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- [00:00]
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- [00:30]
Renee Vacca
Comedy Off Broadway in Lexington welcomes rising comedy star and social media Sensation Renee Vacca January 23rd through the 25th. Then catch urban comedy legend Arnaz J. January 30th through February 2nd. And welcome back Billy Gardell, the star of Mike and Molly and Bob Hart's Abishola, February 6th through the 8th. For tickets, call 859-271 joke or visit comedyoffbroadway.com Comedy Off Broadway this is Kentucky Sports Radio presented by Stockton Mortgage. Now here's Matt Jones.
- [01:06]
Matt Jones
Welcome everyone. Kentucky Sports Radio Monday, February 3rd. I'm Matt Jones here at the KS Bar and Grill. On it is Constitution Day in Mexico.
- [01:16]
Drew
How about that? So happy Constitution Day.
- [01:19]
Matt Jones
Happy Constitution. Constitution Day. Not as happy a day here. Clark's Puppet Shop phone line 859-280-2287 a Vision Auto Glass text machine, 772-774-5254. In this edition, sponsored by the TJ Smith Law Office. You call TJ. He'll make them pay. Look, there's one main story, obviously, and that is the loss to to Arkansas. Saturday was one of those days that it's hard to even like go into in terms of I was just talking to my bar manager. The biggest basketball day we've ever had. The second biggest day in the history of the bar. And if we had won, probably would have been the biggest. The amount of people in here was crazy. Rupp arena was full 45 minutes before the game. I've never seen it full that early in my entire time of going. The buzz before the intro was something that I it's hard to even articulate what the feeling was. It was excitement slash nervousness slash anger slash happiness slash. Oh, there's Tubby. I mean, like just a million things. And then of course the loss, which is, I think, a really, really tough one. I don't know, guys. I did the post game show, so let's just let I'LL go to each of you. What's the thing about Saturday, Saturday that stands out the most to you?
- [02:55]
Drew
You' Saturday is what Kentucky basketball is all about. Saturday kind of typifies our craziness we have for our program. And it was nuts all day long. But, man, I really. I don't believe what I saw Saturday night. I know we'll get into it, but it just played out like a daggone movie. You know, the villain.
- [03:15]
Matt Jones
We were the villain. Yeah, we lost.
- [03:18]
Drew
I know it. But, you know, and the Arkansas team that struggled offensively all year to score 60 points lights it up for 87. And the three dudes doing the lighting and lighting it up were. Had our uniform on last year. I mean, it was just after the game, I did something I've never done before. I went for a drive. Well, it shook me so much.
- [03:38]
Matt Jones
You went for a drive?
- [03:39]
Drew
I went for a drive. And I heard Mark, you had to like, get the.
- [03:42]
Matt Jones
You had to get the thoughts out.
- [03:44]
Drew
I guess so. And I heard Mark Pope on this postgame show and he sounded like somebody had shot his dog.
- [03:49]
Matt Jones
And.
- [03:50]
Drew
And I turned it off. I just. I could not listen to it anymore. I was so shook.
- [03:54]
Matt Jones
Wow. What about. What about you? That was. That's quite an emotional reaction. What about you?
- [03:58]
Caller
I didn't go for a drive. I didn't get to sleep either. But I will say I woke up Sunday, had a big old bowl of crow. After all my talking leading up to that game, I knew going into it, I knew DJ was going to have opportunities. And I thought if DJ has a game, we could be in trouble. But, you know, I even said on the show I thought Z would play pretty well. We knew a dude we didn't have a matchup for. But the back of my brain was like, a D.J. wagner game is how this goes wrong. And that's what it was. Plus everyone else, I mean, they were last in the SEC in 2 point and 3 point percentage. They were 290th in the country in 3 point percentage. And they shoot 52%. I mean, you got to just tip the cap in that moment. Getting booed, the pressure on them for them to go out and play like that, you got to throw your hands in the air and say, well, you know, Arkansas deserved.
- [04:43]
Matt Jones
No, they, they completely outplayed us, especially in the second half. I thought the first half was very well played by both teams. You know, the narrative that has developed online of all our booze motivated them and, you know, may o Karma. Yeah. I mean, the booze Motivated. Both teams score. Halftime was 46, 45. I mean, both teams were rolling in the first half. So I don't. Nothing that happened pregame had any effect on the game. Something happened at halftime. And for me, the irony of all ironies is John Caliperi won with halftime adjustments.
- [05:17]
Drew
Yeah, I know.
- [05:19]
Matt Jones
I mean, that. That. That is the thing that gets you. Their shot chart look like a shot chart from Mark Pope. And I've been looking at their shot charts. They've been the same as they were last year. It's just this time he was like, you know what? Maybe everybody had a point. Maybe I'll shoot threes and layups now. They had to make them, which is. That's the surprise. They make 13 out of what, 24, whatever threes. That. That is the surprise. That's why they won. Sure. At the end of the day, they won because of loose balls, and they hit those shots. It was really John L. Davis in the first half, D.J. wagner in the second half. And, you know, Wagner, I actually thought. Look shook in the first half, I thought, this. He doesn't like this. But then he came out in the second half and probably had his best half as a basketball player in college, and we lose.
- [06:07]
Drew
You're right. First half, he couldn't hit anything. I mean, his shots were off.
