2026-05-11- KSR - Hour 1

Summary

Kentucky Sports Radio (KSR) – Hour 1

Episode Date: May 11, 2026
Host: Matt Jones with Drew Franklin, Shannon The Dude, and Justin
Theme: Kentucky Basketball Roster News, Auctioneer Banter, and Listener Engagement

---

Main Theme & Purpose

This episode centers on breaking down recent developments with the Kentucky basketball roster under new head coach Mark Pope, particularly the addition of 25-year-old big man Frank Kepnang. The crew also debates Pope’s approach to roster construction, discusses the importance of shooters and leaders on the team, and mixes in trademark KSR humor (including an extended riff on auctioneers and SNL sketches). The show also addresses rumors around potential NBA departures and the structure of Kentucky’s basketball ops off the court.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. SNL Auctioneer Skit & Local Auctioneer Talk

• The crew banters at length about an impressive Saturday Night Live sketch featuring Matt Damon and Sarah Sherman as a married auctioneer couple.
• Admiration for the performance's difficulty—delivering memorized, rapid-fire, auctioneer-style lines live.
• [03:16] Drew: “It might be the most impressive thing I’ve ever seen that show do. I’m not going to say it’s the funniest, but it is funny. It’s more impressive.”
• Discussion segues into Kentucky’s local auction culture—mentioning Billy from KSR is “auctioneer in training” and recalling the team’s past radio remote at the Stockyards.
• [04:52] Matt Jones: “Well, you know, we have an auctioneer in training in the building. Billy's trying to be an auctioneer.”
• The crew muses on why auctioneers fascinate them and how becoming one requires unique skills.

2. Kentucky Basketball Roster: Frank Kepnang Joins

• Topic shifts to UK’s significant addition of 25-year-old big man Frank Kepnang (confirmed pronunciation by Shannon: “Kepnam”, [10:39]).
• [07:37] Shannon: “He is a big old boy. I mean...if you wanted Kentucky to have a physical presence, this is a physical presence. That’s a man.”
• Kepnang’s journey highlighted—seventh year of college basketball, eligibility clues, and UK’s need for physical, experienced depth in the frontcourt.
• Humor about his “manliness”—jokes he can smoke, rent a car, has a child and car payments.

3. Roster Breakdown & Lineups

• The likely lineup: Zoom Diallo (PG), Alex Wilkins (SG), Cam Williams (SF), Usman Njie/Justin McBride (PF), Malachi (C), plus backups like Kepnang and others.
• Acknowledgement that while UK has a more athletic, physical frontcourt than recent years, concerns around perimeter shooting persist.
• [12:07] Shannon: “You need another guard, wouldn’t you agree? Specifically one who could shoot.”
• Discussion on whether “hope” or proven production is underpinning Mark Pope’s roster construction this offseason.

4. Most Important Players and Roster Analytics

• Who are the key players? The debate centers on Alex Wilkins and Malachi as probable best players, but the group agrees breakout years from Cam Williams or Braden Hawthorne at wing are vital to elevating the team to top-10 or top-15 status.
• Emphasis that the backcourt (Wilkins, Diallo) isn't as proven as last year, and the offense still lacks reliable outside shooting.
• [14:22] Matt Jones: “He and Wilkins aren’t really shooters. I’m worried—Pope’s offense revolves around three-point shooters. We picked another team that can’t shoot.”
• The belief: UK needs either internal breakout production or a big-time transfer (like Milan Momcilovic) to make a leap.

5. Mark Pope’s Staff Structure & GM Rumblings

• Pope’s comments from a Q&A video about not hiring an outside “GM” are dissected.
• Breakdown of roles: Keegan Brown (analytics), Kim Shelton (contracts, has deep Kentucky roots), and two other longtime UK athletics staffers. The group notes these are not outsiders, but internal UK veterans getting new titles.
• Keegan Brown appears to be the de facto GM, per his own tweets despite not being officially labeled as such.
• [26:12] Matt Jones: “I hope it works out...I still have concerns about people with the real connections. And the thing I want is, like, an innovative mind that sees this differently than how it’s been forever.”

6. Listener Calls & Rumors: The TMMK Talks Thread

• Caller relays a rumor from the “TMMK Talks” (Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky employee group) Facebook page suggesting Malachi might stay in the NBA Draft due to Knicks interest.
• The hosts treat it as amusing but not credible, noting the prevalence of “BSers” on employee message boards.
• [35:08] Shannon: “I need to be on this...they’re talking about this right now on TMMK Talks, this call is being talked about.”
• The crew agrees Malachi is UK’s lynchpin and the season would feel dire without him—unless a star transfer is landed.

7. The (Awkward) Philly Takeover & NBA Playoff Talk

• Heard in parallel: Knicks fans outnumbered 76ers fans in Philadelphia’s arena during playoffs, sparking comparisons to Louisville dominating Rupp Arena—a source of city pride/humiliation.
• [31:41] Matt Jones: “...if Tennessee rolled into Rupp and just took—I mean, that would be unacceptable. And that’s what happened [in Philly].”
• Tyrese Maxey and ex-Villanova Knicks player Josh Hart’s public comments on the embarrassment.

8. Remembering Braves Manager Bobby Cox

• Tribute to recently deceased Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox, a key childhood figure for many Kentuckians and a legend for his record ejections and fiery style.
• [47:26] Shannon: “158 [ejections]. I don't think I realized that.”
• Appreciation for the old-school, uniform-wearing, outspoken baseball managers, and nostalgia for a bygone era.

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Drew, on the SNL skit ([03:16]): “It might be the most impressive thing I've ever seen that show do. I'm not saying it's the funniest, but it's more impressive.”
• Shannon, on Frank Kepnang ([07:37]): “He is a big old boy. I mean...if you wanted Kentucky to have a physical presence, this is a physical presence.”
• Matt Jones, on UK’s need for shooters ([14:22]): “Pope’s offense revolves around three point shooter. We picked another team that can’t shoot.”
• Shannon, skepticism about backcourt improvement ([16:03]): “That's a big assumption. That's one of those things. I'll believe it when I see it.”
• Matt Jones, on the GM situation ([26:12]): “I hope it works out. I hated they didn't add until late in the process...I still have concerns about people with the real connections.”
• Caller Jacob, on TMMK rumors ([34:24]): “Toyota is full of BSers...”
• Matt Jones, on novelty of TMMK Talks ([35:08]): “I need to be on this...they’re talking about this right now on TMMK Talks.”
• Matt Jones, on the potential Malachi loss ([36:20]): “I think the season is cooked if he doesn’t come back. Now, I say that—”
• Shannon, on Bobby Cox ([47:26]): “158 [ejections]. I don't think I realized that.”
• Matt Jones, on watching Cox ejections ([47:28]): “The best thing I saw all weekend was on Twitter. Someone has a 20-minute video of Bobby Cox arguing...Watched it twice.”

---

Important Timestamps

• [03:14] — Auctioneer SNL skit discussion begins
• [04:52] — Billy in the building is training as auctioneer
• [07:27] — Breakdown of Kentucky’s new transfer, Frank Kepnang
• [10:39] — Pronunciation confirmed: “Frank Kepnam”
• [12:07] — Roster analysis: Need for shooters/guards
• [14:22] — Concerns about shooting with current roster
• [16:03] — Skepticism of backcourt being better than last year
• [26:12] — Pope GM structure and staff realignment discussed
• [31:41] — Knicks fans’ takeover of 76ers arena talk
• [34:05] — Rumor from TMMK Talks about Malachi/Knicks/NBA
• [47:26] — Remembering Bobby Cox’s record ejections and legacy

---

Tone & Style

• Conversational, improvisational, and humorous interspersed with sharp, sometimes critical sports analysis.
• Excited energy consistent with KSR—a mix of lighthearted Kentucky culture with serious hoops talk.

