2026-03-23- KSR - Hour 1

Summary

Kentucky Sports Radio (KSR) - Hour 1

Episode Date: March 23, 2026
Hosts: Matt Jones, Drew, Shannon, (with mentions of Ryan and Mario)
Main Theme: Dissecting Kentucky’s NCAA Tournament Collapse, Fan Frustration, and UK Basketball’s Uncertain Future

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Episode Overview

This episode of Kentucky Sports Radio follows the major disappointment of the Kentucky Wildcats’ NCAA Tournament loss to Iowa State. The KSR crew offers a candid roundtable on what went wrong, the psychological and tactical unraveling of the team, and what the future holds for the program—including immediate roster questions, the impact of UK’s athletic administration, and warning signs about NIL resources. The conversation is honest, at times bleak, with notable insight into the changing landscape of Kentucky basketball and the program’s relationship with its fans.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Recapping the Defeat to Iowa State

Timestamps: 02:38 – 08:44

• The Loss: Kentucky had a 12-point lead with about 12 minutes remaining, then completely collapsed, ending up losing by 19—a staggering 35-point swing.
  • Drew: “To go up 12 and then to lose by 19… just dumbfounded by how you could do that on that stage.” (04:22)
  • Matt: “A 35 point swing in 24 minutes is… I don’t want to say unprecedented, but…” (05:12)
• Tactical Problems: Iowa State adjusted to full-court trapping pressure and UK’s offense disintegrated.
  • Shannon: “That adjustment Iowa State made… we could not handle it and did not handle it well at all.” (05:57)
  • Matt: “It was chaos. It was like when little kids get the basketball and go ‘give me the ball, give me the ball’…that’s kind of how it was.” (06:18)
  • Drew: Compares watching the game to his own childhood trouble handling a press in junior pro ball. (06:41)
• Turning Point Play: Double-teaming at half-court led UK to panic, as only Aberdeen handled it well.

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2. Fan & Social Media Reaction

Timestamps: 08:29 – 10:41

• Message Boards & Twitter: Community reaction ranged from anger to wild overreactions and personal attacks.

  • Drew: “Had to delete a lot… Twitter is nasty, especially those accounts that don’t have a face on them…” (08:32)

• Arkansas Rivalry Banter: Arkansas fans trolled via super chat donations—turning fandom into performative trolling.

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3. What’s Next for UK Basketball?

Timestamps: 10:16 – 17:50

Roster Retention Roulette

• The crew conducted a percentage-based "staying or going" rundown with the major returning and departing players:

  • Most panelists pessimistic about key returns; nearly everyone agrees some core contributors are likely out.
  • Notably low confidence in keeping players like Brandon Garrison and Jalen Lowe. Most are uncertain about even promising underclassmen.

• Matt (on the exercise): "According to Ryan, we will have no players next year. According to Drew, we’ll have all the players. We’ll see which one ends up being correct." (17:41)

Mark Pope & Future Communication

• Panel agrees Coach Mark Pope needs to face the public honestly: "An hour of a real conversation. No beautifuls, no specials…You need to acknowledge that, you need to, like, okay, where do we go from here?" (11:06 - Matt)

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4. Culture, Administration & Fan Relations

Timestamps: 19:39 – 24:23

• Discussion of Iowa State’s players saying UK “would quit” when pressed and how some games this season supported that perception.
  • Drew: “That guy was kind of a villain…he chose violence in his comments.” (20:17)
• Fan Turnout & Administration Critique:
  • Matt: “This is slowly becoming a culmination of…a few years…of fan neglect by the administration…they’ve raised prices…gone away from the mission of giving fans what they want…” (22:20)
  • Drew: “CUTS, cuts, cuts…” in reference to UK president Eli Capilouto’s “future of athletics” video emphasizing revenue and expense control, not excitement. (23:27)

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5. "Irrelevant" Narrative & Media Backlash

Timestamps: 29:49 – 33:46

• Debate over whether Kentucky is “irrelevant” in modern college hoops.
  • Matt: “Everyone tuned in to watch us… We are not irrelevant. Now, are we good enough? No.” (30:58)
• Matt on media hot takes: “I became a symbol of what’s wrong with the media…All these dudes who work for, like, LonghornInYourFace37… Listen, you snot. I was doing this when you were a baby…” (25:20)

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6. The NIL Dilemma & UK’s Internal Dysfunction

Timestamps: 34:40 – 47:41

• Worrying NIL Comments: Jack Givens’ postgame remark that UK might not have the same NIL money next year deeply unsettles the crew.
  • Matt: “Maybe they’re trying to set us up for [the fact that] they’re not going to be able to go get these guys…” (36:27)
• Possibility of “running it back” with mostly the same roster, and the likelihood that UK won’t get the star power the fanbase craves.
• Drew: “If it’s just retention, I mean, you’re gonna lose your two best players.” (37:29)
• Broader worry that all parties (administration, athletic department, basketball office, and boosters) are now “pointing fingers at each other” rather than fixing problems.
  • Matt: “Everyone behind the scenes is pointing their fingers at each other... The only thing they can agree on is… the fault is you people, the media.” (45:01)
  • Matt: “They need to use this time with Mitch leaving to completely change how everything’s done, to quit having a centralized power structure of four people that make all the decisions and get into the modern age.” (45:57)

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7. Notable Quotes & Moments

• On in-game collapse:
  Matt: “A 35 point swing in 24 minutes…that’s kind of unbelievable.” (05:12)

• On Iowa State’s pressure:
  Matt: “Like, when before they started to do the pressure, our offense looked surprisingly good, but we couldn’t even get into it.” (07:13)

• On NIL & future spending:
  Matt: “Jack just kind of threw in offhand, ‘I don’t know if they were going to have the NIL to get players next year like we did this year.’” (35:22)

• On administration and fan apathy:
  Matt: “This is a culmination of a few years…of fan neglect by the administration…When Kentucky fans feel valued, they will show up…But if you take them for granted, as I think this university has done…” (22:20 - 23:27)

• On internal dysfunction:
  Matt: “Everyone behind the scenes is pointing their fingers at each other…The only thing they can agree on is…the fault is you people, the media.” (45:01)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Recap of Kentucky’s Loss, Emotional Reaction: 02:38 – 08:44
• Social Media/Arkansas Trolling: 08:29 – 10:41
• Roster Retention Game: 12:15 – 17:50
• Discussion on Iowa State’s “They’d Quit” Comments: 19:39 – 20:39
• Fan Engagement and UK Administration Critique: 22:20 – 24:23
• Debate on “Irrelevant” Claims and UK’s Public Image: 29:49 – 33:46
• Future, NIL, and Dysfunction in UK Athletics: 34:40 – 47:41

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Episode Flow & Tone

The conversation is direct, sometimes bleak, and piercingly honest about Kentucky basketball’s current standing—both on the court and administratively. The familiar KSR banter provides comic relief, but the dominant mood is one of concern and exasperation, especially about the lack of clear leadership and the cloudy NIL landscape.

