2026-03-23- KSR - Hour 2

Summary

KSR Podcast – Hour 2 (March 23, 2026) Summary

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Episode Theme This episode of Kentucky Sports Radio, hosted by Matt Jones with co-hosts Ryan Lemon, Shannon, and Drew Franklin, focuses on dissecting the current frustration and malaise surrounding UK Athletics—particularly the basketball program—after another disappointing end to the season. The team reads and reacts to fan concerns, discusses the need for leadership change, the impact of recent tournament results, and opens the lines for rapid-fire listener opinions. The episode also touches on broader issues within UK sports culture, media access, and the student/fan experience.

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1. Setting the Scene: The Mood at UK Athletics

• Morale at an All-Time Low ([02:52–04:22])
  • Matt reads a text from a UK staffer: “The morale in the athletics department is the lowest it’s ever been.”
  • The panel discusses feeling “depressed” over the state of UK basketball and leadership.
  • With Athletic Director Mitch Barnhart departing, there’s concern over the incoming administration and hope for rejuvenation.

"Sometimes the only way you can have change is when you acknowledge when things are bad." — Matt Jones [03:35]

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2. NCAA Tournament Reactions & Broader College Basketball Chatter

• Rick Pitino and St. John’s ([04:39–05:47])

  • Drew confesses, “I am pulling for him [Pitino] to win it all. ... Be Duke in Washington, D.C., I bet!” [04:43]
  • The crew debates the coolness of the “Church Bells” nickname for a hero player.

• Florida’s Upset Loss, Coaching Styles

  • General relief at Florida’s exit; conversation shifts to fiery coaching personalities and sportsmanship ([06:10–07:03]).
  • Shannon: “I even like when he tells opposing fans to sit down, shut up. ... But he is getting a little too much.” [06:52]

• Cinderella Runs & Fan Engagement

  • Brief admiration for underdog coaches, teams like Nebraska generating big fan turnouts.

• Bracket Banter & Ryan’s Success

  • Ryan Lemon boasts a 99.5-percentile bracket filled out “in like three minutes.” [08:11–08:24]
  • Group marvels at the unpredictability of March, perfect brackets, and collective disappointment.

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3. Callers Highlight Longstanding Institutional Issues

Multiple call-in segments allow fans to vent and share perspectives:

• Student & Player Experience, Fan Atmosphere ([09:26–13:58])

  • Mark details how Kentucky’s current athletic/fan culture turns off recruits: lack of student engagement, poor nightlife, overly restrictive policies, and a sense of isolation among players.
  • Matt critiques UK’s “money-first mindset,” giving the example of Mario (a media figure popular with students) being repeatedly obstructed by UK officials:
    • "They just constantly are trying to stop him from doing something that ultimately helps them." [12:11]
    • Tight control over logos/merch has hurt the brand and fan access.
  • Shannon: “I can go to the Super Bowl and get better access than you will give me at a UK scrimmage.” [14:17]

• Media Access, Comparisons ([15:08–15:42])

  • Kentucky’s insularity is contrasted with other programs’ open-door policies—even Louisville grants better media access.
  • Fans and hosts agree the “keep everything internal” approach is damaging.

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4. NIL, External Perceptions & Pope’s First Two Years

• NIL Complexity and Outsider Critiques ([16:07–17:35])
  • Caller Jay asks Matt to clarify NIL realities and their ripple effects.
  • Matt: "I will do it... I’m trying to be fair because I don’t want to blame things without really knowing." [16:57]
  • Pushback against national sports media dictating fan expectations, insisting Kentucky is simply “different.”

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5. Institutional Disconnect: Students, Fans, and Leadership

• Blame Deflected from Students ([20:47–22:58])
  • Matt defends students from accusations of apathy: “You have to make the student like you got to help... When they bring fun signs, they have them take them from them.”
  • Events not run by UK Athletics (“KSR pregame parties”) are noted for being much more enjoyable and well-attended than official university events.

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6. Rapid-Fire Fan Opinions: "30 Seconds" Segments ([23:09–27:29] and [33:44–36:11])

Notable Calls and Quotes:

• Curtis: “Mark Pope is a great person. He ought to be a youth minister, not a coach.” [23:19]
• Chris: “I think Pope deserves a mulligan… We lost our starting point guard and that’s it.” [24:22]
• Debbie: “Capilouto’s new slogan should be 'Touch Money.'” [35:30]
• BP: "Mark Pope is a good dude. He could date my daughter. He can take my wife on a date. But 46 and 26 in two years at UK is not acceptable." [36:00]

General Themes:

• Widespread frustration with lack of accountability and excitement.
• Some callers urge patience with Mark Pope, noting injuries and needing more time.
• Multiple people emphasize that leadership’s focus on revenue is undermining tradition, fan experience, and winning culture.
• Discussion of “messaging control” from UK Athletics and attempts to communicate around the institutional media.

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7. Communication, Leaks, and Institutional Control of Narrative ([30:09–32:51], [36:59–39:31])

• Caly-Style Leaks vs. Silence
  • Matt reminisces about John Calipari’s willingness to work backchannels to get his narrative out.
  • "Part of a well run organization is understanding you have to get stuff out to the public. This has become so shut off. ... Silence leads to the void filled by rumor." [30:28]
  • New UK administration is “planning to control their info” even more tightly, mostly through internal channels—an idea Matt derides as “horrible.” [37:20–38:20]

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8. Breaking News: Dwayne Peavy Extends at DePaul ([42:44–43:35])

• Matt regrets missing the chance to bring back Dwayne Peavy as Kentucky’s AD: “He must have thought that he was not going to be considered for this job or maybe they caught who knows… I think he would have been really good.” [43:35]
• Skepticism over UK’s “listening tour” and whether fan base voices—especially regular fans—are truly being heard. [43:50–44:26]

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9. Final Listener Rapid Fire & Closing Thoughts ([45:40–49:47])

• Brandon: “For all the callers saying fire Pope. He’s not going anywhere. ... The last guy used to talk down to us. We gave him a grace period..." [45:45]

• Terry: “I was born August 28, 1962...UK fans, check your sense of entitlement at the door.” [46:20]

• Martin: “The athletic department only cares about one thing and that's money. ... You forget about all the things that got you to where you are.” [47:01]

• Hosts Preview Women's Basketball Matchup ([47:49–49:47])

  • Panel expresses optimism for Kentucky’s women’s basketball in the NCAA tournament game vs. West Virginia.
  • "They’re going to keep March alive for all of us.” — Shannon [49:05]
  • Discussion of local folklore and pride (“Battle of Appalachia”) to close out.