---

For New Listeners

This episode is a great primer on both the current state of Kentucky basketball’s roster as it transitions into the Mark Pope era, and on the style of KSR: snappy, honest banter, some skepticism, and a love for community (whether that’s inside Rupp Arena, local auctions, or even Toyota’s in-house message boards). The depth and authenticity of the basketball discussion is matched by a willingness to veer into fun pop culture or caller-driven diversions. This hour exemplifies why KSR remains essential listening for the Big Blue Nation.

Transcript

[Matt Jones]

Today we're talking about how you don't have to earn more when you can save more. Okay, so you brought me this stat.

[Shannon]

T Mobile customers had the lowest wireless

[Matt Jones]

bills versus Verizon and AT&T over the past five years. That seems surprising.

[Shannon]

Surprising but true.

[Drew]

Which, honestly, is what people need right now.

[Matt Jones]

Affordable wireless service isn't a perk. It's a difference.

[Drew]

Based on Harris X billing snapshots from

[Robert Smigel]

Q3.21 and Q4 25 compared to average AT&T and Verizon bills.

[Drew]

Comparison excludes discounts, credits and optional charges. For more details, see harrisx.comT mobile bills.

[Timbo]

Last night, a blown call changed the game. This morning the Internet lost its mind and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo and every episode we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headlines. And we're going straight to the source. The athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to Sports slice on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And for more follow follow Timbo, Slice of Life 12 and the TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok.

[Robert Smigel]

Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite on Humor Me with Robert Smigel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier this week. My guests SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an acapella band with their between songs banter.

[C.J. Toledano]

Where does your group perform?

[Drew]

We do some retirement homes.

[Robert Smigel]

Those people are starving for banter. Listen to Humor Me with Robert Smigel and friends on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Pod or wherever you get your podcasts

[Sam J.]

on the Look Back at it podcast from 1979.

[Clifford Taylor IV]

That was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me.

[Sam J.]

I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it with our friends, fellow comedians and favorite authors like Mark Lamont hill. On the 80s, 84 was a wild.

[Shannon]

I mean it was a wild year.

[Clifford Taylor IV]

I don't think there's a more important year for black people.

[Sam J.]

Listen to Look Back at it on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast from.

[Comedy Off Broadway Announcer]

NBC's Last Comic Standing Comedy Up Broadway in Lexington welcomes Clayton English May 8th and 9th. Then from breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, it's the hilarious Lavelle Crawford. May 22nd through the 24th and May 29th and 30th, don't miss the dynamic comedy of Jessica Carson. For tickets to all comedy off Broadway shows, call 859-271-joke or visit comedyoff broadway.com comedyoff broadway.

[Justin]

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

[Drew]

Welcome, everyone, Kentucky Sports Radio Monday, May 11th. I am Matt Jones here on a chilly but nice May morning in Lexington,

[Shannon]

Kentucky, where you can give us shine the Clark's Pumping Shop phone line. That's 859-280-2287. Avlass text machine is 772-774-5254. In this edition sponsored by the TJ Smith Law Office, if you call TJ,

[Drew]

he'll make them pay.

[Shannon]

As I was in that rhythm right there, it started making me think of.

[Drew]

Did any of you see the auctioneer

[Shannon]

skit on Saturday night?

[Matt Jones]

No, I didn't watch SNL yet.

[Drew]

Have you seen it? Like it's, it might be the most impressive thing I've ever seen that show do. I'm not going to say it's the funniest, but it is funny. But it's more impressive. They did an like a married auctioneer couple.

[Caller from Toyota]

Okay.

[Clifford Taylor IV]

All right.

[Shannon]

Matt Damon and one of the characters on there, Sarah something or other, they

[Drew]

do a married auctioneer and they speak to each other only as auctioneers. Right. And they go four minutes and Shannon, they talk as fast as auctioneers do. These two act and somehow I don't

[Shannon]

know how they memorize their lines.

[Justin]

Yeah.

[Shannon]

Live. Because they were like, I wait, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94.

[Drew]

And they did that. And I, I was baffled. Matt Damon is the best actor in the world.

[Shannon]

He.

[Drew]

Shannon. To just pull that off at the end of an hour and a half long show to do an auctioneer where they're, but they're like speaking each other normal life but like auctioneers.

[Justin]

So you got to learn how to first of all speak like an auctioneer. Then you do all your lines within that week. It's amazing that they do that at

[Drew]

the end and they've just finished a show. So it's because it was the last sketch on the show. I sat there and watched it this morning and I watched it like two times and I couldn't believe they did it. Give them all the Oscars.

[Shannon]

Both of them are, I guess it means it's on television.

[Matt Jones]

I need to. That's That's a Saturday live. I'm going to go back and watch.

[Drew]

So weird, too. Like, it feels like everybody.

[Shannon]

Shannon was really high. Somebody was like, hi. They're a married couple, but they're auctioneers, so. And I love auctioneers.

[Matt Jones]

Well, you know, we have an auctioneer in training in the building, right. And Billy trying to be an auctioneer.

[Drew]

Billy's trying to be an auctioneer.

[Justin]

Somehow it came up in the pre show, and I asked Billy, I said, do you think if I got an auctioneer in here with you, you can learn that? So he's. He's actually training to become an auctioneer.

[Matt Jones]

Haven't they, like, met up already?

[Drew]

Has he taken. Has he started?

[Justin]

I don't know that he started. We need to get an update on that. But he said at some point this summer, no idea. He's going to come in and we'll put him up there on stage.

[Drew]

Well, I've said this before on here. When I was a kid, I would get Larry to take me to auctions just to watch him.

[Shannon]

I was fascinated by it.

[Drew]

There was something about the. And they get all the mannerisms, including, she goes, you have a fine wife. Which is exactly what they do with, like, cows and stuff.

[Shannon]

I thought it was brilliant. And now I know we can have one here in the building.

[Matt Jones]

I know a couple people who do it. And there's a guy in Lexington. I can't think of his name, but he goes to all the events.

[Drew]

We have a listener. We have a listener who, like, wins

[Shannon]

contests, like, around the country, which I don't know exactly how that is.

[Drew]

Remember when we did the show?

[Shannon]

By the way, this is all the news you need. Ryan is out this week, so it's

[Drew]

just me, Drew, and Shannon. So be ready for this.

[Matt Jones]

It's a lot of brain power we have to fill.

[Drew]

It's kind of weird where when the most ridiculous one of our show leaves you and I feel less reason to

[Justin]

be normal because Ryan keeps you all

[Drew]

serious, but we have to be. To keep his. But, like, when.

[Matt Jones]

It's like he brings enough of the.

[Drew]

Of the goofy.

[Shannon]

Exactly. So you.

[Drew]

We can go.

[Shannon]

But what was I saying?

[Drew]

Oh, you remember when we did the remote at the place out there on Ironworks pike where they sell cows and bulls?

[Matt Jones]

Yeah.

[Drew]

Do you remember that?

[Shannon]

Of course.

[Matt Jones]

Had a good lunch there.

[Drew]

It's. Well, they got that great food.

[Shannon]

Yeah.

[Matt Jones]

Is that the Stockyards?

[Drew]

The Stockyards, yeah. That was a lot of fun.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah, we saw a lot of.

[Shannon]

We watched them go anyway.

[Matt Jones]

And that'll be Billy soon.

[Shannon]

That's not, by the way, how I plan to start the show. But I do recommend watching that skit.

[Drew]

Here's what you're going to do. You'll watch the first minute and you'll

[Shannon]

go, I don't think this is good.

