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- [00:01]
America 250 Announcer
This July 4th, come celebrate at America's Block Party hosted by America 250. America's Block Party is a can't miss 4th of July concert happening at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Experience music, performances from major artists, patriotic tributes and the kickoff to giving 4th, helping to make July 4th the largest day of giving in American history. It's more than just fireworks. Learn more about this landmark celebration@america250.org
- [00:30]
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- [01:00]
Rob Dawson
What's up y'?
- [01:01]
Caller
All?
- [01:01]
Rob Dawson
Summer's got a different tempo. Everything's a little looser, brighter. One plan turns into another. You hear something, you stay a little longer. Next thing you know, you're somewhere you didn't plan to be. It's those in between moments. That's where the ideas hit. Conversations stretch out. Little memories sneak up on you. And sometimes it's just about what's in your hand. That color, that chill. The new Tropical Butterfly Refresher from Starbucks. Guava and passion fruit flavors with mango, pineapple, apple flavored pearls. Yeah, that feels like summer before you even taste it. Funny how one small stop becomes the best part of the day. Start your summer rhythm with Starbucks. Try the new Tropical Butterfly Refresher from Starbucks.
- [01:49]
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- [02:19]
Spinquest Disclaimer Voice
Comedy Off Broadway in Lexington welcomes comedian, podcaster, author and actress Zarna Garg June 5th and 6th. Then, from the Moon Tower Comedy Festival, catch Dean Stanfield June 12th and 13th. And don't miss AGT finalist and club favorite Josh Blue June 18th through the 20th for tickets to all Comedy Off Broadway shows. Call 859-271-JOKE or visit comedyoff broadway.com comedy off broadway.
- [02:49]
Kentucky Sports Radio Producer Shannon
This is Kentucky Sports Radio, presented by Stockton Mortgage and the Kentucky Office of Highway Safety Safe Summer Driving Tour.
- [02:57]
Rob Dawson
Now here's Matt Jones over the Kentucky Sports Radio. Now, my name is Rob Dosser. I have Jeff Goodman with me, and for the next two hours, we are going to be live in your ears, talking about Kentucky basketball, talking about Kentucky's athletic director, talking about the success of a couple former Wildcats in the NBA Finals. Goodman, how you doing, sir? It's great to hear from you.
- [03:20]
Who.
- [03:20]
Jeff Goodman
Who allowed you to host this, first of all? Who allow. Who. Who said that you could be the host of this show for two hours?
- [03:28]
Rob Dawson
I have a text message from Matt Jones and it reads, I'm gonna. I'm gonna read this word for word. We cannot trust Goodman with anything that has to do with hosting, so it's all you.
- [03:40]
Jeff Goodman
All right, all right, I get it. If as long as Matt, as long as you. You have this and you can send that text to me so I can see it and you're not fabricating it, then. Then we're good.
- [03:52]
Rob Dawson
We're good.
- [03:52]
Jeff Goodman
We're good. I'm looking forward to this. I haven't done this maybe ever. I don't think I've ever, actually, because, you know, Matt and I have not been. Weren't on the greatest of terms for a stretch. We. We were great for years. In. In fact, I wish we had. The initial call that I made into Matt's radio show when Billy or Bully. Sorry, not Billy. Bully. Clyde Gillespie was hired by Kentucky years and years ago, and I called in, he had me on, and I absolutely crucified the hire. And. And I was at Fenway park covering a Red Sox game, and I remember stepping outside and doing the interview, and that was the first time I think I ever talked to Matt. And then we kind of. Yeah, we had a little bit of a falling out, but we're good now. We're very good again.
- [04:43]
Rob Dawson
Well, I was gonna say, if there's one person that we can thank for your. Your appearance now on ksr, it's Seth Greenberg. Because the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Is that right? It's all out war on Seth Greenberg now.
- [04:57]
Jeff Goodman
Yeah. Should I text Seth and see if maybe he'll come on in these next two hours? That would be entertaining as hell for every person listening right now. Trust me, that would be the most entertaining thing we could find if Seth Greenberg actually agreed to come on which he would not. There's no chance in hell he would, he would agree to. Come on.
- [05:18]
Rob Dawson
No, he's scared of you, which I, I still don't really quite understand because you are. You're a teddy bear at heart. Listen, Kentucky Sports Radio was brought to you by the TJ Smith Law Office. Call tj he will make you pay. We're going to be here for two hours. If you are bored or want to ask Jeff Goodman any questions, Please call in 859-280-2287. That's 859-280-2287. We got a lot to get to here today, Goodman. But seeing as practice in the off season officially started for the Kentucky Wildcats today, let's just talk a little bit big picture about this team, about this group, about this roster, about the makeup. We, along with quite a few other people were quite critical of the start of Kentucky's offseason, seeing who they missed on and some of the players that they weren't able to bring in. But now that they filled out this roster, now that they have Milan Momcilovic and Malachi Moreno and a couple of point guards in the backcourt and, and some interesting high ceiling talents coming off the bench potentially, what do you make of this team? What do you make of Mark Pope's roster and what do you make of where we are right now in Big Blue Nation?