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Notable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• “Sometimes the only way you can have change is when you acknowledge when things are bad.” — Matt Jones [03:35]
• “If you walk on campus with Mario...The amount of hassle over the years UK has given Mario when he tries to do things at games with students is crazy to me.” — Matt Jones [12:11]
• "I can go to the Super Bowl and get better access than you will give me at a UK scrimmage." — Shannon [14:17]
• "You have to make the student like you got to help...when they try to bring in fun signs or do something, they have them take them from them." — Matt Jones [21:03]
• “Mark Pope is a great person. He ought to be a youth minister, not a coach.” — Curtis (caller) [23:19]
• "The athletic department only cares about one thing and that's money. ... You forget about all the things that got you to where you are." — Martin (caller) [47:01]
• "I think he [Dwayne Peavy] would have been perfect but ... maybe they thought he wasn't going to be considered for this job." — Matt Jones [43:35]

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Key Takeaways

• UK Athletics Leadership in Flux: There is a consensus among hosts and listeners that major change is necessary; fans are wary but hopeful about post-Barnhart leadership.
• Fan & Student Experience Faltering: The atmosphere at Rupp Arena and the broader fan experience is suffering from top-down decisions prioritizing revenue, not engagement or tradition.
• Communication Breakdown: UK’s increasing insularity and attempts to “control the narrative” via internal channels are called “horrible”—open, honest communication and transparency are demanded.
• Mixed Patience with Mark Pope: Some fans want to move on quickly; others insist he deserves more time, especially given injuries and roster churn.
• Disconnection with Grassroots Voices: There’s skepticism that university “listening tours” capture regular fan perspectives or only those of elites.
• Callers Reflect a Broad Spectrum: From calls to fire the coach to reminders about UK’s historic entitlement, the tone is passionate, critical, but often grounded in love for the institution.

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This episode is a window into the current state of Kentucky sports fandom—a mix of exasperation, institutional critique, a hunger for authenticity, and a hope that someone, somewhere, inside the athletic department is paying attention.

Transcript

[Matt Jones]

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[Matt Jones]

welcome to hour two of Kentucky Sports Radio presented by Stockton Mortgage.

[Shannon]

Now here's Matt Jones.

[Matt Jones]

Welcome back. Hour number two, Techie Sports Radio 859-2802 Text Machine 772-7745-2541 One person writes, Matt, this show is a little bit depressing. Nothing you guys have done, it just feels like the facts are depressing. They are. I mean, they are. Like this is what happens at the end of every year that doesn't go as you want. Like, you know, it's hard to be happy, go lucky when things are not happy or lucky. So. But I mean, we'll get over it. We'll keep going. You know, I don't, I don't want. This show is not going to just turn into a bitch and moan fest. I don't think people want to hear that. But it's also, I think important for people to understand the issues at play. You know, I got a text message during the break from someone who works at UK who said to me, matt, keep up with what you're doing. The morale in the athletics department is the lowest it's ever been and I think that's right now. Part of that is there are loyal people to Mitch Barnhart. Kind of sad to see that he's leaving. There are people who worry that forces within the university that will be more negative are going to start running things. And then there are just those who just kind of don't like what's going on. But sometimes the only way you can have change is when you acknowledge when things are bad. And because Mitch is leaving, there's going to be a change. So let's just hope it's a good one.

[Ryan Lemon]

Yep.

[Shannon]

And as you all said, we need someone with some, some juice in here and some excitement and want to try some new things. Mitch was a big reactor to everything. That's how we fell behind in nil, which I think hurt Stoops and Cal, whoever's next, I hope they come in with some ideas and trying some new stuff and try to get this place to having fun, having some success again.

[Matt Jones]

Let's talk a little non UK stuff from the tournament real quick. You happy for Ricky Pitino?

[Drew Franklin]

I actually, I am. I can't believe I've switched to flip the switch like I have with him. But I am not only for him, I am pulling for him to win it all. Now, come on. He's got to be Duke. Be duke in Washington D.C. i bet

[Matt Jones]

the guy getting didn't make a shot the whole game and gets the winning layup and they call him Church Bells.

[Drew Franklin]

Called his own number like he went to Patino. Wanted to make the call. That play for me. I made a shot all game, but I'll hit this one.

[Matt Jones]

You like the nickname Church Bells? Love it. Yeah, I don't know how you get that, but I love the nickname. I don't either. Love Patino saying that he wants to get a buzzer beater over Duke next

[Shannon]

week so he can.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah, I've got it. I'm. I'm pulling for St. John's I'm. I'm even thinking about going that Friday.

[Drew Franklin]

Are you really?

[Matt Jones]

Well, I mean think about it. That's a final Four in Washington D.C. no doubt. Duke and Patino, Yukon and Michigan State.

[Ryan Lemon]

Awesome.

[Matt Jones]

I mean that's better than what the final four will be, won't it?

[Shannon]

Sure it will.

[Matt Jones]

Like that's all like when you're going to get four coaches. I mean Shire's new in his career but when are you going to get four coaches like that in one building?

[Drew Franklin]

It is. That's a final four. It'll be a better setting than the final four. You should go if you have a chance.

[Matt Jones]

I mean I don't know if they'll credential me but I'm going to go. I'm going to go. Shannon Matt Jones ESPN RADIO and they're going to be like what are you doing for ESPN Radio here? Well, nothing. But you know what? Don't ask, don't tell. Those four letters will get you anywhere. Yeah. Yes.

[Shannon]

No, I will be crazy. I liked I was rooting for Rick A. I don't want Kansas to have any success and I have them beating Duke in my bracket. But my favorite moment of that game is when they made the buzzer beater. Rick, just don't cold watch towards the.

[Matt Jones]

I don't get that man. Like everybody was like look what he doesn't get excited man. You got to at least now he did pump his fist after like yeah. What about. What about Florida losing? Happy.

[Drew Franklin]

Very happy. Yes. Because I don't you know Todd golden is not no snot head.

[Matt Jones]

I thought Ben McCollum and he might go to blows there a lot of

[Shannon]

F bombs going their way. I thought Hurley. Mick Cronin would be the one to watch. Those two were going at it more than does he.

[Matt Jones]

Unlike Todd Golden. Like anyone for Florida to lose. You like him.

[Shannon]

He is getting a little over the top, though. He's getting into Hurley territory, which I think is too much.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah. I mean, he's. I do think you got to slow down a little bit. He's like. He's losing him a little bit, everybody.

[Ryan Lemon]

Yeah.

[Shannon]

I like the fire and I even like when he tells opposing fans to sit down, shut up. I like having a villain. But he is getting a little too much.

