Boley hits the portal; (12:00) Mark Pope on Alabama; Georgia's Kirby Smart blows it; (19:00) Chris Fisher of the Rivals network on UK hoops & Boley; (39:00) WKYT's Lyndsey Gough has known Boley since he was a little feller; (58:00) Lee Feinswog of 900 Square Feet on UK/SEC volleyball; (1:04:00) Shaq is a hero today and broadcaster Kevin Harlan can make anything sound exciting - even a drunk trespassing on an NFL field...

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Three seconds, Morgan steps back, puts up the winner.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
Got it? Say got it?

Speaker 3 (00:06):
Kentucky wins. Kentucky wins.

Speaker 4 (00:10):
Tony Morgan with the shot from the left wing berries
the Tigers eighty seventy eight.

Speaker 3 (00:18):
What a great way to start off the new year
for the Big Blue Nation. Welcome to the Big Blue
Insider everybody for twenty twenty six. Happy New Year. Kentucky
upsets LSU in Baton Rouge. Last night, most of the
nation was watching college football if it was watching sports.
But I did watch the fourth quarter of the UK game,

(00:38):
and that was the best quarter of all because in
a game that went back and forth, the Wildcats had
the last say and a great call by Darren Heddrick.
We're gonna talk good news bad news here on the
first true show of the new year. We had the
best of going on last night. But on our first
show of the twenty twenty sixth year, we'll talk about
UK's upset over LSU. But of course we'll also talk

(01:01):
about a loss by the while Katz. They're losing Cutter
Bowley after saying he wanted to stay with a program.
In fact, twice during the postgame comments of Mark Stoops,
we heard him say he wanted to stay at Kentucky.
I was in the interview room of the players while
Stoops was talking with Tom Leach and what turned out
to be sadly his last game, his last performance on

(01:23):
the UK radio network as the UK head coach. But
Cutter Bowley told the media he wanted to stay put.
He had said it before and was there when will
Stein was introduced as the new head coach. But the
announcement coming yesterday via ESPN that Cutter Bowley's entering the
transfer portal. Now, this also came on the heels of

(01:47):
word that Kentucky was looking at more than one quarterback elsewhere,
but word came specifically that UK was taking a look
at Josh Hoover from TC. So we don't know if
will Stein wanted somebody other than Cutter Bowley, if he

(02:07):
and Cutter Bowley had a conversation that led Bolly to
believe he'd be better off elsewhere given the offense that
will Stein is running. Maybe will Stein looked at Cutter
Bowley and thought this is not the right guy from
my style of offense. I'm sure we'll get some sort
of answer soon to those questions, But yeah, Kentucky now
is shopping for a new starting quarterback, so once again,

(02:30):
very likely the starter will come via the portal and
that has worked some and not worked more often than
not for the Wildcats. Will Levis, Yes, other people know
we're going to double back to football because I want
to stay with the Kentucky upset of LSU last night.
You heard the call by Darren as we came on

(02:51):
the air, that was not the actual end of the
game because as the Wildcats celebrated, the officials and rightly so,
went to the clock, went to the replay to check
the clock and see how much, if any time was
on the clock when the ball went through the net,
and the answer was about a half second. So LSU

(03:15):
got the ball, got a chance to inbound, then Kentucky
called time out and then did it again, but couldn't
even get a shot off. And here's how Darren called.
I've not talked to many or heard many announcers who
called the end of the game twice, but this is
what happens with replay, and Darren did it again.

Speaker 5 (03:33):
Inbounds Williams, she did not get the shut up.

Speaker 2 (03:38):
Kentucky wins.

Speaker 3 (03:41):
Happy Big Blue Year. Final score in Baton Rouge.

Speaker 6 (03:48):
Number eleven, Kentucky eighties, number five, LSU seventy eight. The
Wildcats are flying home happy did they ever?

Speaker 3 (03:58):
And Kenny Brooks of course came by an talked with
Darren after the game and talked about that last shot.

Speaker 7 (04:05):
Tony asked me specifically, He says, when do you want
me to go? Do you want me to go when
we have enough time for a rebound?

Speaker 8 (04:11):
And I said no.

Speaker 7 (04:12):
I said, you know, I want to leave as little
time when the clock as possible. And we went to it.
They we got the ball inside Declara where we wanted it.
They double team kicked it back out and uh and
Tony stepped up and when she let it go, I
was right online with it as you were. And I
was like, that's good. And now the only thing was
it didn't have enough time to get a shot. Offer

(04:32):
point five seconds was a little generous, but going away
from the basket it was really quick.

Speaker 3 (04:37):
Was really good.

Speaker 7 (04:38):
So really good win for our group, man, And I'm
so proud of them. I'm so proud of them because
I've been telling them all year long what they can be,
you know, what they can be. Yeah, I'm here, hen
coom so very well, very well deserved.

Speaker 3 (04:55):
I'll tell you what I thought. They had held the
ball too long because I figured they would put it
up with about five seconds left, and Kentucky did a
great job on the boards. I'll come back to that
in a moment, but I thought, give yourself a chance
for a rebound. You know, that's conventional thinking, but interesting
that Kenny Brooks went all in, pushed his chips in
the middle of the table and said take the shot,

(05:17):
win the game, let's get out of here. And that's
exactly what they did. Darren talked with Asia Boone. She
is a backup point guard but also swings over to
the two guard. She had a couple of huge three
pointers for the Wildcats, which triggered a thirteen to oher
run for Kentucky, and she talked to Darren after the
game about Kenny Brooks's strategy and his messages before the

(05:41):
game and during the game, about the fact that they
knew this game was gonna go back and forth.

Speaker 1 (05:46):
He was mostly just outamant on just doing what we
need to do and doing what we can do, and
just being who we are as a team, and just
playing together and sticking together. Because he knows like we
knew that it was gonna be a game of runs.
We knew that we were gonna be on fire, they
were gonna be on fire, and at the end of it,
we just had to continue to stick together and play together.
And that's what we did and that's why we won
the game.

Speaker 3 (06:06):
Boone finished with eighteen points. She was five of thirteen
from beyond the ark. Tony Morgan was three for three,
including the game winner, but Boone finished with eighteen. She
had four rebounds, three assists, and zero turnover. She was
magnificent coming off the bench and she knew the last

(06:27):
shot was good all the way. Coach and I had
the perfect line.

Speaker 9 (06:30):
We knew it was going in.

Speaker 3 (06:31):
Oh.

Speaker 1 (06:32):
I knew it was going in.

Speaker 7 (06:33):
Oh digit.

Speaker 1 (06:33):
I always have a confidence of my point guard.

Speaker 5 (06:36):
I saw the arc on it.

Speaker 1 (06:37):
I knew it was going in. That's why immediately started
steppingto it, because I knew it was going in.

Speaker 3 (06:41):
What a moment for Kenny Brooks and his team as
they win their SEC opener and they couldn't have asked
for a tougher matchup. Fifth ranked in the country, LSU
favored to win it them in South Carolina as always
and they go down and get a huge, huge road.
When Morgan had the game winner and a double double
twenty four points, twelve assists, and she caused this could

(07:06):
have been a weird triple double. She forced nine fouls
did Tony Morgan and Kentucky. We mentioned the rebounding out
rebounded LSU forty five to twenty nine, turned the ball
over only ten times. The biggest cause for concern is
the Wildcats missed ten of twenty two free throw They

(07:29):
might have won this going away, but they were just
twelve of twenty two. There was one big mistake by
Clara Strack. She was great as always. She had fifteen points,
nine rebounds, She did foul out and she fiuled an
LSU player on the three point line. In the closing seconds.