- [06:10]
Matt Jones
He was nervous to me in the first half, I thought. I actually thought the opposite of what the. I thought the booze had gotten to him in the second half, whatever happened, he came in and play.
- [06:19]
Drew
He became an All American in the second half. Dude hit absolutely everything. 17 points, all 17 of these points in the second half. Could not miss Big Z. Every time he spotted up, I thought to myself, oh, no. And boom.
- [06:31]
Matt Jones
The big C3. I think he hit the most important shot of the game. Yeah, I mean, we. We went from down 11 to down 6. Crowd is into it. We play 25 seconds. A really good defense on the shot clock. And then Ansley Almanor is one rotation short, which gives Z an open look, and he makes it. And then immediately we try to force a bounce pass that gets stolen. I think it was Kobe Braya.
- [06:56]
Drew
It was Kobe.
- [06:57]
Matt Jones
And then they get a layup, and the lead is right back to 11 again. And I. I thought at that point, that's when it was over.
- [07:04]
Caller
Definitely. Even though there were several minutes left, that that was the dagger, because as Kentucky was getting that momentum, Rupp arena woke back up. You start thinking, all right, the math's gonna. Math here in Arkansas is gonna go cold. They've been Too hot. And then Big Z throws in another one. And on the Wagner point, he went over five in the first half, seven for eight in the second. I mean, what a turnaround at halftime I was. That's, that was my talking point with my friends there where I. DJ's over five. He's gone cold. These other guys have to come down. Nope, went the other way and DJ turned it on.
- [07:30]
Matt Jones
And the other guys did come down. And then he came out and had.
- [07:34]
Drew
The three Kentucky dudes ended up with what, 52 points?
- [07:37]
Matt Jones
Three Kentucky guys had 52 points. In their entire time at Kentucky. They never combined for more than 34. And I don't think they've combined for 52 this year in a game. And so, I mean, they, you know, you got to shake their hand. The, you know, the Caliperi thing. There's an argument that, like, if he had made some of these changes, he might still be the coach here. I mean, if they, if they played like that regularly now, they haven't played like that all year. And so this could end up being like a one off. Like, he got one moment right. But it doesn't make it any easier for the, our fan base who, you know, I do want to say to our fan base, like, stop blaming each other. Okay? They hired our coach, which we were happy about. But then they, everybody was talking trash all summer. One fan base was going to have to lose, we lost. And that's what happens. And you know what? I still think long term, we're in a lot better situation than they are. But for one night, they got us. And all you can do is shake their hand and go, they got us.
- [08:47]
Drew
How many times did you say last week, this is the type of game that California wins a year? Once a year.
- [08:52]
Matt Jones
He does it once a year. And he did it to us.
- [08:55]
Drew
Yep.
- [08:55]
Matt Jones
And he usually does it in the game, oddly, that the fans really, really want for whatever reason. And he, and he did it. And you know, I thought, and look, you don't have to. I mean, I, you know, I'll be critical if I need to be of him. I thought he handled the night about as well as, as you could. I thought his, his, you know, he comes out and he gets booed, the booze, you know, if you weren't there, you have to understand there were a lot of people clapping and booing. It's just the people that clapping were like. And the people that booing were like. And so, like, the boos are going to be louder. Right. I don't know who was doing. I actually think there was a lot more clapping than people at home think there was. But there was booing and it was loud and there were. The 9 o'clock thing was a big part of that, Drew. There were a lot of people who. That's what they wanted to do. And, you know, it's funny to me, shows you how fickle younger people are. The students were like Cal's biggest advocates last year. And they were the loudest booers. No, I mean, no, I'm not kidding. Like, they were the people ready to do it the most. It's just funny how when you're young, you're just like, whatever, you know, I mean, I think that's what they were doing.
- [10:04]
Caller
Yeah. And booze are naturally louder. Deep voice and all that. But I was actually surprised that the player booing was as loud as it was. Me too. I knew they would get booed by a few people. I thought we'd hear it. But that was the most shocking part.
- [10:15]
Matt Jones
Of the pregame to do in Big C. Got booed, period. I, I, I, I don't like the player boot part. I just, I'm not. But I, but again, I get it. I was, I was really surprised when a dude. Because I think a do went first. No, Z went first. And I thought, he'll get applause. And then he didn't.
- [10:39]
Drew
Right.
- [10:40]
Matt Jones
And he got booed. And then it was a little louder on A dues. And then it was really loud on dj.
- [10:44]
Drew
You're right.
- [10:45]
Matt Jones
And then it was really loud on Cows. And it was like. But people just had to get that out, I think.
- [10:52]
Drew
And then, you know, every time they touched the ball, they were booing them. I mean, that did kind of surprise me a little bit, that reaction they got from the rough crowd, like during the game. Every time they touched it.
- [11:00]
Matt Jones
Yeah. And you know, did it motivate him? Well, sure it did. Yeah, sure it did. I mean, of course. But you know what? That can also go both ways. You can be scared to death if. And they. And they, to their credit, weren't. I. But for me, we lost because of basketball. Because again, in the first half, both teams were lighting it up.
- [11:18]
Drew
Sure.
