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Let go.
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Drew
This is where mindset comes in.
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Ryan
Watch it on prime video starting January8.
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Shannon
Kentucky Sports Radio presented by Stockton Mortgage. Now here's Matt Jones.
Matt Jones
Welcome everyone. It is Kentucky Sports Radio Tuesday, December 9th. I am Matt Jones. You can give us a shout on the Clark's Puppet shop, phone line 859-280-2287. A Vision Auto Glass text machine is 7727-745254. In this edition sponsored by the TJ Smith Law Office called TJ, he'll make them pay. Kentucky plays the powerhouse North Carolina Central tonight in Rupp arena in a game that after the debacle in Nashville, hopefully the cat should have little problem with. You can just give us shout 859-280-2287. Ryan, Drew and Shannon are with me. Ryan, North Carolina Central one time. I think I've told the story a couple times on here about when I spoke about the death penalty at North Carolina Central many, many years ago. Basically that's predominantly an all African American college. And I got up and spoke about it and proceeded to get peppered with questions for an hour and a half. And that's my one interaction with North Carolina Central. And it was a positive one. Hopefully tonight will be positive with basketball as well.
Ryan
I remember you telling that story. I had no idea it was North Carolina Central.
Matt Jones
North Carolina Central, yeah. We spoke, I spoke at like four colleges around North Carolina and there was somebody that would speak with me at all of them. And then he skipped the one at North Carolina Central and that was the one they invited their entire like freshman class to. So there were like 2,000 students in the room. And that was, it was, it was, it was good. But it was quite intimidating as you had to sit there and speak about a controversial issue. Ryan, in front of a mass crowd. I don't think Kentucky will have that many, much problem tonight.
Ryan
So they asked questions for that long. Were they like legit good questions or.
Matt Jones
Yeah, so, I mean, it was. This is not how I thought we'd start the show, Drew. But it was. Yeah, I was talking about how I was against the death penalty and I was talking about my client's case. There were two people who were going to be executed, the first two in North Carolina in like 25 years. I was expressing, talking about their cases and then why I was against the death penalty. And then they just were asking questions, most of which, Drew, were like hypotheticals of the same thing. They'd be like, so this wasn't long after 9 11. They'd be like, if somebody did 9 11, should they get the death penalty? And it would just be increasing difficult, like increasingly worse things. And I'd have to go, well, I'm still against the death penalty then too. And they just asked me kind of the same thing over and over.
Drew
I didn't know you had this big connection to our big opponent tonight. I remember that story, but never placed. That was NC Central. It's on you.
Matt Jones
Carolina Central. So that's. I haven't thought about that school since then, but they'll come in tonight. And Ryan, I think the Cats, I mean, I don't know, is there. There's really nothing they can do tonight that's going to change anything going forward. Would you agree? I guess it's Saturday will be their. Their next chance to do that.
Ryan
Yeah. There's absolutely not one thing I think they can do tonight to improve the attitude of big blue nation.
Matt Jones
Nothing. What if they come out, like, don't miss a three drew. They hit like 25 in a row. Would that help?
Drew
Well, actually, I wrote a blog post of what they need to do tonight, and it actually doesn't even involve a basketball. I think fans just want to see them act like they like each other. Like go out there, have fun, celebrate your teammate, help them up off the floor if God forbid, they dive on the floor. But just show some togetherness. I think that will. Because they need to hit a reset. Like after last Friday, there needs to be a full reset. Maybe just have some fun tonight and we'll go from there with Indiana on Saturday.
Matt Jones
Shannon, what's the best way for them to act like they like each other? Like walk out hand in hand?
Drew
Yes.
Shannon
I want to see them, like hugging each other like, you know, conga line, the whole thing, man.
Matt Jones
Oh, you want to do a conga line? That would. This like, is this a nursing home where there's. Where they're coming from.
Shannon
Limbo.
Matt Jones
Okay.
Ryan
Recreate the football picture. You hold hands and jump up and kick your legs up.
Matt Jones
Yeah, that didn't work for us. That would work for the football team either, though.
Drew
That's what we need, togetherness picture.
Matt Jones
We took a little grief for that picture. I think wondering about that picture was probably still. Still fair. So yesterday, it seemed to me the conversation around Kentucky, Kentucky World has been really two things. One, the question of is it acceptable to boo? Which we talked about a lot about yesterday. And it seems like most fans almost. Ryan, if you had told me 10 years ago that this fan base would be in a place where I would see even little old ladies saying, yes, you can boo. I would have been shocked. But it seems like most of the fans believe that's okay. We put a. We put a video up yesterday on social media. Mario did. Of our discussion and surprisingly little pushback from people about it. I think the new age of college sports, which I think has a lot of positives also though, has led to a viewpoint of fans With a professionalism of, okay, that's what it is. So now, like, the guy who called Shannon and Billy show, it's like, if I fire my gardener, although I didn't realize he would go around and boo his garden.
Shannon
I would, hey, you're scratching.
Matt Jones
I think, Ryan, that's just how it is now, is that that's part of the trade off of guys making money.
Ryan
It is. It's a different era now. You're not necessarily a college student athlete. You're professionally trained, professionally paid athlete now. And I think people take that. That attitude. I never thought I would ever see it, that Kentucky fans would boo their own team the way they did in Nashville the other night, But I think that's the age we live in.