(07:49):
Kentucky was up two and she fouled a shooter and
put a shooter on the line and she hit all threes.
That's why came from behind at the end. But it
all worked out. Next up for Kenny Brooks's team is Missouri.
That happens Sunday in Historic Memorial Coliseum. That is a

(08:11):
noon tip and it's kind of an early tip for Sunday,
But that's for TV. That's going to be on the
SEC network. And on Thursday, right back on the road
for the Wildcats. They head for Tuscaloosa and they'll take
on Alabama. That's where the men play tomorrow afternoon at noon.
We'll talk about that coming up in our next segment.
But back now to football and Cutter Bully leaving one

(08:36):
or more experts believe that he could end up at
Arizona State, and in fact, Kenny Dillingham, the coach out there,
was the offensive coordinator and the QB's coach at Oregon
when they offered Cutter Bully and he looked seriously at Oregon.
They offered him when he was a junior. He got
it down to Kentucky and Tennessee. Remember he came here
because Liam Cohen had recruited him. Liam Cohen was the

(09:00):
OC and Bowllie when he committed, he told us he
wanted to play for Liam Cohn, but he stuck with
his commitment and it worked out. He was the All
SEC freshman quarterback this year for Kentucky, but he'll be
elsewhere next year and perhaps at Arizona State. But as
Darryl Bird brought up on the Cats Pause website, he said,
don't dismiss Lane Kiffin at LSU. Kiffen was the first coach,

(09:24):
according to Bird, to offer Bully when Cutter was just
a sophomore at LaRue County and the offers came pouring in.
But Kiffin, while he was at Ole Miss offered Bullie.
So maybe they've got that kind of a relationship. And
I have no idea what the quarterback situation is like
now at LSU, but we do know Kentucky will be

(09:45):
looking again for a starting quarterback to come through the portal.
Kentucky played this year with three quarterbacks on the roster.
You had Cutter, Bully, you had Stone Saunders, a sophomore
from Harrisburg, PA. Brennan Ward back up from Gahana, Ohio,
also a sophomore. And remember now Matt Ponatowski is coming

(10:09):
in the freshman from Cincinnati and he will not be
an early enroll league because he's playing baseball for Archbishop Moehler.
But who knows. This is a kid who's already signed
and recommitted. Maybe he makes a run at the starting job.
That would be a long shot, though, a true freshman
starting in a new system under a new head coach,

(10:32):
so stay tuned. There's gonna be stuff on this coming
out probably every hour on the hour. Great night for
college football last night during the day, not so much
terrible games, but the finale was phenomenal. We'll talk about
that and Kentucky basketball on the other side of the
break here on six thirty WLAP Welcome back to the

(10:52):
Big Bluinsider. Coming up in a few minutes, Chris Fisher,
who has covered the UK beat for quite some time
now as part of the Cats Illustrated cover, will join us.
Also Lindsay Goff from WKYT. She used to cover Georgia football.
We're gonna get her reaction to George's collapse last night
and some really really odd decisions by Kirby smart One
in particular. And also Lee Fineswag who has worked here

(11:15):
in lexi and many many years ago, but now is
the editor of nine hundred Square Feet. It's an online
volleyball magazine newsletter basically, and he was there covering the
volleyball Final four and covered Kentucky's run to the championship
a few years ago as well, So we'll talk with
him coming up in our number two. But Wildcats in

(11:35):
Alabama coming up tomorrow. It's a noon tip. You'll hear
it right here on six thirty WLAP with Tom and Jack.
And it's a good Alabama team now again like the
women Kentucky with a tough road trip to start the season.
And before they left, Mark Pope talking to the media,
somebody asked him about le Baron Islan Junior averaging twenty

(11:56):
one to nearly twenty two points per game in less
than twenty nine minutes per game, five and a half assists,
he's hitting fifty five percent of his shots, and yeah,
he jumps off the video.

Speaker 10 (12:09):
Well, he's really hard to contain. He's so great off
the bounce. And I'll tell you the thing that I
don't think he gets enough credit for him. Maybe he does,
but he is an elite, elite, elite level playmaker off
the bounce man, the passer finding guys. He's got a
real skill of threading the needle when he needs to
get in balls where he does. He's unbelievable at hitting
a short roll and kind of push screen rolls, and

(12:31):
he's got an unbelievable you know, first end, second and
third step. He's a multiple move guy. He finished well
around the ram he' shooting at an elite level clip
he's a big time player. He's he's having put together
a great season.

Speaker 3 (12:46):
Hope should have all of his weapons at his disposal,
but they won't all be one hundred percent, of course,
specifically Jaylen Low with that shoulder, but they'll get out
of him what they can. Jaden Quaintens is back and
Mohammed Diabote basically coming home. He not from Tuscaloosa, but
that's where he played last year. So it will be
interesting to cast our boys started nine to thirty and

(13:07):
then Cameron Mills and Dave and Andrew at ten thirty,
Jack and Tom at noon for Kentucky Alabama. You hear
it right here, and of course it'll be on ESPN
the worldwide Leader, which was wall to wall football yesterday,
and oh man, the first few games were terrible, weren't they.

(13:29):
Oregon shuts out Texas Tech a defensive struggle of course,
until Oregon kind of ran off with a little bit late,
but twenty three to nothing, and that one Indiana destroys
Alabama thirty eight to three. Who saw that coming? And
of course on Friday, Miami beats Ohio State was a
decent game. But nothing like Ole Miss Georgia that was phenomenal.

(13:51):
So now you've got Oregon playing Indiana, which is the
only one seed still alive. Ole Miss is a sixth
seed playing ten seed Miami, So Indiana is the only
one seed that got to buy and survived. Texas Tech
was a four and lost, Georgia was a three and lost.
Ohio State was a two and lost. So maybe the

(14:13):
bye week too much, Russ too much inactivity, who knows,
but clearly the better teams won yesterday. And I'm not
ready to say that Georgia is better than ole Miss,
but Ole Miss was better last night, and Kirby Smart
did some really at least one thing in particular. Fourth
and two at its own thirty three, Georgia runs its

(14:34):
punt team onto the field, but there was an old
misdefender on the ground, so the injury stoppage gave Kirby
Smart a chance to think about it, and he thought
too much. Put his offense back on the field. They
go for it. I had a run pass option. Actually
they had an option of trying to pull the rebels
offside or take a delay before punting, but instead they

(14:56):
run the ball and there was a breakdown in community
vcation up front for Georgia, and an ole Miss linebacker
came through unblocked and dropped Gunner Stockton. That led to
an ole Miss touchdown. Ole Miss was up three at
the time. All he had to do is go twenty
three yards. Two plays later, they're in the end zone.
They got a ten point lead. Georgia came back but

(15:18):
couldn't come all the way back. Actually tied the score
thirty four, so technically they did. But then the Bulldogs
good defense, but gave up a forty yard pass from
Trinidad Chambliss, the quarterback for all Miss, that sets up
the winning field goal. And here's the thing about Chambliss.

(15:39):
You might remember this. He gets his opportunity to play
against Kentucky. Ole Miss and Kentucky were playing back in
the second week of the season on September sixth, and
after a four and out for ole Miss, the third
down play was Austin Simmons, the starting quarterback. He ends

(16:02):
up scrambling for two yards but landed funny and he
left the game injured. Kentucky came in and put together
a drive that stalled, and then the backup QB comes
in Trinidad Shambless and he drives the Rebels to a touchdown.
They were up three at the time, and their touchdown

(16:24):
made it thirty to twenty. This game was tied with
five and a half to play, and then ole Miss
put up ten points. Kentucky got a touchdown but could
not come all the way back, but Chambliss led ole
Miss on the drive that locked up the victory. Simmons
technically came back, took the last snap of the game,
took a knee, but the following week is when Chambliss

(16:49):
became the starter for ole Miss, and I heard mention
of it on the air last night. Austin Simmons got
Wally pipped. Wally Pip was the guy kids who was
playing first base for the New York Yankees and missed
the game of the headache, and a guy named lou
Gerigg took his place. Never left the lineup for twoye

(17:12):
and thirty games, a record that stood until cal Ripken Junior.
They did not make the change back to sim As
at quarterback Kiffin and his staff for the rest of
the year. Some coaches don't like to see players lose
their jobs to injury. Some coaches will roll with it.

(17:33):
Kiffin and his staff did. Trinidad Chambliss, who was in
National Championship winning QB at Farris State of Division two,
has led ole Miss and was tremendous last night. Has
led ole Miss to the final four of the semi finals.
But it all started for him on the D one
level in terms of game action back in Lexington. One

(17:58):
other note before we hit the break, tipped a BBI
cap to Shay Gilgis Alexander, the former Wildcat who's been
named Sports Illustrated Man of the Year, a sports Person
of the Year. I should say he of course was
the NBA's most valuable Player, was the playoff most viable player,
and led his team to an NBA championship. A tremendous

(18:22):
story didn't start for the Wildcats until he was fifteen
games into his season. His only season at Kentucky came
from Hamilton, Ontario. You have John Caliperry Credit recruited this
kid and he was going to be a two year player,
maybe longer at Kentucky, but he blossomed quickly, took over

(18:44):
as the starter and was the eleventh player ended up
eleventh player drafted in the NBA and when he was
in ninth grade. According to the article online SI dot Com,
when he was in ninth grade, he sort of wrote
down his goals. He wanted to win a college scholarship,

(19:06):
play at the D one level, be drafted into the NBA,
be the MVP, and win a championship. And he's done
every bit of it. And he's done it as his
devoted husband and father, does a lot of charity work
up in Canada, his home country, where he refurbishes basketball courts,
visits kids in the hospital, is on the verge of

(19:27):
launching an after school music program in Hamilton, and is
a big supporter of the children's hospital in OKC. He
and his wife volunteered a community center that supports kids
with autism. So again, hats off Shay Gilgess Alexander the
first former Wildcat to be named Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of

(19:51):
the Year. Up next, Chris Fisher here on the Big
Blue Sider six thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big Bluensider,
Join us now. Longtime friend of the show. Chris Fisher,
part of the Rivals Network, helps cover recruiting at Cats Illustrated.
It's been on the UK Beat for quite some time,
and Chris, before we look back at maybe the most
action packed New Year's Day, all things considered, that we've

(20:14):
had in a long time. Let's talk about tomorrow, Kentucky Alabama.
Tough opener for Mark Pope's team. And I think about
three weeks ago we all would have said, well, that's
going to be a big l But now that he's
got his entire roster back, it's still going to be
a tough order. But what kind of a shot do
you give Kentucky tomorrow?