- [11:19]
Matt Jones
Like, we got up 18 to 12, and if we get a couple stops there, who knows what happens? Which gets to my biggest complaint about the game. You know, I'm a numbers guy. I'm an analytics guy. I'll take analytics over regular life. But it feels like to me, when we're rolling, we got to be careful putting in that second unit in mass. We're still doing like hockey line changes, and I don't think we're good enough with these injuries to be bringing in. Hey, we're up 1812. Okay. Garrison, Chandler, Perry. Right now, I just don't think we can do that. Right. I think. And that's when they. We went from 1812 to down 2118 in like 30 seconds.
- [12:01]
Drew
I agree with you. I think there's some player, some rotations that just didn't seem to make sense at times. The big one you mentioned in the first half when we were struggling coming out of halftime, you know, and I don't want to knock on any of the kids, but he played some kids that maybe were having a hard time and maybe they shouldn't have been playing them. Trent Noah didn't play one second.
- [12:19]
Matt Jones
Yeah, I mean, if you're going to go to the bench, why not? He's had some success in the last few games. But, you know, go look at Arkansas's minutes, drew. Their top three guys played like 38, 37 and 39 minutes. I'm kind of looking at Robinson away and Williams and saying, Guys, 39 minutes. Good luck. I mean, they did it, you know, I mean, I think we almost have to do that. I. I get this idea. Keep playing, guys, but we just got some gu that when the other team's really athletic, they just can't be out there.
- [12:54]
Caller
Yeah. And Pope's done this forever. If you go back and look at his teams, no one plays a whole lot of minutes. It's shared like that. And I don't know why that's in his system. But Saturday was a game where Amari Williams need to play about every minute his legs could take because when they would go to him inside, the weight difference he had on Big Z, he was doing every everything he wanted. He rebounded well. I think he led the team in assists. He was great, but he only played like 25 minutes.
- [13:17]
Matt Jones
I mean, you got to give him a little foul trouble.
- [13:19]
Caller
There was a little bit there, but yeah, he was so good. And I just feel like Pope needs to leave the best players on the floor more than he has.
- [13:24]
Matt Jones
Leave them in. I mean, last year our complaints were bring the best players in. Now we're like, leave them in. You know, I don't know. Maybe. Look, I get it. Playing a lot of bench players. Okay. Remember what our bench was to start the year? Yeah, our bench was to start the year. Brea Kerr. Right. You know who else?
- [13:46]
Caller
Then it was Almanor.
- [13:46]
Matt Jones
And then Almanor. All right, That's a different 5, 6, 7, 8. Then Garrison, Chandler, Perry. Right. So, I mean, when Almanor goes from 8th man to a starter, I mean, man, he's like, you just got to play these guys. Because our drop off is pretty big right now to the next group.
- [14:08]
Drew
I mean, we're over 20 games into the season. It's not like it's a conditioning thing. You know, these guys are ready. They could go 35 plus minutes that they needed to, and I think they should. He should just roll with these main guys on Saturday.
- [14:18]
Matt Jones
Yeah, I think that was a mistake. But, you know, I mean, we eat crow on it. Does it end the season? No. Does it change, to me the overall trajectory of the programs? No. But for one night, it stinks. I mean, it really stinks. Like, you can't act like. My mom called me yesterday, and she was treating me like we'd had a death in the family. She really was. Shannon. She was like, are you okay? And I was like, yeah, I'm just in Louisville, you know? And she said, I mean, it's okay if you're not okay.
- [14:51]
Renee Vacca
She was doing a welfare check on you. Yeah.
- [14:53]
Matt Jones
I was like, I mean, I'm down. I mean, I wanted to win, but, like, I'll be all right. And she was like, I mean, you can talk to me about it if you need to.
- [15:02]
Renee Vacca
Like, you just had a breakup.
- [15:04]
Matt Jones
Yeah, but I mean, like, I was down, but I think she was worried, like, are you really down? I'm not. I'm not. I am honestly upset for two reasons. One, I wanted to get this one for Pope.
- [15:22]
Drew
Yes.
- [15:22]
Matt Jones
And for the fan base. And two, we just lost to a bad team at home, and that's not good. These are the games you got to win.
- [15:29]
Caller
That's first quad two loss.
- [15:31]
Matt Jones
But I also know we can go to Ole Miss tomorrow night and win.
- [15:34]
Drew
Yeah. You can't let Cal beat you twice now. You can't. You know Ole Miss will be the favorite. Yeah.
- [15:40]
Matt Jones
But you know what? We could still win that.
- [15:42]
Drew
That's the games, Pope.
- [15:43]
Matt Jones
We're using our best, so it's amazing. Eight, five, nine. We are six and one against the top 15. And we are one and five against Power Six teams outside of the top.
- [15:54]
Renee Vacca
It's just a really good thing they beat Tennessee, because if not, you'd be on a, what, four game losing that.