[Matt Jones]

It'll be an interesting year for him next year because he's going to lose that core group that has been there the last two years.

[Drew Franklin]

But to lose in Tampa as a number one seed, that was a big loss for Florida.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah. How about Iowa, by the way? That Guy was a D2 coach like two years ago, but he said he won a D2 title on a D2 title, then went to Drake, had a good couple of years there. And then. And then this is first year at Iowa, I think. Yeah.

[Shannon]

And as good as Florida's front court is, we figured that back court would eventually get him and Lee not the best. I mean, even if they had it off that pass, I don't think there was enough time for Halk to laid up. I mean, he just dribbled to the baseline and lost time.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah. So that. So that, you know, that's. That. That's good that we listened a little bit to the Yukon thing. Are you for Nebraska, Shannon? Having never won a tournament game. They. They say they may have 40, 000 people in Houston next. They had so many people at that Vandy game, it felt like they were playing the game at Nebraska's home court. But. Yeah. Yeah. What about. What about that shot did you think it was. It was halfway. It was halfway down. It was almost another always shot that Tanner

[Drew Franklin]

kept it from going.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah, I guess I'll pull for Nebraska. Can we also note Ryan Lemon is in the 99.5 percentile on brackets

[Shannon]

all over here.

[Drew Franklin]

I filled it out in like three minutes. Maybe.

[Matt Jones]

That's what.

[Drew Franklin]

That's the.

[Matt Jones]

I think the thing with you.

[Drew Franklin]

Yeah.

[Matt Jones]

Don't think.

[Drew Franklin]

Don't.

[Matt Jones]

Don't think, don't think.

[Drew Franklin]

Just fill it out.

[Matt Jones]

Natural brain.

[Ryan Lemon]

Yeah.

[Matt Jones]

Remember I tell you, don't try to be funny.

[Drew Franklin]

Natural brain.

[Matt Jones]

Don't try to think.

[Drew Franklin]

What's my other brain cough. It's not natural.

[Matt Jones]

Whatever comes out of your mouth, usually just natural brain.

[Drew Franklin]

Natural brain.

[Matt Jones]

Is your.

[Shannon]

Is your Final Four, like, still alive. Do you have a chance to go on a.

[Matt Jones]

Okay, so he's got a chance to, like. He's like, on our ESPN people contest, it's like, 100 different ESPN personalities. You would be in first.

[Shannon]

What?

[Matt Jones]

Yes.

[Drew Franklin]

Why did I enter that contest?

[Matt Jones]

Yeah. I don't know. Too late. There's one perfect bracket on that bracket challenge on espn.

[Shannon]

There's one still perfect.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah, one. One guy still left. It's pretty impressive. If you're still perfect, you'd have a chance. How bad do you want Arizona to be Arkansas.

[Drew Franklin]

I am all in on Arkansas.

[Matt Jones]

What?

[Drew Franklin]

I'm all in on Arizona.

[Ryan Lemon]

There we go.

[Shannon]

That brain.

[Matt Jones]

Let me try it again. I tried to give you a compliment, and then that's what you did.

[Drew Franklin]

That's the Ryan Lemon.

[Matt Jones]

Go to Mark. Go ahead, Mark.

[Ryan Lemon]

Good morning, gentlemen.

[Matt Jones]

Good morning.

[Ryan Lemon]

Church Bells only plays on Sunday. That's the nickname.

[Matt Jones]

Oh, okay. Church Bells only play on Sunday. I like that. Okay, gotcha.

[Ryan Lemon]

So that's the nickname. But talking about UK basketball and what's going on and some stuff. Just had some conversations with some people, and, you know, the kids are kind of frustrated. A lot of them want to go to Duke because of the experience in Kansas. Because the experience and what they're talking about is, you know, when you play in Rub, we got the eruption zone, and that's really it. And then you got the eruption zone, which is on our end in the final, in the second half.

[Matt Jones]

Yes.

[Ryan Lemon]

They can't go out and do anything because everybody knows who they are, and they're all under 21, so they can't go anywhere and do anything and, you know, get into a little bit of trouble. So we're having to pay these guys a lot more money to come here. And then the other thing is nobody's back at Wildcat Lodge, so they're not together anymore. Except for basketball practice. Kind of like a high school team, you know, at basketball practice, when they see him at school, they're there, but they're not together.

[Matt Jones]

No, they're not. They're not.

[Ryan Lemon]

They were up to about three or four years ago. They were together.

[Matt Jones]

And this is all part of.

[Ryan Lemon]

Around.

[Matt Jones]

Go ahead.

[Ryan Lemon]

Go ahead.

[Matt Jones]

No, that was gonna say the. The whole point of. The whole point of what I'm talking about, about the overall leadership is no one has taken the things you're talking about seriously. Like, no one has really sat and thought about, how do I make RUP arena better? Like, how do I make it to where that environment, A, is inviting to fans, B, is Makes players want to come here. The question has always been, how much money can we make? Like, that's been the question. And I. And when I. And when I hear Eli Capilouto say cuts more revenue, that's, you know, that is all the part and parcel of. Of make money and that. And I think that gets to what you're saying.

[Ryan Lemon]

Build your own gym. You control the revenue that way.

[Matt Jones]

You do. That's true. And you could build it the way you wanted. I appreciate the call. You know, these are. These are little things. Okay. And. And I use them as an example. Not so not to complain. I know it sounds like it. But to just give you an example, let's take Mario. Mario has a big social media following. If you. If you walk on campus with Mario, if we go to a game, the second most known media member probably besides me, is Mario. Yeah. With the younger people.

[Drew Franklin]

Oh, no doubt.

[Matt Jones]

All right. The amount of hassle over the years UK has given Mario when he tries to do things at games with students is crazy to me. You have one media member in this entire state who relates to the students and who the students like. They have kicked him out of the gym before, escorted him out once, which they did apologize for, but it was ridiculous. They just do. They. They just constantly are trying to stop him from doing something that ultimately helps them. It helps the university. But all they see is we own everything that happens in this building. Mario is cursed, costing us money. Get Mario out. Instead of going, we've got this dude who gets our students involved. Why? Because they don't think like that. They just think, money, money, money, money, money. And the key to money is keep everyone. Everyone should make no dollar unless it's us. And that's a terrible mindset, and I see it with him, but it applies to a million other things. Why are we watching all these commercials during March Madness and the Kentucky logo is not anywhere? Because we ask for more money than these other schools, and these other schools get the benefit of Duke and UConn being on every commercial. There's value in that.