- [06:26]
Jeff Goodman
Well, I'll say this, Mark Pope looked pretty good when I saw him this past week in Rock Hill, South Carolina at the NBA top hundred camp. A little bit of scruff, looked like he hadn't shaved for a little while. But a lot of smiles coming out of Mark Pope right now. And that probably wasn't the case quite as much. You know, three weeks ago before Malachi Moreno made his decision to come back, before they got Milan Mancilovich. So I, I think right now he and the staff, not just smiles coming out of him, you know, Mo Williams was there, Cody was there. And I think again they've put together a roster that at least gives you a legitimate shot to be a top 10 team this year. And I'm not saying I would rank him top 10 today, but again, the, the one thing that's so different now as opposed to years ago is, you know, we're going to do these rankings and we have done them. And there's so many unknowns because of mid major players obviously transferring up, but also all the international players littered across most of the rosters and obviously Mark Pope and his staff have one and Usman Njai that a lot of people don't know a lot about, including us. So, you know, it's, it's throwing darts now, but they've got enough talent. They've got athletic guards, they've got two really good shooters. They've got a big man that they, you know, can, can play through some and, you know, is one of the better bigs in the country. And then they got a bench that again, I think is solid. And as long as they buy into their role, chemistry is going to be huge. It was two years ago for Mark Pope's team and last year not quite as good. And I think, again, they gave themselves a chance here.
- [08:22]
Rob Dawson
Yeah, the hardest part with predicting anything in college basketball this year with the amount of turnover that you see on these rosters is it's not just will the pieces come together, do the pieces fit? Were you able to recruit players that can actually understand new concepts and new systems and new terminology? How are they going to acclimate for the, the foreign guys to, to playing in the United States in a different style of basketball, a different brand of basketball? But then you also got just like the personality factors, like, do these guys actually get along? Do they actually like each other? Will they be able to fit together
- [08:55]
Jeff Goodman
in a locker room?
- [08:56]
Rob Dawson
Will there be a culture that gets developed? Because when you have 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 new faces coming into a program like Kentucky has this year, it's not a guarantee that everyone's going to like each other. Right? Like, maybe the personalities don't clash.
- [09:11]
Caller
That.
- [09:11]
Rob Dawson
That's the hardest part with projecting all of this. Now, if you're just talking on paper, I really like what they've put together with this group on paper. Right. My question to you is, and, and if there's any Kentucky fans out there listening that want to weigh in and give an actual Kentucky fan perspective, please call in 859-280-2287. But I just, we went from saying, man, I don't know if this is going to be a top 25 kind of a team. It's like, yeah, you know what? This team's got second weekend potential. And I just wonder if that's, is that enough for Kentucky basketball? Right? We're not talking about Alabama. We're not. We're not talking about some of these programs where, like, if you are a top 20 team, you get to the tournament and you win a couple games, like, that's a really good season. We're talking about Kentucky Goodman. We're talking about programs that Measure themselves in national title, not even Final Fours national titles. Is that going to be enough?
- [10:05]
Jeff Goodman
Yeah.
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Rob Dawson
For Kentucky fan?
- [10:07]
Jeff Goodman
Yeah. I don't think I understand that. And they do measure themselves with national titles. But I don't think right now you're saying, hey, we have to win in that. Obviously, that's the goal. That's the goal for any team. The Kansas, the Kentucky, the Carolina, the Duke, the Arizona, the ucla, any of those teams. But ultimately for Mark Pope right now, he's got to show that he's the right guy for this job long term. And I think in order to do that, to me, the goal is be a top tennis team all year, be relevant all year, where Kentucky fans can be proud of this team, play hard as hell, get this team to play the way Kentucky fans, you know, want to. The way they played for a lot of second half of the year last year. The first half was a calamity. It was, it was a disaster. And then be relevant, obviously, when it matters most, which is in March and potentially April. But I think if you're a top 10ish team all year this year and you get at least to the second weekend, I think then at least Kentucky fans are going to start to feel a lot better about Mark Pro Pope and the direction of this program going forward.
- [11:20]
Rob Dawson
Yeah, I get that. That makes sense. I really like what they've put together in this group on paper. You know, I know that you believe that Malachi Moreno is going to regress because you don't believe in freshmen getting better when they become soft enough. But I think
- [11:36]
Spinquest Disclaimer Voice
I can't make that
- [11:36]
Rob Dawson
joke with people that don't know that it's a joke, huh?