- [15:59]
Matt Jones
Yes, but that's what we're doing all year, is we're winning these games and then we play and we're like, well, we got South Carolina home next Saturday. Well, I'm not making A prediction, you know, who knows it's you, this group. You just, you don't know. We'll take a break. Be right back. KSR, welcome back. There were 400 hogs and they were just standing out there. It's just they ended up getting the victory. 859-280-2287 one person writes. Matt, why did Colin Chandler have 14 minutes in the second half? I don't get that. Well, I didn't realize he had 14 minutes. That's a lot. I mean, the reason he got 14 minutes is he guarded John L. Davis in the second half and John L. Didn't score much in the second half. So I think Pope like that. The problem is, while I'm amazed at how well he, he fights on defense, he looks terrified on offense. And so he takes a shooter off the floor at a perimeter space for you, which is something I don't think you can have in Pope's offense. I think in Pope's offense you better have four guys who can shoot. And he didn't look like he wanted to shoot and Brea couldn't make a shot. And then they were basically making it. I mean they, they had the belief. And by the way, this is exactly what. Who was it that did to this, did this to us? Vandy, they were like, jackson Robinson is not going to beat us. That was what they. I mean, in the second half, they do not leave his side. Jackson Robinson is not going to beat us away. Brea, if you do it, you do it. He ain't doing it. And then away and Brea just weren't able to do it. And Robinson, I mean he got a couple shots off and they went in, he played, he went 6 for 9.
- [17:45]
Drew
He's got to shoot more than nine times.
- [17:46]
Matt Jones
But I think they were like, he is not beating us and we'll live with the other guys.
- [17:51]
Caller
Bray hit the early three in that run when they got it to 18 to 12. And what he go over five after that? Completely disappeared on Chandler. I thought he played really good defense. But 17 minutes in the game needed to probably be like 10. Like you're saying offensively there was a key possession late in the game where he had a little floater, missed it. I think he missed a free throw. He just doesn't look ready on that end of the floor. But he got some deflections and played on ball defense on Davis pretty well. But still way too many minutes for him.
- [18:17]
Matt Jones
And there's a huge drop off, if we're honest, at least has been in sec Play between Amari and Garrison. You know, you've heard my frustrations about Amari, but the reality is, especially defensively, it's just a huge drop off. I mean, Amari played. Think about this. We lost by 10. So the average. Your average time as a player, if you were doing plus minus would be minus 10, because that was what the final score was. So you have to remember, it's not even zero, it's minus 10. Amari was plus 14. Or excuse me, am I right about no plus 2. Mari was plus 2. Will Garrison was minus 14. That means you were winning when Williams played and you still ended up losing by 10. That means Amari was a. If you look at the other guys, they're all kind of. It's nothing really sticks out, but Garrison sticks out.
- [19:11]
Caller
And I mean, the big Z was the real dagger, but another, like, half dagger was Brandon Garrison missed a three and then D.J. made a three. And I think Knox got a steal and a dunk or something. But the Garrison three, they're only down six. Maybe that was a big miss for him.
- [19:25]
Matt Jones
Yeah, I mean, he's made a couple this year, but I. So I get it.
- [19:29]
Drew
But the offense late in the second in the game just came. Dump it down to Mari, let him beat Z1 on one down in the post. That was kind of our offense there for a moment.
- [19:38]
Matt Jones
I want you to think about the irony there. Their offense that was spread out, shoot threes, and we were dumping it into the post, like throwing it into Oscar against Kansas State. I mean, like, we literally. We almost flipped Styles with them in the second half. We let them play our style, and we were playing the style with Gal that we didn't want to play anymore, which is dump the ball and then, you know. And threes more than two.
- [20:05]
Caller
They didn't want to let Big Z shoot last year, and even this year, he wasn't shooting that much. That's the most threes he's taken all season.
- [20:12]
Matt Jones
I mean, they just let Big Zigo. I mean, if you're Cal, like, if your cow. Is there a better night you could have had? I mean, you come out, you get booed. You don't like that. But then there's a. There's some. Here's my. Here's how I take Cal walking out. He knew he was gonna get booed, and there's a part that hurt him, but he's also got a little juice where he's like, all right, well, I guess this is how it is. And then when it's over and he Wins like, this side of him that really hasn't been hit back since he was like, you know, blank Rick Pattino, Jim Calhoun, like, when he was doing that. I'm sure he felt that way in the. In the locker room after. And I mean, I can't. Are you gonna watch the Vice documentary? I'm not gonna be able to watch.
- [21:06]
Drew
No, no, no. It went to where we thought was gonna be a nightmare for him, to Celebration. I can't watch that.
- [21:12]
Matt Jones
Yeah, and it's gonna. There'll be some scenes of him going, you know. But I'll also say this, though, about our fans. It's. I see a lot of people online sort of yelling like. Like the fans. You can think the fans were wrong to do whatever they do. That's just your personal opinion. But it did not affect the game. Remember, we got up 18 to 12, right. We were the ones that came out on fire. We lost because they were better in the second half than we were. They made adjustments. We didn't. That's why we lost. We didn't lose because karma get you if you're not classy. First of all, a lot of the people talking about being classy, you ought to see the mentions you've written me before in. In the past. But secondly, we lost because oddly, they out schemed and out hustled.
- [22:09]
Drew
They did.
- [22:10]
Matt Jones
And that's like, we actually should give them respect. Respect and credit for saying they went and won the game and we just did.
- [22:18]
Drew
You know, Caliperi also, he, you know, after the game, he said the right things. He's posting said the right things. But, you know, secretly, it was just. He was jumping up and down, pumping his fist, so happy that he got that win.
- [22:29]
Matt Jones
And if you. If it were me, I'd be the same way. Yeah, of course. Of course he would.
- [22:35]
Caller
In the locker room, that clip comes out and he's given a speech and he says, I'm happy for my three guys. And then he pauses and he goes, and me. And he jumps right on top of him. I just kind of had a little grin, like, cal, I can't believe you did this to us.
