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- [00:00]
Matt Jones
This is Matt Rogers from Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. This is Bowen Yang from Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. Hey, so what if you could boost the WI fi to one of your devices when you need it most? Because Xfinity WI fi can. And what if your WI fi could fix itself before there's even really a problem? Xfinity is so reliable. It does that, too. What if your wifi had parental instincts? Xfinity WI fi is part nanny, part ninja, protecting your kids while they're online. And finally, what if your wifi was, like, the smartest WI fi? Yeah, it's W is so smart, it makes everything work better together. Bottom line, Xfinity is smart and reliable. You deserve the peace of mind of having WI fi that's got your back. Xfinity. Imagine that when your schedule sounds like this. Are you kidding me?
- [00:51]
Billy Reed
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Matt Jones
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Billy Reed
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Matt Jones
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Billy Reed
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Matt Jones
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Billy Reed
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- [01:05]
Matt Jones
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- [02:16]
Billy Reed
At bombas.
- [02:17]
Matt Jones
We're pros, too. Pros at making socks. Our sport assortment has specialized socks for whatever sport you're committed to running, hiking, golf, pilates and so much more. Made with sweat, wicking yarns, blister fighting details and targeted arch support. Bombus sport is pro level socks from the pros of socks. For another pro you go to bombas.com audio and use code audio for 20 off your first purchase that's bombus.com and use code audio welcome everyone. It is the local Toyota dealers. KSR post game show cats lose a heartbreaker 7574 a game that it looked like they were in control of then look like they had completely given up then look like they were gonna win and then they drop it at the end. 859-280-2287 I think we probably should attack this in like three parts so let's just start with everything except the final sequence of the game. I think two people that deserve a lot of praise away and Aberdeen. If Kentucky had won I think the two of them would basically have willed the team to victory. Aberdeen apparently was sick and out didn't practice in the two practices since the Georgia game and you wouldn't have necessarily known it. He looked a little tired but I thought he played super hard made two huge threes both of which I think if they hadn't made probably they get they get beat by double digits and then hit free throws at the end As a matter of fact I kind of wish he had he when he made those last two I thought when they were going to inbound the ball there at the end I kind of hoped it would go to him thought he was excellent play pretty good defense too and then away was always great I mean O A this was the best of away tonight Getting to the, getting to the basketball finished nearly everyone. I thought he was excellent and I and I thought didn't force things like he can he sometimes will do. I I just thought the two of them played like like warriors and then I thought Diabate played really well even though he didn't score a lot just physical etc but the other like I'm not sure Kentucky really deserve to win this game because I thought the rest of the team was was. Was not good and and Kentucky just you know you saw the limitations in some ways of this group. Auburn's not a great team and I think if Kentucky was a you know they lost five straight come in this game and you know we've now lost back to back games where Georgia had come in losing five of six beat us. Auburn had lost five in a row and beat us so those are, those are tough Losses to take. I didn't think Kentucky really played well tonight. I was kind of shocked a lot of the game. At one point, we were up nine, and I was texting with a buddy and I said, I don't even feel like we play well. We're up nine. We would have won because of the will. I think of those two guys. Colin Chandler had a decent first half, but the second half was awful. That's as bad as he's played. Multiple turnovers, bad decisions, bad shooting, and, you know, the other guys just. It just wasn't a great performance. With that said, though, because of that away Garrison sort of effort. Excuse me? Yeah, away Aberdeen effort. They were up 3 with 15 seconds left. And give Auburn some credit. They took it to the basket there. I think a lot of teams would have just taken a three. They took it to the basket, forced the contact, got the call, cut it to one. And all year long, Kentucky had struggled in these inbound situations. I tweeted about it, then I deleted it because, you know, obviously they hit the play against lsu, but really, when we've just had to get the ball in bounds. If you remember, especially early in the year, we had a number of situations. I think it was. Maybe it's Bellarmine. I can't remember who it was, but there were. We just could not get the ball inbound sometimes.
- [06:29]
Billy Reed
And.
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Matt Jones
And I thought about that going in this play. They don't really have a play to get someone open just to inbound it. They did the thing that they've done all year on these inbound plays, which is just kind of hold a hand up in the air. And the call there by the official, I thought was an egregiously bad timing call. Is it technically a foul? Maybe. Although I think he flopped. I mean, he started falling before Chandler extended his arm, so there was no doubt he was flopping. Chandler, however, did extend his arm. So, you know, you almost give the officials the knife for them to stab you with when you do that. So it was a complete flop. The officials, Stephen Pearl, said after the game they could have called 50 fouls on each team. And that's the truth. I mean, they beat each other up. And I actually liked that the officials kind of let them play. I thought the officiating actually wasn't bad most the game because they just kind of were letting everybody beat each other up. But if you're going to call a game like that, then I don't know how you call that foul right there. It's just a. That's Just not the time to call that. If you're going to call the game like they did. And it was called by Courtney Green, who was on the other side of the court. I like Courtney, but that's a terrible call by Courtney. You're on the other side of the court. There are two officials closer to it than you are. That's not your call. And you insert yourself into the game. So I hated it. I thought that was a terrible call. But I also think Chandler, who had played terribly in that second half, you got to be smart enough not to extend your arms like that. But he may have thought, you know what? They've let us do everything. They'll let us do this, and they didn't. Then on the final play, you know, great block by Diabate. You know, the. The second attempt at the shot. Garrison should have had that rebound. He did not. And then the third one, the guy goes over Chandler's back. But, you know, it is what it is. I. I hated that call. I also, though, can't necessarily say we deserved a win. I don't know if they did either. Neither team really played that great, but I don't know. I'm very frustrated by that loss. I'm frustrated by the call, but I'm just more frustrated. We were in that situation. They're not good. And we did some really dumb things, you know, in the first half, we're rolling, and then we do the thing where we put four reserves in and they come back and take the lead. Now we get it back. We lead at halftime, which is probably the fifth time this year against a major conference team, you know, in the second half start. Well, we're up 9, you know, and we give it all back up in about three minutes. And it was a battle back and forth, back and forth. We just couldn't get any offense consistently going. And then I hated. We tie the game and we go zone, which was odd to me. We. We really hadn't played zone the whole game. And then on a key possession, we go and picks up the guy who's having a career high scoring night, and he shoots a wide open three, and we get up three, and then we score the next six points, and it looks like we're going to win. And. And that happens. So. Just frustrating, you know, it brings, in my opinion, the possibility of missing the tournament that's now on the table. And you got to win Tuesday night at South Carolina. Now, they're not good. They're the worst team in the. Well, maybe not the worst. They beat Mississippi State, so second worst team in the conference.
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Billy Reed
But.
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Matt Jones
And I think if you win that game, you're in the tournament. But if you lose, you're all of a sudden playing your way onto the bubble because you still get, you got three hard games to finish the year. So this is a, this is a bad back to back stretch and this is a very disappointing loss. I, you know, just disappointing you. These games back to back. Kentucky should have won both of these games. We should be sitting here tonight with Kentucky 10 and 4 in the conference, in second place in the SEC, but they're 8 and 6 and you know, on a collision course to play on Wednesday in the SEC tournament for the first time ever, as far as I can remember. We need to talk about what happened after the game. Tell you what, Billy, pull up the, we'll do this in phases. Okay? So pull up the, the quote that he, that Mark gives in the press conference. Okay. Video. The video. Yeah. So this is, I posted it. It's about 40 seconds long. It's the post where I say he's a little passive aggressive because he's asked about the officiating. He's asked about that call. Do you have that Bill? You see where I'm saying I don't
- [11:35]
Billy Reed
have it yet, but I'll have it here in just a second.