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For listeners who have not heard the episode:

• You’ll gain insight into the emotional aftermath of a devastating UK loss, a realistic sense of how uncertainty permeates the program from the locker room to the boosters, and how current leadership and financial constraints threaten to push Kentucky basketball into uncharted, possibly mediocre, territory.
• The hosts balance humor with hard truths, holding the administration to account while empathizing with frustrated fans.

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This summary covers the hour’s main content and notable themes; it omits commercials, intros, outros, and reads that have no bearing on UK basketball or the hosts’ discussion.

Transcript

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U-S-T.com Spinquest is a free to play social casino void where prohibited. Visit spinquest.com for more details from YouTube and social media. Comedy Off Broadway in Lexington welcomes Josh Wolfe March 19th through the 21st. Then from late night TV and the Bob and Tom show, catch Nick Griffin March 26th through the 28th and don't miss New York comedy superstar and podcaster Mark Normand April 2nd through the 4th. For tickets to all Comedy Off Broadway shows, call 859271 or visit comedyoff broadway.com

[Matt Jones]

Comedy Off Broadway

[Cole Swindell]

this is Kentucky Sports Radio, presented by Stockton Mortgage. Now here's Matt Jones.

[Matt Jones]

Welcome, everyone. This is Kentucky Sports Radio. I am Matt Jones. It is Monday, March 23rd. Yeah, that's right. March kind of runs together, although unfortunately for Kentucky fans, it's now going to slow down. And the Clark's Puppet Shop phone line is 859-280-2287. We' your calls today to see kind of your thoughts on where things are a vision auto glass text machine. 772-774-5254. In this edition, sponsored by the TJ Smith Law Office, you call TJ. I'll make them pay. Ryan and Mario rolled into Lexington a little after midnight last night, listening to basketball all the way back on Westwood One and heard Florida get beat by Iowa, which was kind of exciting. And then other games that were got to hear the Johnny's Rick Patino go, but still sad about Kentucky's kind of miserable defeat at the hands of Iowa State. We spent a lot of time, we stopped in Mount Vernon, Illinois at the Buffalo Wild Wings and did the show. I this morning got to hear how loud that screaming baby was behind me. That baby was much louder over the air than I even realized. But then got home and, you know, now we're going to we start the next phase which is talking about what's next for the UK basketball program and the UK women play today at 5 o', clock, West Virginia. That's right. So we will talk a little bit about that. Drew is here. Drew didn't get to go on the trip because he selfishly is having a baby.

[Drew]

That's my bad guess.

[Matt Jones]

And so we haven't gotten to talk to him a lot about what's happened. Let's just talk about yesterday. Drew, what were your thoughts about what went down?

[Drew]

Like everyone else, extremely disappointed in how it ended. I never really saw Kentucky getting out of that weekend leading into the tournament. But after always Magic in round one and Iowa State having that major injury, I talked myself into a little bit of a run. You know, we saw I didn't really want to play Iowa State at all because that ball pressure, we saw what a nightmare that was. But I genuinely thought going in that game, Kentucky had a big chance. When I didn't believe that before because the opportunity that opened and then to go up 12 and then to lose by 19, like everyone listening just dumbfounded by how you could do that on that stage.

[Matt Jones]

You go back, we were up 12 with 8 with 8 minutes to go. Is that right? Or we know, up 12 with 12

[Drew]

minutes to go like 11 and change. I think.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah. So 12 minutes to go. We're up 12 with eight minutes to go. We were down 23.

[Drew]

It's crazy.

[Matt Jones]

So that means in a course of 24 minutes we lost by 35 points, which is kind of unbelievable. I mean but we've done that before in games. Not usually at the beginning, not in the middle, but a 35 point swing in 24 minutes is. Is. I don't want to say it's unprecedented because it has happened with us before

[Drew]

to a team without their best player.

[Matt Jones]

Without their best player. And it was. They made one, we, we made a couple substitutions and they made one adjustment and it was over. And it kind of felt like in some ways a fitting way. Ryan, for the season end, all year we've talked about substitution patterns, adjustments and giving up big runs and all those things showed themselves in this game.

[Shannon]

Yeah, that adjustment Iowa State made by going to trapping pressure as soon as we bring it across the mid court line, we could not handle it and did not handle it well at all. And they were start pushed us. Our offense was starting way out close to the three center court line. It was just. We had no answer for the play

[Matt Jones]

that sort of symbolized that was that play I think right at the end of the first half when Colin Chandler just crossed half court, picked up the ball and got double teamed.

[Shannon]

Yeah.

[Matt Jones]

And it was like they have decided that we cannot handle this. And I think I said at the game they were right. The only person who kind of could handle it a little bit was Aberdeen. But pretty much everyone else, the moment the trap came, they just panicked and it was chaos. It was like when little kids get the basketball and go give me the ball, give me the ball. And then they're take it, take it, take it away. That's kind of how it was.

[Drew]

Well, I wasn't going to use that analogy, but when I was watching it, I remembered when I played junior pro, I was on a Madisonville traveling team and we went to, we went to, I believe it was either Hopkinsville or Evansville. We played up a level. I could not bring the ball up the court. And that's when I knew basketball wasn't for me, just a little double team and I had nothing to do. I felt like I was watching my little junior pro team out there that couldn't even cross half.