Speaker 9 (20:34):
Yeah, Coleman Colseum has been a tough place to play
for Kentucky in recent years. They've taken some beatings down there.
And this is another really good Alabama team, kind of
a vintage and eight oats team. They get up and
down the floor, they score a lot of points. They've
had an impressive non conference resume. But on Kentucky side,

(20:56):
it almost feels like Mark Pope has maybe a new
lease on this season. It almost feels like the start
of a new season. And that's not, you know, unusual
going into sc play, But all of a sudden, you
have Jalen low back, you have Jayden Clayton's back, and
at least against Saint John's. This looked like a completely different,

(21:19):
uh Kentucky basketball team. I mean, that was one of
the best defensive efforts I've seen out of a Kentucky
team in a long long time. I mean, the way
they dominated Saint John's in that second half, limited them offensively,
turned them over. It was It was a sight to behold.
And I doubt that was Mark Pope's vision for this

(21:41):
team when he put it together. But you know, injuries
can can can do. You know, can can can have
effects on teams. And this looked like a completely different
Kentucky ball club. And you know, they were winning with
rebound and defense and and and that's what I think

(22:02):
they'll they'll probably need to do going forward, even with
the emergence of a guy like Cam Williams from the perimeter.
I don't think this is a team that's just gonna
out shoot you, out score you. They're gonna you know,
they're gonna play defense and rebound, and you know, I
think the impetus for all of that form Mark Pope
was was last season in those Alabama games where they

(22:23):
kind of gotten beat progressively worse and worse. You know,
they had the close game that Reparena, they had the
loss in Tuscaloosa, and then they had the blowout lost
in the NTC Tournament.

Speaker 4 (22:36):
I think that was when they.

Speaker 9 (22:37):
Really set in with Mark Pope that hey, I need
to get more athletic, I need to get better defensively,
I need to get tougher and those types of things.
And so we'll we'll see how far they've they've come
on Saturday, And it's.

Speaker 3 (22:50):
Kind of ironic that one of the guys doing the damage,
and you make a great point about the progressively bad
losses to Alabama one of the guys doing the damage
physically last year, to know, a wildcat, and I felt
like when Diabante came back, he he kind of to
use that expression or use a cliche, kind of let
the fire under this team when he came to the
physicality and the defense, you know what I mean.

Speaker 9 (23:13):
Yeah, he's you know, I knew from day one that
that Modia Bake was going to be a fan favorite
just with the energy and effort that he plays with.
And obviously he was a really important piece to those
to those Alabama teams and you know, their first ever
Final Four appearance and just a kind of a glue
guy that you know, does a little bit of everything

(23:34):
when he's on the floor and a rich man's garbage man,
if you will, for in basketball terms, that he's going
to clean up anything and everything around the rim, and
you know, really took over in that scene in in
the Indiana game in the second half, and you know,

(23:55):
it's kind of easy to forget with you know, Jalen
Low being out, Jane Quainton's being out, it was kind
of easy to forget that. Kentucky went, you know, a
long stretch there without Mo Diabade and he was another
guy that was, you know, kind of a projected starter
for them, and so getting him back has also been
huge for them.

Speaker 3 (24:12):
It's going to be an interesting matchup tomorrow with LeBaron Filon,
who what a great story, you know for the Crimson Tide.
I mean, he's a local kid, he's from Mobile, Alabama.
Mister basketball was on the All Freshman team last year
and it's having a heck of a season this year
and is in his second year, not a one and done,

(24:32):
didn't jump into portal or anything like that, and is
averaging nearly twenty two a game and five and a
half assists. Gonna be interesting to see you who's in
charge of trying to stay between him and the basket?

Speaker 9 (24:46):
Yeah, he and both say Aiden Holloway. I think between
them averaging around forty points per game, and it's going
to be really really important for Kentucky to find a
way to slow those guys down. But you know, Alabama's
also big on the interior and it's going to be
a tough matchup for you know, Kentucky. I don't think
the SEC is quite what it was a season ago.

(25:08):
But you know, to open league play, you're you're jumping
right into the deep end, you know, right into the
thick of things to start SEC play, and we'll get
to learn a lot more. I think about this Kentucky team.
I still, you know, even thirteen games into the season,
there have been so many kind of mismatched parts and

(25:29):
guys in and out and those types of things that
you know, I still don't really know exactly, you know,
what this Kentucky team is and kind of what they
can be going forward. You know, I think, you know,
Jalen Low being in the lineup obviously, and Jayden Quainton's
coming back drastically alters not only this team's floor, but

(25:50):
they're ceiling as well, especially Jaydon Clayton's that second half
against Think John's. I think it is something that fans
are going to remember for a long long time.

Speaker 3 (25:58):
Yeah. Yeah. Chris Fisher of the Rivals Network helps cover
recruiting for Kat Illustrated, and you mentioned the effort against
Saint John's and the way that Mark Pope is adjusting
the way it looks like his team is going after
other teams. I thought it was really interesting that Rick
Patino used the F word. He said, and by that

(26:20):
I mean finess. He used another F word a lot,
I know, but he said he didn't really think that
Kentucky or or that Mark. He kind of said, Mark
likes to play finesse and now they're going to be
playing more smash mouth. And it kind of surprised me
to see him use that word. But then I thought,
and you mentioned this earlier, He's right. I don't know
if finess was the right term, if Pope would use

(26:42):
that term, but it definitely compared to where they're playing now,
is the way things were shaking out. And this has
got to be smash mouth tomorrow, doesn't it.

Speaker 8 (26:51):
Yeah?

Speaker 9 (26:51):
I think so. I think you know, last season proved that,
you know, Kentucky may not be able to win at
the highest level playing the exact same way that Mark
Pope played in the Big twelve at b YU, simply
just you know, running intricate offensive sets and finding open
threes and you know, kind of bombing away from from

(27:14):
the perimeter. There has to be a little bit more
substance to it than that. And realized in a big
way this off season that you know, they needed to
address some of those shortcomings. They needed to get more physical,
they need to get better in the rebounding department, They
needed to get better defensively because when you look at
the profiles of the teams that have been at or

(27:35):
near the top of the SEC in recent years, Alabama, Auburn, Tennessee, Florida,
all those teams, big strong, physical inside can shoot the
ball from the from the perimeter also, but you know, big, strong,
athletic guys at nearly every position. And so you know,
we saw him kind of do a one eighty this

(27:57):
off season, and I think he thought this would be
a better shooting team than it is now. I still
think this is a better shooting team than we've seen
to this point, I think, you know, Water will eventually
find its level, and I think this is a better
shooting team than we've seen to this point. Cam Williams,
I think is a prime example of that. Uh you know,

(28:17):
he shot over forty percent from three as a freshman
at Tulane. Last season, he was under twenty percent from
three over the first ten games, with only six makes
in those ten games, and then all of a sudden,
the last three games he's over sixty percent with eleven mats,
and so I think he's getting more confident. I think

(28:37):
he's getting more comfortable. He's finding the range from the
perimeter and even getting one of those guys, you know,
Colin Chandler's kind of getting the Kobe Braa treatment where uh,
you know, he was really dialed in early in the season,
but now he's drawing a lot of attention on the perimeter.
But even as Kentucky can get one of those perimeter
guys going, I think that opens up a lot for them.

Speaker 3 (28:56):
And to your point, Cam Williams, when he entered the
portal and came to Kentucky, he was described as the
three point shooter from Tulane, you know, so that that
was his reputation, and I'm with you. I think he'll
he'll balance things out. And it is kind of ironic,
isn't it That You're right? You know, they're finding they've
got to play tougher, more physical basketball in the SEC

(29:19):
and I think they probably knew that in theory, but
now they're putting it into practice. And I'll never forget
the year Mark Pope sat out when you might recall
it you were just a kid back then, but I
guess you were around by then. But he was the
guy who represented the future when it came Whenever Patino

(29:39):
talked about the fact that his team needed to get
tougher and more physical, and he said, don't worry, Mark
Pope is on the way. So that's what he brought
to Patino's best UK teams. We're talking with Chris Fisher
of the Rivals Network. Capt Illustrator will come back and
talk football and women's basketball on the other side of
the break here on six thirty WLAP Welcome backward. You

(30:00):
adding with Chris Fisher the Rivals and Network. He's covered
the UK be for quite some time and in between
football games, you dialed up the uk LSU women's game
last night and I'll have to admit, when LSU took
a six point lead with two and a half three
minutes ago, Chris I said, well, they gave it a
good run, but and they basically they held them without

(30:21):
a field goal for the last five minutes of the game.
What was your take on how that game ended?