- [22:46]
Matt Jones
Yeah. Let me ask you a question. Do you think this win makes it better or worse the next time? I kind of thought if we won, the next time he comes, it won't be a thing. It's still going to be a thing.
- [23:00]
Drew
Yes, it is.
- [23:01]
Matt Jones
It's still going to be a thing. Which I don't think it. If he wins or if we win, then I think it's like all Right. We won the divorce. We wish you luck.
- [23:11]
Caller
We got it out of our system in the sec.
- [23:14]
Matt Jones
There's a ton of fans. I had a ton of my friends going. We, we got to play him in the SEC tournament. Like we gotta beat him in the SEC area.
- [23:21]
Renee Vacca
He doesn't care about the SEC tournament.
- [23:22]
Matt Jones
That's true. He doesn't care about the SEC tournament. But that might end this season depending on what finishes. We'll take a break. Be right back. KSR T.J. smith, personal injury attorney. Call T.J. he'll make him pay.
- [23:33]
Renee Vacca
Now more of Kentucky Sports Radio presented Stockton Mortgage. Here's Matt Jones.
- [23:39]
Matt Jones
Welcome back. Ksr. All right, two quick things and then I want to get to phones. Let's start with some some, you know, can't all be gloom and do. Let's talk about some of the sights and sounds of of Saturday. First of all, ksbar, we ran out of beer. As a matter of fact, right now we there is not one bottle of beer in this. Shannon. I'm serious. We ran dry that there's no beer here left. We've got some taps I think that have them, but we're out of a lot of those, too. Yesterday, if you came here, it was like, you're going to be on Healthy Sunday because we sober Sunday. Yes, we was a sober Sunday. I think we get another shipment in here early this afternoon. But there was no beer. Secondly, the moment that Cal came out and then when he and Pope shook hands, I intentionally took the view up there were some people here that were Cal people that I hadn't seen in a long time that I was friends with. And it was nice to see some of those people because a lot of them, you know, they just left and then just were like out of your life. Right. Darby Shire's dad, for example, is somebody that I've always been really close to and it was nice to get to see him. I haven't seen him since they left and it was good to catch up with him and talk and you know, there were other people. But then I also was respectful enough like I'm not going to go get in the assistance faces. Right. You want to be up in the mix. There's no reason for me not. I'm sure they would have been fine. But like there's no reason me. So when Carl, when Cal walks in, Shannon, I'm in the first row of the crowd. Right. Like, I want to watch it, but I want to be before. But I look at the media swarm in the center of it.
- [25:16]
Drew
Yeah.
- [25:17]
Matt Jones
And what I see is Cal searching for Pope. Pope. And it is Cal Pope and Mario.
- [25:26]
Drew
Right in the middle. Right there in the middle.
- [25:28]
Matt Jones
I mean, Mario, when Cal walked out, Mario was not only. I don't know if this showed on at home or not, but Mario was not only in the camera group. His camera was, like, in Cal's face. I mean, even I even, like, you know, I always tell you to back up.
- [25:47]
Renee Vacca
Mario was up his nose.
- [25:49]
Matt Jones
Mario was up his nose. And I was like, I wanted to scream, Mario, him back up. Because he is, like, right up on him. And there is somewhere someone took a picture. If you watch on tv, I look later, the camera's on one side of the court, but someone in the crowd on the other side has to have a picture where the backdrop or is the media. And I guarantee you that picture. Yes.
- [26:13]
Caller
I haven't seen my phone already.
- [26:15]
Matt Jones
Cow Pope. Where? Yeah, there. Well, now Mario got pushed back right here, but still, he's still in it. Cal Pope and Mario, my man got up in them.
- [26:25]
Caller
There's.
- [26:25]
Drew
There's one point where cow's walking out, and he turns around, it looks like, almost runs into Mario. Like, you know, he turned around and boom, right there's Mario.
- [26:33]
Matt Jones
Run into him. Yeah, in his way. Secondly, you know, it was like there were people at this game that I haven't seen at games in a long time. Although, I mean, I haven't been to games in a long time. But at the same time, like, there were some. Everybody who's kind of anybody in the Lexington celebrity. This would have been your place to be, Ryan, because all your little, you know, your little private men's club people were there, right? I mean, the. The outfit. Shannon, like, everybody put on their best bedazzled sweater, right? Like, it was. The outfits were amazing. Like, it was a who's who of who thinks they're who everywhere. And it made me laugh, Drew. It was hilarious.
- [27:21]
Caller
If we're going to talk about outfits, the Tyson guys went full Tyson chicken mascot gear. Did you see them?
- [27:26]
Matt Jones
They were.
- [27:27]
Caller
They had Tys letterman jackets, Tyson hats, red pants. They went full costume.
- [27:31]
Matt Jones
The Tyson people are right there. Right.
- [27:34]
Caller
I saw him eating Chick Fil A, by the way. I don't know. Is that Tyson branded chicken?
- [27:38]
Matt Jones
I'm not. That's a good question. It was just. It was quite. It was just quite a scene. I mean, front row, you got Joe and Kelly Craft next to Jamie Comer, who's. Who just was walking by going, joe Biden. Joe Biden, like, screaming at people. You know, he had to get that out. Like it was. The whole thing was, was amazing.