[Matt Jones]

You do sometimes get that moment in sports where you're like, oh, that's what good is. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Mills were. I remember I got pretty good at tennis and then they made me play Seth Houser at Corbin.

[Shannon]

Oh, the Corbin guy, Seth Houser, yeah.

[Matt Jones]

And the first time he served, I was like, yeah, well, that's never getting. Because I could hit a lot. I could hit people that were better than me and I'd kind of dink it back and then out think them. And then with Seth Hauser, I was like, no, I don't even have a chance to think. It gets here too quickly. And I was like, well, there's the end of me being really good at tennis. I think that's. I was. Pressure made it seem like, okay, there's the end of us being able to run an offense because when before they started to do the pressure, our offense looked surprisingly really good, but we couldn't even get into it. They made it to where we couldn't even get into anything.

[Drew]

And we all wanted Chandler to hit threes right away. Bangs too. And that was the last of the scoring for the game.

[Matt Jones]

And then Aberdeen hits two and you go, we get a couple lucky bounces where we get like the ball falls in our hands and we get a layup and we're playing great. I thought we played great defense the entire first half. Like, even though we were behind at halftime, I thought our defense was excellent throughout the. But the offense just, just collapsed. So then we lose. And the question, I think going forward is less about this loss and like, how do we feel going going forward there we were driving and so I didn't see a lot of the. The post game online reaction, but I can just kind of guess that it was probably not the most positive thing in the world.

[Drew]

Wasn't pretty.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah. Well, why don't you. You. You would know more about that as

[Drew]

we moderate a message board. Had to delete a lot. I mean, Twitter is nasty, especially those accounts that don't have a face on them. You know, they can say whatever they want. It was just ugly. I thought a lot of it was disappointed. I was. I thought there was a lot of over the top stuff on there too.

[Matt Jones]

I was good to see that the Arkansas fans found my video again. I like that every time that, that that video is going to continue to exist. I. Arkansas fans now are in my mentions as much as Kentucky fans. Like, I. It was funny. While we were in. In. While we were in St. Louis, Mario gets a message. Shannon from DraftKings. Yeah, and DraftKings says, hey, we're going live in Arkansas on Friday. Would you like to make a video encouraging your fans in Arkansas to go on DraftKings? And I'm like, I don't think you want me to do that.

[Shannon]

You don't understand.

[Matt Jones]

I don't think that's gonna.

[Cole Swindell]

It'll get a reaction.

[Matt Jones]

I mean, it'll get a reaction. People will be angry. I think. I think you will lose subscriptions.

[Drew]

Yeah, I was in that group chat. It's kind of like, what are we doing, Mario? You can handle that one.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah. It's like, matt, send a message welcoming all the ar, all people to draft kings. I'm like, no. Any of the other states. Not that one.

[Drew]

The KSR website team was live on YouTube for the rapid reaction last night. And you can, like, donate a super chat. Donate money. An Arkansas fan donated a little bit of money and said, like, enjoy your trip home or something like that. I mean, they're even giving money to troll.

[Matt Jones]

There's a way for people to donate money to you. Yeah.

[Drew]

Like, if you want your question bumped, you can give 10 bucks. Some of them, you know, get a lot of money, but it rarely happens. But Arkansas fans were doing it.

[Matt Jones]

You see Ryan's eyes go, wait a minute, why aren't we doing that?

[Cole Swindell]

Ryan was doing that with the YouTube guy. Who was.

[Matt Jones]

That's how you did it with the YouTube stream.

[Shannon]

I want to see my name on the bottom of the screen. Shout out, thanks, buddy.

[Matt Jones]

Start investing in just getting $5 to say people's names. Well, all right, so now what? I guess Mark Pope said he wanted to have 24 hours to mourn. He was asked after, after the game by Tom Leach, what about the future? And he was like, we're not going to think about that tonight. We're going to mourn for 24 hours. So I guess that means by 5 o' clock we're going to think about the future, but we're not going to be on at five o'. Clock.

[Drew]

He will. He's got a show tonight.

[Shannon]

Yeah, one more coach show tonight he

[Drew]

probably would have loved. Are they interviewing between Sunday and Monday?

[Matt Jones]

Interviewing Brandon Stockton.

[Drew]

Like, what is the.

[Matt Jones]

No offense to Brandon Stockton, but you. I mean. So if I were in charge of media relations for uk, which I'm not, and if I had the authority, I think some of those folks at UK don't have, like, they're not allowed to do things they want to do. I would say, Mark, the best thing you could do is an hour of a real conversation. Right? No beautifuls, no specials. This is the state of Kentucky. Here's what went right. Here's what went wrong. It can't just be. We didn't get our full deck of playing cards. You got out coached. You need to acknowledge that. You need to, like, okay, where do we go from here? We need some encouragement. I hope that's what he does. I'm doubtful that's what he'll do, but I hope that. Well, wait a minute. Do we have the show because the women's team's playing.

[Shannon]

I was going to ask, are they

[Drew]

going to run it against team? I checked.

[Matt Jones]

They're putting it against the women's game.

[Drew]

Yeah, I checked with Billy when I got here.

[Matt Jones]

More. More PR greatness. Let's put the final coaches show up against the women's NCAA tournament game. Let's. Let's dilute both of them. That's great. All right. Well, regardless, I think that's probably what he should do. The first question, I guess, is, what does the roster look like? Which means what? Players are back. Season's over now, so we can give honest opinions. I want to. We're going to quickly go through. Percentage chance. They're playing for Kentucky next year.

[Drew]

Okay.

[Shannon]

All right, the Max Duffy game.

[Matt Jones]

Let's start with. Start with Colin Chandler. Percentage chance.

[Drew]

I will say 85.

[Shannon]

Yeah, 85.

[Matt Jones]

Shannon.

[Cole Swindell]

70.

[Matt Jones]

80 for me. All right, let's go. Malachi Moreno.

[Drew]

I'll run it back at 85. I like that spot.