[Drew]

And then by the end you'll be cracking up and go, I cannot believe they did this.

[Justin]

What's amazing to me, I mean, I know it's called Saturday Night Live, but I always wonder like, do they record any of that stuff or is all that.

[Drew]

No, it will. Some of these, sometimes they'll have like one or two. But this skit was live.

[Justin]

That's crazy.

[Drew]

And he. They go four and a half minutes.

[Shannon]

He makes one little air at the very end. Damon. But I forgive him for it because it was. It was unbelievable. All right, enough of that. Kentucky got a 41 year old man on the show for the team next year. No, I mean he.

[Drew]

So Kentucky gets 25 year old Frank Kep. Name is kept. Or Frank.

[Shannon]

It's got a C. So is it Frank?

[Matt Jones]

I've been saying Frank, but you know, I lean into Frank.

[Sam J.]

Frank.

[Matt Jones]

I know it's kept Nong, not kept Nang. I watched a lot of.

[Shannon]

We need to go with both of these names.

[Drew]

So you don't know if it's Frank or Frank.

[Matt Jones]

I've been saying Frank, but I could be.

[Shannon]

Just because you've been saying it doesn't mean it's.

[Matt Jones]

No, but I'm admitting I could be wrong. I don't know, but that's what I've been going with.

[Drew]

Wouldn't you rather it be Frank?

[Shannon]

Yes, Shannon. Just because it's new.

[Justin]

Sounds so sophisticated. Frank.

[Shannon]

Yeah.

[Drew]

Frank. Hello, Frank.

[Matt Jones]

Maybe I should be Frank Franklin next time.

[Shannon]

Kepnung.

[Matt Jones]

Yes.

[Justin]

Drew Franklin would be good.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah. Change my name.

[Shannon]

Frank Kepnon. Frank Kepnung. He is from Cameroon, but has played. This will be his seventh year of college basketball.

[Drew]

Just to get a sense. This guy was in Devin Askew. Isaiah. This guy was in BJ Boston's class.

[Matt Jones]

That is insane.

[Drew]

Do you remember BJ Boston? Barely this

[Shannon]

class.

[Caller from Toyota]

Unbelievable.

[Drew]

Unbelievable. And he got his waiver this morning. He's now clear. So he is playing.

[Shannon]

He is a big old boy. I mean like if you wanted Kentucky to have a physical presence, this is a physical presence. That's a man.

[Drew]

Well, he's 25.

[Shannon]

I mean, he's a man. I'm going to go ahead and predict

[Drew]

for you right now. Just be ready for the John Caliperi press conference.

[Matt Jones]

That's one of my first thoughts.

[Shannon]

He's going to be like, he's out there smoking cigarettes with the child with car payment.

[Matt Jones]

Like, he's.

[Shannon]

He's going to do that at some point during this.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah, we also. I might have to delete a few Chad Baker Mazara jokes from Twitter, but I love the pickup. I mean, he's played with Severe Wheeler

[Drew]

and Keon Brooks, and that's insane.

[Shannon]

Did you know that?

[Drew]

Played with Severe Wheeler and Keon Brooks.

[Matt Jones]

Buddy also played with Zoom Diallo coming over together for this team. I think he's such a big bruiser. You know, he's kind of the opposite of what Pope normally recruits. He likes a guy that can step out and shoot and pass. I think Kepnam took 13 in his life. I don't think he knows that there's a shot worth three points. But he's a big, physical bruiser inside who finishes above the rim and will cram on some dunks.

[Shannon]

That picture or that video of the dunk, which got called a charge, I don't know how I'd never seen that before. That's one of the nastiest dunks. Shannon, did you see that video?

[Justin]

It's a shame.

[Drew]

That's one of the.

[Shannon]

That's one of the nastiest dunks I've ever seen. And he dribbles.

[Drew]

You know how we used to say

[Shannon]

that Brandon Garrison would dribble like Stanley from office in that play? He dribbles like Stanley from the office. The ball is way out in front of him.

[Drew]

But I think it'll be fun.

[Shannon]

It's nice to have. He's going to be a backup big man. So for a backup big man, feels like that's a good get.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah. As you know, this gets later in the process, and not many names out there starting to not panic, but like, all right, Pope, we need a good backup center, and this is definitely him. I also like the contrast and style with Malachi in case they need him, especially in the SEC and in practices. I think this could be good for Marino. A big bruiser. Like I said, an older guy that plays completely different. I think he can kind of tough him up a little bit inside.

[Shannon]

Frank, this is official word. Frank Kepnam.

[Matt Jones]

There we go.

[Shannon]

So it is.

[Matt Jones]

I was right.

[Shannon]

You were right. Good job. So it's Frank.

[Matt Jones]

Yes.

[Shannon]

So he is on the team now. So Kentucky's team as of now looks like this. You have Zoom Diallo point guard, Alex Wilkins at the 2. Guard, presumably Cam Williams at the 3. I think it'll depend on what happens when they get here. Who's at the fourth Usman in Jai or Justin McBride and then Malachi at the five. You would then have the other one of those guys as a backup. You've got Kept Nong as a backup. You got Trent Noah as a backup and the kid from Washington State who went to George Rogers Clark, Jerome Morton. So that's nine.

[Matt Jones]

Got Mason Williams, Mo's kid.

[Drew]

I can't like, is he going to play though? I mean, he's a freshman.

[Matt Jones]

I mean he could give some minutes if we're relying on him.

[Drew]

I forgot about Braden Hawthorne. So. So you. You at this point have, I think

[Shannon]

10 guys they would expect to play.

[Drew]

Then I would say Braden or, excuse

[Shannon]

me, Zion, Hawthorn, Hawthorne. The. The. Mason Williams and Reese Potter, kind of your extra. So you have two spots.

[Drew]

I look at that and say, I think you've got a complete team there with one you got to have.

[Shannon]

You need another guard, wouldn't you agree? Specifically one who could shoot.

[Matt Jones]

They need a shooter. And if, you know, I think they could use an extra ball handler. But if they can go get mom Silvich, who's a wing, not really a guard, but he's the shooter. He's the.

[Drew]

He's everything. But then, like, don't you. Don't you have too many people? Like now we got. That's five bigs.

[Matt Jones]

Well, you get him and tell somebody else to deal with it. I mean, that dude takes you to a top 10 team probably. I mean, you tell everybody to go cry in the locker room. He's coming.

[Shannon]

If you can get him, you go and get him.

[Drew]

Really?

[Matt Jones]

It's how good? At least in the back court because Wilkins can slide over and take over point when Diallo needs a break. It's for me, it's what we played

[Shannon]

with three guards last year. And I don't think you can do that, struggle with that. I think you got to have another one.

[Matt Jones]

For me, it's how good can Morton be?

[Drew]

Yeah, so that's a good question I

[Shannon]

was going to ask you, like, who

[Drew]

would you agree that the best player

[Shannon]

on the team is probably Alex Wilkins, maybe Malachi.

[Matt Jones]

I'd lean Malachi, but Wilkins is more of what you really need, being a score creator like that. But Malachi probably the better player of the team with bigger upside.

[Shannon]

So we agree those are the best players.

[Drew]

Who is the most important player to

[Shannon]

Kentucky reaching whatever their potential will be

[Matt Jones]

if you don't add a wing Cam Williams has to become something. Or maybe Hawthorne surprises you and jumps over Cam. But one of those two have to make a massive jump.

[Shannon]

Yeah. So.

[Matt Jones]

And knock down threes.