- [11:37]
Matt Jones
Okay. Well, Mark is asked first of all, he goes to the press conference very soon after the game. That's one of the interesting things about the way these work. The losing, the usually the losing coach goes first. Sometimes that doesn't happen, but usually, usually the road team or the losing team goes first because they got to go home. He, he gets on there really quick. So he's clearly very emotional and clearly very upset about the call. And he's asked what he, what he thinks about it and hears his comments. You refuse to give control to people that are outside of our program. Refuse. Regardless of how personal it might get or how bad it might get. We refuse to give control to fans, to give control to anybody else associated with this game. Regardless of how blatantly people are trying to make this not happen, we refuse to give them their power. That's what I talked about. We have 48 hours to turn this around. We got a massive game at South Carolina. We're going to go find a way to win it because that's what we do. So we're not giving away our power. We're not like, we don't make excuses. We don't do that. Regardless of what is happening, regardless of how disgraceful Things are, we don't give away our power. Regardless how embarrassing, personal, awful, like, unacceptable things are, we refuse to give away our power. An odd set of comments, right? He's saying he's not essentially blaming the officials, but he's. But then he says regardless of how, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I mean, that's a little passive aggressive. Is that fair to say? Very. Yeah. I mean, I'd honestly rather him just go. I'd rather him just say, like, they cheated us. Well, as he walks out of the press conference, okay, so he gets up out of the press conference. He walks. I guess he gets to the other side of the wall. But I. I don't know if he doesn't realize they can hear it the media room. Or maybe he did on purpose. He says, mitch, if those mother effers try to find me, screw them. I didn't say a word about how they cheated us. And he actually did say mother blinkers. You know, he said it and it's on video. Like, he said it, like everybody heard it. So he says that after those comments you just heard. And then he says, when Tom Leach asked him on the post game show what he, what he thinks about the call, he said, we don't talk about officiating. We have to find a way to win games. You know, I don't. This is just my opinion. Other people can disagree. I think that's a pretty bad look. I. If he wants to say we don't complain about officiating, that's probably the right thing to say. I'll be honest with you. I'm not sure I could do that if I was the coach, but that's probably the right thing to do. Or if he wants to say we got cheated, I'm kind of okay with that too. But when you. I don't like one things I don't like is passive aggressiveness. Just. Just say what you feel. And when you go, we don't make excuses. But then you're making excuses and you're saying it's personal. I don't know why he. I mean, may. Maybe there's something with that official that I don't know. But, I mean, you're essentially saying a referee is being personal about you. I don't know. That's. You know, I don't think that's a great look, Billy, what do you think about that? You know, he's done this before after losses. He's obviously, obviously been told not to complain about officiating, but. But he's gonna. I mean, if he Was gonna get fined. Do you think they're not gonna. No, they're gonna find him. They're gonna find him because he said it like, like, I mean, the. He said, they can't find me because I didn't say anything about officiating. And then he goes, they cheated us. I mean, is he like, fine's coming. A fine's coming. There's not a rule that it's fine to say it as long as you do it out in the hall and scream it. Yeah. And by the way, I'm okay if he wants to say he thinks the officials cheated. I mean, I don't know that they cheated. I think that was a horrible call in the context of the game. But rather him do one or the other. Not. I want people to say what they mean. I hate when politicians or coaches or really anyone in life thinks something and then says something else. But then like. But I'm kind of saying, just say it, right? Yeah, just say it. Okay. Whatever it is, just, just, just, just say it. I appreciate that. So he clearly thinks Kentucky got cheated tonight. Just say it. You're gonna get fined anyway. If you're gonna go out in the hall and scream it, you're gonna get fined. So, you know. And then away has posted on Instagram that the refs cheated. Which I can't get mad at him. Right. Because the coach did it. So, you know, I really like Mark. There's this narrative that will be out that we're in that situation and we were in it with Cal at the end. You're in this situation where there's a huge group of people saying, matt, say Pope needs to go. I don't believe that at this moment. Then there's a huge group of people that say, Matt, you're trying to run Pope off. You know, Billy, there's no way to win. So I learned during the Cal Perry time, the only thing you could do is say what you actually think. So here's what I actually think. I think this has been a very disappointing year. They've had terrible injury, luck, but this was also a poorly put together team that at times this year I think has been poorly coached. So. But there's four games left. They still not only can make the tournament, they still should, unless they completely collapse. And in the tournament, I think they can be all but a handful of teams in the tournament. There's a few I don't think they could beat. I also think, by the way, they could lose to almost anybody in the tournament. So we gotta wait and see. What happens right now? Am I worried about Pope and his tenure? Yeah, I am. And it's not just about this year. It's about what we have coming or not coming yet next year. And it's things like this. There's just been all year kind of like a temperament issue. He's. Mark's a nice guy. He's not like a bad guy. He's a really good guy. But like, he doesn't. He's made some really strange post game press stuff and it makes you wonder kind of just what goes on a lot. So, yeah, I am concerned, but I also know they should have won tonight and they should have won Tuesday. And they were in the game at Florida and they wanted Arkansas and they wanted Tennessee. So, you know, I'm not giving up, but I am disappointed. And you know,
- [19:32]
Billy Reed
I
- [19:35]
Matt Jones
went. You see moments sometimes where the stress of what happens on the court shows itself off the court. And if you go back through since I've been doing this, when things weren't working out, usually stuff off the court was similar to what we were seeing on the court. And I think the comments tonight were just kind of a guy that. I don't know if he feels aggrieved or if he just doesn't handle losing. Great, but it was disappointing. But I'm also disappointed that that stupid call because Billy, they didn't need to call that. Well, he's got a right to be mad. I mean, that call sucked. It does sucked. He was falling down before the arm even extended. But he did extend his arm. I mean, I, you know, it's. For me, it's a terrible call in the context of the game. But also Chandler can extend his arm right there. The only thing you can, the worst thing you can do right there is getting offensive foul. And we do now, it is ridiculous that he made that call because especially the way the game had been called the whole time. Right. I mean, they, they let them beat each other up out there. And then to call that. I kind of agree with OA on the postgame radio who's like the whole game, we people been doing this and now you call it. That's kind of how I feel too. 859-280-2287. So that's a lot of emotions all over the place. What do you all think? I'm sure I actually think we're gonna get some really interesting calls tonight, Billy, don't you? I think some angers coming tonight, don't you? Yeah. And I'm off tomorrow from Matt Myron So I don't have to rush to get to bed. So you should like that. That means you can, I won't make you stay up. I'll get to stay longer. Yeah, that's right. We'll take a break and be right back. It's a local Toyota dealers, KSR post game deal. Welcome back, local toy dealers KSR postgame show. Kentucky is going to end up with double digit losses this year. That was going to happen whether we won or lost tonight. But that's four, excuse me, four straight years with double digit losses. That's only the second time in school history that's happened. The other time were the last two years of Tubby and the Billy Clyde years. So, you know, that's an unfortunate stat too. SEC is better now, so I think that's partially it. But we also had more losses coming into the SEC than we normally do as well. All right, who's up first? Billy. Jamie. Jamie. Go ahead. Jamie. Jamie.
- [22:29]
Billy Reed
Yeah. Hey. I just want to start off. I do not know how you're Jaden Clanence and you're sitting on the bench watching your team lose the way that we have and you don't care. And at the beginning of the year, this is a kid that said he wanted to be the number one pick and he is sitting out. Go ahead.
- [22:52]
Matt Jones
Well, I mean, you don't know that he doesn't care. I mean, I, I understand, I, I totally understand why people are skeptical about the quaintance thing. And, and at times I've been skeptical, but at the same time I don't know. And you don't either. And so when you say he doesn't want to, I, I, that might be true, but like you don't know that for sure.
- [23:14]
Billy Reed
Yeah, I'm, I hate that they made that call. But if you want to make it, that's fine. But you cannot be on the other side of the floor. You were closer to Mark Pope than Colin Chandler making that call. I do not see any world how you make that call in that situation in this game.