Matt Jones
But you took the view of, like, you're becoming Mr.
Old School. You're like, we shouldn't boo, but you kind of got shouted down yesterday. Did you find a lot of people after the show that agreed with you on that?
Shannon
Very few.
Ryan
I mean, I got some very few.
Matt Jones
Okay. All right.
Ryan
And, like, like I said the other day, I understand why they were booing. I just wouldn't do it myself. I just think it's. It's a. That's a bad look.
Matt Jones
Now, during the next part of the conversation, then went to, what is the cause of the problem? And on this point, I don't think we're talking about the basketball cause, because I think there's a lot of basketball causes. But people then go to what's the cause of the. Of the team either not caring or not liking each other. And there are two things that come up the most. The first one is people want to point to some event. And I mean, if you've been around this fan base at all. Everyone has. I have. I think I've said I've been sent over a thousand times. All right, Matt, don't get. Put this on me, but my friend is related to. And they all tell some version of, if not the same story, some version of a story that I just have to tell you, from my perspective, I think is likely not the case. I think anytime a story gets that far out, it's likely not the case, but there is this desire to find an event that caused it. Do you think, Drew, that there is a. An event or a. Something that caused it, whether it be in the Louisville locker room or something before that? Or do you think it could just be. You know, sometimes people just don't get along, and sometimes people just don't like each other. What do you think is the more likely scenario.
Drew
I still struggle with this because if it was one event, and we've heard plenty of rumors that should only affect a few people, the whole team is playing bad. Like, not to just rag on everyone, but I feel like some of these rumors we've heard. Okay, why does that keep Brandy Garrison from jumping for a rebound? Or why does that keep Trent Noah from making a three?
Matt Jones
Yeah, so that's why.
Drew
Sure, maybe something happened, but that still doesn't explain why the whole team looks bad to me. Because if it is a one off, you know, teammate versus teammate on something, that shouldn't affect everybody, and if it does, then Pope needs to do a better job of getting that out of the locker room and getting everybody on the same page. So I'm still perplexed of how the whole team is so bad. If it was one. One thing, you know, there.
Matt Jones
There's always been over the years, and sometimes in the Cal years, this was me, and sometimes it was Kyle Tucker, and then sometimes it would be like with Cal, it might be like Mike De Courcey or. Or whatever. There's always somebody who, when they say something, you kind of know, okay, this is the message that the staff wants to get out. Ryan. I don't think Pope has that guy. Meaning, like, there's nobody that talks that I say for sure. That came from Mark Pope. Probably the closest one is Matt Norlander and probably Jeff Goodman. Although even then, I don't think it comes from Pope. I think it comes from assistance. I don't really think Pope talks to anybody. So because of that, I keep waiting to see from Jeff Goodman or Matt Norland or the signal of what's really going on and nothing comes out right. Which makes me even more confused because it does seem like.
Maybe it's just that the coaches are perplexed and they have no idea why this is happening, which is right, in some ways even worse than if we had an explanation.
Ryan
I am still in the boat that something happened before that Louisville game. Because, you know, Pope is honest to a fault. I don't think he would have even said that if something. Something didn't happen.
Matt Jones
But what if it's tried to play that down? You don't think that that matters?
Ryan
No, I think something happened. I don't know. Like I said, I don't know what it was.
Matt Jones
I think something happened because it's like logical deduction. Or do you like. Is there a little Ryan Lemon scoopiness?
Ryan
No, no, no scoop. I'm basing it all on what I feel about Mark Pope. I don't think he would have said that if something didn't happen. So what if it's a combination of the. Of both? Maybe something did happen, and maybe something that some of these guys just don't like each other.
Matt Jones
It did look to me, though. Okay, so the little bit I was around the team, which included some of those preseason practices and media day and even some of the preseason events, Drew, I will say it looked to me like they got along then. So, I mean, you know.
I don't know. And maybe when adversity hit something, we will always wonder what happened in that locker room. And I think if you were going to point to a singular event, I think that would be when it made the most sense. But now, you know, I don't know.
Drew
If it surely was like a teammate on teammate thing. Figure it out. It's been a month. Call them in your office, throw the boxing gloves down and say, y' all work it out. We got bigger goals than whatever you all have going on. It has been a month since that locker room, and it's just getting worse. If something like that happened, it should linger a little while, get it out of their system, and then let's go win some basketball games. That's why you're here.
Matt Jones
That's why we've seen Ryan. We've seen Ryan lose it before, right? He gets that. And then he gets. He's sometimes fine later that day.
Shannon
Yeah, but then he holds a grudge against people, too, though.
Matt Jones
But he doesn't hold a grudge against us. He holds a grudge against, like, two people.
Shannon
Right? Well, maybe that's the two people where.
Matt Jones
You can't get over that, because that has to be what this team is like. They're holding a grudge they can't get over being disloyal.
Ryan
Lying to my face. That. That. That'll get you on my black list.
Matt Jones
But he really.
Shannon
He always brings Lifetime ban.
Matt Jones
It is. He is a lifetime band. All right, so then the second thing that people say is, okay, the problem is all these guys are making money, and so they don't care anymore. Willie Cauley Stein. Drew, of all people.
Of all people put out a post almost suggesting that this morning, saying, well, now all these guys got cars and stuff, and so they don't care as much. I find that funny, considering Willie Collinstein's time here. Would you agree with that, Drew, that that's at least amusing coming from him?