- [11:38]
Jeff Goodman
Correct. Because people are going to clip that. They're going to clip that and think that I'm saying that Malik Camerano is going to somehow get. He's not going to get worse. My whole point to Rob here was he thinks every freshman gets better from their freshman a sophomore year. And I try to tell him that that is not the case. Like. Like Rob as a host at field of 68 was actually pretty good. His first year, he was actually pretty good. And then he started to feel himself a little bit too much after his first year. And then he came back his sophomore year, his second season, and he regressed, plain and simple. So it, it does happen. I don't think it's going to happen with Malachi Moreno, but it can happen. If you start to feel yourself a little too much and you don't work quite as hard in the off season, but again, Moreno is not going to be that guy.
- [12:25]
Rob Dawson
Yeah, well, the hard part, not specifically with Malo, is that a lot of these guys, these sophomores, just got monster paydays. So what's going to happen once you get like, once you start getting those million dollar checks into your bank account, you're going to keep working as hard? I think Malachi Moreno will, but I think that he's going to end up being one of the top five to seven centers in college basketball this year. And you combine that with the shooter Milan Momcilovic, you combine that with a couple of downhill playmaking guards and you combine that with all sorts of length and athleticism and you know, Justin McBride and Usman engine Braden Hawthorne and Cam Williams and all of these different looks that you can give with the different kind of forwards that you have. I, I think this is going to be a fun group. I think it's going to look a lot more like the BYU teams that we love for Mark Pope. I think that they're going to score a ton of points. I don't know if they can get a stop. I don't know if it's going to matter if you can put up 100 points in, in a game. So I think we're going to have a fun, a fun Kentucky basketball season to follow along with this year.
- [13:24]
Caller
Goodman.
- [13:26]
Jeff Goodman
Yeah, no, I, I agree. I mean again, they missed in some guys, but the one thing I'll say is it's very even an inexact science when you're dealing with transfers and we rank them and if you go back to like we didn't rank them well, maybe we did last year but you know, some of the rankings, the transfer rankings a year ago and then you look at production of some of those top guys, it wasn't as good. And again, sometimes it's hard to figure it out because again, we don't know how a guy like Alex, a lot of these mid major guys, we don't know what the adjustment is going to be like going from Furman to the sec. I know Alex will be fine athletically and we don't know how these international guys are going to adjust. Even though some people are saying how good these guys are going to be. You know, even John Shire told me the kid they got coming in, the kid, Boom che, boom chae. Hopefully I'm pronouncing it right this time for you, Rob. Boomty, boomty, whatever you want to pronounce it. I don't give.
- [14:25]
Rob Dawson
Boom J, boom. You got it right. You had to mess it up after you had it right. You had it right the first. Just be confident. Be confident.
- [14:31]
Jeff Goodman
I was not. Yeah, I'm not in my pronunciations with some of these international guys yet. But again, this kid could be the number one overall pick in two years. He's got to stay two years at Duke. But even Shire understands like it may take him till like February before he hits his stride. The international guys a year ago were not great. They were not. When, when we ranked them throughout the year, there weren't a lot of Neo Abdullahs was supposed to be a superstar coming in at Virginia Tech and he really, really struggled last season. Yet he got paid. He's at North Carolina now. He may be a lot better his second year just because again, the adjustment, the players around him, you know, whether it was the adjustment to American basketball or just the adjustment to the, you know, the language, the people, all that. So again, I think there are just so many question marks right now with almost every team, even the teams that had mostly homegrown products.
- [15:35]
Rob Dawson
Right.
- [15:35]
Jeff Goodman
Purdue, all right. They brought, they didn't really go in the portal much. They didn't go international. But you know what, look at what they lost. They lost three guys, cornerstone guys from their program and Braden Smith, Fletcher Lawyer and Trey Kaufman ran. So they're going to be a shell of kind of what we expected, have expected from them over the last few years.
- [15:57]
Rob Dawson
Yeah, there's very few certainties in college basketball. What I will say is that there are a couple transfers that performed at an all American level where you can sit there and you can say I will. I believe that they're going to step in and be able to have a very similar level of impact. One of them is John Blackwell, one of them is Florida Badonga and one of them certainly is Milan Momcilovich who committed to to Kentucky about two weeks ago now. So we'll get into a lot more about this Kentucky roster, this Kentucky team, the the prognosis we both have on the Kentucky season when we get back on the other side of this break
- [16:35]
America 250 Announcer
this July 4th, come celebrate at America's Block Party. Hosted by America 250. America's Block Party is a can't miss 4th of July concert happening at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Experience music, performances from major artists, patriotic tributes and the kickoff to giving 4th helping to make July 4th the largest day of giving in American history. It's more than just fireworks. Learn more about this landmark celebration@america250.org it
- [17:04]
Rob Dawson
what's up everybody?
