2026-03-27- KSR - Hour 2

Summary

Kentucky Sports Radio (KSR): Hour 2 – March 27, 2026

Host: Drew Franklin (filling in for Matt Jones) with Ryan Lemon, Billy Rutledge, Shannon the Dude

Broadcast from: KS Bar & Grill, Lexington

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Episode Overview

This episode of Kentucky Sports Radio focuses on previewing a big March Madness weekend for Kentucky fans, especially with the UK women's basketball team making a Sweet 16 run. The crew also discusses shifting dynamics in college basketball brought on by NIL (Name, Image, Likeness), Kentucky’s baseball fortunes, the Louisville Kings’ football debut, listener stories, and lively call-ins. Some friendly ribbing on archrivals and nostalgia over UK’s past glories round out a classically fun KSR hour.

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Key Discussion Points

1. Kentucky Women's Basketball Sweet 16 Run

• First Sweet 16 Since 2016: Praise for Coach Kenny Brooks and the players for reaching this milestone.
• Upcoming Match vs Texas: Rematch after a tough regular season game (Kentucky lost, but kept it close until a late Texas run). Texas is a strong favorite (spread at 15.5, then down to 14.5) but UK’s improvement and health inspire cautious optimism.
• Key Players: Clara Strack and Tony Morgan highlighted for recent performances. Amelia Hassett and Asia Boone are battling for the single-season three-point record.
• Big Picture: Win would set up a possible Elite Eight vs Louisville, which lights up discussion about rivalry and rooting strategy.

"March Madness ain't dead yet for Big Blue Nation." — Drew Franklin [04:43]

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2. Rick Pitino, St. John’s, and the “Blue Bloods” Debate

• Pitino vs. Duke: Debate on whether Kentucky fans are rooting for ex-UK coach Rick Pitino, noting growing support mainly due to anti-Duke sentiment.
• Pitino Comments on "Blue Bloods": Pitino told media that NIL has leveled the college basketball landscape, and that "blue bloods" no longer control the sport, though Kentucky and Duke retain legacy status.

"He said now 40 to 50 teams are all on the same level playing field with NIL." — Drew Franklin [11:46]

• Panel Reactions: Some agreement (especially that the gap has closed), but also pushback that blue bloods still exist, just wield less dominance (see: UConn’s recent rise).

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3. Nostalgia, Rivalries, and Kentucky Fandom

• UK vs. Louisville in Women’s Elite Eight?: Discussion on rooting preferences—best if UK faces and beats Louisville, but hard to root for Louisville outright.
• Rick Pitino’s Complicated Relationship with UK Fans: Pitino’s increasing appearances in Kentucky basketball's orbit (videos, public comments, stories about iconic games), fueling old debates about loyalty and grudges among the fanbase.

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4. Kentucky Pros and Other Local Sports

• Louisville Kings Football Opener: Excitement for in-state semi-pro team with notable UK alums like Benny Snell (but not Lynn Bowden, who was expected).
• Braves MLB Opening Day Confusion: Discussion about scattered season openers, streaming app confusion, and passionate Braves fandom.
• UK Baseball and Softball: Baseball at LSU for a big series, with standout pitcher (name missing—“Jelkin”?), and softball hosting Georgia.

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5. Making Sweet 16 Picks

Sweet 16 Picks (DraftKings)

Each host shares their picks against the spread for the night’s big NCAA men’s games:

• St. John’s (+6.5) vs. Duke — All pick St. John’s to cover, several hope for outright win. "It’s still trendy to hate Duke." — Billy Rutledge [22:52]
• Michigan (-8.5) vs. Alabama — Most take Michigan to cover, Drew picks Alabama to cover but lose.
• UConn (-1.5) vs. Michigan State — Split panel, Drew takes UConn, others like Michigan State.
• Iowa State (-3.5) vs. Tennessee — All favor Iowa State, particularly based on recent dominance over Kentucky and ongoing distaste for Tennessee’s tournament success.

Kentucky Women vs. Texas

All pick Kentucky women to cover (spread 14.5): “I ain’t scared – disrespectful number.” — Drew Franklin [28:45]

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6. Recruiting & Looking to Next Season

• Women’s Team Recruiting: Kenny Brooks has three McDonald’s All-Americans coming in. “He’s getting it done on the trail, unlike his counterpart at the Joe Kraft Center.” — Caller [30:20]
• Men’s Basketball Recruiting: Optimism around returning core (Moreno, Chandler, Hawthorne), but a need for “dudes”—elite transfers and high school stars (esp. Tyron Stokes). Discussion of the dynamics around Nike/Adidas schools and hoped-for commitments.
• Point Guard Needed: Consensus that Mark Pope must land a playmaking point guard from the portal to raise the team’s ceiling.

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7. Listener Calls & Community Moments

• Calls Cover:
  • Optimism vs. skepticism for the women's program and Pope hire (including references to old Drew Franklin tweets).
  • The need for a strong point guard and what’s holding the team back.
  • Listener “Matt” shares a charming story about KSR connecting fans statewide.
  • Classic JRock-style humor and KSR in-jokes abound.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Kentucky Women’s Chances:
  “Kenny Brooks, I think this year honestly thought he had a team that could do it. You can knock off Texas tonight, you’ve got a route where you can get to the Final Four for the first time ever.” — Ryan Lemon [07:50]

• On Pitino's "Blue Blood" Comments:
  “This is just an offshoot of professional basketball now and that we need to accept it.” — Drew Franklin, quoting Pitino [12:53]

• On the Changing Calculus in CBB:
  "I likened it this morning on the pre show to Alabama in football...it’s not just two or three deep of NFL talent anymore.” — Billy Rutledge [13:08]

• On Classic Rivalries:
  "It should be part of your life: hating Duke." — Drew Franklin [23:01]

• Fan Community Story:
  “You all connect people I would never meet and make friends with. I appreciate you all so much and this is a wonderful thing you all created.” — Caller Matt [49:15]

• Fans Coping with Disappointment:
  "We are in agreement—Pope needs to go get a stud at point guard. Go steal one of these guys we watched this year." — Drew Franklin [44:56]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 03:27: Show starts; hosts recount 90’s pics for TikTok, preview upbeat focus for hour 2.
• 04:55–08:45: Women’s Sweet 16 preview, rematch vs Texas, key players, potential UK-Louisville Elite Eight.
• 09:12–14:37: Rick Pitino’s return to March, Duke game history, NIL and blue blood debate.
• 18:33–20:15: Louisville Kings debut, bemoaning lack of pro sports in KY, Benny Snell nostalgia.
• 22:16–28:59: Sweet 16 men’s picks and fan attitudes (heavy Duke hate, Tennessee jokes, game analysis).
• 30:19–34:07: Call-in discusses women's team recruiting, Pope hire, reactions to Drew's old tweets.
• 34:29–36:09: Call on slow starts, practice changes, and need for urgency in next year's men’s team.
• 36:21–37:40: UK baseball, softball updates, optimism for next season recaps.
• 44:19–49:15: Listener calls, community stories, fan feedback, personal anecdotes.
• 49:32–50:13: Next week’s plans teased, more live shows, suggestions for future broadcasts.

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Tone and Atmosphere

Energetic and upbeat (after some initial technical difficulties), with the signature KSR mix of sports banter, rivalry roasting, fan nostalgia, and listener interaction. The hosts keep it Kentucky-centric but openly reckon with the realities of modern college sports, all while maintaining trademark humor, optimism, and community spirit.