- [27:55]
Drew
The cameras caught Cal and Joe Craft and Kelly Craft shaking hands and hugging and making nice. Nice.
- [28:00]
Matt Jones
That was the only person he thought, like it was the only people he said hello to. He went, hey Joe, Hey Kelly. And just walked right on by and was like, so you mentioned Tubby.
- [28:08]
Drew
I saw Randall Cobb was there.
- [28:10]
Matt Jones
Tubby for a second. Tubby walks in and everybody's eyes are on when his cow coming out. Tubby was walking in like, I don't know that people even realized he was there.
- [28:22]
Drew
Really.
- [28:23]
Matt Jones
He was just walking by and people were like, he would walk by a person, they'd be looking over here and then their next door neighbor would go, I think that was Tubby that just walked by. Like that's how much the attention was. Second thing I do want to give a shout out to women's team. I sat in Louisville at a restaurant, made them figure out where the SEC network was to turn on the second half. When I turned it on, we're up one like, I don't know, 46, 45 or whatever. They go on a 160 run the moment we turn the TV on. Georgia Amore. I'm going to say she's my favorite player in basketball right now, period. Include the men's whatever. I'm not missing another of their games. She is amazing. She is all over the place. She had 43 points. Okay, she tied the school record. But it's not just that she's so fun. She talks. I don't know that she talks trash, but it sure looks like that she talks trash and she runs around and the passes and the shots and she will shoot. You talk about no conscience. But she still went like 15 to 22. Like she didn't miss much. I was sitting there at this bar in Louisville just hooting and hollering and I'm the only person in the place watching. I'm not missing them again. They only have like eight games left. I've watched most of their games this year. I'm not missing another one. She is going to go along, go down with Valerie Steele and Ryan Howard as the best player to ever play here. And people I know she gets some attention, but she needs to get more attention. She's unbelievable.
- [29:56]
Caller
That was the best medicine yesterday. After Saturday I was in a funk like everyone else Sunday morning. But then she goes and does that. Not just in any game. That was the 13th ranked team in the country. On the road at Oklahoma, she also had eight assists. It's not, yeah, school Record in points and then eight assists. And with efficient seven threes, I think seven.
- [30:15]
Matt Jones
I mean, she gets the ball right, and she's just like. Like, she's just like everywhere. And she's so low to the ground that these. These. These young women, like, they don't even know how to stay next to her. And then as soon as you think she's about to pass, bam. Three in your eye. Just in your eye. And then she runs down the court with this grin. And I know the grin. It's Max's grin. It's that Australia sarcastic grin. I've seen it a million times. And she does it. I. I could watch. I could watch the women's team play. They are so much fun. And they play, like three or four ranked teams in the next four or five games. I mean, I'm definitely going the next time they're here.
- [30:56]
Drew
She's the best player on campus right now. There's no doubt about it. 43 points, eight assists. They're 19 and two, like I said, just knocked off a top 15 team on their.
- [31:04]
Matt Jones
On their floor.
- [31:05]
Drew
She's the smallest player on the floor. She's always the best player on the floor. I love that about.
- [31:09]
Matt Jones
I really do like the most. When's their next game?
- [31:12]
Caller
They have a week off. They're at Ole Miss next Monday. Then they're at home for Texas. Georgia got Tennessee and Ellis.
- [31:18]
Matt Jones
They're going. They're home against Texas on the 13th.
- [31:21]
Caller
Yep. Day before Valley. Let's all go.
- [31:23]
Matt Jones
Yeah. Yeah. Okay. You want to go? Mario, you back up if you go? Who's next?
- [31:28]
Renee Vacca
Chad.
- [31:29]
Matt Jones
Chad. Go ahead, Chad.
- [31:32]
F
Hey, good morning, Matt.
- [31:34]
Matt Jones
Good morning.
- [31:36]
F
First off, I want to say I'm thankful for Pope. I wouldn't trade Pope for 10 caliparis. Now that I've got that out of the way, I don't think D.J. wagner scores near 17 points of Butler is healthy. I think that was. We just struggled defensively because of him not being there. And I know you touched on it earlier about Chandler. The guy played 17 minutes in the game. He did a great job in the first half shutting down Janelle Davis, but he has. He's no offensive threat whatsoever.
- [32:09]
Matt Jones
You're right about that. That's. That's probably too many to be fair to Arkansas. I think you're exactly right. I think we probably win that game with Butler, but then they could reasonably go, we lost Boogie Flan.
- [32:20]
Drew
Yeah, right.
- [32:21]
Matt Jones
Like they can reasonably say the same thing, you know?
- [32:25]
F
Yeah, I agree with that. But I watch Trent Noah play basketball in high school. And, you know, Hope is talking about, hey, you know, we're having trouble fitting him in the lineup because we're so heavy at that position. But I'll tell you something, that kid is an absolute baller. He can rebound, play defense, and he's great.
- [32:43]
Matt Jones
But there's. There is a big difference, to be fair, between playing in the 13th region and playing. You know, he's had. Don't get me wrong, Mountain Mamba's had good minutes, and I. And he'll have more. I appreciate. I appreciate the call. And he maybe should play instead of. Instead of Chandler. But also his weakness is Garden guys one on one, and that was everyone's weakness on set.
- [33:07]
Drew
The reason I was hoping he'd get in there, you know, Arkansas was playing just more physical than we were, and they were getting all the loose balls.