- [17:05]
Jeff Goodman
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- [17:34]
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- [18:05]
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- [18:36]
Rob Dawson
Welcome back to Kentucky Sports Radio. It is the field of 68 takeover. My name is Rob Dar. I have Jeff Goodman here with me and Jeff, I'm I'm relying on you here as the soccer expert from the field of 68 to to break down the start of this World Cup. What do you make of it, man? What do you the start Exciting.
- [18:55]
Jeff Goodman
We're going to talk about we're going to talk about the Carolina the Carolina Hurricanes, Robert we're going to talk about the Carolina Hurricanes winning a Stanley cup for the first time since 2006 and very cool, Very cool. I just tweeted my daughter, she follows literally. She roots for like two or three teams and that's it. And it's Indiana football because she can't really cheer for Indiana basketball because she covers Indiana basketball. Carolina Hurricanes because of some boy years ago. That's why she got into hockey. That's actually how she got into sports at Indiana volleyball. And two of them won titles this year and the third, Indiana volleyball, had the best Season of in school history. So I've become a huge Carolina Hurricanes fan. Even though I hated their former team. It was the Hartford Whalers when I was growing up in Boston.
- [19:49]
Rob Dawson
Oh, come on, man. You can't be mean to the Whale. I hated him like that.
- [19:56]
Jeff Goodman
The story is my buddy and I went to a Whalers game once and, well, we went to a few Whalers games, but we went to one at Hartford and we, we sat, somehow we got next to the penalty box and Ray Ferraro, who, who now does the, he does the, the play by play and he's down on the ice while Sean McDonough is up top. Ray Ferraro was in the penalty box and my buddy and I were those idiots who are banging on the penalty box, yelling and screaming at him. And Ray Ferraro gave us the dirtiest look ever. We were probably in college. I think we're probably 19, 20 years old. So I hated the Whalers and now I love the Carolina Hurricanes and very cool to see them win it all. And the goalie, incredible story. Rob, this kid, not a kid. He's 27. Brandon Bussy made his NHL, NHL debut this year and ends up being the goalie in relief of Freddie Anderson, who ends up winning the Stanley Cup. The last three games, three and a half games. He comes in in relief and, and won the whole thing. Really cool.
- [21:01]
Rob Dawson
I don't, I don't know who any of the people that you just named are, but what I do know is that it's now official that you are a front running Bandwagon fan. And it is, it is now all but confirmed. Shannon, we have any callers?
- [21:14]
Kentucky Sports Radio Producer Shannon
Yeah, let's go to Roy. Go ahead, Roy.
- [21:18]
Caller
Yeah, hello. Yeah, Jeff, very well of the podcast that you're on and I respect your opinion about basketball. Okay. I got two questions I want to ask you. And one of them is, is I can't pronounce his name, but the Franch, the backup center, if Malachi don't develop like he's supposed to, do you think that guy will play a lot of minutes? And, and the next question, you asked that earlier about Mark Pope. So I appreciate you for taking my call and I, I'm really happy I got to talk to you.
- [21:57]
Jeff Goodman
Well, thanks. Appreciate it. I'm glad somebody respects my opinion around here because Rob certainly doesn't.
- [22:05]
Rob Dawson
Well, yeah, Captain, is this question.
- [22:07]
Caller Kevin
Go ahead.
- [22:08]
Rob Dawson
You go ahead.
- [22:08]
Jeff Goodman
Yeah, well, Kevin Ning was really brought in as a backup. Right. And he could play, you know, to me, if he could play 10, 12 minutes. He's a veteran. He's been hurt a lot throughout his career. You know, guy who doesn't move especially well right now but you know, can give you some minutes off the bench. And to me that's kind of the key right now for him is, is if he doesn't have to do too much. And I'll, I'll read you what, what I got from somebody that knows his, his game pretty well here.
- [22:42]
Rob Dawson
Rob.
- [22:42]
Jeff Goodman
Okay. Hasn't really shown the ability to stay healthy. Games hard for him right now. Has trouble sprinting in and out of ball screens. Sometimes wants to show he can shoot perimeter shots instead of rolling to the rim being a lob threat. He can make 12, 15 foot baseline jump shot defensively, sometimes gets lost and tries to block every shot. There'll be some games where he blocks three or four shots and then games where he comes over and they, they dump it off to his guy or his guy gets the offensive rebound and gives up a lot of points. So that's kind of him, you know, can, can't really guard on the perimeter. Well, I, again, I think he's just a good piece coming off the bench. Robin. Kentucky fans have to understand that's what he's got to be. And Malachi can't get in file trouble. And I think Malachi, if we can play, you know, 28 quality minutes, I think you can get six, five or six from Kepning each half.