[Matt Jones]

85. Okay, 50. Oh, he's negative about it all year. I've seen this in him all year. I'm going to go 75 because I just can't see them letting that local talent get away. But. But Ryan makes me worried because he knows all these people. He probably played grade school basketball with the, you know, the laundry guy. Great crossing. So, Shannon, I'll go 80. Okay. Cam Williams.

[Drew]

75.

[Shannon]

65.

[Cole Swindell]

Shane, 70.

[Matt Jones]

I was going to go 75. So Shane rides the lowest on all these people.

[Cole Swindell]

Just.

[Matt Jones]

Just for the.

[Cole Swindell]

Ryan doesn't think anybody's coming.

[Matt Jones]

Ryan thinks we're going to have no players next year. Okay. Diabate.

[Drew]

I feel pretty good about him, too. I'll put him. I'll say 75 for him.

[Shannon]

I'll go 45.

[Cole Swindell]

65.

[Matt Jones]

I'll go 50. I'm not as confident because I've heard no buzz about him returning, so it's hard for me to. Brandon Garrison.

[Drew]

Oh, boy. This is a wild card. Yeah, it is, because I know Pope still loves him, but, you know, a lot of the fans voted on him. I'll say 40 on Garrison.

[Shannon]

Yeah, 45.

[Cole Swindell]

Let's hope it's like 10 because he's the guy. I don't want back personally.

[Matt Jones]

Oh, man.

[Drew]

I would.

[Matt Jones]

BG time. AD had a BG time. I can't. Yeah, I want to put the number. I'm going to put the number at 25% just because of things I've heard. But I would be fine with him being back, but it has to be understanding. What are you talking BG time?

[Cole Swindell]

Yeah. What? One game out of how many?

[Matt Jones]

Hey, we lose that game.

[Drew]

Wait, it was twice in a week and a half in the postseason.

[Matt Jones]

G time, Right?

[Cole Swindell]

Yeah.

[Matt Jones]

Okay. Learn the words.

[Cole Swindell]

Enjoy your BG time.

[Matt Jones]

Jalen Lowe. Woo.

[Drew]

I have no idea what they're going to do with that spot. I'll say 20.

[Shannon]

Yeah. 25.

[Jack]

30.

[Cole Swindell]

30.

[Matt Jones]

Ms. A 20 because I think there's just been some chatter that, that, that. That he, Jaylen Lowe might be looking into his.

[Drew]

His comments, his media aren't great.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah. Trent.

[Cole Swindell]

I could see him being a Travis Perry type situation to where he ends up somewhere else. I want to go 20.

[Drew]

I'll say 70.

[Shannon]

40.

[Cole Swindell]

70.

[Matt Jones]

70.

[Drew]

I just think if it's up to Trent, he would stay. It's. What's Kentucky's role going to be for him?

[Matt Jones]

Yeah, I'm going to go 25.

[Shannon]

40.

[Matt Jones]

Okay. Who am I missing here?

[Drew]

Jasper.

[Matt Jones]

Jasper Ryan.

[Shannon]

One.

[Matt Jones]

One.

[Shannon]

Okay.

[Drew]

I'll also say one. I don't want to be too negative.

[Cole Swindell]

I guess I'll be the optimistic one and go ten.

[Matt Jones]

Three.

[Jack]

Wow.

[Drew]

It just didn't go well.

[Matt Jones]

I've tripled the chance of these two.

[Cole Swindell]

He did.

[Matt Jones]

There's three times as much of a chance for me. Shannon is.

[Cole Swindell]

I gave it 10 way off as much.

[Shannon]

He just needs a fresh start somewhere, I think, you know, and then.

[Matt Jones]

Is there anyone else? I think that's it. I mean, yellow.

[Shannon]

Oh, yeah. Yellow.

[Matt Jones]

Vich Hawthorne, by the way, I assume 100 if he. Like, I don't see any reason why he would.

[Shannon]

Yeah.

[Matt Jones]

Why is he. Why was he here if he did? But yes. Yellow Vich.

[Drew]

Oh, man. He seems to really like it. And honestly, he was. He's one of the favorite people to hear from in interviews. He's brutally honest. I love when he was like, no, fatigue is not an excuse. Or when he called out his teammates for being selfish.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah, I'm.

[Drew]

I'm rooting for him to come back. I. I'll say 50, but that could. Who knows with him? I don't know what Pope thinks of him.

[Shannon]

I go 40. It's kind of close to 50. 50, but I think it's the other way. I'll go 40.

[Cole Swindell]

I'll go 30. 30. 5. Somewhere around there.

[Matt Jones]

I'll go 25. I haven't heard any buzz that would suggest to me that he would be back.

[Drew]

So I'm clearly leaning on a lot of returns.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah. Tyrone Stokes

[Drew]

the Bill Self situation with

[Matt Jones]

the understanding that Bill Self kind of hinted at maybe retirement.

[Drew]

I'll still say 15.

[Shannon]

Yeah, 25.

[Cole Swindell]

25.

[Matt Jones]

I'm going to go 50 because I think what's going to happen is there's going to be a massive amount of pressure on Pope to really go for this. I think we're going to. I think there's a chance we get him. We vastly overpay. But we do it because we feel like we have to. That's my.

[Shannon]

They got to get somebody just for the perception.

[Matt Jones]

But it's also interesting, like a couple of these, like, all right, guys that come into Kansas, guys that committed to North Carolina, there's a top 10 player committed to North Carolina. Like, I wonder if one if they scored a scramble.

[Shannon]

You know that guy deep commits.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I have no idea. That world is not really my, my world anymore, but. All right. 859-280-2287 those are your predictions. According to Ryan, we will have no players next year. And according to Drew, we'll have all the players. We'll see which one, which one ends up being correct. We'll take a break. Be right back.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Tyler redick here from 2311 Racing. Another checkered flag for the books. Time to celebrate with Chumba. Jump [e-mail] let's Chumba.

[Matt Jones]

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[Ryan Seacrest]

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[Matt Jones]

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[Drew]

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[Matt Jones]

Welcome back Techy Sports Radio. All right, let me run through a few things that in postgame that I think are kind of interesting. What do you think about the Iowa State players saying that they knew, Ryan, that if they went on a run, Kentucky would quit?