[Drew Franklin]

Of course there is.

[Matt Jones]

There's value in kids. A lot of kids, the only time they watch college basketball is the NCAA tournament. And if you watch it during the NCAA tournament, you think Duke and UConn are the place to be because they're in every commercial. Yep. And we're sitting there going, we're gonna need $150,000 to use your. Like this.

[Ryan Lemon]

It.

[Matt Jones]

All the chickens come home to roost after a while.

[Shannon]

Yep. And I've brought this up for a while and it's gotten better. But there are several years where I go to websites with hats or T shirts. They have all the colleges and I've DM them like, hey, you gonna get Kentucky stuff? Probably not. They're the hardest school to work with. It's like you got 110 schools, but not Kentucky. That's improved a little, but that was

[Matt Jones]

a problem for a long time. Merchandise people will tell you Kentucky is the hardest school to work with in the country. And that's why, again, it's gotten better. But it's been hard to get those cool, like, throwback or retro things because we wouldn't do it. And again, I hope that is a change. But all of those are like little things that showcase. I said to one of the UK media people, I can go to the super bowl and get better access than you will give me at a UK scrimmage.

[Drew Franklin]

Facts.

[Matt Jones]

Crazy. That's crazy to me that you guys like Ryan and Shannon didn't get credentialed for the SEC tournament, and they and Ryan sat next to the scorekeeper at the NCAA tournament. What is wrong with you people? But that's just how they look at it.

[Shannon]

On three. Brought a bunch of all, like, all their websites to Nashville last year, and we had a big dinner and you had to sit with people you didn't know. So I sat with the Florida site, the Alabama site, and they're talking about going to practices. And I was like, I haven't been to a practice in five years. Like, what do you mean you don't get to go to a practice?

[Matt Jones]

They invite Pat Kelsey invited me. Shannon to a Louisville practice? Yeah. That's unbelievable. I want you to think about that. Pat Kelsey was like, man, you ought to come watch us practice sometime. We can't even get to a Kentucky practice. What? That's crazy. Jay and Lyndon, go ahead,

[Ryan Lemon]

shout out.

[Matt Jones]

Mario. Hey, Todd golden is your buddy in college. It starts fights and disappears when something goes. That's a really good call. You're right. Hey, I got two quick things, and I got a favorite ask of you. First. I'm sick of the national media expectations. Or too. I agree. And Matt, you touched on this. I don't know if you have any insight in this. The difference in Pope's interviews this year compared to last year are so stark. Last year I thought he was the smartest guy on the planet. It's like a hostage situation. This year, it does feel like that. I Jay, I just go watch the videos of Mark Pope during the season in post game press conferences last year. But this year it's like there's two different people. Here's my favor. I want you this summer to do a podcast on NIL and its whole relationship. I follow stuff and I don't even understand it, man. Yeah, I will. I will. I'm trying to be fair. I'll be honest and I appreciate the call. I'm trying to be fair to an entity in JMI that really isn't fair to me. I'm trying to be fair because I don't want to blame things without really knowing. And I'm spending this spring after this portal season trying to learn so that when I say something, I'm educated completely on it. But I will do that. We need to do it. And on the national media part, I don't want to hear anyone that's not a Kentucky fan tell me what Kentucky fans should expect.

[Ryan Lemon]

Right?

[Matt Jones]

I don't care. Like the quote from the CBS guy. Kentucky fans need. Just shut up. You don't know. I don't tell North Carolina fans what to expect. I don't need people telling Kentucky fans what they should want. That dude's probably never even been on uk. Like, stop it.

[Shannon]

Yeah, I mean it's different here. We inherited this.

[Ryan Lemon]

It's.

[Shannon]

It's our lives here.

[Matt Jones]

We'll decide how we listen to any Kentucky fans opinion about expectations. I'm not listening to the guy who has no connection to it. Big news for our listeners in North Carolina. Your team lost but cornbreads award winning seltzers are on the shelves. Raspberry limeade, Blueberry breeze, peach tea which Ryan stole four of them from my house. Go to cornbread hemp.com it's cornbread hemp.com and get yourself rest and relaxation with Cornbread Hemp. Cornbread Hemp grown for the good life. We'll take a break. Be right back. Liberty Mutual customizes your car and home insurance. And now we're customizing this ad for your morning commute to wake you up, which could help your driving. Science says that stimulating the brain increases alertness. So here's a pop quiz. How many months have 28 days. What gets wetter as it dries? What has keys but can't open? Locks. If you don't want to hear the answers, turn off this Liberty mutual ad now. 12 months. A towel piano.

[Shannon]

Enjoy being fully alert.

[Ryan Lemon]

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[Drew Franklin]

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[Ryan Lemon]

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[Matt Jones]

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[Malcolm Gladwell]

Hello. I'm Malcolm Gladwell, host of Smart Talks with IBM. I recently spoke with IBM's new director of Research, Jake Ambeda. We discussed his vision for the future of quantum computing at IBM Research. What we always do is answer what is the future of computing? Whether it's coming up with new algorithms, coming up with better AI, coming up with Quantum, or coming up with just how do different accelerators go together. It's our DNA to answer the question of what is the future. Isn't it a perfect problem for IBM because you kind of need to have a legacy of building stuff. Yes. Building actual physical machines. Yeah. It's why I came to IBM. I wanted the experience, the culture of building hard things that others have not done before. Where do you imagine we are in the timeline of this technology? There will come a point when it will mature, right? Yeah. My cell phone is a mature technology at this point. How far are we from that point with Quantum, by 2029 we'll build the first fault tolerant Quantum computer that is one that can run a very, very large, large problem. To learn how IBM is building the future of computing, visit IBM.com quantum.

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[Matt Jones]

Welcome back Techie Sports Radio. 859-280-2287 Text Machine 772-7745254 Folks writing in a lot of interesting comments actually of people who with their own personal experiences. One set Merson says Matt, I blame a lot of our environment on our students. Our students are not very into it. I'll take up for the students. Our students are fine. The qu. The issue is not the students. You have to make the student like you got to help. Like complaining about the students is sort of like I listened to Pope twice during this last weekend complain about modern media. Okay, maybe you have a point, maybe you don't. But like this is the world you're in. So the question is how do you best utilize it? Right. Our students are like all college students. Are they distracted by their phones? Sure. But you know what? These other schools have students distracted by their phones, and they got great environments. So what do they do? Right. Right. We stick our students in a little pin right behind the bench. We don't. We put the rest of them in these corner seats, and then we don't really do any. And when they try to bring in fun signs or do something, they have them take them from them. Right. What do you expect? I mean, like, you. You ask that you make that job hard to be a student fan, then you're not going to get the reaction. All I know is when we get away from Rub and we get away from what UK Athletics controls, we actually have some pretty damn good environments.