Speaker 9 (30:27):
Yeah, I mean, just an unbelievably impressive road win for
dis Kentucky women's basketball team. And you know, I think
there were still some doubters, you know, for a kind
of how some things played out for them in the
non conference, even with some marquee wins. I don't think
they were ranked quite as high as probably they should
be in the polls. But to go on the road

(30:50):
in your SEC opener and knockoff number five LSU at
the buzzer no Less, really says a lot about the
job that Kenny Brooks has done at Kentucky, And even
as great of a season as they had a year ago,
it seems like they've taken another step forward. I think
in the same way that Mark Pope, after his first

(31:11):
go round in the SEC, kind of realized what he
needed after getting the lay of the land, I think
Kenny Brooks did the same thing. I think he realized, Okay,
these are the pieces that I need to go and get.
Tony Morgan has done an unbelievable job stepping in at
the point guard position, and that that game winner was

(31:33):
absolutely huge. I go back to you know, LSU, you know,
pumping up the crowd and getting everybody hyped up before
Kentucky inbounded the ball and then ten seconds later they're
hanging their heads after a lost but unbelievable shot by
Tony Morgan looked like she was trying to get the
ball in the post. That Clara Strack who closed really

(31:54):
strong last night, but wasn't there. They took that away
and then you know, step back three for the win,
and it was a really really exciting moment after the game, And.

Speaker 3 (32:03):
I played the comment earlier Kenny Brooks told Darren Hedrick
did he had told his team. Tony said, he, you know,
do you when do you want me to take the shot?
Do you want us to have enough time to rebound?
And Brooke said, no, you know, take it down and
then put up the shot at the end and hit it.
And you don't see many coaches do that. They always
kind of try to And I don't blame him. They

(32:24):
try to head to their bets, you know, and maybe
we can get a rebound and put it back in.
But he had her hold the ball or look for
that last shot within the last three seconds. What did
you make of that?

Speaker 9 (32:35):
Oh, it shows the unbelievable confidence he has in Tony
Morgan to make that shot, because yeah, if you miss
it and you don't have time for a putback, then
you're not winning the game. And so, you know, I
think she finished with twenty four points and a number
of assists. I think she was at eight at one point.
I'm not sure what she finished well, but twelve twelve

(32:56):
assists unbelievable. Yeah, yeah, what she's done, you know, replicating
you know the performance that Georgia Amore put on last season.
It's is pretty incredible and I think it's gonna turn
Kentucky into a destination for point guard. You look at
what Kenny Brooks has done with Georgia Amore and Tony Morgan,
and you know, I think that's only going to attract

(33:18):
more more talent at that position in the years to come.

Speaker 3 (33:20):
Spolcome like a guy who covers recruiting. Well, let me
shift you to football. Because, like me, you got to
watch a lot of football yesterday and the sec Ole
Miss of course fared well, but the two powerhouse teams
did not. I don't know if you were watching the
Georgia Well Miss game. When Kirby Smart decides to go
for it on his own thirty three, I was stunned

(33:43):
by that move and it ultimately cost him the game.
What did you make of that?

Speaker 9 (33:48):
Yeah, same thing. It seemed a little bit out of
character for Kirby Smart to go for it there. It
seemed like they were lining up just to try to,
you know, get them off size or something, and then
you know, maybe they would punt up all the way,
but they end up going for it and they don't
get it, and that was a huge momentum shift in
that game. And you know it, it almost feels like

(34:09):
the zombie college football playoffs this year, where you know,
you have Indiana dominating Alabama, you have Ole Miss beating Georgia,
and it almost feels like a changing of the guard
kind of situation. And I tweeted last night, you know,
as far as Indiana goes, I don't know if it's
a controversial take or if it's just the obvious take.

(34:31):
But I think Indiana is the best team in the country.
I mean, I think they're the most well rounded. They
have the Heisman Trophy winner at quarterback, they have playmakers
at receiver and running back, and that defense is a
force to be reckoned with. And the way they just
kind of ragged all Alabama was was was unbelievable to watch.

(34:54):
And I love the way Kurt Signetti just shakes off
these questions about Indiana and being in the moment and
being on that stage and being a part of history,
and he just completely dismisses it out of hand. If
it's not about this specific Indiana football team or about
x's and o's and actual football being played on the

(35:14):
field that day, he just not having any part of it.
And I love that part about him as a coach.

Speaker 3 (35:20):
Yeah, I agree with you. But what's interesting, And I
heard Kirk Herbstreet say more than once that in talking
with Indiana fans who were there, they hadn't completely bought
into the dream, like, do you really think we have
a chance today even though there were seven point favorites,
And it turned out he had more than enough chance
because Alabama stunningly had a very poor running game, this

(35:41):
is a place that gave us Derrick Henry and Eddie Lace,
among others, and they just couldn't run the football. A
few minutes left with Chris Fisher, you're more of a
basketball than a football guy, but you've covered football in
your time. How surprised were you at the news that
Cutter Bowley is in the portal?

Speaker 9 (35:59):
Yeah, it's a little shocked by that, to be honest
with you. You know, I think this is a guy
that is from Kentucky, grew up a Kentucky fan, and
by all accounts this off season was a guy that
Kentucky wanted to make a priority in bringing him back
next season. And then, you know, if if you can't

(36:23):
keep a guy like that, what hope do you have
of keeping anybody in the transfer portal era. Now, obviously
you know Cutter Bowlie's gonna make the decision that's best
for him. And maybe, you know, will Stein kind of
passed along the message like, hey, we want you to
be the guy, but we're going to bring another guy

(36:43):
in to make sure you're the guy. And you know,
maybe didn't you know take well, I guess to to
that message. And so but it's also you know, Kentucky,
you know, at the Arizona State is kind of the
team to watch for Bowlie. According to report, their former

(37:04):
quarterback Sam Levitt is also in the portal and now
people are saying that he might be a name to
watch for Kentucky at the quarterback position. And so, you know,
Kentucky and Arizona State trading quarterbacks in the off season.
I mean that if that doesn't, you know, encapsulate the
transfer portal era, then I don't know what.

Speaker 3 (37:23):
Yeah, but either way, it looks like Kentucky's gonna have
another transfer under center behind center quarterback next year. That
revolving door keep spin looked like cutter Bowley put an
end to that. But you know, but it'll play out
the way it'll play out. We always know that. And
whatever happens, Chris Fisher will be there to observe cover tweet,
follow him on Twitter at Chris Fisher KY. Thank you, sir,

(37:47):
Happy New Year to you and yours all right, same
to you. And that'll do it for our number one
coming up in our number two. Lindsay Goff. She is
a sports anchor reporter for w KYT and worked here
in Kentucky and then went to Georgia and worked at
a station down there, so she covered those bulldogs. She's
also covered the Masters, which is on my bucket list.

(38:08):
I would just love to go to a practice round.
Now that I'm out of daily journalism, I doubt if
I'll ever cover a Masters, but I would just love
to go and walk the grounds at some point. A
man tg Shuck over at Channel thirty six used to
work for us at KYT. He and his dad used
to go to practice rounds and at the time of
her life just practice rounds. So that's on my list.

(38:29):
But we'll talk to Lindsay primarily about football and Kentucky
basketball as well, but also Lee fines Wogg, who also
like Lindsay, worked in election in for a while then
went off to a greener pastures. But now he is
the editor of nine hundred square feet that's the size
of a volleyball court, so he covers volleyball on a
national basis. He was there at the final four. We'll

(38:50):
talk with him about the SEC, about Kentucky and about
international title run the last couple of title runs here
on six thirty wlapt.

Speaker 2 (39:26):
Tact can anything.

Speaker 3 (39:58):
To welcome back to the Big Blue and Sider I

(40:59):
remember two of our program, and we welcome and say
happy New Year to Lindsay Goff, who is the weekend
sports anchor at w KYT, but formerly covered those Georgia
Bulldogs and more when she worked down in Savannah, Georgia.
She's also worked in Bowling Green and in Louisville, but
back here in election with us. She is a UK alum.
Happy New Year, young lady, Happy New Year. You did

(41:20):
not have to work last night, so you had your
feet up watching football and I'm sure UK women's basketball
like the rest of us. Let me start though.

Speaker 8 (41:29):
Go ahead, well, let's let me talk about UK. It's
a shame it wasn't on TV. Well it was, yeah, yeah,
I don't have the full ESPN package at home, so
I was trying to keep via like social media and
watching clips and stuff. So obviously you know I was
in tunes. I didn't get to watch, but fortunately.