Drew
Yeah.
Trying to be careful here.
Matt Jones
Yeah, that's what I'm saying. You got to Be careful.
Drew
I will say the cars have even improved since the Caliperia cars have improved the cars. Now it's even Maserati's. I think back then it was just like a BMW. Now it's Maseratis.
Matt Jones
But they weren't driving around Pintos back then. No, it's just the way they were still driving good cars. But that doesn't explain though, Drew, these other teams that are making money and doing well, like, if you want to say it's cause of the money, then you have to explain to me why these other teams do well. More specifically, if you want to say it's because the money. How do you explain when these dudes in the NBA, you know, throw their bodies on the line like, it cannot be that. It is just the money. Now some people don't react well to money, but some people were selfish when they were getting nothing. Like human nature can be selfish. So I personally do not blame the money because there are others. I mean, Michigan's getting paid more than anybody and they're playing great. I don't think it's the money, Drew. I think it's the people, not the money. Do you disagree?
Drew
I'm with you on that. Because there's schools that have had some high paying athletes who are doing exactly what they're paid to do. And also it like, if you got money and like, oh, if I play well, I get money that would play more to get more money. Like I look at away and people say always mine's on the NBA.
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Drew
I'm watching him lose money by the second every time he gets on the basketball court. Because if I'm. Yeah, if I'm watching him pout and give no effort, I'm not drafting him. So if, if money was the motivation, I would almost think they'd be. They'd be selfish, but they'd at least be playing hard.
Matt Jones
Yeah, I mean the. Look, Shane, I think there was a philosopher that said mo money, mo problem. Right. Like if you. But if you have it, you're going to keep trying. I just. Ryan, I don't believe the money thing at all. Because I'll give you. I use example of Michigan. Let's use Texas Tech. Okay. Texas Tech threw massive amounts of money in their football and basketball program. They have that booster who does all those stupid score act commercials and he's put all this money into Texas Tech and guess what? They're number four in the football playoff rankings and they're in the top 10 in basketball. Why he went out and Got dudes with money and they wouldn't play hard. So that clearly worked for him. It's not working here. And so I don't blame the money. I blame us, our guys, our coaches.
Ryan
Yeah. If the money has, is a factor, if whatever happened in before the little games a factor, it all comes down to that roster construction. Who you have on the floor and you're, you're, you're returning guys, your two big guys you're counting on Garrison and Ortega have, have done nothing really to help you much.
Matt Jones
You blame them the most, don't you?
Ryan
I do, yeah.
Matt Jones
Yeah.
Ryan
There's, they're supposed to be your leaders, your stars, your starters. But then, you know, you heard Pope last night. He's coaching show. Oh, take it. Just had the best practice he's had in two years.
Matt Jones
I have to say, the, the relentless positivity is like, would be like listening Shannon to Ted Lasso after a seven game losing streak. Like, I love Ted Lasso but sometimes I need you to like not tell me things are positive.
Shannon
Not everything in life is beautiful. Sometimes there's some ugly in there. You have and we saw, we seen it. Yeah.
Drew
I booed the call in show last night.
Matt Jones
What'd you say?
Drew
I booed the call in show last night.
Ryan
Ed Kevin Grievy for 30 minutes.
Drew
30 minutes of Kevin Gravy time stories.
Matt Jones
I'm like, what's that doing? When they start doing that, when they start bringing on players and doing 30 minute interviews instead of taking calls, you've already given it away right there where we are. Yeah.
Shannon
Let's talk about the good old days when we actually won.
Matt Jones
Let's talk, let's, let's talk about. I like Kevin Gravy. But when you bring on Kevin Greevey right after a 35 point loss, you are saying that you don't want to talk about it and that's the worst way to do it with fans. I'm just telling you they've never learned this lesson. Going back to Tubby Smith when he would brought on Jeff Shepard right before he left. Like you can't do it like that. They still do it. They always make the same mistake and nobody ever learns. 859-280-2287. We'll take a break. Be right back. This is Kentucky Sports Rating.
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Ryan
Watch it on prime video starting January 8th.
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Matt Jones
U n D. Speaking of somebody who ended up with mo problems, Shannon after their mo money. The singer of this singer this song, Right?
Shannon
That's right. Yeah. That didn't work out too well.
Matt Jones
Have you, have we watched that documentary yet? I hear it's good.
Drew
I'm all the way through it. Already done. Went straight to it and binged it. Oh yeah, we used to have rap song disses. They've just diss each other with music. Now we have full blown documentaries dissing each other. I love it. 50 Cent.
Matt Jones
Who made this one?
Drew
50 Cent bought the footage from Diddy's people and then used it against him.
Matt Jones
I didn't know that 50 Cent bought the footage from. Oh, I didn't know that.
Drew
Diddy hired a company.
Matt Jones
I was following him and then he didn't pay.
Drew
Yeah, 50 Cent swooped in and did it. So it's kind of like a dis documentary.
Matt Jones
Okay.
Shannon
This dark Netflix.
Matt Jones
Is it on Netflix?
Drew
Yeah, it's not a great look for Did. Not that any of this has been a great look for Diddy, but somehow it gets much worse for him with this documentary.
Matt Jones
Really? Well.