- [23:33]
Matt Jones
Yeah, I agree with you on that. I mean, I appreciate the call. There are two officials that are on. So you got the guy under the basket who probably has the most direct line of sight and then the other official is at half court on Chandler side. So you have two guys on Chandler side of the floor, neither of which call it. And Courtney Green calls it from the other side. And if you go look at the replay, there's, there are two people standing in between him and Chandler and his defender. I don't know how he calls that. That's. He doesn't have the angle to call it. And it's also just a poor spot. So, you know, it's a bad. That that's. It is an unnecessary call. It's hard to say it's a bad call because he did extend his arm. But nobody calls that there. And my guess is if we went back and looked, both teams pushed off 30 times to get open up to that point. I bet if we looked because they were smacking each other the entire game. Who's next? Wade? Wade. Go ahead, Wade.
- [24:39]
Billy Reed
Matt. The last time when we won the 2012 national championship, I was a freshman in high school and 14 years old. I hadn't met my wife yet and I now have a one year old daughter. And I turned 30 this year. And I only say that to say we've wasted so much time just hoping that this coach is the right one. Like the cows last five years, I think we all had a little bit of hope, but I think deep down we knew it wasn't going to happen again. And I had that same feeling with Pope. And I just don't want us to waste more of all of our lives hoping for something. I watched the Michigan and Duke game today and I was like, we used to be that. We used to be these event games and we didn't have. And then the Kinsaker game came on. I'm like, wow, this is a different product.
- [25:26]
Matt Jones
No, it was. You know, you saw that when, when I watched Michigan, Duke. Yeah, especially if you saw like the first five minutes where they, they couldn't miss both teams. You kind of thought, yeah, we're not playing the same game, they are. And I don't know. I mean, I'm not quite as negative that it's not going to work as you are. And it's hard for me to read where this fan base is because if you were to look at my. If you were to look at the comments people send to me both online and on the text machine, it is wildly all over the place. There are people who've completely given up on Pope and there's people who are like, why is everybody so hard on Pope? Like, people are all over the place. And can you. So I don't, I can't really get a sense of where the majority of the fan base is because I think it's all over the place. And I'm kind of. I'm not as down on Mark Pope, the head coach, as it seems like a lot of people are. But I may be more down being nervous about next year because of what we don't have. So I think Mark is a good X and O coach and. But it just hasn't worked this year and I, to be honest with you, I'm kind of perplexed as to why. I mean, I know we've had the injuries but the team wasn't good before the injuries. So it's just kind of, that's kind of strange.
- [26:49]
Billy Reed
I'm kind of afraid that Mark is the worst kind of coach that we can have because he does give us a lot of really good emotional fun moments like beating Tennessee's and Arkansas and Duke.
- [27:00]
Matt Jones
Yeah.
- [27:00]
Billy Reed
But then we still get double digit loss seasons and I just want to know.
- [27:04]
Matt Jones
I know that's what he did at
- [27:05]
Billy Reed
BYU to what it is that you're holding on to.
- [27:08]
Matt Jones
That's what he did at BYU too by the way though. I mean that's byu. They would beat good teams and lose to bad teams. What am I holding on to? That's a good question. I appreciate the call. I think I'm holding on to the fact that I think he's very smart and I think he has shown that he can produce a team that can beat good teams and he wants it badly. And I feel like, I don't know, I still feel like he can do it. But I will tell you, for me it's all going to come down to next year. Like I'm just, I'm going to have to see it next year and there really aren't going to be any excuses for me next year. Like they've got to be good. But yeah, that's probably what I'm holding on to. Who's next? Kevin. Kevin. Go ahead, Kevin.
- [28:04]
Billy Reed
Matt, I think it comes down to exactly what you said just now. He gets one more year and that that's it. He has to produce next year. I have no faith in what I can do this year. If you look at what took Tubby Smith out of coaching at Kentucky, his nickname was Pin Lost Tubby and that carried on to Billy Gillespie and we see what he has done this year and what scares me the most is the bipolar nature of Mark Pope. When we see him and he smarts off to Tom Leach and that's the nicest guy that you could ever talk to and yet he has an attitude with Tom Leach and he is bipolar when it comes to his post game press conferences and all of that. I just don't think that he is the right person to fit at Kentucky. And we're we're just not seeing the results. And I think that you see a team that does not know what they're doing because Mark Pope is not giving a clear message of what he wants to do offensively, defensively, from game to game. And we're seeing that play out on the court.
- [29:13]
Matt Jones
Well, I appreciate the call. I don't know if I would use the word bipolar, but I would use the word of his emotions after games are kind of all over the place. I mean, I think that's fair. You know, again, when he came from byu, there were people who did stories where they interviewed. I think. I think it was Jacob Polachek at KSR who basically talked to people about what Mark was like at byu and they would all say, great guy, great coach. But when they lose, like, he's very hard on himself and others. And, you know, we've seen some of that and some of that's okay. But, you know, there have been a lot of strange moments in post games this year. I mean, there have there probably been enough like, there have been some strange moments from the, from the Louisville. Like something happened in the locker room to what he said after the Michigan State game, which called. Caused Rick Patino to call him and be like, what's wrong with you? To the game where. Missouri, where he was kind of weird with Tom and you know, the game. He had a game the other night that we. It's just to this. It's just there's been a lot of sort of odd things. Who's next? Robert? Robert. Go ahead, Robert.
- [30:39]
Billy Reed
Matt, I've got four or five very quick comments if I can, please. First of all, I was looking on cbs.
- [30:47]
Matt Jones
I'm gonna give you. I'm gonna give you. I'm gonna give you three since it's after midnight, but so make them your best. All right? Okay.
- [30:54]
Billy Reed
All right. That they were rating the top hundred players for the NBA draft. Kentucky had two quaint who obviously is done for the season and away and always rated 93. The bottom line, number one, is we don't have the level of talent.
- [31:09]
Matt Jones
I agree.
- [31:10]
Billy Reed
That we've had.
- [31:11]
Matt Jones
I agree.
- [31:12]
Billy Reed
Okay. Number two, I know this is going to sound crazy and I. I've had so many people tell me this that Ortega, who's shooting 65 and free throws in SEC play. People, when I'm watching the game with my buddies, some of them are screaming to take him out because he clanged so many free throws late in the game under pressure.
- [31:44]
Matt Jones
He did. He did. But he also made a couple. Yeah, but he Also made a couple there at the end, but. Yeah, you're right. But that. My thing is if you take him out, like who scored? Like, we don't.
- [31:56]
Billy Reed
That's, that's my response.
- [31:57]
Matt Jones
So, yeah, who's scored? I mean, yes, he's not perfect. If he was perfect, he wouldn't be 93 on the rankings. Right. He'd be a lot higher. But.
- [32:06]
Billy Reed
Right.
- [32:07]
Matt Jones
But like if it's not, again, without him and Aberdeen, we might have scored 35 points tonight. You know,
- [32:14]
Billy Reed
fair point. The other thing is, and I hate just to trash the players, but I thought that the performance tonight was just. It wasn't just bad from a basketball standpoint, it was bad from a smart play standpoint or more particularly lack thereof. I usually think Chandler plays well and plays smart.
- [32:39]
Matt Jones
He was, he was bad.
- [32:40]
Billy Reed
I don't know what happened. Disaster.
- [32:42]
Matt Jones
He was a disaster in that second half.
- [32:44]
Billy Reed
Turnovers in the first, in the second half. It's hard to get five turnovers in a game. Yeah, he had five and a half.
- [32:51]
Matt Jones
I think, I think when he had those back to back plays where he tried to feed the post to Moreno both times and both times it got stolen and then he got taken out.
- [33:02]
Billy Reed
Couldn't have gotten that pass in.