Speaker 3 (41:52):
Fortunately that final shot made its way onto social media
almost almost instantly. What did you think of that? And
more specific, the fact that Kenny Brooks absolutely said he
did not want Tony Morgan to either take the shot
or see that his team took the shot with enough
time left for an offensive rebound possibility. He wanted them

(42:14):
to go right down literally to the last second. That
kind of surprise was a pleasant surprise. But what did
you make of that?

Speaker 8 (42:23):
I mean, he puts a lot of trust in Tony
Morgan and his team, for sure. What a gutsy performance
by the UK women's basketball team. You know, to go
down to LSU on New Year's dressed like Kim Mulky
Knight and they're introducing Lane Kiffin. They go down, They've
got it tied at halftime, and then they were down

(42:46):
what two or three? Really late two? I guess made
that shot. I mean, heck of a performance Tony Morgan
twenty four to twelve and no turnovers. Just really impressive.
And then Amelia has it, doesn't even score. One of
your starters has zero points and you still get a
win at number five LSU. Just a really, really, really

(43:09):
impressive performance. And I was interested to see how they
would come out and perform after that game against Maryland
on a neutral corp. They're one loss and yeah, it
was kind of a bad loss, and they came out swinging.
This team has grown in the last that was Thanksgiving,
so I guess a little over a month they've grown

(43:31):
a lot since then.

Speaker 3 (43:32):
I said going in that one of the keys will
be Key to Ony Key, and she is so tough.
She is an SEC and you've covered the SEC for
a long time. She is an SEC front liner. And
you've got to have those players to compete with the
likes of LSU in South Carolina and all these bangers

(43:53):
in the SEC, don't you.

Speaker 8 (43:55):
Absolutely? And you know, Katy Brooks has said that she
kind of is the slagger to this team. Her teammates
have said, you know, she's one of the vocal, vocal
leaders on this team, especially this year. Now she's an
upperclass and then kind of more comfortable in that role
and it's really starting to show.

Speaker 3 (44:13):
Yeah, it really is. And uh, they had it was
all hands on deck last night. And as you said,
Amelia has it had a bad game, but yeah, her
teammates picked up for and.

Speaker 8 (44:24):
Uh, that happens, right, Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (44:28):
But when you've got more weapons and he's got that.
And you mentioned Tony Morgan and it was interesting. I
don't know if you were there at the press conference
when he talked about she came in knowing full well
that Kenny Brooks had had an incredible relationship with Georgia aymore,
and Brooks is not afraid, Well, Georgia and I did
it this way and Morgan hasn't shied away from that.

(44:50):
And but Brooks has told her, I'm going to make
you the best version of you that you can be
with an eye on the w NBA. And I thought
that was a great coaching strategy.

Speaker 8 (45:00):
Yeah, that's that's been really special to see, right, because
Tony Borgan comes in, It's like, oh, I have some
big shoes to fill with Georgia A Moore, and it
is right. I mean, she's a generational player. But when
we talked to them over the summer, even before Media Day,
you know, I was asking, you know, how is Tony
different or like Georgia, you know, did they play similar

(45:22):
And they all kind of said, Tony, Tony, she's their
own player. She's not Georgia A Moore. Sure they might
have some similarities, but she's her, She's her own player.
And she stepped into this role flawlessly. You know that
that was a big a big spot to fill on
a team that returns a lot of its key players

(45:42):
aside from the point guard, and she's just stepped in
and fit in and it's been cool to see.

Speaker 3 (45:47):
Well, that might be the big story of today, for
the Wildcat Nation, for our BBN yesterday. But then comes
the news. Actually beforehand it cut her bully yeah into
the portal. What did you make of that? How surprised
were you?

Speaker 8 (46:02):
Yes and no. It's certainly a bummer, right. You always
want to see a local kid, especially one that shows
promise to work out. And I've known cut Her and
his family for quite a long time. His cousin was
actually in my wedding. But yeah, yeah, we I have
no Cutter since I was in college and he was

(46:23):
a little kid. We were sneaking him into the eruption zone.
But he's a great kid, great family. I hope the
move works out. But I think when a new staff
comes in and you're not promised to be the guy,
especially in the era that we're in, you're going to
see a lot of that. So I certainly hope he

(46:46):
finds a home and you know, has a good landing spot.
But yeah, I was. I was bummed to see the news.
Certainly is somebody you know, the roots for the local kids.
I was kind of bummed with JB on Campbell Hits
portal because you just want you want to see those
things work out. But yeah, I mean that's the nature
of the beast, and especially when you have a coaching

(47:08):
staff change well and.

Speaker 3 (47:09):
Boy with you, he's almost family. I mean, he's just
this side.

Speaker 8 (47:12):
Of family, right Yeah, yeah, yeah. I covered his sister
when you know, she was I did a story on
her when I was in college and she was being recruited,
and so yeah, I've known the bullies for a long
time and certainly wish him well.

Speaker 3 (47:27):
It did make me wonder though about whatever conversations he
has had with will Stine. Oh yeah, you know, like
you said, certainly didn't didn't hear what he needed to hear.
I guess, uh, And you wonder is he the right
fit for this style of offense? You know?

Speaker 8 (47:42):
Right? I know? And you know he has been recruited
by Oregon when he was still in high school, right,
you know. I don't have I don't have any inside
ball knowledge on this one. I haven't talked to him,
but yeah, I mean you have to think that he

(48:04):
hears they're bringing in a guy to compete. Sure, he
doesn't want to hear that, and so I don't think
it's a not wanting to compete thing. I think it's
a he feels that he's shown enough this past season
to where he wants to go somewhere and be the guy,
which I get. And especially in the portal in il Era,
you got to explore your options. I guess you got

(48:26):
to make the smart move for yourself.

Speaker 3 (48:27):
I saw a graphic online yesterday where the top qbs
are commanding more than three million lower level you're you're
bumping up to a million.

Speaker 8 (48:36):
So you wonder the new world.

Speaker 9 (48:39):
Yeah, I can't.

Speaker 3 (48:40):
Imagine that that but because that could have been the
tipping point anyway. Speaking of the portal, though, I thought
it interesting to see a number of sources that linebacker
from Arkansas, Tavian Wallace is visiting UK this weekend and
his brother Trevin Wallace, of course play to Kentucky. He's
the guy plucked the ball out of the air and

(49:01):
a block field goal and scored against Florida when the
Wildcats beat the Gator. There you go. And now he's
with the Carolina UH Panthers UH and they're playing for
the divisional title this weekend. And to his brother Trevin,
I always love this story. We with the UK Network
we were at a function the summer going into his

(49:21):
freshman year. We were at a function over at the
UK football facility. They had a little cookout and they
had some empty seats, so they invited us there. And
I'm talking to some of my colleagues and this kid
comes up, strapping youngster, h walks up, sticks his hand out,
shakes my hand and says, Hi, my name's Trevin Wallace.
I'm a linebacker from wherever he was from. He said,

(49:43):
you're gonna be hearing a lot of Georgia. He says,
you're gonna be You're gonna be hearing a lot about me, okay.
And I said, I said, well, okay, you know, and
and so I mentioned that he was our player of
the game after a winter Missouri, and I met. I
reminded him out of the air, and he paused. He goes,
I was right. It wasn't I down. Everything's coming together.

(50:07):
I'm glad I called you today. That's it is.

Speaker 8 (50:10):
It is all right.

Speaker 3 (50:11):
We're talking to Lindsay Goff from Channel twenty seven. As
I mentioned, she covers the Wildcasts. She has also covered
in her career, those Georgia Bulldogs. We're going to talk
about that on the other side of the break. Here
on six thirty WLAP Welcome Back, we're chatting with Lindsay
Goff of WKYT, my alma maters. She is the weekend
anchor there, and we were finding out lots of new
things today, including that she watched Cutter Bully grow up

(50:35):
basically and snuck him into basketball games. But I do
want to talk to you about a team you covered
when you work down in Savannah WTOC TV, and that's
the Georgia Bulldogs beaten last night by Ole Miss, a
team that they beat earlier this year. Lindsay, as you know,
they trailed and then came back to win. And Kurty Smart,

(50:56):
who is to me the epitome of an old school
and football coach.

Speaker 8 (51:01):
He definitely is.

Speaker 3 (51:02):
He does this wild gamble in a tight game and
goes forward on his own thirty three and they fail
to make it. There's a breakdown of communication as quarterback
at sacked. Two plays later they're down ten points. What
did you make of that?

Speaker 8 (51:18):
As a Kentucky fan, it felt a little familiar. You've
seen gambles not work out. I mean, he obviously had
the confidence in his team that they're going to make
the plays. Right, but yeah, the miscommunic I mean, that
can't happen on that stage. But it does almost feel
like that Old Miss is a team of destiny. You know,

(51:39):
your head coach leaves and you're just blazing your way
through the playoffs. I don't know, it feels like, well,
I say, a team of destiny. I you feels like
the team of destiny actually.

Speaker 1 (51:52):
But.

Speaker 10 (51:56):
I don't know.