[Shannon]

Bridgestone Arena.

[Matt Jones]

I know.

[Shannon]

Got killed there.

[Matt Jones]

The moment we get away from you all being in charge, we're good. Right? Y' all didn't have much time to have that Pope press conference. Pretty awesome, right? When KSR goes places, we have no problem getting crowds. We have no problem having raucous environments. You know, again, no offense. Go to an official B. Kentucky pregame pep rally. I'm seriously. Just do this sometime. Come to the SEC tournament, come to the KSR pregame show, and then walk down the street and go to the official UK pep rally and tell me which one's more fun.

[Drew Franklin]

Not even close. Not even close.

[Matt Jones]

Not even close. The one in St. Louis. God love them, but what are you doing? You have a basketball goal. Little children playing and, like, two horns.

[Shannon]

French horns. What kind of horns we talking here?

[Matt Jones]

You know, so this is all part of. You got engaged with the fans. Curtis, go ahead. Curtis.

[Ryan Lemon]

Yes, sir. Yesterday was probably one of the most horrible defeats we've had since we lost to Wisconsin and whenever. That was 2016. But Mark Pope is a great person. He ought to be a youth minister, not a coach. He's not going to get any better. If he hadn't played at Kentucky, if he played at Valpo or Purdue and won a championship, he wouldn't be back next year. And we're just going to keep him. It's. It's horrible.

[Matt Jones]

Well, I appreciate the call. Let's do this. It's Curtis. I. We let Curtis do that. I got a bunch of people on here. Let's go through here. And I'll do. You get 30 seconds to say what you think about this without Matt Jones or Ryan Lemon or Drew Franklin. Like, it just. You can just say it unless I have to cut you off because of whatever. All right, let's do this. Shannon, you ready? Let's go. 30. You get the clock for each of these people.

[Ryan Lemon]

Okay.

[Matt Jones]

Ready, Chris, Go.

[Ryan Lemon]

Okay, everybody calm down in the state. I don't think the media covered this enough, guys. And that last caller was a perfect example. Take Caleb. Will take Caleb. Take Caleb Williams off in North Carolina. Take Condor off of Florida. Acquaintance we forget was a potential lottery pick. So we've got to look back and say what teams could have performed. I think Polk deserves a mulligan. I mean, we lost our starting point guard and that's it.

[Matt Jones]

One person might respond. Iowa State lost their best player and just be by 20. But I'm not doing that.

[Drew Franklin]

You're going to give everybody their time.

[Matt Jones]

We're just going to give everybody their time. Yes, David. Go, David. 30 seconds. All right.

[Ryan Lemon]

Very frustrating.

[Matt Jones]

Okay. Go, David.

[Ryan Lemon]

Okay, I just want to say I'm very frustrated with Pope, and I don't know if he's the guy I will give him next year, but if he doesn't improve next year, he's out. He should be out.

[Matt Jones]

All right, David. There you go. Denise, go. 30 seconds.

[Ryan Lemon]

Hey. I agree with it. The university needs to take a look and look up. If you don't change, you get stagnant and you die. And as far as Mark Pope, he's a great guy, but we rushed. We rushed to choose a coach. Just because you're a basketball player and you win a national championship does not make you qualified to coach basketball. And there was no excitement in that game yesterday, not by our Wildcats. No excitement.

[Matt Jones]

Mike. Go, Mike.

[Ryan Lemon]

I have never been as most force frustrated in the world. There's no accountability. There's, you know, players doing. I mean, 20 turnovers. Mark Post, standing on the sidelines, I didn't see any. Any emotion in him. I didn't see any coaching in him. I saw him trying to be a cheerleader. Even times we were. But what those. What those players need is accountability. And they need. They need to. When they do something wrong, they need someone to get in their face and hold them accountable for it. He's not the guy.

[Matt Jones]

Joe.

[Ryan Lemon]

Matt. Mama Stokes, we love you. You don't want to go to Kansas on an airplane. Come to Lexington. You can drive. And quickly. Matt. I am a liberal athletic director. I am ready for a liberal athletic director. Thank you. Goodbye,

[Matt Jones]

Adam.

[Ryan Lemon]

The fact that, you know, anybody would blame the students is crazy. You know, they. They came up with that structure. When Patino was here, fans were on the sidelines and it was awesome. It was rocking. Then they limit the number of students to get more money and then they say they need more money. Like it's ridiculous.

[Matt Jones]

Appreciate it. So there you go. That's six straight calls. And I'll do this again in the next hair. I just, you know, it ain't just us. You all right?

[Ryan Lemon]

Good.

[Shannon]

Desk is falling apart.

[Matt Jones]

Just don't break things.

[Shannon]

I didn't really move. That just fell into me.

[Matt Jones]

The desk just fell.

[Shannon]

Something underneath it.

[Matt Jones]

All right, well, 859-280-2287. We'll let some more folks go. Also talk about the women's team plays at five o' clock against West Virginia. Yes. Chance to move to the sweet 16.

[Drew Franklin]

That's right. Big game for him tonight.

[Matt Jones]

Huge game. We'll be right back. Ksr, TJ Smith, personal injury attorney.

[Drew Franklin]

Call tj.

[Matt Jones]

He'll make him pay. Now more of Kentucky Sports Radio presented by Stockton Mortgage.

[Shannon]

Here's Matt Jones.

[Matt Jones]

Welcome back. It is Kentucky Sports Radio. Ryan said something during the break that I. I'm sorry if I'm just distracted.

[Drew Franklin]

This segment, just so you know, guys talking.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah. Well, let's not do that again.

[Shannon]

I had a good healthy laugh on that.

[Matt Jones]

That was one of those.

[Ryan Lemon]

True story.

[Matt Jones]

Very few times it takes your legs out. One person writes. Matt, do you think there will be changes in our coaching staff? I have no idea. Jack Pilgrim certainly thinks so. I mean, Jack Pilgrim said he thinks what, three to four assistants wrote that

[Shannon]

on the board this morning.

[Matt Jones]

Three to four assistants. I mean, worrisome going into portal season. Yeah. No gm, three to four assistants leaving. I, you know, they're gonna have that documentary in two weeks. I don't know how much they'll show, but I forgot about that. Yeah. Are you excited to watch that?

[Shannon]

Oh, yes.

[Drew Franklin]

I want to know what happened at the Louisville game. Please include that in the documentary.