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Summary

This episode delivers classic KSR: passionate Kentucky sports coverage, good-natured rivalry jabs, lively calls, and a deep sense of connection with its audience. With the men’s season over, the women’s Sweet 16 run and a new era in college sports drive the conversation, reminding fans that March is alive and well—at least in Big Blue Nation.

Transcript

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[Ryan Lemon]

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[Shannon the Dude]

nmlsconsumeraccess.org welcome to hour two of Kentucky Sports Radio presented by Stockton Mortgage. Now here's Matt Jones.

[Drew Franklin]

Welcome in to ksr. Drew Franklin filling in for Matt Jones. We're live at KS Bar and Grill. I've got Ryan Lemon next to me, Billy Rutledge on the other side. Mario is over here giggling. I never know what he's up to, but he looks like he's up to something.

[Ryan Lemon]

You know what he's giggling at?

[Drew Franklin]

What's that?

[Ryan Lemon]

Billy just shows that picture of him in the 90s.

[Drew Franklin]

Oh, okay.

[Ryan Lemon]

Little cute little Billy with some blonde hair.

[Drew Franklin]

It looks like. Wow.

[Ryan Lemon]

And you look just like your dad. It's amazing.

[Drew Franklin]

Take me back. Mario's doing this thing where he wants us to send pictures of us from the 90s, I guess for this viral tick tock. So I guess you're gonna see all of this, what we're doing back then. Maybe some pretty big age gaps between all of us. So that'll be a fun video. But we're also having fun here at KS Bar. Shannon, who is this segment brought to us by.

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[Drew Franklin]

Beautiful. We want to hear from you on the Clark's pump and shop phone line. 8, 5, 928-02287. We're having fun getting all that negative energy behind us. We're looking ahead, including tomorrow. March Madness ain't dead yet for big Blue Nation.

[Ryan Lemon]

No, it's not.

[Drew Franklin]

We got Kentucky women's in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2016,

[Ryan Lemon]

which has been a long drought. That's kind of surprised. You know, Matthew Mitchell had him going to the elite eight year after year after year. Glad to have him back in the Sweet 16.

[Drew Franklin]

Yeah. They play tomorrow at 3 on ABC, if I'm not mistaken. Get the, get the big national treatment there. Head play in Tex Texas.

[Ryan Lemon]

Didn't we play Texas to a really good game earlier this season?

[Drew Franklin]

I never thought you'd ask. What do you want to know about that game run? What did.

[Ryan Lemon]

I'm just going off top of my head. It seemed like we had a lead late or we ended up getting beat like maybe like by four or something. Like it was a really good game.

[Drew Franklin]

They pulled away in the end. I think they won by 10 or 11. But at one point it was a one point game in the fourth quarter. Turnovers killed Kentucky. They had 23 turnovers. They shot less than like 40% from the field. I think it was like 36, maybe. Not really a good game by Kentucky. Part of that is because Texas is so good. But the spread came out on this and it was 15 and a half.

[Ryan Lemon]

Wait a minute.

[Drew Franklin]

You played them to within a point through most of that game till Texas pulled away late. I mean, I know it's in Fort Worth and they'll have the crowd, but Billy, we're not backing down from Texas in the Sweet 16, especially 15. I bet that immediately.

[Billy Rutledge]

I mean, Kenny Brooks has the worst superstar he's ever coached on the team. And Clara Strack. This season has been so fun. Not only has Asia Boone, but also Amelia Hassett have broken the single season record for threes in a season. So they're like they're going at each other for who can have that all time record. It's, it's been a really fun year. And they're now healthy and playing some of their best ball. So fun win versus West Virginia. Let's hope they can keep it going.

[Ryan Lemon]

And it was a big loss when you lose Georgia Amore. But that Tony Morgan has not only broken her assist record, she is like becoming like one of the best point guards in the country. I mean, you hate to lose Georgia, but my goodness, Tony Morgan's been playing great.

[Drew Franklin]

She's been awesome. Clara Strack's been Awesome. I don't know if you all saw everyone go to Kentuckysportsradio.com our guy Phoenix,

[Ryan Lemon]

who covers great job too, by the way.

[Drew Franklin]

Yeah, he has a great story. I don't know if you all saw the, saw the photo from West Virginia where Clara Strax kind of, you know, screaming, got her arms down and the photos like taken of West Virginia players on her back and it's kind of like looking up. It's an amazing photo by Morgan Simmons over at UK Athletics, but Phoenix wrote a feature on it. The photo deserved a feature, but it's just adding to more of the excitement as we're counting down to tomorrow. Everyone should go check that out.

[Billy Rutledge]

The photographer said she took like 10,000 photos and goes through it and finds that one.

[Caller or Guest]

Wow.

[Billy Rutledge]

Looks a little bit like the Muhammad Ali one back in the day standing over his opponent. So that's, that's an all timer and a reminder that, you know, good sports photography, you know, comes around every once

[Drew Franklin]

in a while and just, you know, that was the Kentucky's an underdog in that game. Going to Morgantown, playing on the road. It's going to be atmosphere tonight. If I'm not mistaken, when Kentucky played Texas in the regular season either Tiana Key was just coming back. I might be mistaken on where she was in her timeline, but I think she was limited in that game. So as I said, we're not sure they're the, they're the better seed, double digit favorite. They're going to have the crowd. But I'm excited to see what the women can do, maybe break through to the Elite Eight.

[Ryan Lemon]

Well, we've always tried to get to a Final Four at some point UK women will get to the Final Four. Kenny Brooks, I think this year honestly thought he had a team that could do it. You can knock off Texas tonight. You've got a route where you can get to the Final Four for the first time ever.

[Billy Rutledge]

And fun to watch him celebrate in the locker room after the win versus West Virginia. You know, to bring Virginia Tech to the Final Four is one thing. So I've got a lot of confidence he's going to do it with Kentucky this year but very soon.

[Drew Franklin]

I don't know how well you all know your women's brack, but the Fort Worth region also has Louisville in it. So we are one step away from Kentucky. Louisville for a spot.

[Ryan Lemon]

How awesome would that be though? That would be awesome.

[Drew Franklin]

I'm throwing off Louisville plays Michigan before Kentucky plays Texas. I don't like if we're going to lose. I don't want Louisville to win. But if we're going to win, I want it to be Louisville. I want that matchup. So I wish it were flip so I could know to root for Louisville or against Louisville. But even though they're both underdogs, Louisville and Kentucky playing up seed, that's, that's right in front of them. If they can get over the hump tomorrow.

[Ryan Lemon]

Wow, I didn't realize that. But yeah, that's kind of tough. You don't want to root for Louisville yet you'd like to beat them in the Elite Eight to go to the Final Four if you had that chance.

[Billy Rutledge]

One of the most insane sports moments I remember having is was it Kentucky, Louisville in the Final Four when they played each other back in the day and like I was at a bar and just the screaming back and forth. I was in Louisville when this happened of Kentucky fans and Louisville fans just like just. I mean, how charged that game was? Do you imagine an Elite eight game for the women? That'd be just much of the same, wouldn't it?

[Drew Franklin]

Yeah, I'd love to just get to Elite 8, but if you got the cards there, that'd be exciting. You know, we've, we lost on the men's side. Haven't had that excitement here in March. March, man, has been a little dead on that end. But the women, they can still keep us alive and have a lot of fun. Tonight's game should be fun. We've been talking about how Matt's going to go. Where are you on your Rick Pitino Duke journey? I'm. I'm not a Patino guy. I didn't buy in when he came back and waved at everyone and came back to bbn. I kept a distance there. But I'm pulling for him tonight and I actually think he gets it done.