- [33:03]
Matt Jones
Yeah, no, no, no. Those passes were terrible decisions and, and Pope took him out and I felt like after that, like, I don't know if he was pressing. I just. He was really, really bad in that second half and, and, and it was. And the turnovers were bad enough, but there was other stuff like he, he was, he was not good in that second half and I, that, that it was kind of. He hasn't been like that really since, since conference play. So I don't really know what happened. You're right.
- [33:30]
Billy Reed
Yeah.
- [33:30]
Matt Jones
Hopefully it was just a one game blip. I appreciate the call. I, you know, that's kind of what I was saying about did they. About feeling like they. Whether they deserve to win or not. I look back, Billy, and it's hard for me to figure out how we scored. I know that sounds strange, but we scored 74 points. And as I sit there and try to think of remembering when they scored, I feel like I remember away getting a bunch of layups and I remember Aberdeen hitting a couple threes and it feels like though we just ended up with 74 points and it's just hard for me to. It almost is like we will dark if we had won this game. Let me tell you what I was going to say. If we won when it was 74, 71. And they called timeout. I remember thinking, if we win this game, I'm just gonna go, man, that was a game one on sheer willpower by two dudes. And then we didn't. But it's kind of sheer willpower. We were even in it because it just didn't feel like we played good at all. Yeah. I mean, especially with Brandon Garrison making those plays out there and Trent Noah outmatched. Jasper Johnson wasn't. I actually thought Trent did okay. He's. He was a lot. He was outmatched. I actually thought he played okay. What are you gonna say about bg? I. I can't. I can't. I can't. I mean, I. I'm not sure. The last time a player's frustrated me more than he does, he got, like, 3,000 and he made one. He made a. But how do you miss that layup at the end? Oh, Bunny at the end. Yeah. I mean, how did he. But he had great defense right after. Like, he kind of made up for it. He did. He had it. That was a good defensive play the next time down, but there were a few that weren't. And I don't know where he was on those last rebounds. Like, he was, like, 6ft from the basket. Like, I. He is one of the more frustrating players I can ever remember. For me personally, I'm not saying, like. I'm not saying for it. Just for me personally, I find him to be one of the more frustrating players that I can remember in a long time. Who's next? Another Kevin. Kevin. Go ahead, Kevin.
- [36:01]
Billy Reed
Hey, Matt and Bill.
- [36:02]
Matt Jones
What's going on?
- [36:04]
Billy Reed
This is Kevin from West Virginia and Crystal.
- [36:07]
Matt Jones
Hello.
- [36:07]
Billy Reed
And I'm a Kentucky boy. I went to uk and then I went to Auburn vet school, and I converted my wife to be a UK fan. So we're riding a roller coaster.
- [36:19]
Matt Jones
Yeah.
- [36:20]
Billy Reed
I just wanted to say, it's like, it's 12:30 now, and this is the time. This variety for lovers.
- [36:29]
Matt Jones
Okay. You don't have to say, see, we don't need this to continue from other people, but go ahead.
- [36:35]
Billy Reed
That's it.
- [36:36]
Matt Jones
All right. I appreciate it.
- [36:40]
Billy Reed
Okay.
- [36:41]
Matt Jones
Well, it actually didn't make me laugh. A couple people are, quote, tweeting the tweet. I've said many times. And it's true. I said this a long time ago. And it's. It is a true story. One fact of sports in life, when you're complaining about the refs, you lost. And that's true. We are complaining about the refs, and we did lose. So this Is just. Tonight's another. Another example about it. Who's next? Skyler. Skyler, go ahead. Skyler.
- [37:13]
Billy Reed
Hey. Hey, Matt. This is the first time caller in a long time.
- [37:17]
Matt Jones
What's up?
- [37:19]
Billy Reed
But I would like to say that. Yeah, I'd like to complain about the rest, to be honest with you, but I would also like to be able to say that I felt like they costed us the game at the end of the game whenever they had the call.
- [37:44]
Matt Jones
And you're talking about the Chandler call. Yeah, yeah, that was a bad call.
- [37:49]
Billy Reed
Yes, the Chandler call. Yes. Yes, that's what I'm talking about.
- [37:52]
Matt Jones
Yeah.
- [37:53]
Billy Reed
Yes.
- [37:53]
Matt Jones
Well, it certainly didn't help.
- [37:57]
Billy Reed
I just felt like that was very terrible and that was devastating for the game.
- [38:04]
Matt Jones
It was very terrible. That's true. Well, it's good to hear from you, sir. I hope you're having. Hope you're having a good evening and thank you for calling. Would you. Billy, how outraged were you at that call? Like, were you. Were you. Were you furious? I could see. Or could you see it? I mean, I always say you listen to it, so. Could you see? You saw it. Okay, well, I could see why, but, I mean, Jack was the one that was mad. I mean, you could hear it in his voice. What did Jack say? You talking about given? Yeah, yeah, it was like. Well, I mean, he was fine with it, too. He said he saw the arm extend. But they had not been calling it all night. And if you have to call them the last minute, the same you would the first. I mean, that's roughing. That's my. That. Yeah, that's my biggest thing. I will grant you that. That could be a foul, but it was not a foul in the context of that game and the way they were calling it, you can't just all of a sudden in the last 20 seconds call normally. Sometimes what happens in the last 20 seconds is they stop calling fouls. They kind of let them play. But this is almost worse because you've set the precedent. You're gonna let them do one thing and then you call that, you know. But now I, you know, I don't understand what. First of all, we should have inbounded to Aberdeen. I mean, Chandler's not had a good game. You know, Aberdeen had just made two crucial ones, by the way. Again, big shout out to that dude, especially if he's playing sick. He played 39 of the 40 minutes, so. And he made those free throws. I wish we had inbounded it to him. That's what. And if he misses, he misses but even if he misses, they're all the way on the other side of the court and you know, but who's next? Well, go ahead. I was just. Yeah, well, I mean, he's the perfect guy for our Johnny Rocker, personal injury attorney, moneymaker of the game. Injured get small town compassion with big city results. When you call The Rocker at 270-321-4429. And Matt, you're right. Didn't practice in the lead up to this game. Scored 15 points. Had three big three pointers in this game as well. He has really been impressive the second half. I am, I have a lot of things about this year frustrated me. He has really like, he is my sm. Like the thing that maybe has made me the happiest over the second half of the year. Two things I've really enjoyed watching Moreno develop, although he's got to get stronger. He gets the ball taken from him too much, but he's really developed and become a good player and I'm excited about him for the future. And then watching Aberdeen go from a guy that was bad at the start of the year to I think he, you know, he's not, he, he's not good enough to be our second best player, but he is our second best player and he gives everything he's got. And so I have a lot of love for him and I wouldn't have thought that earlier in the year, but he really does. He gives everything he's got every game and I appreciate that. We'll take a break and be right back. It's a local Toyota dealers KSR post game show. Welcome back. It is the local toy dealers KSR post game show text machine is 772-774-5254. One person writes. Matt, I've kind of been with you and thought we needed to only play our top five guys, but did you feel like they got tired down the stretch and maybe it would have been good to play more people? No, because when we did play more people, first stretch. Well, it depends on what you mean by play more people. I think what he did in the second half is actually fine. Which is he kind of. It seemed like he kept three of the starters in at three of the big four in at all times. Felt like to me pretty much all the second half. Aberdeen, oa, Chandler, Moreno, at least three of those four were in, which I think is what you have to do. He gave yellow bitch some minutes, Garrison some minutes, played diabate most of the game, you know, gave Noah some minutes. I'm okay with that. But in the first half he went Jasper, Noah, Garrison, diabate o way. And we gave up eight points in about 12 seconds. And you can't do that. And I, you know, I don't know, Billy, Jasper, John. I think I just can't blame. And that's sad, but it's true. Not even like four minutes at a game. Well, I mean, he was in there tonight. His man makes a three, he doesn't get back on defense. He gets the ball stolen from him. You know, Pope didn't put him back in two minutes minus six tonight. Yeah, he's minus six and two minutes. Against Georgia, he was minus 16 and nine minutes and tonight he was minus six and two. Well, Pope mentioned fatigue a lot in the post game tonight. Well, fatigue was certainly part of it, but here's what I'll say about fatigue. We were down. We were down what, six with five minutes to go and came back and we're up three. So clearly the fatigue didn't get him in the last five minutes.