Speaker 8 (51:56):
There's something about Old Miss right now that they're hot
and so yeah, I mean I don't root for Georgia.
I went to Kentucky, but you know a lot of
nice and good people around that program so that you
hate to see him lose. They've had a lot of success. Yeah, yeah,
they've had a lot of success, so they'll be all right.

Speaker 3 (52:17):
Well, I mean the the Trinidad Chandler's story which began
here in the election in Kentucky. As it pertains to
Ole Miss, that's when he entered the lineup. Uhaciable amount
of time coming in for Austin Simmons, and then the
next week they named him the starter. Simmons was still
hollering a bit and he's held on to the job.

(52:37):
And what a story. I mean, a guy who's you
know when unheralded as a recruit, played on the day
two level, won a national title. Yeah, and now he
you know, he signs on as the backup at Ole
Miss and and look at him. They're going to play Miami,
which also could be a team of destiny making its
way through the playoffs. But yeah, Indiana play in Oregon,

(52:57):
a team it beat in Eugene, and with will Stein,
I mean, there couldn't be more great stories in the
final four.

Speaker 8 (53:04):
You know, you know, people want to rag on the committee,
but it's just a fun game. So I'm not mad
about it. And it's encouraging almost. I won't say I
like IU, but to see a team like that be
able to compete at this level and they're a quote
unquote basketball at school, it makes you think, you know,

(53:25):
Kentucky can do this if you get the right pieces,
Kentucky could be a football school.

Speaker 3 (53:30):
Yeah, yeah, I do wonder though, what if Kentucky once
upon a time had hired a coach from James Madison.
Now everybody got excited. They hired a guy with no experience,
but he came from with this glossy resume. Will Stein
coming from Oregon from a powerhouse program, but I do
wonder what would have happened if Kentucky fans had seen

(53:54):
Mitch Barner hire a guy from a one double A
program from an FCS bro. They would have been up
in arms. And Signette could not be more confident in
what he does, what he has done, and what his
players can do, you know what I mean.

Speaker 8 (54:09):
Yeah, it's always the what if game? Right, Yeah, it's
always a gamble and fans certainly wanted Will sign. That
seemed to be the overwhelming consensus on social media at least,
so yeah, they very well. They have been up a
armed that they didn't get the young, shiny new toy,
but h and.

Speaker 3 (54:30):
People didn't understand that at that level and this is
a level where EKU plays And I covered one doble
A for a long time and the EKA you kind
of melted away thanks to the old administration. I'm not
getting get into that. But James Madison is one of
the schools that rose up at that level. I mean,
they were a powerhouse and he not only seen what

(54:51):
he not only came with his acumen, but he brought players.
And that's the way he's done now, isn't it. You
bring players or you bring in players and yet you
can you can win with homegrown people. And in the
Final four they're doing both, aren't they.

Speaker 8 (55:07):
Yeah, you certainly have to have that blend. I think
of quote unquote your guys and the recruits, the people
that are committed to the program itself, people that want
to be at Kentucky, you want to be at Indiana.
You know, there's something about that, like pride and playing
for the name of the front of the jersey that

(55:28):
you can't quite duplicate. Every team needs that. Yeah, that's
certainly the era we're in. You know, half those guys
coaching on the Oregon sideliner going to Kentucky when their
bruad comes to it in I saw a meme online
that was like Dayan Landing coaching in the playoffs. You
are in an Oregon hat, like everybody around him has

(55:48):
a Kentucky at I was like, Yeah, that's trying to
worry is that. It's it's a weird time, right because
they're trying to win a playoff game, obviously, but Dan
Lanning's got to be thinking about his staff and keeping
his players in The portal opens Friday, and you know,
will Stein probably definitely singing the same thing. I've got

(56:09):
to bill a roster, bill a staff, do all these things.
That's a lot to juggle.

Speaker 3 (56:14):
Yep. Well, speaking of the portal, as we close things
out with Lindsay Golf from WKYT basketball Wildcatch tomorrow at Alabama,
and a guy who came through the portal is going
back to Coleman Coliseum and that's Moda Bate and he
has been I think as vital to Kentucky's modest turnaround.

(56:35):
It's been a short one, but it looks like a
different team now than it did when it was blown
out in Nashville. And yeah, Jalen Lowe is huge, Jayden
Quayton's literally and physically is huge, but Diabate's efforts on
court I think have been as vital as anybody's. And
that's why they brought him over from Alabama, isn't it.

Speaker 9 (56:55):
Yeah?

Speaker 8 (56:56):
I mentioned you know kihany Key bringing a slagger in
the attitude to the women's team. I think Modia brings
that edge to the men's team. You know, he's he's
a fighter and even if he's not scoring points, he's
going to try to go out and get a rebound.
He's going to play defense hard, Yeah, certainly low acquaintance

(57:16):
have gotten a lot of the attention as of late.
Rightfully so, because they do make a huge difference. But yeah,
you have to think Moe's gonna want to go down
to Tuscaalusa and have a big night or big day.
I guess it's a noon game, but yeah, it should.
It should be a fun one. I think I've said
this on w K y T and I'll say here.

(57:37):
You know, we're gonna learn a lot about this team.
I think in the month of January, now that they're
healthy and kind of at full strength.

Speaker 3 (57:45):
Rick Patino said basically that Mark stoops, Mark Stoops Mark Pope.
I'm going to make so well. Mark had to kind
of move away from being a finesse kind of team
to a team that's more physical and smash mouth he
called it. Do you see Pope doing that? He's a
smart guy. If anybody can figure it out, he can.

Speaker 8 (58:07):
I hope so, I sure hope so, because I think
they can do that a guy like a takeo away
guy like Modi Bonte, Brandon Garrison, I think they have
the potential for it, certainly, And you have a Hall
of Famer gives you a piece of advice, I would say,
you try to listen.

Speaker 3 (58:24):
Yeah, And that's a guy he respects a lot exactly
and knows that he knows what he's doing. Lindsay Goff
is a reporter anchor for WKYT. I said earlier she
is the weekend anchor. She used to be the weekend anchor,
but now she anchors the late shows on Monday through Friday.
Cayden gay Lord Day is the weekend anchor now, so

(58:46):
watch for Lindsay throughout the week, but also anchoring on
the late news on WKYT.

Speaker 8 (58:52):
Thank you so much, yep, thanks for having me up.

Speaker 3 (58:55):
Next, we'll talk to UK Volleyball one more time with
Lee fine Swag of nine hundred square feet dot com
back in a minute on six thirty WLAP. Welcome back
to the big moon side of joining us now as
a guy who knows college volleyball, but he knows a
lot more. Lee fines Wagg, who was a sports writer,
a columnist covering LSU, an author, has written a couple

(59:17):
of books and now is the editor of nine hundred
square feet, which is a volleyball newsletter that you can
get directly sent to your email. And Lee I appreciate
you joining us. You and I chatted last year at
the round robin event in the doubleheader actually over in Louisville,
and we saw each other again at the final four.
The season's over, but you never slow down, do you.

Speaker 4 (59:40):
Man? We have that's phrase. Volleyball never sleeps, and it's
just all the time. I mean. The NCAA men season
starts tonight. Oh wow, the New Jersey Institute of Technology
NJIT Highlanders of course play at Hawaii. The Rainbow Warriors.

Speaker 9 (59:58):
How's that for two nicknames? And it's the first official
NCAA men's matches tonight.

Speaker 4 (01:00:04):
That season goes into full blast. Uh next week, Uh,
the two pro leagues get underway. League One Volleyball and
Major League Volleyball. And that's what we need. We need
two pro leagues in America. I hear there, Yeah, that there,
I hear behind the scenes there finally are some merger
talk because uh, the one, the one league goes into
its third year and the other goes into its second.

(01:00:26):
And then Beach Volleyball pro Beach Volleyball will start up
real soon and nca College volleyball starts next month. I mean,
it's just uh, it's just always and then but the
but the benchmark and the focus is NCAA women's for everybody.
I mean, that's why the ESPN came out and said
the attendance, the viewing numbers were even greater than before,

(01:00:47):
and uh, it just keeps getting better and better. And
it was really cool, was it? The recent Final four
and national championship? Was Nebraska wasn't there? Not cool that
Nebraska wasn't there, yeh, But that the ratings and the attendance.
I mean that building was sold out. Okay, it might
have been a few seats three hours away from Nebraska,
and everybody was worried about attendance and viewership and it

(01:01:09):
was bofo, as they say, you know, so good good
for the sport and good good for another great season
for Kentucky.

Speaker 3 (01:01:19):
Well, and let me double back to that. And by
the way, hats off to the Nebraska fans who used
their tickets. They had bought well ahead of time, knowing
their team would get to the Final four. They were
upset on the way, but a lot of Nebraska fans
still showed up. And we know that because every time
they showed anything to do with Nebraska on the big screen,
the place you erupted. Let me double back. Lee. You

(01:01:40):
and I had met when you covered LSU and you
started doing that back in the in the early eighties.
How did you find your way to the sport of volleyball?