[Ryan Lemon]

It's amazing how Big Blue nation has turned in favor of Rick Pitino.

[Drew Franklin]

Some.

[Ryan Lemon]

Some. Well, I don't know. I don't know one person. Me personally. Well, yeah, Marsha may be the only one.

[Drew Franklin]

I'm literally sitting right next to you right now.

[Ryan Lemon]

That is not pulling for Patino tonight. You don't want Patino to win tonight?

[Caller or Guest]

No.

[Drew Franklin]

I thought you're gonna say that that welcomed him back. Yeah, Marshall went in on that, pulling for him tonight. I'll admit it's more anti Duke than pro Patino, but I also like the matchup in my bracket. I have St. John's and Yukon both winning. So on the Johnny's tonight, I'm looking forward to Watching it. It's Patino's.

[Ryan Lemon]

They're the early game.

[Drew Franklin]

First game seven 10 CBS. Patino's third run in with Duke in the NCAA tournament. We remember 1992. Then he got revenge with Louisville in the Kevin Ware game.

[Billy Rutledge]

Oh yeah.

[Drew Franklin]

So he's one and one, both of those. The winner of both of those matchups went on to win the national championship. Now his version got. Got vacated, let's not forget that. But we do have a little Patino Duke NCAA tournament history tonight. And he brought up in his press conference the 92 game. And O he said, you know, I think people misconstrue that. I treasure it as one of the greatest games ever played. And it got the unforgettables in the rafters. So I believe after they, they beat Kansas on a buzzer beater, he said, I hope to get Duke on a buzzer beater. But he doesn't feel the negativity that I think a lot of the fans do for that game.

[Billy Rutledge]

Yeah, fond memories of the game. I heard Jamal Mashburn talk about it a little bit too and he was like, well I fouled out so I like I couldn't be a part of that at the end. But you know, he had a lot of great memories of the. The coach is just letting the guys play. So being such a high level basketball game, not the coach has taken over with play calls and things like that. It's been been a weird two years with Patino, hasn't it? I mean he came out as a football booster. You know, he, he released the video like the day Mark Pope was hired. That kind of turned the fan base around.

[Drew Franklin]

He loves telling us how to feel.

[Billy Rutledge]

Mark Pope's fan first Big Blue Madness and it's the return of Rick Patino. Like I feel like he's been in the spotlight a lot with the return with of Mark Pope coming back.

[Drew Franklin]

He was also in the spotlight for his other comments yesterday. We'll make our previews in a little. But we can't ignore in his media Day in D.C. he's quoted as saying they're no longer blue bloods in college basketball.

[Ryan Lemon]

Yeah, I heard that.

[Drew Franklin]

He said now 40 to 50 teams are all on the same level playing field with nil. He did say Kentucky and Duke will always be Kentucky and Duke because their legacy and their history. Same for North Carolina, but he said they're no longer in control of the sport. He mentioned things like facilities used to be a selling point or at Duke education. He's like, that's not on the list now, people are one or two years education. They're not focusing on that. Facilities are like, fifth on the list. How did you feel about Patino saying. Because, you know, obviously Blue Blood fans here, him saying that the Blue Bloods are pretty much dead, or at least not control. It didn't kill him off. But saying that they don't run the

[Ryan Lemon]

sport anymore, I felt like he was really trying to promote St. John. He was trying to say St. John's is now in on that level where maybe we're not blue Bloods, but we're on the same level as those guys, as those schools. I think he's trying to promote his program as much as possible. I did like the fact he did finally say Kentucky and Duke's on a. You know, they're up on a different level a little bit. But he's got a valid argument. I mean, the way things are kind of evened out a little bit. That's why you see teams like the last several years, Villanova, Connecticut, they come out, and they weren't blue bloods 20 years ago. You got to consider Connecticut a blue blood now, don't you? I think you do, yeah.

[Drew Franklin]

His other line was, this is just an offshoot of professional basketball now and that we need to accept it. And I agree with him. And he also said it's as fun as it's ever been. I agree with that, too, even though I don't love admitting that Blue Bloods have lost some power.

[Shannon the Dude]

Yeah.

[Billy Rutledge]

I mean, I likened it this morning on the pre show to, like, Alabama and football. Right. Like, it's not two or three deep of just NFL talent. Those two, three guys, you know, they're gone to different schools. And, you know, it's. It's not just the absolute dominance of Alabama that they can have, you know, without paying players legally. So I think there's a lot of truth to that. But I also agree with what Ryan's saying. He's promoting St. John's you know, he's putting them on that same playing field. Do you think that's his last job in college basketball, Ryan? Because, I mean, people are saying, you know, North Carolina, jobs open. You know, Rick Patino could, I don't know, keep going.

[Ryan Lemon]

He is in his early 70s. You got to wonder, maybe this is his. Maybe he'll just ride it out at St. John's you know, he's got everything he wants right now. He's got big pocket money. Big money pocket booster.

[Drew Franklin]

Oh, his billionaire buddy. Whatever he wants, whatever he needs, whatever he wants. He's in New York, so he's got

[Ryan Lemon]

it said he's in New York. He's playing at the Garden. This may be his last job.

[Drew Franklin]

He's still playing in the tournament when a lot of teams are true. I think he's still got, you know, more years left in him, but I think he'll finish at St. John's Shannon, what did you think about his blue blood comments?

[Shannon the Dude]

I disagreed with it a little bit because I was like, you know, you still get Duke. They're a blue blood. They're still in the tournament. You know, you got Connecticut, as Ryan just mentioned, they're a blue blood now. They're still in the tournament. I just think that the gap maybe between the blue Bloods and the teams that were behind them has just closed a little bit with nil. I think that's evened out the playing field a little bit. But I think the blue bloods still exist. They're just not. Just not as powerful as they maybe once were.

[Drew Franklin]

Yeah, and that came up because a reporter pointed out to him that Kentucky, ucla, North Carolina and Kansas weren't alive. So he didn't just volunteer those comments. But, you know, with those four out, I mean, it's hard to argue what Rick's saying. We're gonna take a break now. We're gonna Preview the sweet 16 some pics. Y' all got your pics ready? You wanna look it over, get the spreads, get what's going on?

[Ryan Lemon]

Y' all know what the spreads are? I know who my picks are on my bracket.

[Drew Franklin]

You're locked in?

[Ryan Lemon]

Yeah, I'm locked in.

[Drew Franklin]

Okay, well, we want to hear from the callers. Get locked in there, too. On the Clark's Pump and shop phone line, 859-280-2287, it's Drew, Ryan, Billy, and Shannon. We're live from KS Bar and Grill.

[Tyler Redick]

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[Billy Rutledge]

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[Billy Rutledge]

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[Ryan Lemon]

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[Drew Franklin]

Welcome back to Kentucky Sports Radio. Drew Franklin filling in for Matt Jones. Scott Ryan Lemon Got Billy Rutledge, Shannon the dude. We're having fun here at KS Bar and Grill. Crowd starting to roll in for lunch run. It's exciting times here at KS Bar and Grill.

[Ryan Lemon]

Getting their pre gaming in before the big St. John's Duke game tonight. I think we have a good crowd in here tonight just to watch the game.

[Drew Franklin]

Got that game. And we have the Louisville Kings inaugural game tonight. You all Louisville Kings people playing Birmingham and I was at Lynn Family Stadium there in Louisville. It's kind of weird, you know, I'm not, we've never really been Louisville people, but I'm excited to see the Kings and their semi pro football kicking off tonight.