- [23:38]
Rob Dawson
Yeah, to Roy's question it was if Malachi doesn't develop, can kept name be that guy? I, I don't think that he can. I also don't think Kentucky has a chance to be as good as the expectations are if Malachi does not develop. And I think this goes for literally whatever sport, whatever team you're talking about, when the guy that you invest the most resources in and the most money in, which is Malachi Moreno, he's going to be making quite a bit of money next season, right? When your highest paid guy, if he does not turn into your star, then you're going to end up being into trouble. That goes for baseball. That goes for the NBA. That goes for the NFL. It goes for college football. That goes for your Carolina Hurricanes Goodman. If Malachi Moreno doesn't develop, then Kentucky's going to be in some trouble. If they have to rely on Frank Kepning to be a starting center. I don't think either of those things are going to happen. I think Malachi is going to be a 30 minute a game guy bordering on all American good. And I Think Frank Kepning is going to be exactly what you expect him to be, right? 10 minutes off the bench, be 611, 250 pounds, 24 years old, go out there, be physical, get some rebounds, block some shots, use four, your 5,000, just kind of be in the way. I think he's going to be good enough at, at doing that. There was Roy also asked something about Mark Pope. I think we saved the Mark Pope discussion for, for later in the segment. We got about a minute before we got to get back to a break here, Goodman. But I, I think the Mark Polk conversation is one we probably need to have, and I think it's a really interesting, nuanced, Nuanced discussion.
- [25:08]
Jeff Goodman
Yeah, no doubt, no doubt. And, and if you did your job right, you would, you would kind of find a way to end that right before we go to break and tease that coming back from break. But again, you know, like, to me, sometimes you rest in your laurels as a, as a host, and sometimes you just, especially in the off season, you get rusty.
- [25:30]
Rob Dawson
Yeah, well, I am a little bit rusty right now. I'm also a little bit tired. Jeff. I spent eight hours on a boat yesterday fishing, so caught some sea bass. You know what's weird? And I don't know if this has ever happened to you, but you spend that much time in a boat with, like, in the, in the ocean, when it's rocking, when you get back onto dry land, it still feels like you're rocking. It was a really, really weird sensation. So we got to get to this Mark Pope conversation. When we come back, we're going to talk a little bit more about Milan Momcilovich and his fit in a Mark Pope system and a Mark Pope offense and how it's going to work with a couple of guards like Alex Wilkins and Zoom Diallo, all that. Coming up next on the field of 68, KSR takeover.
- [26:11]
America 250 Announcer
TJ Smith, personal injury attorney. Call TJ.
- [26:14]
Jeff Goodman
He'll make him pay.
- [26:15]
Kentucky Sports Radio Producer Shannon
Now more of Kentucky Sports Radio presented by Stockton Mortgage. Here's Matt Jones.
- [26:22]
Rob Dawson
It's not Matt Jones. The field of 68 takeover of Kentucky Sports Radio. Rob D. And Jeff Goodman. Here we have Shannon, the dude holding things down for us. He, they couldn't trust us entirely in charge of ksr. They gave us Shannon just to make sure things did not go totally off the rails. We got a couple of callers that we want to hear from. You want to do that, Shannon? Want to bring somebody else in?
- [26:44]
Kentucky Sports Radio Producer Shannon
Let's do it. Let's go to Kevin. Kevin you're on.
- [26:46]
Rob Dawson
What's up, Kevin?
- [26:48]
Caller
Hey, not much, guys.
- [26:49]
Caller Kevin
Thanks for filling in. You mentioned in your intro, you know, about the team chemistry, cohesiveness, you know, for this year. You look at Mark Pope's first year with Andrew Carr, and in that company, you know, I think they, you know, kind of played as one unit. They were just lacking on defense last year. I mean, something was going on, I don't know, you know, in the locker room. Don't know exactly what it was. It was just kind of really messed up. You know, as a lifelong fan, you can tell when the guys just don't seem to really be on the same page or even getting along. And I heard, I don't think it was last week, story on one of the news channels. I don't know if it's accurate or not, but that Pope wanted all of this year's team to live at either the Wildcat Lodge or, you know, in the same dorms where last year and the year before. I think, you know, some of these guys coming in, making 2 or 3 million, whatever it is, you know, they're renting a house and they're, you know, I think how it goes is, you know, the way I interpreted it was, you know, trying to build a cohesive unit by having the. All these gu live together. So, you know, I think that's as much of a key. I think he has enough talent coming in this year to be competitive in the sec, but, you know, fifth and fifth and seventh place ain't going to get it done. So, I mean, this is the year, I think, that, you know, is going to really indicate if Mark Pope's the right guy or not. I hope he is as a lifelong fan. Love him as a player, bring him back in. But, I mean, at the bottom line is he's got to get it done in fourth to seventh place in the sec, isn't it?