Speaker 4 (01:01:49):
Oh? Wow, Well, there's a couple of things there. What
was when I was at Baton Rouge and I first
got there at the same time the new volleyball coach
named Scott Luster arrived and we became fast friends, and
he turned that program around and they got good. So
we both got there in eighty four, eighty five. Well,

(01:02:10):
in nineteen ninety and ninety one LSU went to the
national semi finals back to back years, and they were
always good. And I always enjoyed covering Olympic sports, but
especially volleyball. You know, he was my friend, so I
got close to the sport then. And then you have
to fast forward years later from when I got there.

(01:02:30):
But in nineteen ninety three, while a sports writer for
The Advocate and still the LSU basketball Beat Rider and
back then, could you imagine if you and I sitting
at an SEC basketball game, said hey, thirty years from now,
we'll be on the radio talking about volleyball.

Speaker 7 (01:02:44):
You know.

Speaker 4 (01:02:44):
God, Oh, Paul Leeds. So yeah, because when I saw
you last year at Louisville, I remember us looking at
each other and going, this is way out of context,
you know, because I hadn't seen you in a long time.
So anyway, but in nineteen ninety three, the schedule change
when I got off vacation in August and they had
me doing prep features. I hadn't been in high school

(01:03:04):
in twelve years, and I was like, oh, Lee's but
they sent me to a place called the Episcopal School
the Kadiana over near Lafayette, in the middle of the
sugarcane fields, and this program was on its way to
winning its seventh state championship in a row. So I
went over there and I interviewed the coach, whose name
was Brenda Leablanc, a Cajun woman from Louisiana who played

(01:03:25):
at Tulane and was a great coach. And next August
thirtieth will be our thirtieth wedding anniversary.

Speaker 3 (01:03:32):
Oh no kidding, So you come down honestly.

Speaker 4 (01:03:38):
Yeah. So anyway, the fast forward on it is a
couple of things. In two thousand, after I had gotten
out of the newspaper business, I took over the local
volleyball club. It was called Volleyball baton Rouge, and so
I was freelancing doing a sports TV show back then
called Sports Monday, right, and that I owned, hosted and
produced and then so it gave me the flexibility. I

(01:04:00):
became a volleyball guy because I ran a volleyball club
Brenda coached, of course, and you know, we had that
for twenty years, and then to go even quick quickly
to the point, because you know, I could tell you
this story for the next however long and many hours.
But in twenty eleven I went to work for NCAA
dot com and I had a great time freelancing for

(01:04:22):
them and covering all sorts of championships, including both volleyballs,
men's and women's. Well, they fired all the writers and
the next year they were just going with sids and
concerned about the basketball Final four.

Speaker 1 (01:04:36):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:04:36):
Well, I miss writing about volleyball because it was it's
such a great culture. And I had met the editor
of Volleyball magazine and called called her and said, hey,
I'm a free agent. And it's kind of like in
Butcher Cassidy and the Sundance Kid when he goes, well
consider and I'm desperate. You're exactly what I need, so poof.
I was a volleyball writer. That led to us buying
the magazine a partner and I, and then last year,

(01:04:59):
after nine years with the magazine, I broke away from
it and started nine hundred square Feet, which I can
remind all the listeners. Go to nine hundred square feet
dot com sign up for the only all volleyball email.
It's free and.

Speaker 3 (01:05:10):
It's fun and yeah there you good.

Speaker 4 (01:05:15):
Yeah, well that's kind of you know, the and really
I'm leaving out a ton of interesting, weird details along
the way. But what I love about our sport is
that not only is the game itself fabulous and fun
to watch, but the culture of it is good. I
have a lot of really good friends and people who
we just all bond over the sport and the things

(01:05:35):
that go along with it. And occasionally there's a beer involvement.

Speaker 3 (01:05:39):
Well I can tell you this, and I started covering it.
Uh really an earnest local television here of the CBS
affiliated when we started televising the occasional Olympic sport event
and volleyball was one of them. And I jumped on that.
Everybody else said fine, I'll do women's basketballs and I'm
taking volleyball, and the rest is literally history. But it's

(01:06:02):
so great, And of course we're both terribly biased, but
this is one of those sports where the women's version
is in terms of fan friendliness in person and on television,
is better than the men's game because the men's game
is so wickedly fast. You don't see the rallies in
the men's game that you see in the women's game.

(01:06:22):
And people eat that up, don't they.

Speaker 4 (01:06:25):
Yeah, it's kind of like men's tennis women's tenness, right,
you have the men's tennis. So many times I will
say this, it's funny you touch on that, because men's
volleyball in person. If anybody ever have a chance to
go watch a high level men's volleyball match, a college match,
I'm telling you it's a fabulously great sport. Sure, it's
fast and powerful. You can't believe how many college volleyball

(01:06:46):
players there are in America to touch well over eleven feet.
You go, oh my gosh, this is unbelievable. You know,
they're different kind of athletes than basketball players, of course,
but the game is fabulous. The problem is nobody cares
at this is terrible. When it's televised, nobody watches. And
you know, I've written some of my better stories about
men's volleyball, and nobody, you know, we don't get the

(01:07:08):
page clicks. So I can't. I can't waste my time,
if you will. But it's it's a great sport. But
I'll tell you what this past NCAA tournament which was
so epic, but I'll take you back to that Sunday
before the National semi finals. And if the average person
was watching the one pm Eastern NFL game, right, and

(01:07:29):
then the four pm Eastern CBS game, maybe they're going
from Fox to CBS or fights versa, right, and they
switched over to ABC to take a look at that
Nebraska Texas A and M match which was in the
fourth set, which ended up going thirty seven to thirty
five in favor of Nebraska, you know, and we played
at twenty five, so think about thirty seven to thirty five,

(01:07:50):
and it was unbelievable. And I guarantee you the average
guy who watched that set did not go back to
the NFL right for the four o'clock They stayed for
the fifth set. That's right, and then the next week
for the Thursday National semi finals, and then the Sunday,
December twenty first or whatever it was final they watched

(01:08:10):
and that's why the ratings were so good, because the
timing of that was fantastic. And there are people out
there who would know volleyball from a hockey puff who
were now volleyball fans because of just that. Yeah, if
you watch it, it's good.

Speaker 3 (01:08:23):
Oh Man, Yeah, no question. A few minutes. Lef of
Lee Fine Swag, the editor of nine hundred Square Feet,
which is a free volleyball newsletter you can have delivered
directly to your mailbox. Let's talk about Kentucky. You talked
about watching that LSU program GROW. Craig Skinner twenty one
years ago was an assistant at Nebraska, turned down offers

(01:08:43):
from other programs, decided Lexington was the place for him.
As you've observed the sport grow. You watched the Kentucky program.
You covered the championship match during the COVID year. You
couldn't get close to the team, of course, but when
the Wildcats wanted to add in Omaha, when all the
matches were Omaha, and of course you were there in
Kansas city. But just give me your thoughts on the

(01:09:04):
way Skinner has grown the program at Kentucky and of
course the SEC.

Speaker 4 (01:09:10):
Well, the SEC itself is quite a story. It's become
real top heavy with great teams, and a part of
that's because they just made the investment. You know, talk
about you and me talking that we would talk about volleyball.
These years later at the national semi finals, went over
and talked to a guy I knew.

Speaker 9 (01:09:26):
Well.

Speaker 4 (01:09:26):
I was a new sports writer in Baton Rouge, and
he was an assistant athletic director in Northwestern State, now
the most powerful man in sports, SECD Commissioner Greg Sant,
And I said, could you imagine the two of us
here talking about volleyball. But he said, you know, hey,
I wanted to make a commitment to it. And credit
to the schools. They've made good hires. They've hired away

(01:09:47):
good coaches from other major programs. I mean, I could,
you know, give you plenty of examples of schools that
have done that. But in the case of Kentucky, which
has had great coaches, I mean you had you know,
Mary Wise, who went to Florida and Happy to Boor
who's legendary in our sport, fran Florie, the longtime LU coach,
all were Kentucky coaches. Well, what Craig has done, and
he comes from that Munciana you know, from Muncie, Indiana

(01:10:11):
and Montiana at the club where Dave Seandale the coach
at Purdue, and Kelly Sheffield to coach at Wisconsin. His
assistant John Shondale, Dave's brother. They all grew up together,
you know, they all Craig, Craig and Kelly Sheffield coach together.
You know that famous tha that went around this year.
So what Craig has done is taking it to a
different level, both in terms of not only recruiting, He's

(01:10:33):
adjusted well to how NCAA sports have changed, and he
can just flat out coach. I mean players who go
there and get better. You take a kid like Eva Hudson,
who was really good at her due and she was
a little nicked up and stuff too, but I mean
she had a she had she had a quantum leap
this year. I mean she went from being one of
the best players in college to maybe the best player