- [33:13]
Matt Jones
He's been good at that.
- [33:14]
Drew
That's what Trent has been good at. Yes. I thought that might help spark Kentucky if you give him a couple minutes.
- [33:19]
Matt Jones
Definitely think they should have given him a shot. I didn't understand, like, not at all, you know, playing it.
- [33:27]
Caller
Yeah, he doesn't change the outcome, but he earned it the way he played at Tennessee. Played 12 minutes. He had that fearless three pointer from the logo. To go from that to not even get a glance in this game, I thought he at least deserved a chance.
- [33:38]
Matt Jones
Yeah, I did, too. 859-2-8, 0, 2, 2 8, 7. Let's see. We'll take a break. We'll be right back. This scale are. Welcome back. Tuckee Sports Radio. Those of you ask me about the Reed shepherd thing, I'm gonna talk about it second hour. Just. I'm gonna get. I want to give it just a little room to breathe. 7 7, 2, 7, 7, 4, 5, 2, 5, 4. Ryan, by the way, people are sending me pictures of Mario. He was not just that. He was involved in everything. Like, he was in every single picture of everything. He is. Look at him. He was just. He's like a paparazzi. Yeah.
- [34:14]
Drew
I was at home watching, and he was in a lot of the ESPN shots, you know, as the reporters and the photographers trying to catch Cal and they come out. I'm glad the Duke North Carolina game got over early. It was a route so we could enjoy all that, you know?
- [34:25]
Matt Jones
Yeah, the. It was weird with the intro. I went home. I walked home after Cal came out, then I went there, and I rewound to watch because I want to watch the intro.
- [34:36]
Drew
Yeah.
- [34:37]
Matt Jones
No, they opened the broadcast with my voice.
- [34:40]
Drew
I didn't even catch that.
- [34:41]
Matt Jones
Yes, they opened the broadcast with me going, kentucky basketball. Nobody cares about winning more than Kentucky Basketball. And then it was like J. Billis. And then it was like, Jay Williams. And then later in the game, when they were talking about the people, about how when he left, the fans were ready for him to go, they put up these articles. First article, the only blog I've written in two years was the one that said the Caliperi era ends in a whimper. And there it is. Then comes Tyler Thompson's neck. It's like, well, thanks for reading and listening, espn.
- [35:13]
Drew
What about the people that were tweeting you, saying, you, you. You're the guy that told everybody to boo Yesterday Saturday, I saw a couple of those tweets coming at you.
- [35:21]
Matt Jones
People are idiots. Like, if you don't. You didn't listen to the show. Anyone who. Anyone who's listening right now knows that. I did not tell anyone, never said it ever. And I said I wasn't gonna boo. But it's a perfect example of how it doesn't even matter what you say. People will hear what they want to hear. You know, this was that dude on the. Whatever. Pope's cats. What? First of all, what a name. Jim Arthur M. Allenday.
- [35:48]
Drew
It's quite a name. Quite a mouthful.
- [35:50]
Matt Jones
I mean, that sounds like a. Like a regal person.
- [35:53]
Caller
Yeah.
- [35:54]
Matt Jones
Kim Arthur M. Underly, I guess.
- [35:59]
Renee Vacca
Former lacrosse player at Duke.
- [36:01]
Matt Jones
Yes, exactly. I guess he runs that. That. That. That's that board I was telling you about, that Pope's cats that for some reason seems not really favorable to Pope or the cats. Like, they're all cow people, and I guess they hate us. And he just wrote, what about KSR people? And especially Matt Jones, who encouraged the fan base to boo loudly at Coach Cal.
- [36:22]
Renee Vacca
None of us ever said any of that.
- [36:24]
Matt Jones
That never happened.
- [36:25]
Drew
Never happened.
- [36:26]
Matt Jones
Never happened. But then, of course, I mistakenly look at the comments, and it's all, I'm sure, nice people going, well, why'd you do that? That was rude. And I'm like, I mean, I didn't.
- [36:42]
Caller
You said all week, fans should do what they want to do. You said, it's okay if they do. It's okay if they cheer.
- [36:46]
Matt Jones
Yeah, because I'm not their dad, all right? I'm not. There's a lot of people that seem to want to be the Kentucky fan bases father and mother and tell them what to do. They can do whatever they want. They're grown people. And John Calipari can handle it. I'm not saying it made him build. Probably didn't. But you know what?
- [37:08]
Drew
He proved he could handle it.
- [37:10]
Matt Jones
It didn't make us thrilled when he said, ah, we lost to Tennessee by 22 in the SEC tournament, but I get to go see my dogs. Yeah, I wasn't thrilled by that comment. So people can express whatever emotions they want. And there were a lot of people clapping. A lot of people clapping. And good for them. Like, they can do that.
- [37:25]
Drew
That. That didn't come through on the TV broadcast.
- [37:27]
Matt Jones
All we hear because again, let's. Let's practice something. I'm gonna clap.
- [37:32]
Drew
Okay.
- [37:33]
Matt Jones
You move the mic back and you boo. You don't take it off, but just put it close to you.
- [37:36]
Drew
Okay?
- [37:37]
Matt Jones
All right. Ready? Boo. Anybody hear that? Clap. Let's try again. We give that same reaction. We're gonna get way two different sounds. And that's kind of what happened.