[Drew]

So for me, this team will be

[Shannon]

as it's constituted even if it adds no one. I think this team is competitive. I think this team honestly is probably about where we were this year. Maybe a little bit better. But what could take that from there

[Drew]

to pretty good is one of those

[Shannon]

two guys being really good. If Hawthorne or Cam Williams takes a

[Drew]

step up, then I think you can

[Shannon]

get into the pack where you're like 10 to 15 in the country if they do that and then you.

[Drew]

It's also a given.

[Shannon]

Zoom Diallo is going to have to be given.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah. He and Wilkins aren't really shooters. I'm worried that, you know, Pope, whose offense revolves around three point shooter.

[Shannon]

We picked another team that can't shoot.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah. That's why I, Cam Williams, Hawthorne, Trent Noah, when he gets minutes, they need someone who's a reliable threat to get spacing. And Diallo kind of gets inside and kind of kick out a CIS guy for threes. And right now I don't know who he would be passing to for that. I'm really worried that they're short of shooter if one of those guys doesn't step up.

[Shannon]

I agree with you. I'm, you know, I think they're going to, I think they're going to be very athletic.

[Drew]

So here's what I think they improved.

[Shannon]

I think their bigs are going to be better than they were last year collectively. Do you agree with that?

[Drew]

So I think he definitely improved his bigs.

[Shannon]

And if you look around college basketball in the last couple of years, having really good bigs has ended up kind of being important to win at the elite level. So I think he's improved his bigs.

[Ryder Strong]

I.

[Drew]

There's a lot of people out there

[Shannon]

just going, zoom Diallo and Alex Wilkins will be better than away and Aberdeen. I can't say that they're so good. Last year and Aberdeen were really, really good. Like really, really good.

[Drew]

If you told me today that Wilkins

[Shannon]

and Zoom are better than Aberdeen and Away, then I'm gonna say we're gonna be pretty good. But I want to remind you.

[Drew]

Oh, we had 35, 8 and 7

[Shannon]

in that game against Santa Clara and

[Matt Jones]

a half court shot. I know it's a one off play.

[Drew]

And by the end of the year, Aberdeen was like leading the team in scoring.

[Shannon]

The last 10 to 15 games, he

[Matt Jones]

was the consistent three point shooter. Barely turned it over his free throws.

[Drew]

So I think just this assumption that

[Shannon]

they're going to be better than those guys.

[Drew]

You know, Shannon put some respect on Zell Aberdeen's name.

[Justin]

That's a big assumption. That's one of those things. I'll believe it when I see it. But until then, I don't think they're going to be better.

[Drew]

So in my mind, I think we're.

[Shannon]

Our back court's going to have been better last year, but I think our front court's going to be better this year. Which means can Cam Williams or Braden Hawthorne or Trent Noah be better than Colin Chandler was? That's what we're asking.

[Drew]

And I think the answer is that

[Shannon]

is yes, they can be. But I think they have to be.

[Matt Jones]

They do. And the problem there is if we haven't seen it from really any of them. Cam Williams, I feel. But he was getting hot. He just got in the starting lineup, only played a few sec games before he goes out for the year. I mean, Hawthorne, who knows? We've not seen him at all.

[Drew]

I think Mark Pope's roster build this

[Shannon]

year only makes sense if he thinks Braden Hawthorne is really good.

[Drew]

You know what I mean? Like in his mind, you brought in his brother, you know what I mean? Like, clearly you must think he's really good. There would be no reason to not

[Shannon]

get another guard, not get another shooter

[Drew]

and bring in his brother. Unless Mark Pope must think he's going to be good. And the problem, I mean, we just don't know because we've never seen him play. But if he is, then I think

[Shannon]

the team can be pretty good.

[Matt Jones]

I agree, but I'm a little worried that I feel like a lot of this roster has some hope in it and not like, oh, we went and

[Drew]

got this dude, we have to have

[Shannon]

hope and Pope, I mean, that's the.

[Drew]

At this point, unless they add a big time player, you're going in the

[Shannon]

season with hope more than knowledge. And we'll see what happens. 859-280-2287 I'm gonna during the break, I gotta show for just a minute of the skit.

[Matt Jones]

Oh, I'm gonna watch it.

[Shannon]

I can't wait so he can see how good it is. We'll take a break and be right back.

[Timbo]

KSR Last night a blown call changed a game. This morning the Internet lost its mind, highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in on Timbo. Every episode we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies and the stories behind the Headlines. We go straight to the source. The athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions. The stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight reel. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports slice on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slice, Life 12 and the TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok.

[Clifford Taylor IV]

What's up, guys? This is Clifford Taylor the Fourth, and on my podcast, the Clifford Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff, like being an Internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game, this linebacker, linebacker walks up to me,

[Drew]

he goes, a ref.

[Clifford Taylor IV]

My mom wants you to wave at her.

[Matt Jones]

What?

[Shannon]

Time out.

[Drew]

Quarterback on offense, blue 42.

[Clifford Taylor IV]

Hey, Rhett, my mama wants you to weigh better.

[Drew]

What?

[Clifford Taylor IV]

Where's he at? Hey, Ms. Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Shannon]

What's up, fam?

[Isaiah Thomas]

It's Isiah Thomas and I'm C.J.

[C.J. Toledano]

toledano. And our podcast, Point Game is about defying the odds.

[Isaiah Thomas]

Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without

[C.J. Toledano]

Luka and Austin Reed, finding ways to win no matter what.

[Isaiah Thomas]

He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luka and Austin Reaves, I gotta manipulate the game.

[C.J. Toledano]

We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs.

[Isaiah Thomas]

I think Joker's gonna be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reed, he has to guard Julius Randle, and then he has to give us everything. He gives us under the night to night basis on offense.

[C.J. Toledano]

And when it's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too.

[Steve Nash]

Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers while he got the ball. Like after you go through a training camp with that Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. Oh, yeah. Get your ass up and down the court and you gonna get the ball.

[C.J. Toledano]

So listen to Point game on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

[Ryder Strong]

Hey, everyone, it's Ryder Strong and Will Friedle from Pod meets World.

[Will Friedle]

And now The Pod meets Twirled podcast.

[Ryder Strong]

We're two men who were completely clueless

[Will Friedle]

to reality TV who now have covered Dancing with the Stars, Traitors, and we're gearing up for the season finale of Survivor.

[Ryder Strong]

So, yeah, now we're experts.

[Will Friedle]

I know we annoyed a lot of our listeners by our severe lack of Survivor knowledge. That is the point of the show. I'm just gonna remind you, I have watched some Survivor. I obviously haven't watched enough.

[Drew]

Did people not like what?

[Shannon]

Yeah, just because we.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah. We'll be recapping the big conclusion of the 50th season, from the final attempts at gameplay to the desperate pleas of finalists to a bunch of ha, ooh,

[Shannon]

ha ha ooh, ha, ooh.

[Ryder Strong]

Again, we are experts, so make sure

[Will Friedle]

to tune into Pod meets Twirl for all our Survivor friends. 50 takes.

[Ryder Strong]

Listen to Pod Meets twirled on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Shannon]

Welcome back, techie Sports Radio.

[Drew]

You think you could learn to do this, Shannon?

[Justin]

Probably not. I watch. I watched some of that SNL skit during the break. That is impressive. They could remember those lines.

[Shannon]

It really well. I mean, there's people on here going, matt, they were reading cue cards. I.

[Drew]

You still have to memorize some of them. Like you're not fast and you're going fast. Like you're not going to be able

[Shannon]

to just read read.

[Drew]

Right.

[Shannon]

You still got to get it in your head. I don't care. There's cue cards or not.

[Drew]

Yeah, I don't think I could either.

[Shannon]

Although my disclaimers for DraftKings are kind of like that.