- [43:18]
Billy Reed
Right, right.
- [43:21]
Matt Jones
I mean, part. You know, the person who was the most fatigued was Chandler. Well, may I just say something? Chandler had two fouls in two minutes and set out most of the first half. Mm. So, like, of all the. The guy who played the most played 39 minutes and was sick. He didn't look fatigued, did he? No, I'm just being sick like Aberdeen. Back to my Aberdeen. My man plays 39 minutes, he's sick, hasn't practiced all week. He's not fatigued. So I, you know, I don't know. I did. There was a moment where I felt like Chandler needed to go out and the timeout came and that's. But I'll tell you this, they may have been fatigued, but I'd rather have a fatigue. Guys. We have on the court, though, Billy, than what we saw in the first half for that little stretch. Yeah, that's what it seems like it's becoming. I mean, they went five and a half minutes without a field goal early in the season. From the 18 minute mark of the second half to the 4 minute mark of the second half. That's 14 minutes. And we scored 14 points. Points. Jeez. That's where. I mean that. Honestly, that's where we lost the game was in that stretch. Who's next? Larry. Larry. Go ahead, Larry.
- [44:38]
Billy Reed
Hey, Matt, what's up? First time, long time.
- [44:41]
Matt Jones
Who?
- [44:43]
Billy Reed
Fellow lawyer from down here in e town.
- [44:46]
Matt Jones
Oh, well, hello. E town. E town, Esquire.
- [44:52]
Billy Reed
Hey. My son went to University of Michigan, so I follow them A lot. My text to my son tonight was great games today between top five teams, 1 versus 3 and 2 versus 4. Problem is none of them were Kentucky.
- [45:11]
Matt Jones
Well,
- [45:13]
Billy Reed
what are we doing?
- [45:15]
Matt Jones
Well, we're not in the top four and right now we lost two straight games to teams that coming into it had lost 10 of their last 11 games.
- [45:23]
Billy Reed
Games. So, you know, you know, I'm, I'm not, I'm not much of a. Of a AI man, but I put this in, it says. I was just thinking, how long has it been since Kentucky's been a top one or two seed? And, and 2017.
- [45:40]
Matt Jones
2017.
- [45:41]
Billy Reed
It's been ten years since the Kentucky Wildcats earned a number one seed. This is a ten year drought. But prior to this, this is double. Before this drought, the longest gap between number one seeds for Kentucky in the modern era, 60 plus, 64 plus teams, was only five years between 1998 and 2003.
- [46:04]
Matt Jones
Yeah, I don't think that's right. I think AI is, I think AI is wrong about that. We, we. We had. I don't think we got a one seed from like 86 to 93 maybe. But in general, your point? It may be, it very well may be the time since we've had a one seed in history. I mean, it's been 10 years. We had a one seed in 2015.
- [46:26]
Billy Reed
We were two and a question, Matt.
- [46:28]
Matt Jones
17.
- [46:29]
Billy Reed
Where, where are we at? Are we now Indiana?
- [46:33]
Matt Jones
No, I've said. We talked about that last week. We were. We're also two the year we lost to St. Peter's but we lost to St. Peter.
- [46:42]
Billy Reed
Let me ask you.
- [46:42]
Matt Jones
No, we're not Indiana, but we are.
- [46:45]
Billy Reed
We.
- [46:45]
Matt Jones
We are we.
- [46:47]
Billy Reed
Are we relevant anymore?
- [46:49]
Matt Jones
Yes, I mean, we are, you know. Well, it depends on what you mean by relevant. I mean, are we relevant in terms of can we win a national title? We haven't, I'd say since COVID We've only had one team since COVID that went into the tournament where people thought we could win the national title and that was the year we lost to Saint Peters. So I guess my.
- [47:12]
Billy Reed
Are we looking at that as in regards to blue eyes, though?
- [47:17]
Matt Jones
No, I mean, look, it depends on what you mean by relevant. Okay, Well, I mean, if you're asking my opinion, you're just. You're telling me. I mean, if you're asking my opinion, we. When it comes to relevant, if you mean do we matter? In college basketball, nothing moves the needle except for Duke more than Kentucky and college basketball. We get the highest ratings, we get the most clicks we are always in a prime time spot in our games on espn, even when we aren't good. So yes, we are relevant. Think about how many times you see Indiana in a marquee game versus how many times you see us. We are next to Duke. We are the most marquee program in college basketball. Still. Now the second point. Have we been a contender? No. Okay. And that's really more important than even being marquee. But the idea that we're not like, like we're irrelevant, that's just not true. They put us at 8:30 on. Yes, they put us at 8:30 on ESPN because we're relevant.
- [48:23]
Billy Reed
Yeah, but we. Yeah, but we weren't the top five. You see what I'm saying?
- [48:27]
Matt Jones
I want you to look at the games and I appreciate the call, sir. I want you to look at the games that were on, that were on the national prime slates. It was number two versus number four, number one versus number three. Right now it's number six versus the number one pick in the draft. And in between were two unranked Kentucky Auburn teams.
- [48:49]
Billy Reed
Why?
- [48:50]
Matt Jones
Because it's Kentucky. But we are not playing up to our marquee status, though that is a fair critique. We since COVID have not been what we should. That is fair. And that's why I believe there should be wholesale changes in the athletic department. And we're going to have another year, in my opinion, to see whether that needs to happen with the basketball program. But the standard has slipped. But we are not irrelevant. That's not true in my opinion. Who's next? Lance? Lance. Go ahead, Lance.
- [49:34]
Billy Reed
Yeah, Matt. To me it seems like we always play either up or down to our competition, especially in conference play.
- [49:42]
Matt Jones
I agree.
- [49:42]
Billy Reed
Would you say that a problem Pope has with preparing us for these games or what do you think about it?
- [49:47]
Matt Jones
You go back to his time at BYU and you throw it here. It is clearly the case that Mark has in his coaching career had teams that seem to play to the level of their competition at byu. He made that program relevant and they would beat good teams and then they would lose to bad teams. And that's kind of been what it's like here. Why is that the case? I don't know. I can't figure that out. But it is frustrating. And you know, the guy mentioned Michigan and I think Michigan is a good. Is a good situation to sort of compare it to. And I appreciate the call. I mean, Michigan has a second year coach that came in highly touted and had all the resources in the world this summer. As we did to get a team and like us, had not had kind of struck out on some top targets as freshmen, and they are one of the two or three best teams in the country, and we are where we are. And at some point, if you're sitting there going, okay, well, what's a good way to judge Mark? You have to look at Dusty May in Michigan and say, why? Why is the gap so large there? And that's probably a question for the off season. But we're very similar programs in terms of what we had as a possibility this year, and they have ended up much, much better than we have. Who's next? Tommy. Tommy. Go ahead, Tommy.
- [51:29]
Billy Reed
Hey, Matt. This is Tommy here out of Tompkinsville, Kentucky. How are you doing?
- [51:33]
Matt Jones
Doing good.
- [51:36]
Billy Reed
Okay, so I got two quick things. I don't want to keep you long, but first thing is I saw some comments earlier about how you weren't happy with how Pope reacted post game. I just want to hear what. How you think he should have acted. Do you want him to be happy? What do you want?