[Matt Jones]

You know, they're not going to show any of that though. Like the stuff we want to see is not going to be like, I want to know what happened in Louisville game.

[Drew Franklin]

Yes.

[Matt Jones]

I want to know why. For a few weeks it seemed to like. Seemed like they wanted to be in different cities than each other.

[Ryan Lemon]

Yes.

[Shannon]

I hope they have the clip of the Auburn when he's in the hallway talking about the mother, you know, cheated us.

[Matt Jones]

I want to see what the three to four. Why the three to four assistants are leaving. This has just not been a cohesive. Anything got better as year went on, but it's. It's not.

[Drew Franklin]

You and I talked on the post game show. It was just an odd Season.

[Matt Jones]

An odd year from. From. From start to finish. Just an odd, odd year. And really all started with the, you know. What did he say? We talked about the Louisville locker room before.

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What, What.

[Matt Jones]

What did, what did Mark do before the game that he said he screwed up on The.

[Shannon]

Yeah, it's about flipping a switch or something.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah, I mean, that's. That's what. That's one of those fascinating what ifs. You hear like seven different answers. I've never really gotten a straight answer.

[Drew Franklin]

Me neither.

[Shannon]

That and we know of at least twice Rick Patino had to call him and be like, what are you doing?

[Matt Jones]

Yeah, I mean, Rick Patino called. I mean, there's. I know a person who knows Mark very well that said he had a couple of times during the year that people were like, dude, what. What is happening with you right now? And nobody really knows the answer.

[Ryan Lemon]

So.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I feel like I say I don't know a lot, but I really. I don't know. But part of it is also a well run organization understands that, like, they have to get stuff out to the public. This has become so shut off. We've talked about this.

[Drew Franklin]

Yeah.

[Matt Jones]

That everything coming from basketball or athletics is silent. And silence leads to the void filled by rumor. And it's hard to know what rumor is true. Right.

[Drew Franklin]

I didn't see that coming from him or this program.

[Matt Jones]

Let's go back to what. Let me just go back to when things were rolling. Let me. Let me just explain how things worked from 2010 to 2017. On basketball. John Calipari disliked Jerry Tipton in the local media. And he also had people nationally he disliked. He disliked Pat 40, disliked Jeff Goodman. He disliked these handful of people. So he wanted his narrative out in the public. And so he did it various ways. If he wanted Kentucky fans to get information. My phone would ring at any time of night. I would see the name come up. I knew it was him. And I was like, here we go an hour now. I loved it because, like, he was fun to talk to, but I knew. And then he would go, you know, you ought to say this. You ought to say this. You ought to say this. He was getting a narrative out there.

[Drew Franklin]

Sure.

[Matt Jones]

And sometimes I would say it and sometimes I wouldn't. It depend. But you know, then if he wanted a national thing out, he would call Mike De Courcey or Andy Katz. Those were these guys back then. And same thing. Right. If Mike De Courcy or Andy Katz said it, you knew, came from where to come from then later years. Kyle Tucker was one of those. And. But. But Cal was very clear, anytime anything happened, he wanted to make sure there were people in the media giving his side. I don't know what Mark Pope's side is about anything, and I don't think anybody takes up for Mark in public. We have no idea. I think Matt Norlander was that for a little while.

[Shannon]

He got pretty critical as the year

[Matt Jones]

went on, but as he got critical, then they cut him off. And so, like, I don't know what Mark Pope thinks. Does Mark Pope think the roster he didn't get enough support from Mitch Barnard? Does Mark Pope think he picked the wrong players? Does he? I have no idea. And I don't think anybody else does either.

[Drew Franklin]

I don't either.

[Shannon]

You know, one thing I look back on is when Pope is, you know, question narratives in the 22 million, I want to be like, dude, you said you have a Ferrari and you compared it to your 96 team. So if the bar was raised too high, you kind of started that early before the year.

[Matt Jones]

The only thing he ever brings up in public is that somebody made an AI thing about his wife in a plane crash, which I didn't even saw that. Did you see that? Did you ever see that picture?

[Ryan Lemon]

No.

[Matt Jones]

Did you see it, Shannon? No. I don't even know what he's talking about. I don't even know what he's talking about.

[Shannon]

I don't either. And I think most people are in agreement that, like, the Facebook AI stuff, we know, it's slop. I mean, there are some people falling for it, but that's not a big narrative in the fan base at all.

[Matt Jones]

Whatever the fake I ever see is that Colin Chandler donates all his money to, like, Prestonsburg Middle School.

[Drew Franklin]

Good for him.

[Matt Jones]

Colin Chandler would literally be Elon Musk rich if the amount of money he's given to people on Facebook was true.

[Shannon]

I saw he and always split Pope's fine to the sec.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah. So that I see, but I never see this other stuff. All right, let's do what we did a minute ago. 30 seconds for all these people. Are you ready, Shannon? Yep. Let's do it, Brad. Go.

[Ryan Lemon]

UK Athletics and university leadership has started a major feud with the fans. That's just a fact. Every campaign needs a slogan. The slogan here is UK Athletics does not prioritize winning. The only reason we're having a year three of Mark Pope is because of mismanaged finances, botched tires, and poorly negotiated contracts. Out, Mike.

[Matt Jones]

Go,

[Shannon]

Mike.

[Matt Jones]

That's not Mike.

[Shannon]

You Hit.

[Matt Jones]

There's two different mics. Okay, Mike, go. Try this, Mike.

[Ryan Lemon]

He doesn't understand the assignment. And in 365 days or sooner, we're going to be having this same conversation if something doesn't change.

[Matt Jones]

All right, Mark, go. All right, Mark, everybody. You have to be ready to go, like when I say go. I don't need you to switch it from your Bluetooth to your phone to your Blu ray to your X ray. Just talk. Tj, go.

[Ryan Lemon]

I understand that Pope might not be the guy, but you have to take into account he has two years. Todd golden lost in the first round. His first two years. Shire made the round of 32. Sweet 16 his first two years. And maybe Pope isn't the guy, but he was 8 and 1 his first year with. With a healthy team. This year, we never really saw them fully healthy. So maybe he's not the guy. Maybe he doesn't have that dog in him, as people say. But right now, I just don't see how people say to fire him or he's not the guy. We don't

[Matt Jones]

appreciate it. Debbie. Go. Debbie.

[Ryan Lemon]

Varied staff. So that will offset all his analytics. He's got to balance that with common sense and not just use analytics. Also, I think Capilouto's new sloven should be touch money.

[Matt Jones]

Wow. Spicy, spicy Debbie. Who knew Debbie had that inner bp? Go ahead, bp.