One person. So I've compiled, Ryan, just a partial list of the various people who people have texted the text machine and said they told them the story of what's actually going on. On. All right, so these are people. I'm not going to say what they said, Shannon, but these are people who people have said. Have told them what's really happening.
Shannon
I don't believe it. Don't believe any of it.
Matt Jones
Well, I agree with you, but let's. The question is, which of these people do you think has the best chance of knowing? Okay, this is just in the last 24 hours. Kenny Walker, do you think he would know?
Ryan
He would everywhere, yeah.
Matt Jones
All right. Jackson Robinson, do you think he would know?
Ryan
I'm gonna say no. Where is he even around? Is he right now?
Matt Jones
Is he Linda Gorton's top aide?
Ryan
Drew's a big Linda Gordon fan.
Matt Jones
You think Linda Gordon's top aid would know?
Drew
She's the top aid's the leader in the clubhouse so far of what you've sent.
Matt Jones
All right, Robert Stivers.
The state senator. And then finally, my favorite, this one just came this morning. Steve Bachman of Bachman Chevrolet.
Ryan
Not. Not a sponsor. Now, you said Paul Miller. Paul Miller for now.
We had to talk about it.
Matt Jones
These are just the people who have written the text machine to say they know what's going on with the players. I'm going to say of all those, Shane, I'm gonna say Steve Bachman of Bachman. You think so?
Shannon
Yeah. More so than Kenny Walker?
Matt Jones
Well, I mean, when it says, well, Kenny's not like he's not at practice, I mean.
Well, we don't know.
Shannon
The guy's like, taking a break from selling cars to go watch the practice and get in the locker room.
Matt Jones
Well, I mean, I didn't even have Linda Gordon's top aids name, so how am I supposed to believe that they know?
Drew
Maybe they operate in the shadows.
Shannon
Maybe the Bachman guys selling them cars or something. I don't know.
Ryan
Maybe.
Shannon
Maybe you're on to something here.
Drew
Jackson Robinson still around a lot. He has former team actually on the team.
Matt Jones
Oh, I thought Jackson Robinson would have seemed like, you know, he would know. That's exactly right. Drew's right. Wouldn't Jackson Robinson know, Ryan, because he was on the team and not just.
Drew
The current players that are back. You know, they have 40 grad assistants and managers over there.
Matt Jones
He probably could still talk to where is Jackson Robinson? Is he in the G league somewhere?
Ryan
Not sure.
Drew
He was in the CAB system. I don't know if he's still part of it.
Matt Jones
Like I haven't heard about him in, in a long time. All right. We also got yesterday, Ryan, the contract for will stop.
Ryan
Yep.
Matt Jones
$5.5 million for five years. Basically it's 5.5, then 5.6 and 5.7. So it ended up averaging about 5.7. Between 5.7 and 5.8 for his career. If he gets fired during that time, he gets 70% of the contract paid out in the time frame it would be paid. So we didn't make the mistake of doing the lump sum due within 60 days.
Ryan
Yeah, maybe we learned our lesson over that.
Matt Jones
This has kind of become the base pay Ryan for new coaches with no experience. I think a lot of these other guys, he'll be now one of the lower paid coaches in the sec. But it's kind of commiserate with his experience. Seems like to me a pretty good deal. The 70% is kind of standard now across college football.
So less than the total, but still a significant amount of money. What did you think of the Willston deal?
Ryan
Well, hearing you say that's kind of standard, I had no idea if that was a 70%, if that was the kind of the standard buyout at big schools.
Matt Jones
That's become kind of the standard of the big schools. If you don't have any leverage now, which you when you resign, they end up taking that out. But for new coaches, that's kind of become standard.
Ryan
So hearing all that, I absolutely have zero problem with it. You know, Kentucky got a basketball coach and a football coach at a much cheaper rate than they had the previous two guys. So saving some money, I guess all the way around.
Matt Jones
Drew.
Drew
Yeah, I immediately just went to the buyout situation, making sure we didn't get got again paid out monthly. That that's much better than 60 days. Stein actually owes a lot, as you said. If he, if he were to leave. So that was the thing I went to first. Also notice that the, the extension, you know, his incentives. He's got to make the playoff, not just make a bowl game, as you know, with Stoops six games or seven games. Stein's is get to the playoff bracket.
Matt Jones
He gets a big bonus. But it starts with the playoff. So it's not just about making a bowl. Now the second part of that is Mark Stoops. Mark Stoops, it turns out, extended his deal. So rather than have to pay it Immediately. They paid him $4 million immediately. Immediately. And they will pay him over the next four years $1.7 million every three months. Shannon, to not coach for the next.
Shannon
Four years, that's a great deal. But it's also nice of him to do what he did for Kentucky because he could have all that money. Think about the interest he could have made if he had all that money.
Matt Jones
Up front versus spreading $1.7 million every three months for the next four years. At totals the 37 million. But as Shannon points out, he didn't have to do that. He could have demanded it immediately and instead he spread it out like that. So they gave him $4 million a day. He did it. And then 1.7 every three months going forward. It's a lot of money. It's especially a lot of money not to coach. But at the same time, he didn't have to do that.
Ryan
Nope.
Matt Jones
And oddly, they will now end up paying him like that. 1.7. It will make it to where financially, it's not that bad for Kentucky and Stoops didn't have to do that. We'll take your calls right for this ksr.