- [51:54]
Matt Jones
I want him to be consistent. If he's upset about the officiating, say, I'm upset about the officiate. If he's not upset, he wants there to be no excuses. Say there are no excuses, but don't say there are no excuses and then walk out of the room and then say they cheated us. Those are just inconsistent messages. And I just want, like, just say what. What you will think. Like, just be Mark Pope. And if. And it was clear what Mark Pope felt was they got cheated. So I wish he'd just say it. Just say it. Be like, you. We got. Now, do I think we got cheated? No. Do I think that was a bad call? Yes. But that doesn't mean we got cheated. I mean, like, you know, what about.
- [52:45]
Billy Reed
Do you think it was personal?
- [52:47]
Matt Jones
I don't know. I mean, he says it is. I don't. I mean, I don't know what would make it personal unless he and that referee have some. But if he thinks it is, I can't say it's not. I don't know their relationship. Right. I just would say this. If you're gonna say you lost and a ref has made it personal, like, well, you better be ready to stand on that because the SEC is probably going to ask you about that, and you're probably going to have him calling another game of yours at some point.
- [53:14]
Billy Reed
Right. Okay, well, last thing real quick. This is one. This one's trying to lighten the mood. I understand you're not a big bro country guy. I was wondering if you were a fan of JB Shelburn's music and if you could name one song.
- [53:27]
Matt Jones
I do not know a name of his song, but I do like J.D. and I have, I have enjoyed hearing him. He's a Kentucky fan and a fan of KSR and so I'm a fan of his. I'm not, but I do not know a name of a song, but it's not usually my kind of music. But feel J like JD the same way I do about my. My cousin. Like, if you're one of my people, I'm gonna be for it. Who's next? Brad is Brad. Go ahead, Brad.
- [53:56]
Billy Reed
Hey, so I was gonna say, you know, I thought the referees were bad, but I thought the, the coaching was pretty. Substitution and stuff were bad too. We ran literally nothing from about 17 minute point on in the second half to the end of the game. I'll take away us out adverting bells out the big three. I. I just.
- [54:21]
Matt Jones
Well, I mean, you're right, by the way. Almost every year, almost every possession in the last in the second half ended with either away or Aberdeen creating something off the dribble. I mean, like, that's kind of what we did. But I also think, like, I'll be honest, it didn't look like anybody else out there wanted to shoot. You know what I mean? It didn't look like Chandler wanted to shoot. I mean, Chandler and O or Chandler and Noah, both. They both had multiple open looks and it did not look like they wanted to shoot. Right. And Moreno got the ball on the block and he didn't really seem to want. It was fun. It's funny when you talk about people that I know are cool shooting the ball away and Aberdeen are. Unfortunately, the next two people that seem most ready to shoot are Garrison and Diabate, who always feel confident to have their number called.
- [55:17]
Billy Reed
So Garrison, he shooted how he wants to. He don't care.
- [55:22]
Matt Jones
Yeah, but. And Diabate, when he gets the ball, by the way, when Diabate gets the ball and he makes the decision, I'm going to the basket. There could be eight guys and he's going to shoot.
- [55:35]
Billy Reed
They gonna shoot one no matter what.
- [55:37]
Matt Jones
Shoot it no matter what. But go ahead.
- [55:41]
Billy Reed
My big concern is, you know, if. If, you know this year is what it is, the roster is bad. I think Pope completely overcompensated for athleticism. But my big concern is next year. What do we have to be excited about coming in right now? Chandler or Malachi is going to be your best player?
- [56:04]
Matt Jones
No, I mean, I don't think about that. I don't think that. I think. Well, I'll say this. If those are the two best players, then we're not going to be very good. But I, I think, I, I think that there will be guys in the, that will be as good, if not better than Chandler and, and Moreno. It is now up to, it's now up to Pope to get them right. That will be what, that will be where we, that will be what decides next season. And I appreciate the call. We don't have freshmen who can bail us out. You know, I think you're going to get Chandler. Well, I hope you're going to get Moreno, Chandler and Cam Williams back. You might get low you or you might want, I mean, I don't know what they want and then I don't know about the other guys, but you're going to have to go get four or five guys in the portal and you need at least one of them to be a star. They have to get a star. They haven't really gotten a star star yet in the portal. Last year they got a bunch of guys that were really good and that was a good team, but they didn't quite have a star. I think they hope Jackson Robinson would be that and it didn't quite happen this year. You know, they struck out on a lot of the, the stars. They're gonna have to get a star in the portal this year and I don't know who it'll be because I don't know who's gonna be in the portal but they're gonna have to get one when the ESPN puts out those rankings. Top guys in the portal. We got to get one of the top five if we're going to be good next year. We'll take a break. 859-280-2287 come back final segment. It's a local Toyota dealers KSR postgame show. Welcome back. It is the Local Toy Dealers KSR Postgame Show. 859-280-2287 Text Machine is 772-774-5254 Mostly Good Text Message Text Machine Comments Today one person writes, Matt, I agree with what you said about us being relevant, but do you think that Kentucky will remain relevant if they don't start winning at a high level? I mean it's a fair question. Like if you, I mean that's how you get to be Indiana. Because there was a time that everything I said about Kentucky was true about Indiana. Like they would be in the marquee spots and they would. And that has stopped. So you're. Yeah. I mean, if you go 20 years without Will, but. Well, this is something I know a little bit about because of my ESPN work. Every single story written on ESPN about Kentucky will be the highest rated story read on ESPN college basketball that week. Like, I don't know if you watch field of 68, but they will make a Kentucky game one of the top three or four games they talk about every night because more people are watching them from us than anyone else we drive. The only school that's close is Duke. We are these. Even North Carolina and Kansas don't drive traffic like Kentucky and Duke. So, you know, could that go away? Yeah, I guess it could, but we're still a long way from it going away. You know, Kentucky, Arkansas was until last week the highest watched game on ESPN this year. That'll probably get passed by. That was passed by Duke, Carolina, it'll probably be passed by Duke, Michigan, because Duke actually probably is even more marquee than we are now. But we're still two. But now we want to win titles, and in that respect, we're way behind these schools. And on that I completely agree. Who's up next? Matthew. Matthew. Go ahead, Matthew.
- [60:03]
Billy Reed
Hello, Matt. How are you doing?
- [60:05]
Matt Jones
Doing good.
- [60:07]
Billy Reed
Tonight was a. Was a rough one. It's a. As a lifelong Kentucky fan, it's always hard to, you know, have a win and they get ripped in that manner.
- [60:16]
Matt Jones
Yeah.
- [60:17]
Billy Reed
But through it all, whether or not Mark Pope is the man for the job, that's yet to be seen because last the year was quite a magical year for me personally. But, you know, he just didn't get the right roster construction that he needed this year. And of course we're losing games because of it. So I'm willing to always give him another year to see what he can do.
- [60:40]
Matt Jones
Yeah.
- [60:41]
Billy Reed
And, you know, if I, if I could, if I could talk to him personally, I would like to say something to the effect of, you know, coach, you know, I'm right behind you. You know, you know, you voice your frustrations when you got every other college coach saying whatever they want to say, you know, I'm, I'm right there with you. But, you know, I'm. I'm optimistic and excited to see what he could possibly do next year. I know it's gonna be a whole roster reconstruction and I, Other than Malachi Moreno, I love the Kentucky boys, but I don't know how many of those guys are going to be even ready for what they need to do. But, you know, I love coach, and I hope the best. I still think we're going to make the tournament, but don't think we're going to make a whole lot of noise. But I am excited at the possibilities as to what we can do.
- [61:28]
Matt Jones
Well, I appreciate the call those. I think all of that is reasonable, and I'm sure, you know, I don't think there's anybody listening to this that doesn't want Mark Pope to succeed. Part of what makes it hard is we all want him to succeed so much because we know how much he cares, and we know how much he wants to win. You know, I. It would be so much. It would be so awesome to win with him as the coach, because it would be like. It would be more special in some ways than it is with coaches who just come and go because he's part of this. So we all want it, and he wants it. He probably wants it too much, which is probably what causes some of these weird things that happen after losses. Let's do five more, and we'll call tonight. Who's next? Dave. Dave. Go ahead, Dave.