[Shannon]

Not a good look when opposing player says that about your team. But I guess, you know, they probably looked at the Gonzaga game, maybe the Vanderbilt game and saw when they got down they did just kind of quit in those games.

[Matt Jones]

There were games this year where we came back.

[Shannon]

Yes.

[Matt Jones]

Which so I mean it was not consistent. But they, he said and you rarely hear players be this open. We thought they would quit and in this case I don't, I think, I don't think they quit exactly. But they certainly their effort went down for a period.

[Drew]

Yeah, that guy was kind of a villain. I watched his whole interview. He also said we weren't really sure if we wanted Santa Clara or Kentucky. We were good with either. And then he said it was fun watching Kentucky fans leave early. That was a nice bonus. Yeah. So he, he chose violence in his comments. But I do think they probably cherry picked games to watch because Kentucky did not quit. Tennessee, lsu, I mean we know all the big comebacks. So I didn't completely agree with his point.

[Matt Jones]

One person writes Matt I was at the, at the game. Part of what made me sad is we didn't have the usual Kentucky turnout. True. But it wasn't bad. I actually think the Kentucky Iowa State contingents were relatively the same. The difference was there were a lot of Purdue people. Yes. So that the, the stadium was a little more empty during our game because the Purdue people had kind of left, you know. But I would say Ketucking Iowa State had a about the same amount of people Maybe a little bit more Iowa State. It was definitely not the big Blue swarm we're used to on tv.

[Cole Swindell]

On tv, it sounded like it was all Iowa State fans.

[Matt Jones]

Well, that was because they were making all the shots and we weren't.

[Cole Swindell]

But, you know, there are a lot of them there.

[Shannon]

They. Despite all that happened where you're still got a chance to go into halftime up like six or seven points.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah, that was a huge. We talk about that in the post game show, that little play where. Well, first of all, I mean, we're going to talk about the game. The stat of the game is Denzel Aberdeen, 37 minutes played with him in the game, -5 with him out of the game, -14 in 37 minutes were -5 with Denzel Everdeen in 3 minutes without him were -14. That's one of the craziest stats I remember in basketball.

[Drew]

It really is. And then, you know, the moment they make that sub, everyone's like, well, they're probably going to go on a run and then not overrun.

[Matt Jones]

And same thing in the second half.

[Drew]

Yep.

[Matt Jones]

I mean, we were already down big when they took him out in the second half, but then we went down even more. I mean, that. That was huge. And then the stretch, we talked about where the ball falls in Malachi's hands, he drops it, trips, guy catches it, shoots a corner three. We should have been up six to eight at halftime. We're down one.

[Shannon]

Yeah, you know, you called it too. You said they're going to hit a shot and go up by one at halftime. And of course that you can just feel it.

[Matt Jones]

As far as the crowd, I'm going to say this to take up for the bbn, yes, it was less. And you know, it was less at the SEC tournament, but the university has to look itself in the face for this. This is slowly becoming a culmination of I think a few years really going back to Covid of fan neglect by the. By the administration. I don't blame Pope, actually. I really don't. I think he tries. You know, I did have some blame at the end of Cal for fan stuff, but really, I think at its courts, the administration, they. They've raised prices. They've also kind of gone away from the mission of giving fans what they want to protecting their ownership of things. You know, we'll talk like probably more later about Eli Capilouto, his video. But like, all he said was if you watch his video about let's talk about the future of UK athletics, it was, we have to earn more Revenue and cut expenses. Way to get people excited, Eli. Earn more revenue, cut more expenses. Go cats.

[Drew]

O C U T S Cuts, cuts, cuts.

[Matt Jones]

I mean, that's, you know, come on. Like, so there is a point then that you have this game and fans don't really believe we're necessarily going to win. And so I get it. When Kentucky fans are. Are valued, Kentucky fans show up. I go look at Mark Pope's press conference. Right? Just go look at anything. When Kentucky fans feel valued, they will show up like anybody else. But if you take them for granted, as I think this university has done for a number of years, and now the university needs fans more than ever for financial reasons. And there's a part of me going, you reap what you sow. You reap what you sow. And so different conversation. But that's kind of why. I know we didn't have our usual showing, but I actually. Ryan, don't blame fans. I get it.

[Shannon]

I'd get it. Also, I get. Goes way back to even what they did to the UK football fans 10 years ago.

[Matt Jones]

That was like in 2012.

[Shannon]

I think it all started right then. That's when it started.

[Drew]

Part of the reason St. Louis was hurt, too. And I talked to a lot of fans in Nashville. Three days off work in Nashville, playing Wednesday at noon, Thursday at noon, Friday at noon. They're like, I was invested as I could be. I can't make the trip to San Diego.

[Matt Jones]

And then we play Friday after already

[Drew]

doing the week before.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah, no, there's a little bit of that. And we treat the SEC tournament very seriously. I think if we'd been gone to Chicago, if we'd won, we would have

[Shannon]

had a bajillion, everybody getting excited again.

[Matt Jones]

So I do think there's. There. There's part of that as well. The other thing is, it's weird, Shannon, when I put a KSR kind of inside joke out there, and then the world that doesn't understand KSR gets involved.

[Cole Swindell]

Right.

[Matt Jones]

Because I tweeted that everyone knows I almost leave the game.

[Cole Swindell]

Yeah.

[Matt Jones]

Or do leave the game.

[Drew]

Almost usually.

[Matt Jones]

I usually leave. And then of course, people know about the referee incident. So I thought it would be funny because I did come close to wanting to yell at that referee. And I just thought it would be funny. I decided I had to leave the game because we were going to lose. So I was like, oh, I almost got so mad at the referee, I left. You know, I mean, I really was. I mean, I wasn't going to get kicked off a press row yelling at the referee, I just needed to leave the building because I was getting nervous. And I tweeted that out. And then I became a symbol of what's wrong with the media. Like, all these dudes. All these dudes who work for, like, longhorn in your face 37 are like, this is what's wrong with our profession. I want to be like, listen, you'll snot. I was doing this when you were a baby. Shut up. You know, the reason longhorn in your face 27 gets credentialed is because people like us fought for it. Which, of course, makes me sound old.