[Ryan Lemon]

Matt Jones. Mark Pope is a good dude. He could date my daughter. He can take my wife on a date. But 46 and 26 and two years at UK is not acceptable. Thank you.

[Matt Jones]

Appreciate it. Take your wife. Allowing her. He's allowing you to date his wife and his daughter.

[Shannon]

Open relationship.

[Matt Jones]

You need to listen to our podcast about relationship advice. Yeah.

[Drew Franklin]

Yeah, you do.

[Matt Jones]

By the way, that a lot of good feedback from that chat. Yeah, it was fun. You and I. I made Ryan and Mario listen to it on the way back. Ryan, what'd you think of our advice?

[Drew Franklin]

It's very interesting to hear two single 40 year olds talk about relationship advice because for me, really, I'm not kidding. Coming from a different perspective. A guy who's been married lived that side of it. To hear you guys side of it is totally different.

[Matt Jones]

You know, best feedback we got, Shannon, was from women. Because they agree with us. Yeah, because we understand women. That's exactly, Matt. Go ahead, Matt.

[Ryan Lemon]

Hey, every good public organization needs like multiple channels, right? Multiple communication channels. We need some leaks. Somebody's got to leak some information. Otherwise we're making up our own narrative about what's happening with Mark Pope. And he's going to date our daughters and wives or something. I guess it's all.

[Matt Jones]

I totally agree with. I totally agree with you. Appreciate the call. I had a conversation with someone with two different people, actually, over the course of the last five days at uk, both of which said, our plan going into next year is for us to control more of our information and how we get it out to people. People, meaning essentially, rather than give media stuff, it's going to be BBN network. Absolutely. Horrible idea. And I said to one of the people, you can't interview yourself. You realize no one gives credibility if you interview yourself. Right. No one will believe that. And they were like, well, we believe that's the way to increase revenue in the future. That's just. That's horrible. And they will realize that. You know, why do you think we were at the. Again at the Super Bowl? The NFL is allowing every Tom, Dick and Harry with a phone to come. Why? Because they bring eyeballs. There's a reason they let, you know, stretch come in and interview. Is that a person?

[Shannon]

Sketch.

[Matt Jones]

Sketch. They let Sketch come in and interview Roger Goodell because they know Sketch can relate. Like, if they just bring in, hello, this is Frank from NFL.com to interview, like, everybody's going to go, but if Sketch comes in and he's like, babidi do, then. But UK doesn't get that. UK is living in the 1970s. Completely fair. They are. And leaks are part of it. Leaks are part of life. It's what works. You don't think that these, like the President, like, when the president wants something out, he tells, like Andy Beshear, when he wants something out, they leak it.

[Drew Franklin]

Like, you just talked about John Caliperi.

[Matt Jones]

John Caliperi was the best at it. And the moment John Caliperi stopped doing that was in part coincided with his fall because he became so inward.

[Shannon]

Especially if there's already a narrative out there that's not true or you don't like it. One text to a media member. Doesn't have to be any. Anybody just say, hey, by the way, that thing that's going around is not real. Will you help get the right thing?

[Matt Jones]

There's a rumor two of your friends are. Two of your players are fighting over a woman. Text somebody and go, that's not happening.

[Shannon]

Can you shut that?

[Matt Jones]

Can you please shut that down? And that ends it.

[Shannon]

Yes.

[Drew Franklin]

Yep.

[Shannon]

But if you're like, oh, they shouldn't do that. Ignore them. They stink. That it's gonna keep.

[Matt Jones]

It just keeps going. Just shut it down. One text and it ends. But they don't do that. Serve Pros the number one choice in cleanup and restoration. Whether it's mold, fire, storm or water damage. We've got a pro for that. We're the ones that make it like it never even happened. If you have a fire or a flood or something like that, it stinks. But servpro will come in, fix it and it'll look just like it did before. It's S E R v p r o.com servepro servpro.com we hope you never need them, but if you do, go to ServPro Final Segment. We'll be right back. KSR Tyler Redick here from 2311 Racing Victory Lane yeah, it's even better with Chumba by my side. Race to chumpacasino.com Lets Chumba no purchase necessary VTW Group void where prohibited by law CTNCs21+ Sponsored by Chumba Casino hello.

[Malcolm Gladwell]

Hello, I'm Malcolm Gladwell, host of Smart Talks with IBM. I recently spoke with IBM's new director of research, Jake Mbaetta. We discussed his vision for the future of quantum computing at IBM Research. What we always do is answer what is the future of computing? Whether it's coming up with new algorithms, coming up with better AI, coming up with quantum, or coming up with just how do different accelerators go together? It's our DNA to answer the question of what is the future? Isn't it a perfect problem for IBM because you kind of need to have a legacy of building stuff, building actual physical machines. Yeah, it's why I came to IBM. I wanted the experienced, the culture of building hard things that others have not done before. Where do you imagine we are in the timeline of this technology? There will come a point when it will mature, right?

[Ryan Lemon]

Yeah.

[Malcolm Gladwell]

My cell phone is a mature technology at this point. How far are we from that point with quantum by 2029 we'll build the first fault tolerant quantum computer that is one that can run a very very large, large problem. To learn how IBM is building the future of computing, visit IBM.com quantum.

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[Matt Jones]

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[Drew Franklin]

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[Matt Jones]

Visit spinquest.com for more details. Welcome back, Techie Sports Radio. We have some breaking news. Shannon. Dwayne Peavey has signed an extension with the unit with University of DePaul. Six more years as AD. Guess that means not gonna be the Canoe Kentucky AD would have been my probably top choice, so I'm bummed about that. I think he would have been perfect. I think he does. He knows this university but has a different perspective. I think he would have been perfect, but I. He must have thought that he was not going to be considered for this job or maybe they caught. Who knows? I haven't actually talked to him about it, so I don't know. But that's a. That's a bummer to me. I think he would have been really good. I mean, there are going to be many other good candidates too, but like, he would have been a good one.

[Shannon]

Yeah, I was hoping he'd be high on the list of people to consider as they're still just getting that rolling. I know Eli said he's on his listening to.

[Matt Jones]

Listening to it, guys. We're talking 30 people. He said 30 people.

[Shannon]

I don't know who they were, but I guess good for Dwayne that he's getting a new deal at DePaul, but selfishly would have loved to have seen him here.

[Matt Jones]

I'd be interested to know how many of those 30 people represent the average fan. How many of those 30 people are like the lineup of callers we've had. I wonder how many times Eli's talked to right now I see Terry, John, Andrew, Brandon, Mark Martin on the show because I bet he's not talked to anyone like that. And I'm not saying those people, these six people should decide, but they should have a voice. And by the way, on the listening tour, he hasn't mentioned anyone he's listening to.