- [62:22]
Billy Reed
Hey, man.
- [62:24]
Matt Jones
What's up?
- [62:25]
Billy Reed
So, like, you just said. Nothing. Like, you just said, as awesome as it would be to win with Pope, it kind of makes it. It's more painful when we lose with them now.
- [62:36]
Matt Jones
I agree with that completely. Yeah. Because you just hate it. It's like, it's hard to. It's hard for me. It's hard for everybody to criticize him because it's like you're criticizing, like, one of your family members, you know?
- [62:51]
Billy Reed
Exactly. It's like, when Mitch hired him, it was like, we didn't want it. We did. You know, it's. It's good. It's. It felt good, but it's like, if it goes south and it's like we have to almost kind of.
- [63:05]
Matt Jones
Yeah. It's like hiring. It's like, you remember when. You remember when Mark hired. Mark Stoops, hired his brother? Mike Stoops is the linebacker coach. And I remember thinking, it would be awesome to have your brother coach with you, but what if he's a bad coach? Are you going to fire your brother? Like, what are you going to do? It's going to be terrible if it doesn't work out. And I kind of want. Wonder if it's like this. Like, we all want a former Kentucky player to coach, but then what if it doesn't work out? It makes it a lot harder. Yeah.
- [63:42]
Billy Reed
So one thing I know, this might Be wishful thinking, but what do you think our record would be or how many games do you think would be different if a Caden Lewis had the decommission?
- [63:56]
Matt Jones
I mean, it'd be better, It'd be better because you, you, you'd be able to play, have another guard who can score. You probably could play Aberdeen at his more regular position. Yeah, we'd be better. I mean, we'd be better if Jalen Lowe wasn't hurt. We'd be better. We'd be better, we'd be better if we had one more guard who could play. I, I honestly think that the thing we miss the most is we need another guard who can play. And that could have been Jalen Lowe. I thought it could have been Jasper Johnson, and it's ended up Jalen's hurt and Jasper's not playing well and Cam Williams is hurt. And so, like, you just have a situation. Wouldn't it have been nice if tonight, when Chandler was off, you could have put somebody else in, you know what I mean? And we just couldn't. And that's kind of the way it goes.
- [64:51]
Billy Reed
Yeah.
- [64:52]
Matt Jones
So I appreciate the call. Who's up next? Tj. Tj. Go ahead, tj.
- [64:59]
Billy Reed
Hey, Matt. Been a while, you know. Look, I've got the final four tickets. I'm 40 years old, I'm up there with you. You know the name on the front of the jersey, not the back. That doesn't matter anymore. These kids get paid. It doesn't matter if you're from Puerto Rico, China, Japan, America, Mexico, wherever. Pay the best players. It doesn't matter. Oh, it's the pageantry of Kentucky. But you know, with Calipari, if we had a bad season, we still had the excitement of, well, we've got the number two coming in. You don't even have that. Matt and I. Here's the thing, One more thing. Here's the thing. Oh, it was a bad call. It was this, it was that. This is a game where it shouldn't have been a bad call or not to lose the game. They're on a five game losing streak. You are Kentucky. We are now the Tennessee and the Nebraska of football. If we don't change soon. This is pathetic.
- [66:07]
Matt Jones
Appreciate the call. I mean, I, I, we're definitely not Nebraska. You know, I think we're still not quite Tennessee, but Tennessee's been what? Relevant? Yeah, I don't know. I mean, the analogy is probably if we're not careful, we're going to become like ucla, which is UCLA will still have years where they're really, really good, but, like, they're not consistently. Like, you don't look every year and go wonder if UCLA is going to be good.
- [66:40]
Billy Reed
I.
- [66:41]
Matt Jones
That's kind of, that's something that could happen. That's a very good point, though. About. With Cal, you're like, well, so and so is coming in next year. Part of what I think is making this hard is that nobody has confidence about next year. That, that, you know, if you think about 2013, when we went to the NIT, we had the number one class in America coming in the next year with the twins and Randall. Remember, we, people go for keep calm. The twins are coming, right? Yeah. We don't have that. And so that in and of itself makes it, makes it difficult. And I'm with you. I get the best players. If there's a tie and you want to add a kid from Kentucky, that's awesome. But get the best players. At the end of the day, we gotta, we want to win three more. Who's next? Ben. Ben. Go ahead, Ben.
- [67:38]
Billy Reed
Hey, what's going on, man?
- [67:39]
Matt Jones
What's up?
- [67:41]
Billy Reed
Hey, so me. So I've been leaving the game, heading back from Auburn, and that was a big. It sucked. It was, it was a tough game to be at. The thing I take away the most is I worry that Pope cares too much. And I think it's just, it shows up in the press conferences and everything else that he just, he cares too much and he wants the guys to care as much as him, and they just, I don't feel like they feel the same way.
- [68:14]
Matt Jones
Yeah, I mean, I, I don't want to say the guys don't care. I think they, they care. But the question, does Pope care too much? I mean, I, There. You're not the first person that said that. I don't know. I, I, I think he takes stuff really personally. I, but, you know, I guess I'd rather it be that than the other way.
- [68:35]
Billy Reed
But, yeah, I mean, I, I mean, I think the guys, I think to me, it's like Pope cares too much in the sense of, like, the guy who he just, he weirds me out with. Like, even the post game stuff, complaining about the refs, and I think everybody would complain about the refs, but in my mind it's just like, coke can't do that. And it's like the guy who, you know, he's on the second date and asking the girl how many kids she wants, you know, and he, you know, he cares so much about her, but she doesn't make Me feel that way. And I think the guys are just kind of. It just. I don't know. It's just. It's a lot. Auburn was. It was fun, but at no point it felt like we were really, you know, blown away. And I feel like it's been that way all year. We'll get up even if we get up eight, you know, it's like we can't just put a team away.
- [69:23]
Matt Jones
Yeah, well, you're right. I appreciate the call. I think that's fair. Christy Gnome announces Billy that pre check is being suspended at the airport due to partial government shutdown. Oh, that's a good way. Stand in the same way to make this. That's a good way to make this administration more popular. Just to suspend pre check. Just make the lines longer at the airport. Yeah, that's one thing that'll make everybody thrilled. Let's make the lines longer at the airport. Yeah. Oh, you. That's right. Because I. You have to. You. You go that line. Oh, yeah. I'm with the normal people.
- [70:01]
Billy Reed
You're.
- [70:02]
Matt Jones
You're already done with security by the
- [70:03]
Billy Reed
time I get that.
- [70:04]
Matt Jones
Wait a minute. I pay for pre check, though. How you gonna spend something that we pay for? I better suspend those payments, too. I mean, you better. Yeah, exactly. You better suspend the payment. I pay for that. You can't see. Sorry. Two more. Who's next? Tori. Tori. Go ahead, Tori.
- [70:23]
Billy Reed
Hey, man. Brother. This. This stinks. It's. This stinks really bad. I'm not even having, like, a little bit of fun.
- [70:33]
Matt Jones
No, it's not been a lot of fun. I agree. This year, this has been. This has been. This is one of the weirder teams that I can ever remember. I never know what's going to happen in the games, and I don't. Yeah, you're right. It hasn't been a lot of fun. I think that's fair.
- [70:48]
Billy Reed
It's. It's a daily occurrence online. You've got fans and then various levels of media making the case as to why it's not that bad. You got to look at it through this lens. And then there's others that are just like, this stinks. He's got to go. And then in the responses to each kind of tweet is just people making the case for whatever their side is. And it all just amounts to. People are just trying to figure out, like, why is this so bad? And at the end of the day, it just stinks. And. And Mark Pope goes into press conferences and he says, like, there's something about, like, they're trying to take our power, which, like, I know what he's trying to say. Like, I like words and then like, I'm all about the je ne sais quoi of like, the specific English language and saying something that sounds pretty, but it, like it just comes off as cringy. And maybe, well, not maybe. I think Mark Pope might be cringe and he either has to work on it or hire. Hire a manager to offset that when he talks to these kids. But the dorky stuff and how much this all stinks, it's just. I'm just not having a good time, man.