[Billy Rutledge]

We're just talking about Repoli. He's a big part of that great football to Louisville. We got Benny Snell that's going to be there. Not Lynn Bowden though.

[Drew Franklin]

Yeah, that one. The final roster came out this week. You know, we're excited for, for Benny and Lynn to team up. Lynn wasn't on the roster. It's a little disappointing. Benny's still there. Everybody keep up your Benny excitement. But I, I can only assume they sold a lot of tickets to Kentucky fans who wanted to live the, the Lynn Bowden, Benny Snell days a little longer. And Lynn didn't make the final cut. So that's disappointing. But it'll still be fun to watch Benny out there.

[Ryan Lemon]

Did I see where the game was sold out also?

[Drew Franklin]

Yep, they're, they've been very well with tickets. That's amazing.

[Ryan Lemon]

Good. You know, we need stuff like that in our state. You know, we don't have a professional team so we need a team like that to survive. You know, we had minor league hockey here in town for a little bit. We had arena football and it was fun, but it didn't, didn't survive.

[Drew Franklin]

Yeah, I couldn't sit down here and break up, break down the matchup with Birmingham. I would be faking that. But what do you all think we'll see out of Benny Snell? I mean, we know what he was here. You think he's still got some Benny in those legs?

[Billy Rutledge]

I do. And he's not on TikTok going live or singing his song. Have you heard that yet?

[Drew Franklin]

Oh, yeah.

[Billy Rutledge]

Yeah, that's something. No, I think he's still got a little left in the tank. This is a cool opportunity for those like Kentucky guys to come back. Right. And, and play in front of Big Blue Nation and, and everybody in Louisville. So hopefully it's not just, you know, this year it's, you know, guys that, you know, graduate in the next coming years that can play for that team.

[Ryan Lemon]

So what is he now? Late 20s, maybe pushing 30, say so

[Drew Franklin]

late 20s, if I were guessing.

[Ryan Lemon]

Still got some juice in those legs, I would think.

[Drew Franklin]

Especially when he gets that crowd behind him. You know, Benny was a big fan favorite. I hope Kentucky fans show up. It'll be weird mingling with Louisville fans. Hope we all get along and uniting together for the Kings. But that starts tonight. And Shannon, I'm so thrown off of baseball opening day. I mean, what was Wednesday and now. Now all the games tonight, I can't keep up. But our Braves are playing.

[Shannon the Dude]

So Wednesday they had the game on Netflix, which was weird, watching a baseball game on Netflix. Now they've got games on Prime. Like, you got to keep up with all these different apps and stuff. And the Braves aren't even playing until today. So, like, I guess yesterday was sort of opening day, like soft opening day for some. But then you have other teams like the Braves who haven't played at all yet. So as far as I'm concerned, you and I, Drew are Braves fans. So today is opening day for us.

[Drew Franklin]

Yeah, I don't. I'm not a huge MLB guy. I love my Braves, but I. I was ready Wednesday to just watch a bunch of games. So I'm like, oh, there's only one on Netflix. Then yesterday I was like, okay, there's a few here. And then today seems to be the day, but I'm excited about my Braves. I don't know if it's going to be the year we want, but, Shannon, I'm ready to lock in. We already have injuries and all the stuff we've had the last three years, but I'm going to. I'm going to at least believe tonight. We have the Royals at 7:15.

[Shannon the Dude]

Yeah, they were bad last year. And just looking at the projections, nobody really has them going into the playoffs. So that's. That's kind of disappointing already knowing that it's a long season. You got 162 games ahead of you, but, you know, I guess anything can happen. But. So who's still injured? Do we know who's still injured on the team?

[Drew Franklin]

My friend Derek, he keeps up, like, with the foreign system. He knows the Braves organization better than they know themselves. And I feel like every morning I wake up to a text. If this person's hurt or this person's got tummy ache or so and so is doing this, I feel like we're taking a lot of negative energy into the season.

[Shannon the Dude]

Well, as long as we can score a run, we can say we did better than the Cincinnati Reds did on day one. So that's, you know, let's just score. Let's just score one run at least later today.

[Billy Rutledge]

Well, Drew, you can just text Ronald Acuna. Good team going.

[Drew Franklin]

It's my boy. Still another super bowl moment that I don't believe happened. Love me some Ronald Acuna. Let's go and get these Sweet 16 picks in. I know everyone's waiting.

[Caller or Guest]

Yes.

[Drew Franklin]

Been waiting to know what Ryan Lemon thinks of tonight's games. These will be our draft kings picks. I have the spread. Everyone go to DraftKings. If you do your gambling, use promo code KSR for the sign up bonuses they have. If you haven't done that yet, I guess we'll just. We'll go in chronological order starting with Rick Patino and the Johnny's playing Duke. Duke is a six and a half point favorite. I have already bet St. John's to win. So that is my pick, Ryan Lemon. We'll just keep it on the spread. Where are you on the six and a half?

[Ryan Lemon]

Yeah, I would take St. John's on that for sure. I mean, I believe in them and they've got enough big manpower to kind of control the Boozer Brothers. So I'm going to take St. John's

[Billy Rutledge]

the Athletic had an article that in the headline said, is it trendy to still hate Duke? And I'm going to say, yes, it is. So I'm taking St. John's and I am still hating Duke.

[Drew Franklin]

Not only is it trendy, everyone should do it. It should just be part of your, Your, your life hating Duke. What about you, Shannon?

[Shannon the Dude]

You know, I really want St. John's to win. I think I would take St. John's with the six and a half points. I don't know that I have enough confidence to go moneyline. So if we're just going point spread here, I'll take St. John's I just

[Ryan Lemon]

hope we see the Boozer Brothers State Farm commercial and the Galaxy phone commercial a couple times during the game tonight. That would, that would make me happy to see the Boozer Brothers on commercials.

[Drew Franklin]

All right. I'm a Duke hater like the rest of us. I do kind of like the Boozer story with their brother. They had a brother that was sick and they were kind of born to help him. Do you know that story?

[Ryan Lemon]

No.

[Drew Franklin]

Yeah. There's a third brother that was sick and they almost. Carlos Boozer. They. They had another child to I guess for the blood. I'm talking on the medical part, the details are fuzzy, but there is. They had a third brother and they kind of saved his life, the twins. So that's a pretty cool story.

[Ryan Lemon]

That is a great story.

[Drew Franklin]

I want Duke to lose, but kind of a cool boozer thing they got going on. And Cameron is unbelievable.

[Ryan Lemon]

Well, Kaden is. What's the guard. He's been great after the, you know, filling in for their point guard that got hurt. He's been great during the March Madness run.

[Drew Franklin]

Well, hopefully the road ends for them tonight. Michigan, Alabama. Michigan's an 8 1/2 point favorite and as we're talking, I'm reading this on the fly. Alabama guard Aiden Holloway has been granted his motion to travel out of state by a Tuscaloosa district court judge. I got to make sure this isn't a fake account.

[Billy Rutledge]

That sounds Facebook.

[Drew Franklin]

He is a writer for AL.com. yep, that's a pretty big thing. Okay. Looks like Aiden Holloway has been granted permission to travel.

[Ryan Lemon]

Wow.

[Drew Franklin]

Unbelievable, man. Alabama just. They don't care.

[Ryan Lemon]

They don't care. You know, they played that one dude for five games during the season from the. Got him from the G League. Now they're going to play Aiden Hollowell.