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Matt Jones
He'll make him pay.
Shannon
Now more of Kentucky Sports Radio presented by Stockton Mortgage. Here's Matt Jones.
Matt Jones
So, Shannon, guys, I need to just before we go the calls, one little nerve wracking thing. All right, during the break, I just got a text message from a guy at espn. Okay. And it says, Matt, do you want to meet this afternoon to talk about the New Orleans Bowl? So by the way, I am doing the ESPN radio broadcast ride for the New Orleans bowl, which is two weeks from today. Yep, two weeks from today. And apparently I'm doing the play by play, which is I've never done the play by play. So I mean, of course, Drew, perfect time to debut is on national radio, right?
Drew
Postseason.
Matt Jones
When's the best time to learn to do live play by play than national radio with a bowl game?
Ryan
Perfect time with somewhat of a local team playing the wall. Be listening.
Matt Jones
The west had my Sunday morning radio boss say to me the other day, Shannon, excited to listen to you do the New Orleans bow. Don't know how that's gonna go. That's exactly what he said.
Shannon
I mean, he does realize you have never done this before.
Matt Jones
So I would don't know how that's gonna go.
Shannon
The bar is probably pretty low. I don't think he's got expectations.
Matt Jones
But let me just say, you know, play by play is a Whole nother thing.
Shannon
Oh, it's. Yeah. It's not easy.
Matt Jones
And so the game gets announced. It's Western Kentucky and Southern Miss, I think ride pretty good draw for me. Right. Western Kentucky couldn't have been any better.
Ryan
For you really to get.
Matt Jones
Honestly. Couldn't have been any better. Southern Miss. As a side note, one of the guys in my fellowship is One of Southern Mrs. Biggest Boosters. Oh. So I feel like I can get some information on other Ms. And then Westerns. Western. So he writes me during the break and he goes, I'm so and so I'm your producer for ESPN for the New Orleans Bowl. Do you know who your stats and spotter are yet?
Know what that means? Drew, I've been wondering. I've been wondering why strangers have been writing me offering to be my spotter. Because I was like, Shannon, how do these people know who I am? Yeah, why do they keep writing me?
Shannon
Right.
Matt Jones
How do they even know I need a spot?
Shannon
They need binoculars. Get somebody with binoculars who can see the game.
Matt Jones
Turns out ESPN has a database where they say, hey, spotters, here's who where we need them for. So that's why people are writing me. I've been wondering. I'm going to.
Drew
Shouldn't they provide the spotter? You shouldn't. You're the talent spotter.
Matt Jones
Oh, okay. Apparently I get to pick because I get to pick one I'm comfortable with. Here's the problem. I don't know any of these people, so how am I going to be comfortable with any of them? How do I pick?
Shannon
This is a problem.
Drew
Who wants to be my spotter? Like a contest.
Matt Jones
So I've already decided. My stats guy. I'm going to pick. I'm going to pick Billy.
Shannon
Was he an option? I don't think Billy was on the list of espn.
Matt Jones
Well, he may not be on the list, but he's going to be on the list because he went to Western. Right. So he can handle that.
Ryan
Big deal. Yes.
Matt Jones
And I'm comfortable with Billy. Billy knows how to work with me now after the last couple years, but I don't think Billy can spot. So how do I pick, Drew, who to spot?
Drew
I mean, you're just going to have to get some one on one, some FaceTime with these people. Get to know them. Can we get about their families? This. You need to trust this person they're going to be in the foxhole with.
Shannon
Now, if you can get Billy, you can get Ryan as your spotter.
Matt Jones
But I need. I need at least one person in this operation. To know what the hell they're doing.
Ryan
I would definitely get sidetracked while watching something else than the game, but Ryan.
Shannon
Has done, like, high school football games and stuff.
Matt Jones
Ryan was the. Ryan is literally the worst choice for the exact reason you just said he would.
Drew
Spotter has to see a number on a jersey immediately. Know who that is. You got to know.
Matt Jones
Formation has to be like, yes, exactly. They're in a. You know, for 81 wide. Like, you got to do all that and, you know, I don't know what any of that stuff means, Shannon.
Ryan
Yeah.
Matt Jones
So that person. I'm gonna be relying heavily.
Shannon
Here's the great thing about doing radio. If you get it wrong, nobody can call, you can't see it.
Matt Jones
So nobody's gonna know.
Shannon
You're gonna be fine.
Matt Jones
But the producers are gonna know.
Shannon
Well, they don't have to tell anybody.
Matt Jones
But this is like. This is two weeks from today.
Shannon
Are you practicing? What are you doing to get ready?
Matt Jones
I've practiced a little bit, but, you know, I've. I've had some stuff come up, so I've been a little distracted. Now I'm. My plan is to watch. I asked. I asked an ESPN person. I'm gonna talk to Tom Hart this week. They said, what are you laughing?
Shannon
That might be a good start. Talk to somebody who does this for a living. Tom Hart, Tom Lee.
Matt Jones
They said to me. Tom has written me about it, too. I'm gonna get. I'm gonna rely on the Toms. They said to me to watch, like, the last three or four games of these teams. So I'm gonna watch Western and Southern Miss all what I've always wanted to do.
Ryan
Sure.
Matt Jones
Watch Western and Southern Miss football. Western, you know, almost beat LSU a couple weeks ago.