[Justin]

Yeah, but they're not read well. They're really bad.

[Drew]

Okay, now wait a minute.

[Shannon]

You don't even say the right word.

[Justin]

I love you, man, but you know, you don't even say the words.

[Drew]

Sometimes the words are in the vicinity of what's correct.

[Matt Jones]

You mumble a little bit. I feel like you've added more mumbles, you know, and 1820.

[Shannon]

I'm trying to get the 859-280-2287. One person writes, Matt, you defend Pope on everything.

[Drew]

See, this is the thing. That's your. That's your lead.

[Matt Jones]

KSR's fault.

[Drew]

If Calum Perry had recruited a guy

[Shannon]

like Kepnam, you would have complained endlessly. False.

[Drew]

He had guys like. He had Lance where? Lance where? This is Lance where. Maybe a better Lance where.

[Matt Jones]

Hopefully a better Lance where.

[Drew]

But that's what he is. And we had Lance where? And I was glad we had Lance

[Shannon]

where you bring him in, he'd fight

[Drew]

with people for a minute.

[Shannon]

He'd go back, how about Lance?

[Matt Jones]

I kind of missed that.

[Drew]

How about Lance?

[Matt Jones]

You need an enforcer. Like I said, I think in practice, pushing around.

[Shannon]

This is a starting center, then I'm worried.

[Drew]

If we have a point guard and

[Shannon]

a starting center from a team that was under 500, I'm worried.

[Drew]

But he's. I don't think he's your starter. So if he's not your starter, then

[Shannon]

I'm fine with it.

[Drew]

I mean, how many backup bigs, like,

[Matt Jones]

they're hard to get and there's been games in the SEC where guys are just in there to fight. Even like Florida Chinula, Malachi didn't have much of an answer for that. In some games, this dude is going to come in and not be pushed around. I mean, he can pick up where some of the things where Malachi might

[Shannon]

still have a weakness, complain that guys are in college too long. What do you do now that we have one on our team?

[Justin]

I guess I'll have to eat my words, but I like that Our guy is 25 years old, a grown man.

[Drew]

Well, he can rent a car.

[Justin]

Pushing around. Yeah, he could. Yeah, he can rent a condo. He's pushing around like little 18 year old kids.

[Drew]

Oh, there is going to be a sense. Can you imagine like who is the

[Shannon]

frailest player we've ever had at Kentucky? Scowl.

[Matt Jones]

There you go.

[Shannon]

Can you imagine scout trying to guard this guy or this guy with Scout?

[Drew]

He would have broken him in half.

[Matt Jones]

But it can be good for him as long as you don't hurt him in practice. I mean, they need to see that every day to toughen up a little bit.

[Shannon]

Yeah.

[Matt Jones]

So.

[Shannon]

So anyway, I, we are kind of, we're on the same page about, about this edition now, the second part of Pope and we'll go to the phones. Pope does his. He did his third answer questions video. Right. Still, these are very good. I don't know how much longer they're going to go, but he did it Friday afternoon.

[Drew]

The storyline that came out of this

[Shannon]

one was he said, essentially, I'm not hiring a GM where we have these four people in place. And so I thought it would be important for people to understand who these four people are because for a lot of people they're just names. Right.

[Drew]

So one of them, the name that

[Shannon]

people may be recognized was Keegan Brown, who they basically he said was in charge of analytic and et cetera.

[Drew]

That's the guy he brought in.

[Shannon]

We've talked about him. And then.

[Drew]

But you might have said, well, like

[Shannon]

who are these other three names?

[Drew]

All three of those people that he

[Shannon]

mentioned have worked at UK for quite some time. So they didn't bring anyone in for those roles. He's essentially giving titles to people that are already there.

[Drew]

Two of them are just people that

[Shannon]

worked in UK athletics and then the

[Drew]

third was the name Kim Shelton.

[Shannon]

Kim Shelton has worked in around UK sports for 20 years. She worked for IMG. She worked for JMI or she worked for IMG and JMI then left, went and ran the Lexington Sporting Club for like a year and then now is back to to jmi. They said she's dealing with contracts. Well then over time it became clear Kim is actually doing contracts with businesses.

[Drew]

So it looks like Drew after all

[Shannon]

the dust was settled, Keegan Brown came out and basically was like, I thought it was an interesting tweet.

[Drew]

Yeah. I mean, Mark Pope said four people

[Shannon]

have four different jobs. And then Keegan seemed to write I have the jobs.

[Drew]

He was basically saying, I'm the gm.

[Matt Jones]

That seemed like some damage control after

[Drew]

the response to the well, he basically was like, I'm negotiating with the players, I'm doing it. So he was all but saying like,

[Shannon]

I'm the gm so they're not going to bring another gm.

[Drew]

And now even though they said four, it really seems like Keegan Brown is

[Shannon]

the guy and we'll see how that works.

[Matt Jones]

I hope it works out. I hated they didn't add until late in the process because even though people want to live in this world that the portal doesn't open till the end of the year. This stuff is done in the dark mid season and he got here late, so he was kind of already put in a bad spot when he got here. I don't know him enough to know his NBA ties. I know he's the video coordinator for the Wisconsin Herd. I don't know how much that gets you in the door with some of these big names, but I still have concerns about people with the real connections. And the thing I want is like an innovative mind that sees this differently than how it's been forever. Like someone with new ideas that can keep Kentucky on the forefront of all this.

[Drew]

I mean,

[Shannon]

he seems like a really bright guy. I've never met him. I think he will do a lot of things. I still think they're missing. When I saw the four names, I went, well, they still don't have what I'm what's the problem? They still don't have the person that's going to go out and get in the nitty gritty. They just don't have that.

[Drew]

And maybe they don't need it, but

[Shannon]

they don't have it. And, you know, this goes a little

[Drew]

bit to what I talk about sometimes on. And I, you know, I'm not trying to be, I'm to trying, not trying to be negative. But on the PR standpoint, Pope was asked two months ago or whenever they brought Keegan Brown in, are you going to get a gm?

[Shannon]

And he was like, well, we're looking into it. We'll talk about it.

[Drew]

Well, they didn't add anybody, so why didn't they just say. And when they brought in Keegan Brown, why didn't they just say, this is our gm? Like, why not just say that? Because clearly that's what it is. The other people he mentioned are all people that already work. They worked. Those people worked at UK before Pope got here. Those other three names go back to Cal.

[Matt Jones]

Like, one of them, and this is just me and you talking. One of them is the director of compliance. Mario, don't record this. Can we not have compliance in these conversations? I mean, we should comply, but I don't know if compliance needs to be in the middle of this.

[Drew]

But I just wish, I guess if they were only going to do Keegan

[Shannon]

Brown, I just wish he had said that when he was hired. This is our gm. And that would have been that because.

[Drew]

Because the other three people, like, I mean, Kim Shelton, I think, has worked at UK going back to almost like Billy.

[Matt Jones]

I heard Tom Leach say she interned for Kwood. She's a former soccer player in, like the early 90s.

[Drew]

She's been here as long as I

[Matt Jones]

have, which means she does a good job. But it's part of UK athletics being on autopilot. We need new ideas and new people in here to take the next step in this landscape of everything.

[Drew]

But now we know there's not going

[Shannon]

to be another person and we know what the situation is. 859-280-2287. We'll take your calls. Get in some other stuff.

[Matt Jones]

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

[Justin]

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

[Shannon]

Welcome back, Techie Sports Radio. 859-280-2287. One person writes, Matt, how did Frank get a waiver? I thought we were doing five for five. It is. It's starting now, so it's going forward. Five for five. So the people in now still Are on the old rules, but I think it's like going forward, five for five and he got an injury waiver. Those are going to go away, but they haven't yet.