(01:10:54):
in college. And I have to give a lot of
credit to Craig for that. And he just has the
the most easy, laid back atmosphere, and he's a wonderful
person and he hires well, you know, he lost their
key assistant last year. Yeah, and uh you know yeah
and uh you know over the years he's losted huh.
You know, good coach as well. And you know, uh, well,

(01:11:16):
at Texas A and M, one of their coaches was
Lindsay Gray Walton, Jamie Marson's lead assistant, who was an
assistant coach for Craig and helped him build that whole
team going into the spring twenty one National championship. You know,
he did he he rolls with the punches, gets really
good players and then his kids ball. Man, they just
they just flat out you know, they ran out of

(01:11:38):
gas I think a little bit. Yeah against Texas A
and M, which was a buzzsaw. I mean, that was
that was just a team that just couldn't do better,
you know, I mean, gosh, you know they were just wonderful,
right and uh, I don't think Kentucky didn't lose the
Texas A and M. Texas A and M beat Kentucky.
Texas and M just was was good, you know. And

(01:12:00):
then the future it's just great there. I mean, look,
they've young players that he had. I mean, like the
center Cassie O'Brien was just a freshman, right, and Molly
Cuso the lobero who had you know, the SEC didn't
have a Lobero on its first All SEC team Elite.

Speaker 3 (01:12:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:12:18):
Yeah, that's that's all that you know. Yeah, Lizzy Carr
comes back and she finished so strong and uh, you
know the signing is, you know, no small thing picking
up Morgan Gierty from Kentucky, I mean from Notre Dame, right,
I mean, she's she's really good. She can she can
lay some lumber that kids left. You know who knows why?

Speaker 3 (01:12:41):
Well, Baltimore left and yeah yeah and Jordan dead, but
they had a lobjam in the middle in terms of
person of Lizzie Carr. Yeah, coming back, they've recruited middles.
I mean that's just the nature of sports.

Speaker 4 (01:12:52):
The other side of it is who you know, who knows?

Speaker 9 (01:12:54):
Who gets in their heads?

Speaker 4 (01:12:56):
Right, I mean those kids left Kentucky and uh, you know,
like what in the wide wide world of sports is
going on here? You know, and they just I don't
you know agents they are agents involved? Oh you know,
I mean these kids, you know, you know their agent
told so, and so you know, you see that in
his story and they're like, what you know? And so

(01:13:19):
it's you know.

Speaker 3 (01:13:20):
You know anymore, I see I see kids listed this
the hide Way whatever, and he's represented by like what.

Speaker 4 (01:13:28):
Yeah, well, but hey, Dick, can I tell you the
funniest sir?

Speaker 3 (01:13:33):
Okay?

Speaker 9 (01:13:34):
Sure.

Speaker 4 (01:13:34):
So the other day, all the coaches are you know,
former Kentucky coach John Calipari, did you see his interview
devoting the fact that Baylor signed basically a pro right,
And I'm like, oh gosh, you guys are just upset
because you didn't think of it first. So and in
volleyball last year, Nebraska last summer, Nebraska signed a fourth

(01:13:56):
year Italian pro. She's twenty three years old. Now the
joke is maybe she took you know, she took a
pay cut or got a pay raise to go to Nebraska.
But and she's good, and I don't begrudge the kid.
But I mean, you know, our coaches have been dealing
with foreign agents for a while. Yeah, and uh, Dick,
it's not our sport and not not not the sport

(01:14:16):
we all.

Speaker 9 (01:14:17):
Grew up with anymore.

Speaker 4 (01:14:18):
But like in the media, just like a coach, if
you don't roll it and try to embrace it, you know.
I mean, if you don't understand Instagram and TikTok, you
better have people who do. Yeah, I do, because I don't.

Speaker 3 (01:14:29):
Well, I just having having called these games on TV
for you. I remember a couple of coaches ago. Louisville
had a guy who recruited in Europe a lot, the
Slavic country. I couldn't pronounce half the names of the
kids on the Louisville roster, but they were talented kids
who could fly through the air and then and and
put down the ball. And you know, it was just
a different era and it's evolving before our eyes. But

(01:14:52):
Lee is like me, a shameless shill for the sport,
and why not. It's it's the greatest. It's so great
to watch it in person, watch it on TV, and
Lee fin Swag gets to write about it. For nine
hundred square feet nine hundred square feed dot com is
where you can sign up. It is free and if
you want to follow along with volleyball, we recommend that. Lee.
Thank you so much. It's been a quick time, but

(01:15:13):
we'll talk again soon, I hope.

Speaker 4 (01:15:15):
Anytime, Dick, anytime you want to talk anything old timey hoops.

Speaker 9 (01:15:19):
I'll do that, Dale Brown.

Speaker 4 (01:15:20):
Dale Brown Stories or Volleyball. Love to catch up. So
great to see you this year, and thanks for inviting
me for this.

Speaker 3 (01:15:28):
I want to ask you about your books because you
wrote a book about LSU basketball and about fathers and
sons in basketball called Hoop Daddy. I'm going to talk
about that. We'll holler at you soon, Okay, Okay, Thanks Dick,
and we'll come back with Heroes, Fools and Flakes in
just a minute. On six thirty WLAP Welcome back to
the Big Bluellinsider. Thanks again to my guests, Lee Fineswag

(01:15:49):
of nine hundred square feed dot com, Lindsey Goff from WKYT,
and Chris Fisher from the Rivals Networking catch Illustrated. Time
now for Heroes, fools, Flakes, and our hero tonight is
Shaquille O'Neill. And we have talked about him often because
he's funny on the air with Charles Barkley. But Shaquille

(01:16:10):
O'Neal does more good for people that you never hear about.
He creates jobs, he creates corporations, companies, hires people. He'll
stop on the side of the road and help somebody,
but what he did here it kind of hit close
to home. Shaquille O'Neill is a big fan of law enforcement.
In fact, I think in a parish in Louisiana, he's
a definite sheriff. But he stepped in to help save

(01:16:35):
the dream of a man named Jordan Wilmore. He's seven
point three and he did not pursue the NBA. He
wanted to be a police officer, and he failed his
state exam by a single point. He finished the academy,
took the test, failed by a point. Shaquille O'Neal heard

(01:16:55):
about the story and stepped in. So now Shaquille is
paying saying for Jordan's living expenses for the next five months.
He retaking the test obviously, and he's doing it so
the young man doesn't have to work a second job.
He can focus one hundred percent on the energy it
takes to study to get that one extra point. And

(01:17:19):
Shaq says, there's already a custom made police car waiting
for him at seven foot three. Our full tonight is
anybody who's on the committee involved with the NCAA and eligibility.
After everything that's been going on at the D one level,
they enforced an outdated rule at the D three level.

(01:17:39):
They went to an Augsburg track ethnice named Mohammad Batia,
ruled ineligible by the committee for accepting six thousand dollars
from the community above board to help him stay enrolled
in school. He's been working nearly full time hours overnight
at a hospital to pay his tuition. But then after

(01:18:02):
there was a movement to raise money for him, he
was ruled ineligible. This is after all this NIO transfer
portal stuff. He's threatening to ruin the sport lots of
sports and there are going to be sports that disappear
because of this, and they ruled his kid ineligible. That
is idiotic on so many levels. My flake tonight is

(01:18:22):
the governor of Louisiana, Jeff Landry, and you might remember
he stuck his nose into the coaching business at LSU
and he first fired his coach and said that the
athletics director would not be allowed to hire the next coach,
that he was going to be involved, and there was
a human cry, as there should have been, and then
he finally backed off. But he's sticking his nose again

(01:18:44):
in college sports. He's calling for guard rails and that's
not bad. He's not wrong about that. But when he
was running his mouth, he also talked about the need
for a radical change in the way college football sells
its media rights. He's calling for a unit five package
as opposed to current conference by conference rights negotiations. He

(01:19:06):
believes the schools should do it as one. And what
this dummy doesn't realize is, and no one's told him this.
That's the way it was up until the early eighties
when Oklahoma and Georgia sued because there was the NCAA
brought broadcast rights up forbid and they thought they could
make much more money on their own. Turned out they couldn't,
but it broke up the negotiations, and that's why conferences

(01:19:29):
have their rights. They sued for that. In one there's
case law on the books for this, and now he
wants to go backwards, which would cost the schools money.
He's a fool, if you ask me. That's it. Good
night from the garage in Lexington.

Speaker 6 (01:19:44):
He runs with the fifty, He runs of the forty.
The guy is drunk, but there he goes the twenty.
They're chasing them. They're not gonna get him. Waving his
arms bear tested somebody's stopping out.

Speaker 5 (01:20:00):
Then a sut such stating anything do anything, any such

(01:21:12):
changing to back them from tap. Then don't

Speaker 1 (01:21:47):
Do