[Jack]

Right?

[Drew]

You walk so they could run.

[Matt Jones]

I walk. I got denied so you could get like. But they did. You know, that's what happens. All these people. I became like the symbol for fan, journalist. You know, one of our entities is still working, and some of these others aren't. But I hate when the media tries

[Drew]

to police other people. I don't know you. I don't work for you. I don't work with you.

[Matt Jones]

Sit down. We're not friends.

[Drew]

Never even met you.

[Matt Jones]

Why do you care what I'm wearing? Well, I mean, you look good.

[Drew]

No, the UK stuff, they complain about that.

[Matt Jones]

We'll take a break. Take your calls right after this.

[Ryan Seacrest]

TJ Smith, personal injury attorney. Call tj. He'll make him pay.

[Cole Swindell]

Now more of Kentucky Sports Radio presented by Stockton Mortgage. Here's Matt Jones.

[Matt Jones]

Welcome back. Techie Sports Radio. 859-280-2287. Text Machine, 772-774-5254. One person writes, Matt, would Drew leave a restaurant if his baby was as cranky as the one on the post game show?

[Drew]

Oh, yeah. That was wild. You all, when you first made the comment, I thought, Matt's probably a little harsh on a baby being there. And then I heard that first scream, and it actually, I had pretty good laugh. Listen to it. And it just continued the whole show. It sounded like you were giving your headset to the baby to scream to the listeners.

[Matt Jones]

And it was the bab. It was a lot. And it was fitting.

[Drew]

You were trying to have this big picture talk about Pope. You're in your serious tongue. And then Mario eating all the food, also laughed at that.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah, Mario, just wait till we start the show. Eat all our food.

[Cole Swindell]

You were doing a radio show.

[Matt Jones]

I know. So he was like, now's my time to eat all the food. One verse writes, Matt, do you agree with what Cal's been saying recently about coaches win games, administration win championships to Kentucky fans owe him an apology. No, on the second thing, I do agree with him on coaches win games, administrations win championships. But, but, but Cal has revisionist history about uk. He thinks he didn't win championships because of Mitch. I'm not saying Mitch gave the best support or not. Those two hated each other. They blame me. It's their relationship. All bad relationships are a two way street, right? KSR's, bad relationship with Cal. We deserve some of the blame. He does. I. I would argue he deserves more of it. But you know what? Whatever. But it's not. No one is innocent in those scenarios. But the team that lost to Oakland had everyone you could want. He had a elite college transfer. He had a. The number three pick in the draft. The number eight pick pick in the draft. A dude who went in the second round but played big minutes for the 76ers. He had the best recruiting. Like, come on, man. What else did you need on that team? Mitch Barnard ain't to blame for the fact that you couldn't stop a dude who plays at the YMCA from going off on you. That's not Mitch Barnharts that game and like that. Am I right about that? That ain't his fault.

[Shannon]

Got nothing to do with the AD or the administration.

[Matt Jones]

Come on now. In general, I agree with that. But I think he's used. He's taken this chance to take little jabs. Of course Mitch and I get it. That's him. That's who he is doing that. And that's fine. And that's between. You know, that's. My name's Paul and that's between y'.

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[Matt Jones]

But you didn't lose to Oakland because Mitch didn't get you in il. And part of the reason you didn't get in, I was you, sir. A lot of the people didn't want to give you money anymore, so. Jack. Go ahead, Jack.

[Jack]

More fells to observation. Not an observation. I found, and this was relevant to Indiana and Kentucky. I found an old magazine about two months ago on Sports Illustrated and there's a picture of an Indiana player and a Kentucky player going up for a rebound. On the COVID the Kentucky player is Charles Hurt. There's an insert of Bobby Knight and Joe hall and the headline is Kentucky College Basketball's Biggest War. Those two programs are totally irrelevant now.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah, you guys got to stop comparing us to Indiana. It's not totally. Indiana is not even Indian, doesn't even go to the tournament. We are not irrelevant, all right?

[Jack]

We're close. No, we're not.

[Matt Jones]

I mean, no, we're not. Why do you think that game was in CBS in a time slot with nothing else playing? Is it because we're irrelevant? Is it because you think everybody wanted to tune in to see Iowa State play? Now, are we winning? Are we winning? What?

[Jack]

They tuned in to watch Kentucky.

[Matt Jones]

Exactly. So we're not irrelevant.

[Jack]

Well, I think.

[Matt Jones]

I mean, you just answered your own question. They tuned in to watch us. We are not irrelevant. Now, are we good enough? No. Are we. Are we on the path that's towards downgrade? Yes. But you can't say we're irrelevant when you agree with me that people tuned in to watch us.

[Jack]

I think we're trying to. I'll clean this up. We're trying to pick nat crap out of pepper here. We're trying to find something positive. And I'll move on to this. I'll ask this to all of you. If something is absolutely inevitable in life, in your lives, it's absolutely inevitable. I know college collegiate sports deal strictly when contractual obligations. Why can't you cut ties?

[Matt Jones]

Well, but you. Because you're making an assumption, and I'm not saying you're wrong, but you're making. And you're coming to a conclusion because you're making an assumption not everyone would agree with. Your assumption is it's inevitable Mark Pope's going to fail. That's your assumption. Maybe you'll be right, but that's an assumption. That's not. That's not a conclusion. You don't know that. So that's why saying if I knew for certain, and I appreciate the call, if I felt like I felt for certain, Mark Stoops was not going to bring it back. So it's time to make a change. I'm not there yet with Mark Pope. Maybe you are and I. That's fine if you are. I'm not even saying you're wrong, but. But in order to say cut ties, you have to think it's inevitable he'll fail. And I'm just not there yet.