- [28:32]
Rob Dawson
Yeah. I don't know if Kentucky can win the SEC this year, because I think Florida is just that good, but I think anything beyond that is certainly within the realm of possibility in terms of everyone living together. I don't know if Goodman, you might have more information on that than I do, but I do think that is something that would make a lot of sense. Right. Like, I. I think no matter it's. It was very easy to look at that group and see that there were. The chemistry was not the level that you want it to be. And I think a lot of coaches spend a lot of time and have a lot of sleepless nights trying to figure out a way to develop a culture so that you're not. I think the reason why, Goodman, you see a lot of teams that, that have that level of continuity and the level and returners coming back. I think the reason why they are able to have a certain level of success is that you're playing for a lot more than just a paycheck. Right. It's not like you're a mercenary. It's not like you're out there just trying to figure out how you're going to get your next contract. You're playing for something that's bigger than just your specific team, your specific stat line, your specific box score, your specific numbers, and finding a way to fast track that. So you care about these people in three months the way that these other programs care about each other in three years. That's. That's the secret sauce, that, that's how you find a way to be able to, to. To maximize the talent on your roster.
- [29:55]
Jeff Goodman
Yeah, I don't know. I mean, to me, if you can do it and you write it in the contracts, to me, what you do is, hey, listen, when you, when you get here, here's the deal. You're not going to go get like St. John's you know, I know last year, like, Bryce Hopkins had a crazy apartment, right? Like, he had a crazy. Like he had a stipend for a huge amount of money per month to live in a plush apartment. Not in Manhattan, but I think it was somewhere in Queens. To me, yes, you want these guys because most of them don't really know each other. I mean, you got four guys, I think, back from, from this year's team. If you're Kentucky, right. I think you have four, and the rest of them don't really know each other. You want to get the chemistry down. I think last year, too, a big part of it, and we said it before the year, and people kind of scoffed at us a little bit. They had too many guys that thought they were going to play. Now, again, it went down semi quickly because Jalen Lowe got hurt and Quaintance really didn't play much. But for the most part, a lot of those guys, they got enough money too, so they thought they were going to play and play a big role this year. I think they've decided that, hey, we don't need to go 13 deep or anything like that. The other thing was, I think they took a shot on some guys that probably didn't fit Mark Pope. And not even his style. Not even his style on the court. But more didn't fit Mark Pope in terms of like I, I said it all along. You actually were, were even more adamant about it. Like with Tyron Stokes. Like that thing could have been a disaster. Really could have been a disaster. Mark, Mark Pope needs to coach, in my opinion, a certain type of guy. And I think some of again, he rolled the dice in some guys last year that I'm not sure were were his, his type of guys this year. You look at it and I think they fit him a lot better for the most part. Now, again, I don't know all these guys, but we know Milan pretty well. Milan is a Mark Pope type kid. Alex Wilkins I know pretty well. Well, I don't want to say pretty well, but I know him and I know the people around him. I think he'll be a Mark Pope type guy. Obviously Moreno we know is the guys off the bench have to be the guys off the bench. They gotta, they gotta buy into that. Whether it's Kep name coming off the bench is the big. And McBride coming from JMU, you think Trent Noah knows his role by now? The kid Jerome Morton from Washington State comes in, we'll give him some defense. You know, the X factor is, is Usman and Jai. To me, that's the X factor in this team. And the international guys are the X factors for a lot of teams because we just don't know him. Can NJ be a starting format? Could he be a guy when, when you watch film of him, he is long, he's athletic, he plays above the rim, he can make threes. He doesn't shoot him with consistency yet, but he gives him something different obviously than, you know, having Cam and Milan out there at the same time. He gives him a different level of length and athleticism that I think they're going to need out there.
- [32:58]
Rob Dawson
Yeah, I'm, I'm with you on that. I think your point about bringing in quote unquote, Mark Pope guys is, is as important as anything that you just said right there. You know, as all due respect to Jalen Lowe, I think when you bring in a low efficiency shoot first
- [33:19]
Caller
ball,
- [33:19]
Rob Dawson
dominant lead guard to play in a system that has been kind of built around movement and, and getting guys going off the ball and trying to find a way to be able to get shooters going and it just was a weird fit. And I think as the season went on and when Jalen Lowe went down with the injury, that's kind of when it took off. Now a lot of that is also probably there's no will he play, won't he play into the lineup, out of the lineup like there were. You started to get a little bit of consistency there. Right. But I think that the vibes just felt different once he was gone too. Now I say all that. The one question I have is where, where are you on Zoom Diallo and his, his fit into in terms of what Mark Pope would want to do in a typical Mark Pope system? Right. Because I think that if you kind of look at just, just the numbers, just looking at the data, you have another guy, it's a little bit ball dominant. He's not really a great shooter. He wants, he's mostly effective with the ball of his hands. How does Zoom Diallo fit in terms of the point guard spot there for Kentucky Goodman?