[Drew Franklin]

It's the morning of the game. Is he gonna have an ankle bracelet? Like what are we doing?

[Shannon the Dude]

I mean, is it going to be high walking in? Like, what's, what's the situation going to be?

[Drew Franklin]

Oh, that's so Alabama. Heck, they might sign somebody from the Lakers before the game tonight. But they are well before that news. They're eight and a half point favorite. The shred the spread might have gone down a little bit, but we'll call it eight and a half. Where are you, Ryan and your Michigan? Alabama.

[Ryan Lemon]

I think there's just too much circus following Alabama right now. So I think Michigan wins and may. They may even cover. I think Michigan's really, really good to begin with, but I'm on. I would probably bet Michigan now.

[Billy Rutledge]

I'm, I'm with you. I think Michigan wins by double digits than this one. It's not close in the second half. Give me the Wolverines.

[Drew Franklin]

Shannon?

[Shannon the Dude]

Yeah, I'm sort of back and forth on Alabama. You know, I thought they were decent throughout the season. Then they get into the SEC tournament. They lose their first round, first game, they look terrible. And then they get in the NCAA tournament. They, they win a couple of games, but I think Michigan's just going to be too much for them tonight. So I'm going to go with Michigan.

[Drew Franklin]

Alabama covers. Michigan wins. Yeah, I'll just be different. I don't feel great about that. Probably won't put my actual money on it. But just so it's not a clean sweep, I'll say Alabama gives them a game but still goes home. UConn. Michigan State. UConn. Only a one and a half point favorite. I'll go first. Have UConn in my title game. I think they win this one. I'll say they cover the one and a half.

[Ryan Lemon]

Go ahead.

[Billy Rutledge]

I'm going Michigan State. I think they get it done. Is oh believer is a believer. I think they're the more athletic team. Dan Hurley's always making a nuisance of himself. Do you see his comments yesterday about the world being soft? So I think they're. They're soft in this one and I'm going Michigan State.

[Ryan Lemon]

Shannon, you go ahead. I'm still trying to decide.

[Shannon the Dude]

Yeah. You know, like I don't want to go against my bracket. I have Michigan and Michigan State both in the final four. So if I'm going to stay true to that, I'm going to pick Michigan state moneyline tonight.

[Ryan Lemon]

So two Michigan State, one Connecticut.

[Drew Franklin]

Yep.

[Ryan Lemon]

My last memory of Connecticut is St. John's running them off the court in the Big east title game. They looked awful. I'm going Michigan State.

[Drew Franklin]

All right, y' all leave me on my. On an island over here with all these picks in the final game. Iowa State, 3 1/2 point favorite over Tennessee. I cannot love Iowa State more. Admit I say that with hatred in my heart for Tennessee, but let's go Cyclones. Joshua Jefferson is a game time decision. Seems like that'd be a pretty quick turnaround for the injury head. But there they seem optimistic internally over there at Iowa State. So I'm rolling with Iowa State.

[Ryan Lemon]

Yeah, I heard there. I saw where there's a really strong possibility he's going to play tonight. Won't play a whole game. If you get 15 minutes out of him. That's better than nothing. But man, I'm a believer in Iowa State now after what I saw him do to us. They just totally just that pressure.

[Drew Franklin]

So I'm going to play them. That's not a team we wanted. That defense is nasty.

[Ryan Lemon]

Nasty.

[Billy Rutledge]

I don't know if Tennessee expected to be here. I think they're playing with a little bit of house money after their how their regular season went. So that's a little dangerous. But for our guy, our Kentucky fan from Knoxville, I'm going with Iowa State.

[Drew Franklin]

Yeah, Dustin over there.

[Ryan Lemon]

Thank you, Shannon.

[Shannon the Dude]

Yep. I'm going to take Iowa State. I'll take the points as well. And while I got you here, I'm going to go ahead and read this because we have to. Gambling problem 1-800- gambler 18/ techie, only eligibility restrictions apply. Bonus best expires 7 days after issuance. For additional terms, responsible gaming resources cdkng co/audio, limited time offer on DraftKings.

[Drew Franklin]

We also just can't let Tennessee keep making the Elite Eight. They don't have that Final Four yet. Will this be a third straight Elite Eight? We can't. We can't let them keep knocking on the door because eventually they'll get through it.

[Ryan Lemon]

We know all the golf courses in Tennessee only have 14 holes.

[Drew Franklin]

Here we go, Shannon.

[Ryan Lemon]

Because in Tennessee, they never play the Final Four.

[Drew Franklin]

Who's supposed to be in charge of him right now? I'm hosting. It can't be me. Usually I try to help.

[Shannon the Dude]

Just come up with that joke on the spot. Ryan. I've never heard that one.

[Ryan Lemon]

It's not a joke, it's fact. None of the golf courses in Tennessee have 18 holes. They never play the Final Four, though.

[Shannon the Dude]

It doesn't get funnier if you repeat it.

[Billy Rutledge]

It's just the same segment as the boozer joke, too. I can almost guess what the next one will be.

[Ryan Lemon]

I did say the Hollywood.

[Drew Franklin]

Okay.

[Caller or Guest]

All right.

[Drew Franklin]

Well, one last one. Let's get your predictions for Kentucky women versus Texas. Yes, as I mentioned, big point spread. I think it's down to 14 and a half.

[Spinquest Announcer 2]

Wow.

[Ryan Lemon]

Yeah. Quickly we got Texas may win, but Kentucky covers. I would bet Kentucky picking Kentucky to cover.

[Billy Rutledge]

I don't know about money line.

[Drew Franklin]

Shannon.

[Shannon the Dude]

Yeah, we're all taking them to cover. Let's go, cats.

[Drew Franklin]

I've already bought him to cover. You know what? I'm take the money line. I ain't scared.

[Ryan Lemon]

Ain't scared.

[Drew Franklin]

Disrespectful number. We got Clarice Track. It's all. It's all been Kenny Brooks with all his swag.

[Ryan Lemon]

Let's go for it.

[Drew Franklin]

Oregon. Amelia Hasset's defense. We don't talk about that enough. We'll be talking about a lot more. And we've come back. This is ksr, Drew, Ryan, Billy and Shannon. We're live at KS Bar and Grill

[iHeart Advertising Announcer]

where people are rolling in TJ Smith, personal injury attorney.

[Ryan Lemon]

Call tj.

[Drew Franklin]

He'll make him pay.

[Shannon the Dude]

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

[Drew Franklin]

This is not Matt Jones. This is Drew Franklin with a little Luke Combs there, Ryan Lemon.

[Ryan Lemon]

I like to see some Luke Combs.

[Drew Franklin]

Luke Combs. This is him doing Alex Warren's Ordinary. Yeah, I was listening this way on the way in, so I put in a little request with Shannon. I don't get to pick the music very often.

[DraftKings Announcer]

That's right.

[Drew Franklin]

Hello. Luke's got a new album out, and I only say that because I got a shout out. My guy, Corey Hunt from Caneyville, Kentucky, who's in Luke's band, who just started his tour. Big Cats fan, always.

[Ryan Lemon]

Nice.

[Drew Franklin]

So shout out to Luke. And I think the band's called the Wild Carts, but I listen to this song a lot.

[Ryan Lemon]

You familiar where is Caneyville?

[Drew Franklin]

It's a little west. It's like I passed through it on my way to Madisonville. Never heard of it.

[Ryan Lemon]

Yeah, I've heard of. I don't know where it is.