- [37:54]
Caller
What did you think of Cal's little people's eyebrow that they captured as he was walking through the tunnel? He was smiling, but he kind of raised his eyebrows.
- [38:00]
Matt Jones
I thought that was probably a good play at the Joby hall program. That was a nice touch, I will say. All right, I'm all for Mark Pope's niceness. He inspires me to be nice. Right. Yeah, I'm all for that. Like, you know, the Mormons smiles that we saw at byu. Everybody's friendly and happy. And I'm for. But all right, Mark, sometimes I need you to be like, nasty. Yes. Brr. Doesn't always. Like, you don't smile. Like, this is one of those brrrs. Just once or twice.
- [38:35]
Drew
Like I said, his postgame radio show with Tom Leach, he couldn't sad. He couldn't even talk. He would start talking, he would pause. Well, I mean pause. Those guys are pause. I mean, he couldn't even get the words out, he was so upset.
- [38:50]
Caller
Yeah, it's clear he's messed up with this roster. He doesn't know what to do right now without Butler.
- [38:55]
Matt Jones
Okay, so what do we think about Cars back Butler?
- [38:58]
Drew
I bet he's not playing tomorrow night.
- [39:01]
Matt Jones
I mean, he said we're trying to create a new team. He did. It may. If you only heard 97% of his comments, you'd think this kid wasn't playing. Yeah, but then he did say, we'll give it a go with him one more time. Sounds to me like he's got something in his shoulder that probably needs to be fixed. And both he and Butler are trying to say he could probably play with it, but it's probably not best for this is just my read hurt. Probably going to have to have surgery at some point, but could play in pain, but won't be 100%. And he and Butler are both trying to decide, do we do it? That's how I read it. Is that how you read it?
- [39:39]
Caller
Yeah. They're trying to figure out the right equation there of how much to play him without hurt him long term in the postseason. It's a little comforting. As we've seen on social media. His dad and mom have shared things that, that, that seem like it. They say he'll be back eventually. And then Butler was in that Brandon Garrison live a week ago saying he'll be back, but I still don't feel like we'll see it soon.
- [39:58]
Matt Jones
8, 80% Butler is better than what we have.
- [40:01]
Drew
Yeah.
- [40:02]
Matt Jones
So we need him.
- [40:03]
Drew
And he's a super tough kid. I mean, he doesn't want to go out like this. It's his last year playing collegiate basketball. He's in Kentucky. He's going to give it a go at some point.
- [40:10]
Matt Jones
Who's next?
- [40:10]
Renee Vacca
Tyler.
- [40:11]
Matt Jones
Tyler. Go ahead, Tyler.
- [40:14]
F
Hey, Matt. So Cal Perry ain't as good as he once was. He's as good once as he. As he ever was.
- [40:24]
Matt Jones
That's a really good point. I mean, he, he, he can't. He can only meet the sisters once every two years, but. Once every two years. Yep, yep.
- [40:34]
F
And, and, but even Cal Perry said this was one game. And, you know, I expect this Pope team to get back up, dust itself off, and get back to work. And, you know, the best way to avenge this lies in Nashville.
- [40:51]
Matt Jones
I agree. And also I appreciate the call. I think part of the best way to avenge it is don't think about it anymore. They still got a ton of work to do to just get in the tournament and we, you know, this team's won a lot of really good games. The sort of postscript for this team is going to be written by what we do in March, both in SEC and the NCAA tournament.
- [41:12]
Caller
Yeah, I saw a wild reaction after the loss. I mean, the loss definitely sucked and there are some big flaws with this team. But did people forget he beat Duke, Louisville, Florida, Gonzaga, lay out all the rivals. He already has the record for top 25 wins in a regular season. It's been a pretty good ride so far, even though Saturday was awful.
- [41:30]
Matt Jones
I haven't seen a lot of really anti Pope stuff, which is good because there shouldn't be. I mean, he lost and that stinks, but we won a lot of good ones. And there's still a lot of this season left to go.
- [41:43]
Drew
This was the third time where he's won a game I didn't think they would win and lose a game I didn't think they'd lose. You know, the Clemson, Gonzaga week, it just keeps, you know, the Tennessee, Arkansas.
- [41:53]
Matt Jones
Thought that was last week for us. I thought that was going to be the Vandy, Tennessee thing. Like we lost at Vandy but then won at Tennessee.
- [41:59]
Caller
Well, that's when it Ole Miss and keep it going.
- [42:01]
Drew
Yeah.
- [42:02]
Matt Jones
Yeah. So who knows? 859280, 2287 we'll take a break. When we come back, we do need to talk about the, the shepherd thing because while I will tell you what, again, you just judge it by the average fan. That's what people were writing me the most.
- [42:20]
Drew
It really upset people.
- [42:21]
Matt Jones
It really did.
- [42:22]
Drew
Yeah.
- [42:23]
Matt Jones
And it, and honestly, when I saw it, well, when I saw it, you all were here. I thought it was AI.
- [42:29]
Drew
You thought the pregame show.
- [42:30]
Caller
Yeah, I tossed it.
- [42:31]
Matt Jones
I thought it had to be AI. I was like, there's no way that guy, there's no way that kid did that. That. And then he did. So we will talk about it and more. We are here at KS Bar and Grill. You come on out and have lunch. We'll take a break. This is Kentucky Sports Radio.