Shannon
There's a good place.
Ryan
Western's got a good team.
Matt Jones
That's the kind of fact I can say on the radio. Yeah. Western almost beat LSU a couple weeks ago.
Shannon
Now you got three more hours to fill.
Matt Jones
Now, what time Kentucky plays that day? Kentucky plays Bellarmine. I believe. I've looked at the time, Ryan. I believe the post game show will be ending right as this broadcast comes on the air.
Ryan
Perfect.
Matt Jones
See it? Perfect. That's correct. What time is the Bellarmine game?
Drew
That's at 11 o' clock.
Matt Jones
Exactly. So that means postgame show starts about. For the New Orleans Bowl. Starts at five.
Ryan
Oh, perfect. Perfect. We can just. We can guide everybody to turn over right into it.
Shannon
Yeah, well, you don't need to be doing the post game show. You're not doing that.
Matt Jones
I'M not doing. Somebody else can be doing that.
Shannon
I got to preparing. Yeah.
Matt Jones
Yeah.
Drew
This is the 25th anniversary of the New Orleans Bowl. Isn't any New Orleans bowl.
Matt Jones
This is 25 years New Orleans Bowl.
Ryan
And you've been to Southern Miss.
Drew
Yeah, you can talk about.
Matt Jones
Talk about how Nick Roush got drunk and we had to try to get him home at the end of the night in Hattiesburg.
Shannon
No, that's what the color commentator does. You're the play by play guy. You got to stick to play by play. You can't have personality. You got to be play by play.
Drew
I think we're going to have a lot of color commentary from this broadcast.
Shannon
I think so.
Ryan
No play.
Shannon
Very little play by play. This is because telling stories. But guys, there's a game going on. What's happening in the game?
Matt Jones
Yeah. This may be less play by play, more color for most of the game, so.
Shannon
Well, good luck.
Matt Jones
Yeah. Stats spotter. You wait two weeks. I'm gonna need your all support, though. I need you building me up. All right. I already had my. My boss look at me and go, well, this will be interesting. I need you all building me up, not bringing me.
Shannon
Tom Leach has this big board that he puts together with all these stats and everything. You need something like that in front of you?
Matt Jones
Yeah, there's somebody that can do that.
Shannon
Yeah. Your spotter, Billy.
Ryan
You know, Corey Price does stats for the UK people. He.
Matt Jones
I got my stats guy. I got. Billy, I need a spotter and I need to figure out these people that write me. I don't know how to pick which one.
Shannon
Apparently you're supposed to get.
Matt Jones
Supposed to get something. You shut up. It's going to be good.
Shannon
No, it's going to be great.
Matt Jones
It's just. It may be a less traditional broadcast than what they're used to in the New Orleans boat, but at least people entertained. How many people are listening to the New Orleans bowl on ESPN radio? It can't be a top now. It's gonna be more now. I think that's why they put me put us on, because they think we can bring an audience and then we'll hopefully not bomb it completely. Who's the first?
Shannon
Harold.
Matt Jones
Harold. Go ahead, Harold.
Caller
Yes, I was. My call is concerned about yesterday. Kentucky several years ago got beat at Kansas 50 points.
Matt Jones
Yes, they did.
Caller
Yes. So that was the worst loss. I was just asking you. I don't know who the coach was.
Matt Jones
It was Patino. It was. It was. It was Patino's first year. I think they went down There wasn't. Am I right about that, Ryan? Wasn't it Patino's first year? They went down there, just got obliterated.
Ryan
And he kept pressing. He wasn't going to change his style. He kept doing the same thing. And they just kept getting their brains beat in that day.
Matt Jones
Yes.
Caller
Yeah. Okay, well.
Thinking about your dad. Hope he gets better.
Matt Jones
Thank you, sir. I appreciate it. Appreciate the call. Yeah, I believe that was, that was the scenario.
Ryan
So, yeah, they kept pressing, kept shooting threes. They didn't change their style of play at all.
Matt Jones
Yeah, I wish I had the same. I mean, that was his first year, this is the second year, so it is a little bit different. What's next, Dan? Dan. Go ahead, Dan.
Hey, guys.
Caller
I think on the basketball front, it's a little bit of a search for an emotional holy grail that's not going to be found. So I wanted to use a different analogy. I think you, you four, Billy and Mario make a really good team. And I think that in the summer your all content's probably the best. Now imagine for two months when the games get started, three of you are out and I heart radio executives are crapping their pants because they're trying to get the same level of quality that they would have had if three of you are in. And so they're finding some other people to fill it. And they're expecting the same quality, the same pacing, the same content. And I just don't think that's a realistic thing. That doesn't mean that those people aren't talented. That doesn't mean that those people don't care. That doesn't mean that those people aren't doing it for the money. It just means that they aren't up to the talent of what the OG team would be. That's not the same way.
Matt Jones
But. But here's what I would say about that. That's not a terrible analogy, and I think you're. I think that's correct. However.
At the center point of that is, you know, you would have your main returner, right? Like your centerpiece of the whole thing, it's built around, which in this case might be me and in the basketball case is Otaga. It's one thing if Ortega is not there, but Otaga is there, right? And while it's never going to be as good without the full complementary of things, if Otaga is there, and let's say Ryan is Brandon Garrison because he's been around for a long time and we're back, we should be able to not produce a Clunker every single big show because at least the two returning stall horts are there. Yeah, we might not have Drew and Shannon and Mario and we're going to get them, but we at least got those two. That was the whole centerpiece of what we brought back. And if that doesn't work, then I do think you have to go. Wait a minute, what's going on?