- [34:30]
Jeff Goodman
Yeah, I mean it scares me a little bit just because he's more of a dribble, dribble, dribble guy. I don't know if spacing and motion are going to work and a lot of ball movement is going to work for Zoom Diallo. So he wasn't the first choice. We know that, we know that he wasn't their first choice. But you know, he's a guy that put up numbers last year for a Washington team that wasn't great. He does not shoot it well. So, you know, to me they got to play fast. You have Diallo, you have Wilkins, the strength of both of them. First of all, you have two point guards. Great like that. You had to after the last two years, Mark Pope answered the bell on that one. He got two of the better point guards in the portal. Now I think Wilkins is a point guard. I think he's best with the ball in his hands. He, he, he again he can make some mistakes, but man, he is fun to watch. He's athletic. I think he can be a high level defender if he wants to be in the sec. The biggest thing for him is just maturing in his decision making, taking. But Diallo worries me a little bit if he can't figure out how to move the basketball, if he can't, because he's not a great shooter. So if Wilkins doesn't become a better shooter, then you're talking about again having to have like Milan and Cam out there for the spacing of the team. But I think the strength of Diallo and Wilkins is what get up and down the court, run, play fast, play in transition. Whoever gets the ball goes and then you flame out. Williams and Milan on the wings, you got Moreno down low. You know, to me again, N John might work Better with, with Diallon Wilkins than anybody because he can run and he's going to be a lob threat.
- [36:18]
Rob Dawson
Yeah. And you got other shooters too, like Justin McBride shot 40 from three and we, we saw Braden Hawthorne when we were down there in Lexington. Goodman, who is a guy that they have very high expectations for. I don't know if it's going to come to fruition this season, but he's definitely a guy with a ceiling. In terms of Alec Wilkins shooting, I, I'm, I don't think you get six attempts per game without proving that you can be a good shooter in practice at some point.
- [36:44]
Caller Kevin
Right.
- [36:44]
Rob Dawson
Like if he, if he wasn't making shots in practice, I don't think Bob Ritchie is going to let him get that many off during the season. And my take is that a lot of them ended up being difficult. Low percentage threes. Right. I think it was a shot selection thing more than a shooting ability thing. And I don't, I don't foresee Alex Wilkins playing a style and, and kind of being allowed to have quite as much freedom this season as he did last year with firm right part, part of his, the lower efficiency, the shooting percentage. Furman just kind of gave him the ball and let him rock and that was part of the recruiting pitch for him. Right. It's like you're going to come in, we're going to give you the ball for a year, you're going to be awesome and if you're good enough, we will help you find a way to be able to go get to a higher level next year. I think you're going to see a lot of, a lot of schools at that level start trying to recruit that way. Say come here for a year or two and then we'll get you off to a high major school that will pay you a whole bunch more money. But come here and develop because if you go to those high major programs as a freshman, you're probably going to end up sitting the bench. It's very difficult to go in the SEC as a 18 or 19 year old and really impact against, you know, 22, 23, 24, and if you're playing LSU, 27, 28, 29, maybe even 30 year olds at this point. I don't know who, who Will Wade is recruiting, but he might be recruiting Jalen Brunson and Carl Towns off of the Knicks roster at this point. So I, I think that we're going to see Alex Wilkins have a good year. The other part of it is I know you say you want him with the ball in his hands. I think you could play him alongside Zoom Diallo and play him together because it just, it works when you have one guy that can play off the ball. A second side creator. I, I like the combination. I just, I think that stylistically I, I have some questions about Zoom is probably the way.
- [38:35]
Jeff Goodman
Yeah. Moves the ball. If he move. If he moves the ball. The, the other good thing about Wilkins is, you know, he's the only one you're bringing in that hasn't played really at the high major level, you know, and that was something that, you know, let's face it, some, some teams did last year that went full all in, you know, mid major guys, Indiana and it didn't work. So Indiana flipped it and went the opposite way. So I, I think to me again, you got one guy coming from the mid major. I think it will take Wilkins some time. I, I guarantee it will. That he's going to have some games where you're going to look and he's going to have six, seven turnovers up there. He's gonna, he's gonna be 0 for 8 from 3 in a game. But I think as, as the season goes along, you're gonna see Alex Wilkins shine and he's going to be a guy that again come February, he could be one of the better players in the sec.
- [39:29]
Rob Dawson
There you have it. Goodman is predicting Alex Wilkins SEC Player of the year. While he's also saying that Malachi Moreno is not going to get better as a sophomore. I am not misquoting anything that he just said. When we get back, we're gonna take a couple more calls here. As the field of 68 takeover of KSR continues to roll on this July
- [39:48]
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- [41:05]
Kentucky Sports Radio Producer Shannon
Catch the red eye or take the
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Jeff Goodman
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Jeff Goodman
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Big props to this team.