[Drew]

Drew and I don't have a lot of optimism in Mark Pope, but just for the school, as we're making cuts, we can't just keep paying buyout after buyout. You're paying Stoops. I know Pope's buyout isn't huge, but we're already got the Mitch thing. I mean, they're talking about being efficient. Yeah. When they're talking about being efficient, you can't just keep firing people and paying them lots of money. Now, if it doesn't work out, and they should never have been hired and that sits on someone else's shoulders who won't be working here anymore. But you can't just keep firing people over and over when it's not working.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah.

[Drew]

Not. Not after two years at least.

[Matt Jones]

I find it inevitable he's going to fail. Do you Shannon?

[Cole Swindell]

No. No. I mean this third year though is going to be make or break though if he comes.

[Matt Jones]

If we have another bad year, then it's inevitable.

[Cole Swindell]

Yeah. Yeah. But I'd give him. He's going to get one more year regardless of what we think. So he deserves one more year at least.

[Shannon]

I'm curious to see what we say two months from now after he's got his roster pretty much built for next season. How will we feel going into year?

[Matt Jones]

Well, I hope we all talk ourselves into it because if we don't, then that's really a bad thing.

[Drew]

We. We talked ourselves.

[Shannon]

We always do.

[Drew]

Zach Calzada and I'm not talking myself

[Matt Jones]

into a guy that like with Billy Gillespie like that's posing with roses in eighth grade. Michael Avery. I'm not doing that. I'm going to need for beating Ball State convincing my. You know here's one of the things that's kind of interesting that I want that we watch this weekend. Mark did a good job scouting players. We just didn't get them.

[Drew]

Oh the. The top five he went after would

[Matt Jones]

have been the best by the end of the year. Was playing well for ucla. The dude Shannon that hit the game winning shot against Florida we thought was.

[Jack]

Yeah.

[Drew]

What's his name for Guerres from where? Robert Morris.

[Matt Jones]

We got that looks like a lot we got. But we thought he were getting him. He hit the big shot.

[Drew]

I mean Scoop over here had us ready for Yaxel.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah. That was first team all American like

[Drew]

they look Wilkerson at Indiana.

[Matt Jones]

So we looked at the right guys. We just didn't get any.

[Cole Swindell]

We know who the good players are. We just can't get them to come play here.

[Matt Jones]

That's right.

[Drew]

Problem though, that goes to the point of clothes. You can find them, you can get them on the phone but you got them here.

[Matt Jones]

And the question is why don't they get here? Which gets to the hole. Is it UK jmi? Is it Pope? We don't really know but I kind of feel like we'll know in two months.

[Shannon]

I do too.

[Matt Jones]

And we'll find out. Mike. Go ahead. Mike.

[Jack]

So we're going to give him a third year. But how do you justify the poor evaluation of the talent they have and the amount of money that they spent on this team. How can you just give up that much money again?

[Matt Jones]

Well that's. But that's what Jack Given says that worries me. So I think the most worrisome thing that happened yesterday, maybe the most worrisome thing of the day was what Jack Givens said on the post game show. And it got little attention but Jack just kind of threw in offhand. I don't know if they were going to have the nil to get players next year like we did this year. They're going to have to make what they get work.

[Jack]

How?

[Matt Jones]

When I heard that we were in the car.

[Shannon]

Yeah.

[Matt Jones]

And I went, oh, he wouldn't have

[Shannon]

said that if he wasn't concerned about it.

[Matt Jones]

That was an interesting comment for a guy well connected to the program on the official post game show to say, yeah, and you pot, you combine. Jack Givens saying, I don't know if they're going to have the money. With Eli Capilouto saying, cuts, cuts, cuts, cuts. With Mark Pope saying, we gotta start getting guys who want to play for the front of the jersey. Maybe not just the biggest. You start to think are they not planning on spending money? So I appreciate the call. I am concerned about that. I do wonder like, you know that what none of those people said they're going to do whatever it takes. Jack saying that is important. I think and I think he's being. He wouldn't say it if he didn't believe it.

[Drew]

Right.

[Matt Jones]

But Ryan, that was maybe the thing when he said that I was like, oh, I've taken it as assumption they'll go get whoever they need to get. Maybe they're trying to set us up for. They're not going to be able to go get these guys.

[Shannon]

I think.

[Matt Jones]

Are we running this back?

[Shannon]

Kentucky fans have always been expecting. We just, we're Kentucky, we'll pay whatever we need to get these players. Just that what you just laid out right there doesn't sound like that's going to be in the plan.

[Matt Jones]

Sounds like always Yankees fans complain and Red Sox fans that they were used to go getting whoever they want and now they are all like, you know, trying to balance a budget.

[Jack]

Uh huh.

[Shannon]

Kind of what it sounds like.

[Matt Jones]

Kind of what it sounded like.

[Drew]

Well, we just did that percentage exercise and I was optimistic on returns. I wouldn't have said that five days ago. Jack's comment in the back of my head and Pope even said straight up, we have a lot of good young players. We got to start with retention. And that kind of thought, well, we're running this back.

[Matt Jones]

It's gonna be hard to get people excited with that. I mean we'll see. But that I did find that to be very even.

[Shannon]

Even if they do that, they still may need to make a big splash with somebody. They gotta go get somebody.

[Matt Jones]

But well we talked about not UTs.

[Drew]

We talked about not having much star power. I mean they won't have anything close to an O way if they're just return returning. I mean you're gonna lose.

[Matt Jones]

We're losing our two best players, right? Our two best players are gone. Stop overpaying for sunglasses if you're tired of buying expensive sunglasses only to lose or break them. You need Shady Rays, an independent American owned company started right here in Kentucky. Premium polarized shades for every activity. Running, fishing, biking, golfing, you name it. Every member of family can find their perfect pair. They got the best protection program industry with lost and broken replacements. So take on your next adventure. It's shady rays and shadyrays.com we'll take a break, take more calls.

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[Matt Jones]

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[Matt Jones]

Welcome back. Techie Sports Radio, 859-280-2287 Text Machine 772-774-52541 person writes. What do you think about Oscar Combs tweets? Well, I mean, when you lose Oscar, you know, part of it, Oscar really, really loves Mark Pope because they have a long relationship. So. So I think part of where Oscar comes from is Oscar is going to take up for Mark and if I. And so he's going, I think, to blame the administration more than, than Mark. At the same time, I'll never dismiss anything he says because he's seen more than, than any of us have. And he is, he went from, he went middle fingers up to the administration yesterday.