[Matt Jones]

I think got two of them to end up having a seventh year.

[Shannon]

Yeah.

[Matt Jones]

So he got lucky on his timeline.

[Shannon]

That's what one person writes. Matt, don't you think Diallo and Wilkins will be better passers than Aberdeen? Yes, they will be much better passers. The question though is who are they going to pass to?

[Justin]

We need scores.

[Shannon]

They still need people who will be able to score. And the thing about away and Aberdeen

[Drew]

is you could write them down for

[Shannon]

40 to 45 points a game. So you've got to go find those. I mean, we. Again, just compare it to last year.

[Drew]

We weren't.

[Shannon]

We couldn't score enough to win. That was our problem.

[Drew]

I think in the SEC to win,

[Shannon]

you got to score 80. Now you got to score 80.

[Drew]

So the question becomes, where do those 80 come from? Last year's team 40 to 45 came

[Shannon]

from Aberdeen and away and it wasn't enough. Right.

[Drew]

And when those. Besides those two, there was no one that you could rely on that you knew would give you points every game.

[Shannon]

Colin Chandler had a few games worth

[Drew]

it, but then he went kind of cold. So the question becomes, you just got to get my roster and show me

[Shannon]

where 80's coming from.

[Drew]

And I think the only way you

[Shannon]

get to 80 is if Cam Williams, Braden Hawthorne are good.

[Matt Jones]

And I like the addition of Wilkins and Zoom both. Zoom was my number two right behind Rob Wright. So I'm happy to have him. But I'll go ahead and say, and I can be wrong, they're not going to be better than Owe. Oh, wait. Was all sec. He averaged more points last year at Kentucky than Wilkins. Average at Furman playing a different level. I just. I'm a big old way guy.

[Shannon]

I don't think you've always been like that.

[Matt Jones]

And not just the points. I mean, we know the. His double. What was a double figure scoring like every game but three or something crazy. But then also I can think of three, maybe four buzzer beaters.

[Shannon]

Clutch. Very special player.

[Matt Jones]

I think he's a little irreplaceable without getting a couple of guys in the spot.

[Shannon]

All right. 859-280-2287. Real quick. Would you be embarrassed if you were the 76ers that the Knicks took your arena over? Shannon not just beat you, but the entire arena was Knicks fans.

[Justin]

Yeah, that's a bad look. I mean, it's one thing to get swept by the Knicks, which, you know, they're. They're a good team. But to have that many fans come into your own arena, that's embarrassing.

[Drew]

They said 75% of the arena was Knicks fan. Can you imagine us playing Louisville and 75% of Rupp Arenas? Louisville, 75%.

[Matt Jones]

That was my thought, watching it. Cause Philly's a big sports town. Passionate fans. I pictured in my brain, it was like, if Tennessee rolled into RUP and just took. Like, that would be unacceptable.

[Drew]

Unacceptable. And that's what happened. And then I saw they interviewed a couple Knicks fans that were like, look, going to a playoff game at the Garden is over a thousand dollars. He was like, we took the train

[Shannon]

down here, bought a ticket for $300,

[Drew]

and it was half the cost. It would have been for us to go in New York. So you can understand why they would go.

[Shannon]

But have you.

[Drew]

Did you see the local TV broadcast? Shannon, this woman goes live from the

[Shannon]

arena, and she's like, we're here.

[Drew]

And the 76ers unfortunately lost. And the entire. She just gets swarmed by Knicks fans. She disapp disappears. And the Knicks fans are just going,

[Justin]

well, Sixers fans just gave up on their own team. They knew they were cooked. They were down three.

[Drew]

Oh, Josh Hart, who played at Villanova. Okay, so this is. He played at Villanova. He played in that arena and won a national title. He's on the Knicks now. He did an interview after and said, I thought Philadelphia was a sports city, but I guess not. Can you imagine if, like, Anthony Davis came out and said, I thought Lexington was a sports city, but I guess not.

[Shannon]

Heartbreak.

[Matt Jones]

Absolutely. And you talk about the people that made the trip because it's harder to get in the Garden. There's also fun. And when you're being the road team and you kind of rally with your fans, I mean, they were having a

[Shannon]

hell of a time in Philly's arena that was embarrassed. I mean, embarrassing. Tyrese Maxey, like, said, you know, I. This. This is awful. Like, I can't believe it. So, I mean, they.

[Drew]

They. They might look back and go, I wish we lost the Celtics. This was more embarrassing than if we had lost to the Celtics.

[Matt Jones]

Oh, they got dunked on so hard. And Paul George looks terrible.

[Shannon]

Yeah, it is awful. Let's go to Jacob. Go ahead, Jacob.

[Caller Jacob]

Hey, guys. Good morning.

[Caller from Toyota]

I got a little scuttle butt and then a question. So I work at Toyota in Georgetown. We all know who lives in, you know, from Georgetown. And it came out on our work page that it said, attention all UK fans. I work with Malachi's dad and he's been really pursued by the Knicks and that he's thinking about staying in the draft.

[Shannon]

Now, wait a minute. Are you saying.

[Drew]

Let me just. Let me just take a step back. Are you saying in the Toyota work page, someone posts like a group.

[Caller from Toyota]

It's called TMMK Talks.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah, just exposing.

[Shannon]

Hang on.

[Drew]

What's the name of it? TMMK Talks.

[Caller from Toyota]

Yep, yep.

[Shannon]

And what. What.

[Drew]

What does the TMMK stand for?

[Caller from Toyota]

Toyota Motor Manufacturing. Kentucky Talks.

[Shannon]

Wow. Shannon, this is. This is where all this is good.

[Justin]

This is getting juicy here.

[Drew]

All right, so t. On TMMK Talk, somebody said they had talked to Malachi's

[Shannon]

dad and that he was in the kn. Are you.

[Drew]

Are you suggesting.

[Shannon]

You don't think he will come back?

[Caller from Toyota]

That's what the post was suggesting. I think he's going to come back. I think he'll make more money and. Okay, but his dad, now the person. Toyota is full of bs'.

[Caller Jacob]

Ers. So.

[Shannon]

So you're saying. So wait a minute. I like this.

[Drew]

So TMMK Talks has a lot of BSers time.

[Shannon]

Okay, gotcha. I need to be on this. Like, first of all, they're talking about this right now. I can tell you right now on TMMK Talks, this call is being talked about. Well, all right.

[Drew]

So you think.

[Shannon]

So you think it's not true, but we'll.

[Caller Jacob]

We'll.

[Drew]

We'll see.

[Shannon]

I appreciate the call.

[Drew]

I. I have at no point thought

[Shannon]

Malachi was going to go to the draft, but then I saw he did the visit with the Knicks and that people who test the waters, it's rare that they visit.

[Drew]

I mean, he's not the first one to visit. People have visited. But once they visit, because, you know, each team only gets so many visits, so they don't just throw guys out.

[Shannon]

Like, they. They. I don't know how many they get, but they only get a handful.

[Drew]

So they tend to give them to

[Shannon]

people that they're really thinking about.

[Drew]

So that's the first time I was a little worried.

[Shannon]

I still think he comes back, but

[Drew]

it was the first time I was

[Shannon]

like, okay, because let me just say this. If he doesn't come back unless we get like, man, some Momcilovich, then I'm worried if he doesn't come back unless

[Drew]

we replace him with somebody really good,

[Shannon]

which we might, then I think we're not good.

[Matt Jones]

I think the season is cooked. If he doesn't come back now, I Say that I.

[Shannon]

But if they got Silovich, though, you wouldn't think that.

[Drew]

Yeah.