- [71:58]
Matt Jones
Yeah. You know, he might be a little cringe. Yeah, maybe I thought that, but I don't know. Like, ultimately, I guess what matters most is you get those like 12 guys in the locker room to buy in. Right. Like, ultimately, that's probably what's most important. And he certainly did last year. I can't. I don't know about this year. I can't really tell. It's hard for me. I. What has been so hard to interpret this year? The team did not like each other at first. It feels like they've kind of gotten through that. But I can't tell sometimes how. How well Pope connects with the team this year. I think he really connected with them last year. I can't tell. I'm not saying he doesn't, but I. It's hard to see it sometimes. And so it's hard to know I'm with you. It's not been fun. And I. I think you're right. I think a lot of the. A lot of it is fans trying to figure out why is it like this and us all kind of not being able to figure it out.
- [73:07]
Billy Reed
And so. So Pope resonates very well with. With me. The things he say sit well with me. And I'm a 34, 35 year old white dude. He's. He's. I think he gets into these conversations or these dinners with. With these younger guys and like, this is just my opinion. Right. And I think the team's probably a similar reaction as he gets in there and he says, like, this is beautiful. And he tries to motivate him in this, like, very empathetic and powerful way that this, like, Shakespearean discussion he has with these players. And I think a lot of it is just met with a big eye roll.
- [73:42]
Matt Jones
Yeah.
- [73:44]
Billy Reed
And.
- [73:44]
Matt Jones
Yeah, I don't know if it is.
- [73:45]
Billy Reed
I just don't know if it means a lot.
- [73:47]
Matt Jones
You know, it's interesting when I've talked to Pope I always. I find him really interesting, but I find him interesting kind of like I find. Like, I used to find my law professors interesting. And I don't know if you would put my law professors in a locker room of college kids and they would be the best motivators in the world. So. I don't know. I really don't know. I think ultimately there's a lot of different ways for things to work. I think it worked last year. It doesn't. Seems to have worked as well this year, so. I appreciate the call, but. I do. He's different, man. He's different. I think that's clear. And. But if we won, I guess none of us would care. Is it one more?
- [74:34]
Billy Reed
Yeah.
- [74:34]
Matt Jones
And I'm sure there's a lot of coaches that are cringe, but sometimes when you, like, like, like you remember how I can say this now, because we've actually. And I think you have to kind of become friends with Tom Crane, right? Yeah. Like. Like, we used to always joke, like, Tom Cream was like the most cringe guy in the world, but, like. But his. Dwayne Wade loves it, you know, and. And a lot of his former players love him. So even though maybe we found him cringe, like, his players really liked him. And I've gotten to know him since I've started doing espn, and I think he's awesome. So I don't know. You know, I think it's ultimately. Can you get your players to buy in? And there are people who might, you know, then there's like the guy with the Miami Dolphins, Mike McDaniel, who. Who tries to act cool. And I think he's cringy in a different way. You know, yourself, you gotta be. You just got. That's exactly right. You gotta be yourself. And I do think Mark is himself. You know what I mean? I think he is what you see,
- [75:34]
Billy Reed
so he just wants it too much.
- [75:36]
Matt Jones
Maybe one more. Alex. Alex. Finish strong,
- [75:41]
Billy Reed
Matt. Appreciate it, man. I'm a UK grad. Flew to Atlanta today from Miami, rented a car, drove to Auburn. I've got to be honest, man, it's just really freaking frustrating. Atmosphere was electric. This was a game years and years and years and the past. Kentucky goes in and wins the. Ortega always fast break, slam the lead. Same issues again. Bad first half, letting them go on runs, weird substitutions, insane lineups. We have a timeout with 30 seconds left. Why is Colin Chandler pushing off, man? Like, why that can't happen. Use the timeout. It's okay. Ortega, incredible again, right? Without him, we're not in the game. The fast breaks, the draw, everything was incredible. I even spoke with Tom hard after the game. It should, Everyone is on the same page. This is three in a row. I, I don't, I, I just don't know, man. I, I don't, Matt, and I know you feel the same way. I just, I don't know.
- [76:46]
Matt Jones
Yeah, I, I don't know. And I, and I, I appreciate the call. I, I, I do know that this year we have four games left. We could win them all. We could lose them all. Even the game at South Carolina, we could lose that game if we don't play. So we could go four. No, we could go oh and four. We could get to the tournament. I mean, now I think we're trending towards if we beat South Carolina, non seed, something like that, if we lose the other three. But we also could play our way to a six seed. We could be an 11 seed. We could miss the tournament if we, if we, if we don't win another game. So I don't know and I don't know what's going to happen and I don't know what our roster is going to be next year. And I think all that unknowing, that lack of knowledge is part of what makes this so difficult. At the end of the Cal Peri era, I knew it was over. I knew it was over. I don't know what we are right now. And so, you know, what are you gonna do? We're gonna go play Tuesday night and hope we win. So that's kind of all we can do. Cats lose a tough one. 75, 74. One rebound, one in position, referee not calling a foul, you know, one box out. We could have won, but we didn't. And so now 17 and 10 with four games to go. We'll take a. Well, we won't take a break. We'll end the show. We'll see you later. Be back on Monday morning. This has been the local toy dealers, KSR postgame show foreign. This is Julian Edelman from Games With Names. I want to take a second to talk about something that's personal to me. I've had the privilege of working closely with Robert Kraft for a long time. And one thing I've always respected is how seriously he takes up standing up to hate. As a Jewish athlete, my identity is something I am proud of. But I also know what it feels like to be singled out for it. That's why this new commercial for the Blue Square Alliance Against Hate that aired during the big game really hit home. It's about showing up for someone when they're targeted, even if you don't have the perfect words. And sometimes standing next to someone is enough, and you can show support by sharing the blue square. You know how it's never really about where you're going, it's about who you're going with. The right people can turn any drive into a great memory. That's something Toyota really believes. They design vehicles around real life and real people, the ones who make plans
- [79:43]
Billy Reed
happen and bring everyone together inside.
- [79:45]
Matt Jones
Everything's built with passengers in mind. Comfortable seating, smart layouts and space that actually works so everyone can relax and enjoy the ride. There's room for the people, room for the stuff, and room for the moments that happen along the way. Because when people are the destination, your ride is important. Learn more@toyota.com and find the vehicle that fits your people. This is Matt Rogers from Las Colgarisas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. This is Bowen Yang from Las Colturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. Hey, so what if you could boost the WI fi to one of your devices when you need it most? Because Xfinity WI fi can. And what if your WI fi could fix itself before there's even really a problem? Xfinity is so reliable. It does that too. What if your WiFi had parental instincts? Xfinity Wi Fi is part nanny, part ninja, protecting your kids while they're online. And finally, what if your WI fi was like the smartest WI fi? Yeah, it's WI fi that is so smart it makes everything work better together. Bottom line, Xfinity is smart and reliable. You deserve the peace of mind of having WI fi that's got your back. Xfinity Imagine that the Emmy winning comedy Scrubs is back. The beloved original cast, including Zach Braff, Donald Faison, Sarah Chalk, Judy Reyes and John C. McKinley scrub back in at Sacred Heart Hospital for all new hilarious and heartfelt stories. There's a healthy injection of colorful new characters as well, including a fresh group of newbie interns and coworkers, nemeses Vanessa Baer and Joel Kim. Booster. The new season of Scrubs premieres Wednesday, February 25th at 8, 7 Central on ABC and stream on Hulu.