[Shannon]

Yes, he did.

[Matt Jones]

So for. So when people are like ksr, Matt, they're always negative. Like, go look at Oscar. Go, go. I mean, you think we're negative. Go look at Oscar. I get it though. I mean, his complaint is clearly a Barnhart complaint and a president complaint. He was mad. He's mad about the contract. He's mad about the 10 lifetime tickets. I'm shocked how many people are mad about the 10 lifetime tickets.

[Drew]

Yeah, I'm in that crowd. Those are expensive tickets.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah. And you could argue like how many people you need.

[Drew]

And if you, you would sell those, you're saying, let's be more efficient. Why are you giving away 10 lower level tickets that come with huge K fund donations and everything else.

[Matt Jones]

So would you be cool giving him.

[Drew]

Yes, that's fine. And also it says like, if he passes away, the family still gets him through his wife. Like, what. How long do you need 10 tickets?

[Matt Jones]

Ten's a lot, though. Like nobody knows 10 people, you know.

[Cole Swindell]

Yeah.

[Matt Jones]

Like I'm not taking, you know, hard it would be to organize 10 tickets to a game every game.

[Cole Swindell]

Yeah, I mean, we get it for the SEC tournament, but that's once a year.

[Matt Jones]

I know, but to say like you get 10 for the rest of your life.

[Cole Swindell]

Yeah. You don't have that many and you pay for those.

[Drew]

Yeah, stop paying for those.

[Matt Jones]

And he's not paying for them. I mean, I get it.

[Drew]

Those are expensive seats that could be sold to someone.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah, but we're on a budget cut.

[Drew]

That's right.

[Matt Jones]

So we need to give this guy who's leaving 2 million more dollars.

[Drew]

Be efficient, man.

[Matt Jones]

Because that way we can be efficient. It's very important in this new age to create new sources of revenue. The first one is to give Mitch $2 million. That will be very creative in revenue and generating.

[Drew]

But if you work for UK Athletics, don't you dare ask for a raise in the next year.

[Matt Jones]

Yes, because efficiency, by the way. Well, let's just make it 20 tickets. I get it, Brand. Go ahead, Brian.

[Mike]

Hey, Matt. You really got me worried about the nil. I think last night I was listening to you on the post game, and that was the most worrisome thing what you said about Jack Givens. When. When will we know if NIL is okay going forward?

[Matt Jones]

We don't know. We don't know because. And this goes to. One of my worries when we sort of sold the athletic department to. To a private company, basically, is that this stuff is not released. You know. Now UK has claimed, and I will take them at their word, that they will release everything the same way they would if it was under the public scrutiny rules. I. We will know that come those releases, which will start to come this summer, about budgets, et cetera. But we don't really know. And when questions are asked, we're told it's garbage and shut up.

[Drew]

And then only two or three people are mad.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah, I mean, so we don't know is the answer. I mean, so far we've asked just on the question of why did Mitch get the extra $2 million? Because. And other schools have done it. So, like, we don't know. So to answer your question, I'm not sure we will for sure know what the JMI commitment is, but the proof will have to be in the pudding. We'll just see what players we get come mid May.

[Mike]

So then my next question is, if, like, next year, Nate Oates, his contract drops down to an $8 million buyout, do you think if. Then he came in and saw that the JMI deal was bad, can we go to court or try to get JMI to get us out of the ground?

[Matt Jones]

I mean, that I have no idea because I don't know whether or not. I mean, I know the university feels like the deal is good, right? So I think it's very unlikely the university wants to end it. So I. I think for. I think JMI is not going anymore. So then the question of, is it good, is it bad, is Something we'll learn more about. We. We. There are. There's. And I appreciate the call. There's evidence that there's. There's some really good parts of it. There's. I think there's evidence that. I'm not sure how it works for our basketball program, but the proof's in the pudding. Like, look, if they go into portal season and they come out with a great roster, then no one's going to worry about it. If they don't. You know what? The thing is, this is part of what worries me. I mean, I got to be honest, it's so hard to know what to say in these scenarios because no matter what is said, there are people that get angry. So the only thing I can do is be honest. Everyone behind the scenes is pointing their fingers at each other. Right. They won't explicitly say it, but they're very much like, these problems are happening. Not our fault. Go look over there. And then you go over there and they go, not our fault. Go look over there. And the only thing they can agree on is they can all go, but really the fault is you people, the media. Well, yeah, but when the cameras aren't on, you guys tell us privately, it's other people's fault. So I don't know. I think it's a mess. I think the whole thing is a mess. I think there needs to be a rearrange. I think it's salvageable, but there needs to be a rearrangement. They need to use this time with Mitch leaving to completely change how everything's done, to quit having a centralized power structure of four people that make all the decisions and get into the modern age. Do you. Am I wrong?

[Shannon]

No. And I think you made the argument for the people that think they need to hire somebody from the outside for that position.

[Matt Jones]

I think there needs to be somebody. You need to do what companies do when they're failing, which is you bring in somebody that has no connection, anybody, and say, look at this and tell us what we're doing. Right.

[Shannon]

Yep.

[Matt Jones]

Because here's the problem. I've been doing this 20 years. The same people are in charge that were in charge 20 years ago. The same people in, like, every position now. It seems like natural attrition is going to start changing a lot of these things. They need somebody to come in that doesn't know who any of us are and come in and go, all right, this house is dysfunctional. How do we put it back in track? And here's the thing. Privately, everyone that doesn't have a platform all agrees with me. Talk to the rank and file, member of the athletics department, the basketball staff, the presidential office, not the big voices, but the secondary voices will all say, matt, you're exactly right. We need somebody to come in and restart this. But nobody can say it publicly because the loud voices just go. Nothing's wrong and media are bad and fans are unrealistic. But go talk to the people that work in it. They don't tell you that. Am I wrong?

[Shannon]

Not at all. We're just knuckleheads.

[Matt Jones]

We'll take a break, come back. Our number two SKSR how to have

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