[Matt Jones]

They still don't have really much of a center at that point, and they got a shooter. And I would worry Mom Shilovich would look at that roster and be like, there's not a center on this team that doesn't. This team doesn't have a high ceiling. What else is out there for me? I would worry about that.

[Drew]

I'm not.

[Shannon]

Well, if they lost Malachi and didn't get mom Silvich, then I'm worried.

[Drew]

If they did, I think they could make that work.

[Shannon]

I actually think it would just be a different team.

[Matt Jones]

You'd only have Frank and Reese Potter at center, though.

[Drew]

Yeah, but you could just play small five.

[Shannon]

You could. I mean, you, you, you. It's what you'd have to do. And. And you could get hurt on the

[Drew]

glass, but you'd be able to shoot.

[Shannon]

You'd have fives who could shoot. So you just have to play a different way.

[Matt Jones]

I say that I'm not very worried about Malachi.

[Drew]

I'm not even.

[Matt Jones]

I'm happy you got good.

[Drew]

I'm not either. Although I do wonder what's on. TMMK talks Shannon.

[Justin]

I do too. But when he said they're a bunch of BSRs, that made me feel a little bit better.

[Shannon]

Who. I'd love to have access on it today. Cause then there's gonna be people trying to debate who he was.

[Caller Jacob]

Yeah.

[Matt Jones]

Oh, this is going to turn into a big story.

[Drew]

How many people work at Toyota?

[Justin]

A lot?

[Matt Jones]

Oh, yeah, Tons.

[Drew]

Thousands.

[Timbo]

Like.

[Justin]

Yes.

[Shannon]

Give me a. I don't know.

[Drew]

5.

[Matt Jones]

I will say 6,000. I have no idea.

[Shannon]

Okay. Look it up. But there's also probably a trust tree,

[Matt Jones]

a circle of trust in this group, and you're calling into radio shows.

[Shannon]

But when you have 6,000 people, you can't expect, you know, you can't expect complete trust.

[Clifford Taylor IV]

Trust.

[Shannon]

Right, Richard, Go ahead, Richard.

[Justin]

Nearly 10,000 team members, it says.

[Shannon]

Yeah, Richard, go ahead.

[Caller Jacob]

Yes.

[Caller Justin]

Yeah, guys, I. I apologize.

[Caller Jacob]

I'm gonna go ahead and apologize. I'm way off track for what y' all are talking about.

[Caller Justin]

I.

[Caller Jacob]

The state of Kentucky is ranked 48 out of 50 states in helping the disabled get back on their feet and get back to work. And the way you can get back on. Because I am disabled, and I'm trying to go through this process, the vocational rehabilitation, but due to funds being embezzled and misused, I'm unable to be able to get in program, to be able to get myself going again. And what. I'm a pocket listener. So I'm way behind. And hearing Andy get on here and say stuff about the University of Kentucky has got me kind of just torque.

[Shannon]

Okay, but remember, remember, we don't turn this. We talked about Andy's comments. We talked about Andy's comments because they were about UK sports. This is not, this is not a political show. I mean, we just so, you know, so, I mean, I'm sure whatever you're going through is frustrating, but that's not what we do here.

[Caller Jacob]

Yes, sir. I totally get it. I'm just, I want to put it out there because I. People like me are not getting their voices out because I have contacted people and only thing I could tell you is send an email and you send the email and then you get the same email over and over and over.

[Shannon]

Well, I'm very sorry you're having frustrating. I understand. I'm sorry you're having to deal with that. And I wish you the best. I appreciate, appreciate the call. 859-280-2287. Red State Barbecue. Wow.

[Sam J.]

Yeah,

[Shannon]

Just made noise. Mario never makes him. Barbecue season's about to kick off, and

[Drew]

one of the favorite places is Red State Barbecue.

[Shannon]

Their sauces are showing up everywhere. Kroger Liquor bar and Publix Meyer. Even jungle gyms up in Cincinnati, Kentucky. Small batch.

[Drew]

And now BlackBerry smoke.

[Shannon]

But here's the big news later this month. A 1776 Independence blend. 250 yards of 250 years of American fire barbecue.

[Matt Jones]

Yum.

[Shannon]

So celebrate freedom, liberty, and barbecue at Red State barbecue with the 1776 Independence barbecue blend. America, patriotism, and barbecue.

[Matt Jones]

Nothing more American than barbecue.

[Shannon]

We'll be right back. Ksr.

[Timbo]

Last night, a blown call changed the game. This morning, the Internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in on Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source. The athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions. The stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight reel. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports slice on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo, slice Life 12 and the TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok.

[Clifford Taylor IV]

What's up, guys? This is Clifford Taylor IV and on my podcast, the Clifford Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff like being an Internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game, this linebacker, linebacker walks up to me,

[Drew]

he goes, hey, ref, my mom want

[Clifford Taylor IV]

you to wave at her.

[Drew]

What?

[Shannon]

Time out.

[Drew]

Look, quarterback on offense, blue 42.

[Clifford Taylor IV]

Hey, Rhett, my mama wants you to wave at her.

[Drew]

What?

[Clifford Taylor IV]

Where she at? Hey, Ms. Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

[Shannon]

What's up, fam?

[Isaiah Thomas]

It's Isaiah Thomas and I'm C.J.

[C.J. Toledano]

toledano. And our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds.

[Isaiah Thomas]

Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Lu and Austin Reed and finding ways

[C.J. Toledano]

to win no matter what.

[Isaiah Thomas]

He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before and he knows without Luka and Austin Reaves, I gotta manipulate the game.

[C.J. Toledano]

We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs.

[Isaiah Thomas]

I think Joker's gonna be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reed, he has to guard Julius Randle and then he has to give us everything. He gives us on a night to night basis on offense.

[C.J. Toledano]

And when it's friends stop by like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too.

[Steve Nash]

Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers while he got the ball. Like you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. Oh, yeah. Get your ass up and down the court and you gonna get the ball.

[C.J. Toledano]

So listen to Point game on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Ryder Strong]

Hey, everyone, it's Ryder Strong and Will Friedle from Pod Meets World.

[Will Friedle]

And now the Pod Meets Twirled podcast.

[Ryder Strong]

We're two men who were completely clueless

[Will Friedle]

to reality tv who now have covered

[Ryder Strong]

Dancing with the Stars Traitors.

[Will Friedle]

And we're gearing up for the season finale of Survivor.

[Ryder Strong]

So, yeah, now we're experts.

[Will Friedle]

I know we annoyed a lot of our listeners by our severe lack of Survivor knowledge. That is the point of the show. I'm just going to remind you, I have watched some Survivor. I obviously haven't watched enough.

[Drew]

Did people not like, like what was.

[Shannon]

Yeah, just because we.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, we'll be Recapping the big conclusion of the 50th season, from the final attempts at gameplay to the desperate pleas of finalists to a bunch of.

[Ryder Strong]

Again, we are experts, so make sure

[Will Friedle]

to tune into Pod Meets Twirled for all our Survivor 50 takes.

[Ryder Strong]

Listen to Pod Meets twirled on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Shannon]

Welcome back, Kentucky Sports Radio, 859-280-2287. Just so you know, the reason why we don't have. I don't. We don't have conversations like with the caller is because of what happens on the text machine of people. Like, it just become. That's. It becomes about a different topic. So I wish that man and anybody that has difficulty if you know this show, you know, I wish everyone the best, but, like, we're not going to the moment. People will say to me, sometimes, Matt, you talk about politics, so it's hypocritical for you to say other people can't. And that's actually a completely fair, valid criticism. But you can't, having done this for 15 years, because then the whole.