[Drew Franklin]

There'll be a Cory Hunt sign out there, so don't you worry. Shout out to Luke. I know that's your boy. What's your Luke song?

[Ryan Lemon]

Long Neck eyes, Cold Beer Never broke my Heart.

[Drew Franklin]

All right, that'll do.

[Billy Rutledge]

What's the other cover he did recently?

[Drew Franklin]

Oh, he's really gotten into covers. Nascar.

[Billy Rutledge]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Drew Franklin]

So that one. There we go. I got to play a song. That was cool. Thanks for that moment, Shannon. Very cool. I do it again later. Might dial something else up.

[Shannon the Dude]

There you go.

[Drew Franklin]

Let's go. The phone lines. The Clark's Pump A Shot phone line. I hear there are people that want to talk to us.

[Shannon the Dude]

Let's go to Derek. Hey, Derek.

[Drew Franklin]

Hello, Derek.

[Caller or Guest]

Drew.

You guys were talking about, you know, the women's basketball team and. And Kenny has got not one, not two, but three McDonald's all Americans coming in for next season. In fact, he's tied for the most protective in the game. Texas and Kentucky have three coming in for next year, and so he's getting it done on their crib trail, unlike his counterpart part at the Joe Kraft center.

[Drew Franklin]

I appreciate the call. He sure is. Including Madden Greenway, who's one of the best players in the class. Kenny is building something big there.

[Caller or Guest]

And, Drew, one more thing I'd like to ask you if I could.

[Drew Franklin]

You may.

[DraftKings Announcer]

On.

[Caller or Guest]

On. On Thursday, April 11th of 2024 at 9:47, you tweeted out, respectively, what are we doing? And then about 30 minutes later, you stated. You stated someone gave Mitch the company

credit card and he ordered chicken.

Contenders. What. What did you mean by those tweets? And that's the night we hired Pope, by the way.

[Drew Franklin]

Yes, I think it's very clear I was not in on the Pope higher early. In fact, people asked if I would

[Caller or Guest]

do those tweets for full disclosure. I'm still not in on it. I've seen enough. To quote Dave Wasserman, this isn't gonna work. Dave Washman's a political analyst. But this isn't going to work, Drew. I know it, and I just know it's not going to work. But I just wondered what you meant by those tweets.

[Drew Franklin]

All right, I appreciate the call. Appreciate you going down my Twitter timeline there. I look like I'm getting called out here.

[Billy Rutledge]

What do you mean by that, Drew?

[Caller or Guest]

Well, I own it.

I.

[Drew Franklin]

People ask if I'll delete it, and I said, no, I won't delete it. That's how I felt that night. I think a lot of us felt that way that night. And by that, I think I said, mitch went to Jeff Ruby's and could get whatever he wanted and got the chicken tenders. It's just a little analogy of like, we got all this money, there's a lot of people interested, and we're just going straight to the chicken tendies.

[Ryan Lemon]

Do you think if now North Carolina does hire Billy Donovan, our fan base will bring that back up that. That time, you know?

[Drew Franklin]

Yes, absolutely. Now, I'm not convinced Billy will be good. He's been out of the game a long time. You know, is he going to go into recruiting these house? I mean, the parents will know, but do kids remember Joe Kim, Noah and Al Horford and Florida that run? I mean, Billy was great, but it's been a long time, and college basketball's changed. But if he does come back, yes, there will definitely be that reaction.

[Ryan Lemon]

Kids may not remember him, but mom and dad remember him, you know?

[Drew Franklin]

Feel like I'm getting called out on my Pope comment there, but was that it? Was that a shot at me?

[Billy Rutledge]

It was maybe a little bit of wanting an explanation. I do like the nod to. I don't know if this was your. Your purpose, but, like the chicken tenders thing, I remember Cal ordering.

[Drew Franklin]

Yes. It was also fresh with that. There was. There was layers to that tweet. And was it still up? Y' all can go look at it. I. I'm not someone that's trying to fire Pope. I. I'll see what he does next year. But I'll admit, when it was first announced, I wasn't thrilled. I don't think I was alone. We all had that the moment. We were over here at Manchester Distillery district where called in, and we're all like, hey, let's go to this press conference. Let's try to get behind it. But the night before, those were not my thoughts.

[Ryan Lemon]

It's amazing if somebody did a 30 for 30 on that show because when the show started, even before the show, the mood was not great.

[Drew Franklin]

No.

[Ryan Lemon]

But in the course of a two hour show, Mitch called into the show, got us on board. You know, Tino released that video.

[Drew Franklin]

Big hype man, Mitch Barnard got us fired up.

[Ryan Lemon]

That may be the best call he's ever had, was that call that day. And by the end of the show, we were all on board and excited about Mark Pope taking the job.

[Billy Rutledge]

I remember Shannon and I were pretty critical for the pre show and people were agreeing. And then, you know, Matt comes on and Goose joins the show, right?

[Drew Franklin]

That's right.

[Ryan Lemon]

Goose even called in, Mitch joins and

[Billy Rutledge]

Rick Pitino does that video. And it just completely flipped. I mean, Drew, where were you at at noon or 1pm that day after tweeting that the night before?

[Drew Franklin]

I came around a little bit. And also, I want to be clear, I said respectfully, what are we doing? I didn't say what are we doing? I said respectfully. I was trying to be nice. Let's go the phones. Who's up next? Maybe they have some old tweets.

[Shannon the Dude]

Stephen.

[Drew Franklin]

Hello, Stephen county, by the way. Litchfield territory. I knew that.

[Ryan Lemon]

Okay.

[Drew Franklin]

What's up?

[Caller or Guest]

Can you hear me?

[Drew Franklin]

Yes, sorry I interrupt you. Carry on.

[Caller or Guest]

Oh, no, you're fine. First time, long time. I just wanted to ask, for the past two years, we've kind of fallen down and kind of came back in games. What do you think we can change next year that could stop that and shout out to my dad. I'm sure he's probably listening.

[Drew Franklin]

Shout out to your dad as well. Appreciate the call. I don't know. We tried to diagnose that problem all year. I think part of it is just getting them up for games. We need a little more juice in the locker room beforehand. Whether you bring in an assistant that might be a little crazy and fire them up. But I think, I think there's been some games where the other team has punched first and Kentucky reacted. We need to flip that next year and start throwing the first punches.

[Billy Rutledge]

Didn't we hear that, like they changed the way they practiced? Like the first, you know, 10, 20 minutes of practice was full, five on five, full contact. And, you know, maybe that helped to a degree. Got a little better. But. But I don't know, how do we get a sense of urgency at the start of the game? It feels like that'd be a normal thing to come around, right?

[Drew Franklin]

Yeah, that was definitely a problem with this team. We can only hope next year's rendition of whatever Pope rolls out, that narrative goes away. But we battled that a lot this year.

[Ryan Lemon]

You know, we all trust Jack Givens. Jack go to practice. He said that. He goes, it all starts in practice. And he's the one who broke that story about they changed things up, how they start practice, how they do in practice. And it kind of seemed to work for this team. And you remember when we were in St. Louis, they. Kentucky was the only team in the shoot around that went five on five. Well, they jumped out on Iowa State. You know, there's the start was not the problem against Iowa State. It was after that in the middle of the game. So I don't know, man. I just. This whatever reason just didn't all click this year. And you got to hope things get better next year.

[Billy Rutledge]

Fatigue, too. I mean, you got to work on that.

[Ryan Lemon]

That's true.