Caller
I think that's fair. But I mean what if you had to set up all the electronic stuff that Billy does and some of these.
Matt Jones
At some point.
Caller
Well, at some point there'd be like a sacrificial nature to it. Right. And like it would be really frustrating and you wouldn't be. Your strengths wouldn't be at your highest. So I think to expect Ortega, you know, to. To every game give 115 and think that he's just going to be smooth. I think it's a little bit short sighted.
Matt Jones
Fair enough. I appreciate the call. And that might not be nice. Drew to call Ryan. Brandon Garrison. He's bet he's. He's been better than.
Drew
I see it a little bit in their strengths.
Ryan
We're similar in our size.
Matt Jones
Okay, that's probably not complete.
Ryan
Do you. Did you hear any of the scuttlebutt from the open practice they had yesterday from the well let's say United people?
Matt Jones
Do you have some scuttlebutt?
Ryan
Yes.
Matt Jones
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Watch it on prime video starting January 8th.
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Matt Jones
U n D welcome back Techie Sports Radio. All right, Drew, people are suggesting that we have the spotter tryouts on air. What do you think about that?
Drew
I said you should have a who wants to be my spotter Contest, but.
Matt Jones
I need somebody with experience.
Drew
Well, that's what I mean. They gotta, they gotta make their case. They gotta come on, maybe give their background what they're looking for when they're spotting what kind of binoculars they use, all that stuff.
Ryan
The longtime spotter UK is a big fan of this show. Listens all the time. Text me like almost every day during the show.
Matt Jones
Has he texted you about this?
Ryan
Not yet.
Matt Jones
Well, it feels like this would have been a good time to text. Like if I was a longtime listener of this show. Like literally, if I listen this show all the time and I was a spotter for UK and I texted Ryan every day during the show. Feels like Shannon, this would have been the day to text.
Shannon
Yeah, if you ever wanted to do it right now.
Matt Jones
Maybe he just doesn't want to do it.
Shannon
Yeah, exactly.
Matt Jones
He's like, I don't want to go down with that ship.
Shannon
Don't want to tie my good name to this train wreck of a show.
Matt Jones
I'm making this good no matter what. Even if it just has to be me and Myron taking calls during the game.
Shannon
I don't think it works that way.
Matt Jones
Why not?
Shannon
You just take it.
Ryan
You're the one.
Matt Jones
We completely revolutionized the way they call football.
Shannon
Yeah. We just completely act like the game's not even going on. We completely ignore the game.
Matt Jones
I mean honestly.
Shannon
We'll give you a score update every now and then.
Drew
I can hear it now in the second half. Matt turns to to Mama Myron and says, so who are the famous athletes from New Orleans? And all the usual things we do on the show. And we're in new cities.
Matt Jones
Yeah. Hattiesburg. Yeah.
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About me.
Shannon
It's gonna be Myron.
Matt Jones
That's true. That is. I'm gonna go. You know Montana Grill and Bowling Green. I really like it to eat there sometimes. Corvette museum. Right. Should I bring up that Bowling Green has more people per capitas on Ozempic?
Shannon
That is important.
Matt Jones
I feel like that should be on there, don't you?
Shannon
We need to know the cities. We need to know the cities that are playing.
Matt Jones
Got to know the places.
Drew
Fruit of the Looms in Bowling Green. You could talk about these.
Matt Jones
Bring in special guests from all these. Hillbilly Jim's from Bowling Green, right? Yeah, bring him up.
Shannon
The country boy. Country boy. Country boy.
Matt Jones
It's gonna be a great game.
Shannon
You can just bust in the song if all else.
Matt Jones
New Orleans bowl has never seen anything like this. Who's next?
Shannon
Pete.
Matt Jones
Pete. Go ahead, Pete.
Caller
Hey guys. Got a little story about North Carolina Central. I'm originally from Owensboro. Winter go play soccer at a tiny college in Front Royal, Virginia and ended up playing basketball there as well. Tiny school, like 500 undergrad. My junior year we play at North Carolina Central and we lose 116 to 38 and well, you're going to be.
Matt Jones
On the schedule next year. Your team's going to play. Mark Pope's going to play you guys next year to make sure that we win.
Caller
I. I had two threes that game at in Durham. So if they, if the Cats need me tonight, I can. I can come by and probably toss up a few.
Matt Jones
Well, appreciate the call. The. Do we know anything? Drew, you're pretty good about knowing these teams. What do we know about North Carolina Central tonight?
Drew
What do I not know about North Carolina Central, Matt? Okay, I actually got a little bit scared. I saw they beat Carolina about 100 by 40 points, 109 to something. But I realize it's not North Carolina. There's a school just called Carolina. Did you know that they don't even have a page on espn There's a.
Matt Jones
School just called Carolina. Not even which state?
Drew
No, they. They NC Central.
Matt Jones
Where is that?
Drew
I think it's. I'll have to look that up.
Ryan
Carolina.
Matt Jones
You.
Drew
You can't even click on their. On their page on espn.com.