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- [41:34]
Rob Dawson
Welcome back to The Field of 68 takeover of Kentucky sports Radio. Rob Dawson, Jeff Goodman and Senator Dude Shannon. Word from our sponsors.
- [41:42]
Kentucky Sports Radio Producer Shannon
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- [42:23]
Rob Dawson
I just want to make it very clear that the the Jason Isbell and Chris Stapleton bumper music you've heard in the last couple of breaks. That was me. That was my request. Me and Shannon are all over it. Goodman, who knows what he's asking for. I think he wanted Katy Perry as his his intro song. So Shannon, we have anyone on the line?
- [42:40]
Kentucky Sports Radio Producer Shannon
Lines are loaded. So let's go back to him. Let's get Jamie on. Hey Jamie.
- [42:44]
Rob Dawson
What's up Jamie?
- [42:47]
Caller
Hey guys. I'm a big fan of the show. I've been watching for a few years now. You guys basically got me through college. But I was just wondering what you guys thought about the Ryan Hampton recruitment and then if that had any impact on Marcus Spears Jr. Or C.J. rosser.
- [43:03]
Rob Dawson
Go ahead, Gilman.
- [43:05]
Jeff Goodman
I love Hampton. I actually was surprised, to be honest, that he isn't ranked higher. I think he's like top 10 ish. Maybe the back half of the top 10. I just saw. I went to the top hundred camp this past week in Rock Hill. This class is underwhelming. I have one recruiting guy. I'm not obviously recruiting guy anymore. That's how I came up though. Tell me. He thinks it's the worst class like of the last 20, 25 years. And honestly, watching it, it's. It's completely underwhelming. Nobody jumps off the page to me. Nobody looks like a Tyron Stokes in terms of talent or Cooper flag or there's no A.J. debon or Darren Peterson. The kid roster is like good. But yeah, it doesn't. Again, if I think Hampton is a guy that obviously he needs, he wasn't there, but he needs to get a shot better. From what I remember a year ago, like his brother, but long, smooth, can really guard, can facilitate some get to the basket. I liked it. I like the pickup a lot. Especially with the fact that I think, you know, to me, the one negative that Pope. And I don't think you do it just to please people, but the one negative was obviously Cal recruited all these high level NBA guys, these top 10 prospects. And I think you quieted a little bit of the fan base. Maybe not quieted, but just made him put him at ease a little bit. With getting a guy like Ryan Hampton, I don't know how it's going to affect some of the other players in the class. I don't know the recruiting game like I used to, but I think Hampton was a big get for Pope, perception wise. And I think the kids gonna. If there's anybody that can bring in a guy who doesn't shoot it especially well and turn him into an above average shooter, you know, I think it's Mark Pope and his staff.
- [45:02]
Rob Dawson
Yeah. And I think the biggest thing you just said it was the, the perception and the momentum right in the span of what was it, like four days you went out and you got the best transfer that you've ever landed and the best freshman that you ever landed in. Ryan Hampton. And my alarm on television, I think that that matters. Shannon, we got time to get to another call before we got a break.
- [45:18]
Spinquest Disclaimer Voice
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- [45:19]
Kentucky Sports Radio Producer Shannon
Let's go to bluegrass.
- [45:22]
Caller
What's going on, fellas? Dropping your vines deep in the hollers of eastern Kentucky. Hey, I love what y' all do at Phil. I love What y' all do at field of ACC? Oh, I mean 68, minus the. Minus the Tyler Hansborough. You all do need to get him on here sometime so we can go to work on him. But I do want. I do. I know y' all not as big on our two guards. I mean, but you got to realize, y' all know how many people that Mark Pope has coached with a 30 assist rate, like ever, like one in each whole career. So like last year's team, we had no creators. You know that. But you can't really gloss over losing two point guards the first year, losing one the next year. I was just really excited when he come to Kentucky because he was going to be able to have some creators. And it looks like this year he's got two that's really good creators. And I'll jump off here, fellas, and listen to you. And I really all joke aside, I love what you guys do. Thanks.
- [46:29]
Rob Dawson
We appreciate you, man. And, and I, I respect the. The field of ACC joke. That was a good one.
- [46:35]
Jeff Goodman
Yeah. And we will get Tyler Hans draw on here because that would be entertaining. As, as you know, Tyler's. Tyler doesn't back down from anybody and he likes. He likes needling when he knows people don't like him. He digs in. He digs in a man.
- [46:52]
Rob Dawson
Yeah. Listen good. We got about 30 seconds before we got to hit a break here. We will answer that question. We'll talk about that. Because I think it is something that we need to discuss. The, the. You mentioned 30 assist rate and the fact that we actually have two point guards on this roster instead of having just one. So we will get to all of that in the second hour of the Field of 68 takeover of Kentucky Sports Radio.
- [47:15]
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