[Billy Rutledge]

So you're not subbing out these guys after a good start and then, you know, the game tying back up.

[Drew Franklin]

I feel like I'm having just some PTSD with conversations we had all year. Going back to that. Remember, we're not going to negative town like that. Last caller tried to get me on that road.

[Ryan Lemon]

You're right.

[Drew Franklin]

Positive. Very true. Women are beating Texas tomorrow. Kentucky baseball's at lsu.

[Ryan Lemon]

Big weekend series for Kentucky baseball going on.

[Billy Rutledge]

And Kentucky's got a really good pitcher this year. Their starter on Friday, Friday night.

[Drew Franklin]

Starter? Yeah.

[Billy Rutledge]

Oh, my gosh. What's his name? Like Yellich or something?

[Drew Franklin]

Almost said yellow bitch. That's definitely not it. And I should know. I'm having one of those moments where

[Billy Rutledge]

your brain goes blink undefeated. He has more strikeouts than innings pitched right now. So Kentucky going down to LSU for this weekend series. I'm looking forward to seeing how far they can go this year.

[Drew Franklin]

Have you made it out to the Kentucky proud Park this year? You and I sneak in there.

[Ryan Lemon]

Yeah. Now the basketball is over. I'll definitely go.

[Billy Rutledge]

What is it, Jelkin?

[Ryan Lemon]

That's it.

[Drew Franklin]

Thank you, Billy.

[Ryan Lemon]

UK softball is at home. This weekend they host Georgia. The Georgia Lady Bulldogs are over there in John Crop Stadium.

[Drew Franklin]

They've had a rough season so far. We get it turned around, bouncing rack. Who's up next? Shannon.

[Shannon the Dude]

Let's go to Barry.

[Drew Franklin]

Hello, Barry.

[VGW Group Announcer]

Hey, fellas. How's everybody doing?

[Caller or Guest]

I don't know.

[VGW Group Announcer]

Billy worked. What's the big blue, Collin? The show on six o' clock last night. But Jack was on and he was really, really. He spoke for about 15 minutes about Hawthorne and just said that he is a star in the making. He's 610.

[Caller or Guest]

He could shoot.

[VGW Group Announcer]

I know, you know, wait till you

[Caller or Guest]

see it in the game.

[VGW Group Announcer]

But if we have Moreno, Hawthorne, Chandler. I still like Jasper Johnson, I think at the 2 because I think he can create a shot and get to the basket. Maybe, you know, am I being too positive thinking, okay, we might have a pretty good team next year. We still need to bring some guys in, but there's a core that I think could be pretty good.

[Drew Franklin]

You're not crazy at all. Appreciate the call. There's stuff to be excited about. I mean, you have to go out and get some big fish put with them. Tyron Stokes, come on down if you want to. I know Kentucky's haven't given up in that fight, but on Hawthorne, I. And you were there too, Ryan. We only got to see a small little bit of him. We don't get to go to practices, but we had the. What they call it, pro day.

[Ryan Lemon]

Yeah.

[Drew Franklin]

And then we had that media day. That's the only two times we saw him all year. And man, he can score. It's just the, the weight and the defense that I worry about. But who, you know, maybe he's been in the lab all year. I haven't seen him since that was October. But offensively, yes, he's exciting.

[Ryan Lemon]

You're right. You know, you want, you can bring back Marino, Chandler, some of these guys, but you lose OA and Aberdeen, you still got to go get some dudes. You lose your two best players, you can't just re queue what we've got coming back.

[Caller or Guest]

You.

[Ryan Lemon]

He has got to get some dudes.

[Billy Rutledge]

And you know, Pope has talked about in the past how important it is, another year in his system.

[Ryan Lemon]

Right.

[Billy Rutledge]

And we saw some guys take some. Some leaps this past year. You have a whole year to practice with the team. Hopefully Braden Hawthorne's ready to go. And a guy like Malachi Moreno comes back and becomes even more of a dominant force.

[Drew Franklin]

Very important to get those guys back in the Stokes thing, you know, Kansas is in a weird spot, kind of waiting on self. Also, there's the whole Nike thing. Stokes has already signed with Nike. I mean, is Nike just going to sit back and let him go to an Adidas school? I mean, Kansas is still the clear leader. Jack Pilgrim had an update on our board that Kentucky ain't dead yet, though, just because of the situation Kansas is in and the hesitation to sign there. Oregon is Also slid in the mix. That's his three. That's another Nike school. But I know fans want Stokes bad and I'm not saying we should expect him to get here, but it's not over yet. Kentucky still trying, even having just lost heart who was on him recently. So something to watch. Be nice if you put Stokes on the wing with some of those guys back. But we can all agree they have to go out and find some stars.

[Ryan Lemon]

You know, I threw it out there. I know nothing. But you know, Ty Kenny, if Bill Self does retire, he may open up his recruitment. He's a Kentucky kid. Maybe if Stokes comes, Kenny wants to play with him. They thought they're gonna play together. Kansas, let's just play together. Kentucky. Bring them both on.

[Drew Franklin]

Over.

[Billy Rutledge]

In the last two offseasons with Mark Pope recruiting, you haven't gotten that. That really five star guy that clearly the number one player in the class. And, and so, you know, after so many years of doing it with Cal, you know, this would be a welcome return to that Shannon.

[Drew Franklin]

We got Scrooge McDuck money. Go. Let's get all the stars.

[Shannon the Dude]

Exactly. Yeah. All this money. Yet as Oscar was saying, they're still begging us for money.

[Drew Franklin]

Well, I do like that they're optimistic internally with Stokes. That sounds like they're kind of including him in the. In their mindset of what they're recruiting for. Still an underdog, but it ain't over yet.

[Ryan Lemon]

You have to, you have to go as strong as you can to get a kid like that because you need that. You need. Like I said, you got to go get some dudes. He's a dude. Go get him.

[Drew Franklin]

And all the conversations with the turning players are happening this week. That news should be flying out soon into weekend for this show, but the news will not slow down when this ends in 15.

[Caller or Guest]

And we.

[Billy Rutledge]

We saw O Wave starting to play 38 minutes a game near the end. So I mean, if there were concerns that Pope wouldn't play you the amount that you wanted or some things like that, hopefully that's been quelled a little bit.

[Drew Franklin]

Yep. We got one more segment here at KS Bar Grill. Drew Ryan, Billy Shannon in the Louisville studio. We'll be right back. A little fun story I want to ask you all about.

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[Drew Franklin]

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[Billy Rutledge]

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[Ryan Lemon]

Oh yeah. Yeah. Nice.

[Shannon the Dude]

You all right, Ryan?

[Ryan Lemon]

I love this song. It's great song.

[Shannon the Dude]

I could tell.

[Drew Franklin]

Yeah. You're making some noises. I don't want to hear from you.

[Ryan Lemon]

Be happy.

[Drew Franklin]

Yeah, we got that.

[Ryan Lemon]

I'm the happiest I've been all morning.

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[Drew Franklin]

The smile on your face right now. Wow. All right, we're at KS Bar and Grill. One last segment. Drew Franklin, a very happy and smiling Ryan Lemon. Billy Rutledge, Shannon, the Dude guys. Other than that, first segment's been a fun show. I don't get to drive very often. I've enjoyed driving. Now I. I wanted to. To drive into this wall when we couldn't get connected earlier. That was. That was a rough start for us. I didn't.

[Ryan Lemon]

Well, it wasn't your fault. It was the equipment's fault.