Matt Jones
Wow. I didn't. I mean I lived there. I didn't know there was a school just called Carolina.
Drew
Beat him by 45. Our common opponent is Winston Salem.
Matt Jones
Yeah, I think through Winston Salem a thousand times. I didn't know that but go ahead.
Drew
Really threw me off too. They played UNC and lost by 44. That's our common opponent. They do have a star player. Gage Lattimore I believe is his name. Shooting like 45% from three and getting 20 points a game. I actually wonder. Well I was wondering if he could just maybe come over to our team.
Shannon
I don't know.
Drew
There's not really rules anymore.
Matt Jones
But he's a bucket. He's feels like Gage Lattimore. We could use him.
Drew
Yeah, they go as he goes. He's first time at this level. He was at another school that doesn't even have an ESPN page last year from like D3 so he's the name to watch. But they're not good. Rank 350th out of 365 teams on KINPOM. We are a 45 point favorite scheduled.
Matt Jones
I mean we have scheduled the lowest of the low this year. We would be interesting to see. Ryan, what would happen if we played like Minnesota? Right. I mean because all the teams we've played have been top 20 or awful.
Ryan
Yep.
Matt Jones
Like we've not played because. So it's hard for me to know how are we going to do in the SEC against teams like Mississippi State? Because everybody we've played is either really good or awful. And so you know this is going to be like we're and we're. That's all we're playing until not until conference play. So I know when we play Alabama we're going to struggle but how are we going to do against like Ole Miss or how are we going to do against Vandy? That's the thing, we don't know yet.
Ryan
You're exactly right. Our sample size we have to go on is not good. We the teams are supposed to beat, you're beating them bad. The teams you're that are competitive, you're getting drilled.
Matt Jones
So the teams that we're getting drilled by are really good teams.
Ryan
Michigan State ends up being fantastic and we thought that might be the easiest of the six games.
Drew
Remember and three of our five wins. They're ranked 320th or worse.
Like that's hard to get a read on anything Saturday.
They're on a little bit of a skid though. They've had two bad losses and they're starting to panic.
Matt Jones
They got me by Louisville Saturday too.
Ryan
Yeah, they did.
Matt Jones
It will not be good if we don't. Now you've got doctor's appointment here, right? So you're leaving, correct?
Ryan
Correct. We thought.
Drew
What was your scoop?
Ryan
Yeah, they had Big Blue United in for an open practice yesterday. I'll give you the quick three. Three hits. One, you never could tell they don't like each other. They seem like they 100% liked each other and got along well. Two, Cam Williams and Trent Noah did not miss a shot the entire practice.
Matt Jones
That doesn't help.
Ryan
Did not miss. And three, Jaden Quaint's practice a lot against Reese Potter. Going one on one with him and he looks like a man child.
Matt Jones
I mean those are all good things, but I don't know, is that encouraging? I wish they would make them in.
Shannon
The game, saving all their misses for tonight.
Matt Jones
Maybe so. Pregame show starts at 4:30 4:30 in. Ryan will be back for that. We will come back our number two. This is Kentucky Sports Radio.
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Watch it on prime video starting January 8th.
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Date: December 9, 2025
Podcast: KSR on iHeartPodcasts and Sports Talk 790 (WKRD-AM)
Host: Matt Jones, with Ryan Lemond, Drew Franklin, and Shannon “The Dude”
This episode of Kentucky Sports Radio dives deep into the current turbulent state of University of Kentucky (UK) basketball following their recent devastating loss in Nashville. The hosts dissect fan reactions, team chemistry, rumors, and leadership on the team. They also briefly discuss football coach contract details and Matt’s upcoming ESPN radio play-by-play debut. The conversation is candid, reflective, and classic KSR in tone—balancing analysis with humor and storytelling.
| Segment | Timestamp | |-----------------------------------------------------|-------------| | NC Central connections & game preview | 02:37–05:16 | | Team chemistry & what fans want to see | 05:16–06:40 | | Booing Kentucky players—fan perspectives | 06:40–08:41 | | Dissecting the team’s problems: event or chemistry? | 08:41–14:11 | | The money/NIL debate | 14:11–17:19 | | Leadership struggles (Garrison/Otaga) | 16:52–18:02 | | Critique of coach call-in shows | 17:40–18:32 | | “Who really knows what’s going on?” rumor mill | 21:32–24:01 | | Will Stein and Mark Stoops contract breakdown | 24:01–27:29 | | Matt's ESPN play-by-play debut anxieties | 27:39–34:43 | | Callers and NC Central scouting | 35:05–46:53 | | Ryan’s open practice scoop | 47:38–48:08 |
The hosts are both critical and self-deprecating, mixing humor with genuine concern for the state of Kentucky basketball. There is a strong rapport among the crew, an openness to fan input, and a willingness to turn rumors or worries into comic fodder (e.g., the “spotter tryouts” for Matt’s ESPN debut).
This is a classic, conversational episode of Kentucky Sports Radio, balancing fan frustration and gallows humor with real concern for the team’s trajectory. The hosts alternate between diagnosing what ails UK basketball (from chemistry to leadership to culture shift with NIL money), analyzing rumors, and offering their signature blend of radio banter, nostalgia, and self-awareness. The episode also provides a behind-the-scenes look at sports radio and Matt’s leap to national play-by-play, providing both insight and laughs for longtime and new listeners alike.