[Shannon]

He said they have credentials, though. We don't know the credentials, but they do have a credential.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah. Yeah. Well, it wasn't shot. It's not Shannon Ryan. They didn't even get a credential. Fair point.

[Drew Franklin]

Watching it.

[Matt Jones]

Tin roof, one person says, Matt, you don't seem as upset as I thought you'd be with it. With the athletic department stuff. Did you just see it coming? I've seen this coming for a long time on the athletic side. I thought the basketball side would be a little better, but I've seen this coming for a long time. I've been talking about it for years. Like these guys have been more and more out of touch and it's, it's. The chickens have come home to roost in the last year. And this is stuff that privately I've been telling them for a decade. You could, you could feel it. You know, you talked about Brett Setzer. Brett Setser is one of the biggest donors of the university. Go look at his social media. This is a guy who literally takes one of our UK teams and, and like transport them to and from games. One of the secondary.

[Shannon]

And he's done so much for football, too.

[Matt Jones]

He's done football so much. Just go look at the stuff he's tweeting. And this is one of your biggest donors. Just go look and like, you'll see that there's this sea of discontent that has existed for a long time and now it's just kind of pouring forth a little more. All right. People seem to like this. Just rapid fire.

[Ryan Lemon]

Good.

[Matt Jones]

So let's go. 30 seconds. Brandon, go.

[Ryan Lemon]

Hey, this is for all the callers saying, fire Pope. He's not going anywhere. He gets another year. They need to understand it, they need to accept it. There's a standard at Kentucky and we all know it. And Pope knows it better than we do. The top 25. He won more games against the top 25 last year than any coach in Kentucky history. That has to mean something. That's a one year Mogan for him. The last guy used to talk down to us. We gave him a grace period based on 10 years prior to his firing or letting go. Whatever.

[Matt Jones]

Good stuff. Terry. Terry. Go ahead, Terry. Good call.

[Ryan Lemon]

I was born August 28, 1962. I'm 63 years old. Yeah, we've won four titles in that year. UK fans, check your sense of entitlement at the door.

[Matt Jones]

Wow, Terry, that's not what. I wouldn't expect it from Terry. Andrew, go ahead, Andrew.

[Ryan Lemon]

Let's stop beating a dead horse. Pope's going to be the coach next year. Todd golden is the worst.

[Matt Jones]

All right, Mark, go ahead. Mark. Mark. All right. Martin. Martin. Martin. Get it. Martin.

[Ryan Lemon]

Martin.

[Matt Jones]

Go ahead.

[Ryan Lemon]

Martin. Yeah. Martin. Hey, it's simple for me. The athletic department only cares about one thing and that's money. And when you prioritize money to a degree to where it becomes the end all be all, you forget about all the things that got you to where you are. You forget about the student environment, the fan environment at Rupp Arena. And in regards to Pope, we need a leader who needs to be respected standard it isn't so worried about being liked and doesn't lay wear as hard on.

[Matt Jones]

All right, there you go. So lots of different opinions you've heard. We probably heard 15 in a few minutes and I kind of hope the folks at UK are listening so they get a sense of where people are on the fan base. Now tonight, Mark Pope show is at 6 o'. Clock. The UK women are playing against West Virginia. So let me just say going into that, the number one sports book for live betting is DraftKings. Had a good weekend on DraftKings this weekend. You can as well. You bet. What happens? Possession by possessions. Use my code KSR Bet5, get 200 bonus bets and turn 5 bucks into 200. In partnership with DraftKings. The Crown is yours if you have a gaming problem. Going to game or 18 plus Kentucky only eligible supply bonus expire 7 days after issuance for additional term responsible game resources dkng co/audio limited time offer cats and West Virginia against the ladies in Morgantown. West Virginia is a three and a half point favorite. Drew, what do you got?

[Shannon]

Oh, I like the women here. They're going to give us a longer one though.

[Matt Jones]

Which team?

[Shannon]

Well, Kentucky women.

[Matt Jones]

Excuse me.

[Shannon]

They're going to give us a much longer run than we got from the men's team. The madness is still alive. Let's get behind them at five o'.

[Ryan Lemon]

Clock.

[Shannon]

I think they play well even though that is a tough road game and

[Matt Jones]

we will have the game on at the bar if you want to come by on the way or. No, actually we're closed today. We will not have the game on at the bar. I forgot we're closed. You know what, Mario? Thank you for saving me. Who you got?

[Drew Franklin]

You know, they said the the lot of West Virginia fans filled that arena over the weekend. So, you know, it would definitely be a true tough road game for Kentucky. Man, they knocked on the door last year, didn't get there. They get there this year, they get the win tonight.

[Matt Jones]

What do you think, Shannon? Kentucky covers and Kentucky wins going to the Sweet 16. They're going to keep March alive for all of us.

[Shannon]

They don't have an answer for Clarice Drake?

[Matt Jones]

No.

[Shannon]

Kind of got to take it easy against James Madison. Kind of call pulled back a little bit in the second half. I think we get a huge game from Clarity.

[Matt Jones]

As I told Charlie Cream last week, Kentucky should be hosting this game. It should be. But that's okay. They can be biased against us. The Cats will go into West Virginia, win the Battle of Appalachia. Right. Or were we the hatfields or the McCoys?

[Shannon]

Who's in the strikes?

[Matt Jones]

One of them was in Kentucky and one of them was in West Virginia. Which one are we?

[Drew Franklin]

I don't know.

[Matt Jones]

Whichever one we are, that's the one that's going to win. And we are going to beat West Virginia today and go to the sweet 16. Give me the cats by six.

[Shannon]

I like it.

[Matt Jones]

Thank you all very much. We're here for the next few days. May go to opening day Thursday.

[Drew Franklin]

That's right.

[Matt Jones]

Well, I'm going, but we may do the show there.

[Shannon]

Nice.

[Matt Jones]

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This is Julian Edelman from Games With Names. I want to take a second to talk about something that's personal to me. I've had the privilege of working closely with Robert Kraft for a long time. And one thing I've always respected is how seriously he takes up standing up to hate. As a Jewish athlete, my identity is something I am proud of. But I also know what it feels like to be singled out for it. That's why this new commercial for the Blue Square Alliance Against Hate that aired during the big game really hit home. It's about showing up for someone when they're targeted, even if you don't have the perfect words. And sometimes standing next to someone is enough. And you can show support by sharing the Blue Square.

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