[Drew]

Once one person does us, then that

[Shannon]

will be what the show becomes. And one of the things I've learned over the years is people who really love politics, they love it more than they love anything. And they will not. Like, we can bring up Toyota talks, and it will not be that people feel like that's the only thing they can talk about. But if you bring up politics, there will be no more calls about sports. That will be what it is. So that's why. That's why there's that rule. It's not because I think my opinion is better than everyone else's. I mean, although it is, Shannon, but. But it is because we know you think that, but it's just because, like, it's the only way you can do a show like this. Now one person writes, Matt, you think a neighborhood Facebook gossip group is crazy, you should hear the TMMK page. It's a Facebook page and it's wild. Now I see, like, I've got. I almost want to go work there, just Shannon to be on the page.

[Justin]

Do you think we could get in there? Maybe we could, like, lie on that?

[Shannon]

Well, I can't even get into my neighborhood Facebook group. They still haven't let me in yet. You don't need that.

[Drew]

Well, I'm trying, but now I, I don't really want to be in, but now I kind of do because they won't let me in. I got One of what's going on in there.

[Matt Jones]

Usually just a bunch of griping.

[Justin]

Say they're talking about you. That's why they don't want you to be in probably.

[Shannon]

No, I mean you're almost certainly correct, Shannon. Bobby Cox died.

[Justin]

Yeah.

[Shannon]

I hated to see all three of us. All three of us will have strong opinions about this because even though I'm now a Reds fan, I was a Brave fan during the Bobby Cox years. Watched every game from 1986 to probably 1994 and loved Bobby Cox yelling at managers.

[Drew]

Yeah, I mean, dies the same week as Ted Turner.

[Justin]

It's a tough week.

[Drew]

Yeah. Called him home.

[Shannon]

But Shannon and I'll let both of you. Tough legend in baseball.

[Justin]

One of the most beloved managers out there. You ask any player that played for him, they will have great things to say about Bobby Cox. You know, was there all throughout the 90s and early 2000s. For me, he was Braves baseball growing up as a Braves fan. Players would come and go, but Bobby Cox was always there. And yeah, you mentioned him arguing with managers. Holds the major league record 158 ejections over his career. Nearly got thrown out of. If you put that together, that's an entire major league baseball season. Every game. Imagine getting thrown out of a game. That was Bobby Cox.

[Shannon]

That's 158. I don't think I realized that.

[Matt Jones]

The best thing I saw all weekend was on Twitter. Someone has a 20 minute video of Bobby Cox arguing with Ohms and getting ejected. Watched it twice.

[Shannon]

20 minutes, 20 minutes of Bobby Cox getting ejected.

[Drew]

It is incredible.

[Shannon]

It's a lot.

[Justin]

Never get broken because nobody really argues anymore. There's no reason to argue. You have instant replay now. There's nothing to argue with over.

[Shannon]

That's true.

[Justin]

So always have that record.

[Drew]

And he, he was like a perfect

[Shannon]

example of how it's odd that that baseball coaches wear uniforms.

[Drew]

Like he didn't do what a lot

[Shannon]

of fatter coaches do, which is wear like a tarp over it or something. He had the uniform on with his

[Drew]

belly sticking over it.

[Shannon]

And then he had his pitching coach, Leo Mazone, who would just rock back and forth the entire game.

[Matt Jones]

He also was very unique in that he was the manager. Got fired. Ted brought him back to be the general manager and then he fired the manager and made himself the manager.

[Shannon]

Putting themselves in positions of power.

[Matt Jones]

But it worked because when he made himself the manager, that's when they went on the big run. When he drafted all the legends we know.

[Justin]

Yeah. 14 straight division titles, 95 World Series. Definitely one of the best. Fourth all time and wins.

[Shannon]

Yeah. So RFP Bobby Cox, all three of us, big part of our youth passed away this weekend. Justin, Go ahead, Justin.

[Caller Justin]

Yeah, Matt, first of all, long time, first time.

[Shannon]

Hua.

[Caller Justin]

I just want to say it's, it's probably really hard doing the, the auctioneer stuff with the nose whistle.

[Shannon]

Okay, you gotta stop.

[Drew]

That's kind of died down over the years.

[Shannon]

You don't need to break. You just watch it, Justin.

[Caller Justin]

The other thing is, you know, watching the UK or watching the NBA draft and all the stuff, there's a lot of UK players that were on there and it was kind of refreshing and kind of made you wonder, you know, they. We have all those UK players, we have all that, that stuff going on, but we only have one championship under Cal and we have all these people complaining about Pope and his, his draft pick or his recruiting and all that stuff. When we brought Pope in, we knew that this is what he was going to do. He was going to bring in these lesser known players. He was going to bring not the five stars, maybe not even the four stars.

[Shannon]

I don't think that's necessarily 100 correct, Justin. I mean Pope did say when he came, I'm going to go recruit the best guys. And he did go recruit them.

[Drew]

That's the thing about like when you sat, like he recruited 14 of the top 20 guys. 14 of the top 20 guys in

[Shannon]

the class came on UK's campus.

[Drew]

Okay, so it's not the case that

[Shannon]

he's only recruiting lesser known guys. He's recruiting top guys, Justin.

[Drew]

He's just not getting them.

[Caller Justin]

But do you think that that could have anything to do with his system being maybe for a different type of guy?

[Drew]

Maybe, but, but I still. Maybe. But like I still kind of wonder what the system is because they were two completely different systems the two seasons. And the system that I thought Mark Pope was going to run, he didn't

[Shannon]

recruit a team like that last year.

[Drew]

And I'm going to say, Justin, this

[Shannon]

team coming doesn't look like that either.

[Drew]

Like think about those dudes in that first year. Everyone except Amari could pick off.

[Shannon]

Shoot. Had some dead eye shooters.

[Drew]

You know, you, you could see, like that's not what this team is and that's not what last year's team was. Was. So it's hard for me to know actually Justin, exactly what Pope's doing. I trust that he'll figure it out. But it's not, I will say it's

[Shannon]

not what I thought it was going to be true.

[Caller Justin]

I just, I'm tired of hearing, you know, you get on the tick tock universe and there's all these people telling us that, that you can't be a Pope fan and be a real fan and.

[Shannon]

Yeah, well, they know who that is. Yeah, forget that. I mean, that's ridiculous. I appreciate the call. Nobody gets to decide who's a real fan except Shannon. 8592-802287-72774, 5254. Be right back. Hour two

[Sean Duffy]

I'm U.S. transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. We all get distracted when we drive, whether it's from our phones or kids in the backseat bickering. But how we handle these distractions can be a matter of. Of life or death. Before you get on the road for your next road trip, please put your phones on silent and take a mental note to focus on driving. Paid for by nhtsa.

[Timbo]

Last night, a blown call changed the game. This morning, the Internet lost its mind and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. And every episode we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source. The athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to Sports slice on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And for more, follow Timbo, Slice Life 12 and the TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok.

[Robert Smigel]

Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite on Humor Me with Robert Smigel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week. My guests, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Sidel, help an acapella band with their between songs Banter.

[C.J. Toledano]

Where does your group perform?

[Drew]

We do some retirement homes.

[Robert Smigel]

Those people are starving for banter. Listen to Humor Me with Robert Smigel and friends on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Sam J.]

On the Look Back at it podcast from 1979.

[Clifford Taylor IV]

That was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me.

[Sam J.]

I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex E. Each episode we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it with our friends, fellow comedians and favorite authors like Mark Lamont hill. On the 80s, 84 was a wild.

[Shannon]

I mean, it was a wild year.

[Clifford Taylor IV]

I don't think there's a more important year for black people.

[Sam J.]

Listen to look back at it on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.