[Drew Franklin]

It was technology's fault. But starting the show on the phone was a little bit of a curveball. Wasn't ready for it. But look, we got to this switched over.

[Ryan Lemon]

Yeah, we got over in five seconds.

[Drew Franklin]

We're fine. Look at us. We're good. Look at us.

[Billy Rutledge]

Look at this. Look at us. Who would have thought?

[Drew Franklin]

Yeah. And Shannon tells me you got full phone lines. I had a topic, but you know what? I want to leave people on hold. I'm hosting a couple times next week. We'll get to it later. Let's get to these calls. Who's up first?

[Shannon the Dude]

Let's go to Roy.

[Drew Franklin]

Hello, Roy. What's up?

[Caller or Guest]

Hey, guys.

Hey, Drew.

I just want to. We want to be positive today. And, you know, after watching the first two years where we got people scrambling trying to find who can play point guard, you know, the Mo Williams Sons recruiting news was good, but, you know, we got to have a playmaking point guard. That's probably what helped in the slow starts. And even Malachi, I think he regressed because our offense was our center coming 20ft away from the basketball trying to set a screen. And hopefully Otaya could get open or Aberdeen have a good scoring game because our offense was just hard to watch. I'll hang up. And listen, guys, thank you.

[Drew Franklin]

Thank you for that call. Wasn't too negative. We can handle that. We are in agreement. Pope needs to go get a stud at point guard. Let's go steal one of these guys we watch this year. Vandy, go get him. Tyler Tanner.

[Ryan Lemon]

I would love to have Tyler Tanner. I love Tyler Tanner.

[Drew Franklin]

Oregon's point guards in the portal. He's tough. I've seen a lot of people mention Josh Hubbard. He's. He's unique because at Mississippi State, he's just taking all the shots. But I think we could reel him in here in Lexington.

[Billy Rutledge]

But do you have to have a lefty point guard if Jalen Lowe's gonna still be around and the whole system's gonna be around the lefty point guard.

[Drew Franklin]

I'd prefer an ambidextrous point guard. You know, I remember at a young age when I fell out of basketball pretty early, dribbling with both hands was a big thing, even for our fifth grade team. So let's get someone that can do that coming up.

[Ryan Lemon]

That's why I Really? I don't think Lowe's gonna be back because they're going to go out and get a top level stud point guard. They will. They got to. So I don't know if Lowell wants to stick around and share time because he's strictly point guard. He can't play a two guard. He's strictly a point guard.

[Drew Franklin]

I'm of the belief and it's not specific to low. This is Kentucky. If you can go upgrade or get the best of the position, go do it.

[Ryan Lemon]

Yeah.

[Drew Franklin]

Leave emotions out of it.

[Billy Rutledge]

Agreed.

[Drew Franklin]

Who's up next?

[Shannon the Dude]

Let's go to Daryl.

[Drew Franklin]

Hello, Darryl. Thanks for calling in.

[Caller or Guest]

Hey, fellas, how you doing?

[Ryan Lemon]

That's our boy, Darrell.

[Drew Franklin]

Oh, what's up, Darrell?

[Caller or Guest]

A couple quick things and then I thank you to Shannon, the dude, the big thing. You know, I have more fun watching Arkansas and NCAA tournament than Kentucky. It's sad to say. I mean, they was fun to watch. You know, I. I don't know where we start, you know, I mean, there's not a lot of talent, you know, in the 26 class here in Kentucky. The younger classes. We do got some kids. I mean, you got a Braxton, Keith Lee, Jordan, Jackson. But, you know, I don't know what we're going to do with next year's class. I mean, it's just tough right now to be a UK fan.

[Drew Franklin]

You sound sad, Darrell. Let's get some optimism is there? Let's say they get some good recruits and Pope builds a decent roster. You'd be smiling again. We can't be complimenting Arkansas, saying they're more fun.

[Caller or Guest]

Absolutely. Listen, I'm bored as hell sitting here again on second weekend not playing. I mean, it just sucks, you know? And I mean, all we got look forward to is Rick Pino beating Duke. I mean, come on. Where we failed to. But I do want to give a thank you to Shannon the dude. Shannon. My old lady or my lady? My five piece. Listened, Matt Jones. Relations. Relationship advice. Yeah, show with Matt. And listen, Mama Rock, she. She come clean. She told me that she was coming in off the street. She said she tired of playing in the brush. She found the Goodwood.

[Shannon the Dude]

Wow.

[Drew Franklin]

There you go.

[Shannon the Dude]

Congratulations, Daryl.

[Caller or Guest]

Yeah, there you go. Thank you, guys. Yeah. But y' all have a good show and let's hope next year's better.

[Drew Franklin]

Yep, you too. Appreciate the call. Enjoy your boredom. Should have known he'd get a little J Rock shot in there. It's been a while since. Since we've heard that.

[Ryan Lemon]

Jrock calls. Back in three, two, one.

[Drew Franklin]

Let's get another one, Shannon.

[Shannon the Dude]

All right, let's go to Matt.

[Drew Franklin]

Hello, Matt. Thanks for calling in.

[Caller or Guest]

What's up, guys? What's up, guys?

[Drew Franklin]

What's up, man?

[Caller or Guest]

Hey, I'm. I'm just sitting out here in the garden eating meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans, thanks to Wild Time.

But I just.

Can I tell y' all a positive story about how much I appreciate your show?

[Drew Franklin]

Please. We love compliments.

[Caller or Guest]

Well, the other day, I was at

Lowe's in the big city of Hazard looking for some starter plants for my garden, and this real nice guy came and started talking to me. Works for the railroad company, and he was giving me some tips to improve my garden. We got to talk. And he said, yeah, I like to sit outside until it gets dark, maybe smoke a cigar. And I said, well, that's kind of like a form of meditation. He went, wait a minute. Are you that guy that calls in a ksr? And I said, yeah. He was like, oh, man, I got to get a picture with y' all, my buddies. And we love when you call in and you all connect people that I would never meet and make friends with. And so I appreciate you all so much, and this is a wonderful thing that you all created.

[Drew Franklin]

Thank you very much. Thanks for saying that. We appreciate the call. It sure is something we've created. Sometimes it works, which makes it even more fun. But thanks for the compliment, and good luck with your garden. I know it's garden season, boys. Next week. We don't have Matt again. He's out all week.

[Ryan Lemon]

That's right.

[Drew Franklin]

You know he's going do anything big. Did he tell you reveal any plans?

[Ryan Lemon]

I don't know. Other than him going to the games this weekend in Washington, D.C. in my

[Drew Franklin]

understanding, you and I are going to just take turns here. We're going to do a football talk that's going on. Didn't get into it much this week. Spring football head. And then Friday, Matt gave us an assignment. He said, go do something fun. He mentioned sitting by your pool. I mean, we've done that. Nothing against it. Maybe we'll do that. But if anybody has some ideas, let's get out and maybe we'll get some good weather and go out and have some fun on next Friday.

[Ryan Lemon]

Well, we were talking about during the break, you know, we've got free reign to go where we want to go. We've never been to Otwell, Indiana. I mean, I know it's just three hours away.

[Drew Franklin]

Billy, I should have asked you. We're not going to Otwell.

[Ryan Lemon]

We've done a show at your hometown. Matt's hometown Hometowns.

[Drew Franklin]

This will be fun. Go Kentucky women. Tomorrow they play at 3. Watch the game at KS Bar. If you're in Lexington. We're going to get this dub over Texas. Y' all have a good weekend. Thanks for listening. This is ksr.

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Okay?

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