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- [00:00]
Matt Jones
If you love your phone but not your carrier, just switch to T Mobile. You can keep your phone, keep your number and we'll help pay it off up to $800 per line. You can also use our savings calculator to compare our plans and streaming benefits against Verizon and AT&T. So switch and keep your phone, keep your number and keep more of your moolah. @t mobile.com up to four lines via virtual prepaid card. Allow 15 days qualifying unlock device credit service port in 90 plus days with device and eligible carrier and timely redemption required. Card has no cash access and expires in six months. Welcome everyone. It is the local Toyota dealers KSR postgame show Kentucky falls in Rupp arena to Alabama 102 to 97, their first home loss of the year and their first loss against the top 15 team. After five victories. You can get a shout 859-280-2287 a lot of you are driving back home or heading wherever you are, so feel free to give me a shout. The Cats, you know, scored 97 points and still lose. Really the first time this year where they've had a game where they've played pretty well offensively and still were not able to get the victory. In the other games where Kentucky's lost, their point total has been in the 60s. This one was 97 and still a loss. And I thought honestly the better team today won Alabama. A couple things that I thought were crucial to the game ended up playing out before the game. If you were listening yesterday, we said basically two things were important. One was Grant Nelson, because I think the one consistent thing we've seen this year is teams that have a guy at the four, sometimes at the three, but really at the four who is versatile, can shoot from outside and go to the basket. They really give us a hard time, even, you know, going back to Cooper, flag to Asa Newell at Georgia, the two guys at Florida that got all those rebounds. And then again Grant Nelson here today and he had a great first half, 19 points in the first half, 26 points in the game. He was a real issue for us and I thought was really the reason Alabama was ahead at halftime in a half where Kentucky may have even outplayed Alabama but just couldn't really do anything with Grant Nelson. And then the second thing, and it sounds very simplistic, but Drew and I both made the point. These two teams love to shoot threes and they're both good at it. Whoever hits the most will win. Well, you know, Alabama made 13 Kentucky made 11. We lost by five. It really. I'm not saying the whole game can be broken down into something that simple, but it's a pretty important thing. These two teams each have strengths outside of three point shooting, but the one thing they share is three point shooting. And they made two more of them than we did. And we had open looks. We had chances to hit shots that I think if you hit, maybe it's a different ending. Alma or had a couple open threes. I thought Perry in the second half had an open three that was big. Butler had an open three. You know, you miss those. And Alabama in that little run where it was tied 81, 81, and then they scored nine straight points. They hit two open threes in similar situations. And in my opinion, that was maybe even the difference in the game. Some, you know, smaller, smaller things. First of all, I thought even though his stat line looks pretty good and I think he played well defensively, I thought Lamont Butler struggled offensively, especially down the stretch. That little sequence from 81, 81 to 90, 81, you know, obviously is a sequence where they won the game. And Lamont made a couple big mistakes during that. During that sequence, especially on offense. The turnover on the fast break was huge. It was 84, 81. We had a chance to get an easy basket there, maybe even AM one, and he throws it away. Then they come down and hit a three. And then the next Sequel R us, Butler gets a step and gets into the lane, but then throws a lob to Amari. That just really didn't have much of a chance of success. And amari doesn't catch it. 87, 81 becomes 90 to 81 when they hit a three. And then that's kind of that you. I think Amari Williams is, is a. Is really a good player. He hustles a lot. But when he is having to be a centerpiece of your offense, you're good, you're going to struggle. And there were three or four times where he tried to initiate offense by dribbling. I never think that's really a good thing for us. And even throwing lobs to him, I think I saw a stat somewhere that we're one of the worst teams in the country at throwing and executing lobs. And I'm not shocked at that because again, we're not a crazy athletic team. We're a good shooting team, we're a good execution team, but we're not crazy athletic. And I think you see that in lobs where, you know, we try to do stuff that maybe some of our guys, it's, it's not their strong point defensively. You know, you give up 102, it's going to be hard to win. We gave up 100 to Florida and did win. Gave up 102 today. You know, I don't talk about or write a lot about defense because I just don't think we're ever going to be great at defense. I just don't think this team is, is built with guys who are really good defensive players outside of Butler and sometimes away. I mean, I think Carr is a big defensive liability. Bray is a defensive liability, Robinson can be a defensive liability, Perry's a defensive liability. So you get that many guys on the court that are not great defenders, you're never going to be a great defensive team. Now what you can do, however, is, is get loose balls and get rebounds. And we did give up 15 offensive rebounds. Now that's a big number. It didn't crush us though because we actually outscored them on second chance points. We had 13 offensive rebounds, so we gave up 15, which is too many. But I don't think that's why we lost. I think part of the reason we struggled there was 50, 50 balls. You heard Mark Pope say on the post game that he thought we just weren't, we were like a step slow getting to some of those 50, 50 balls. And I kind of agree. Some of their offensive rebounds were long threes that we just really didn't scramble and weren't in a good position for. But you know, defensively you can't give up 102. But I think we're going to give up 102 against teams like that sometimes. They ended up shooting 85% from the free throw line. What were they, Billy, 26 of 30 or something like that from the free throw line.
- [07:11]
Billy Rutledge
Alabama, are you saying? Yeah, yeah. They were 29 of 34.
- [07:15]
Matt Jones
29 of 34. I mean that's a great percentage. They got 34 free throws. We got 24 free throws, but they got 34. And you know, when you most of these team, we've actually had some pretty good free throw percentage luck this year when the other team shoots them. Not today. 29 of 34. And they made the big ones when they needed to. You know, there was the big foul on the three pointer by Sears. That is the fourth time in the last three games we have had a landing area three point foul called on us. And you know, I, it's frustrating to watch those calls but at the same time the NCAA announced before the season they were going to emphasize that and we have to stop doing it. Like, whether you think that's a foul or not, we can't keep doing it because they're going to call it. Which gets me to a greater sort of conversation about fouls in general. We're just not doing a good job of drawing fouls. And I think, you know, Almanor had a three at the end where they went into his landing area. It was the one he made, but he didn't fall down. And like, they're not going to call that unless you fall down. So, I mean, there may come a point where I'm not saying flop, but if somebody land, if you land and he's in your landing there, you got to fall down and we've got to do a better job of drawing fouls. These other teams are doing a really good job of drawing fouls on us. And, you know, we gave up 34 free throws. And I actually think the refs, a lot of the game kind of let the guys play. We, we're not getting the whistle. You know, some of that can be, you know, you can say all the refs think. And sometimes I think that. But like, some of it is also, you know, we shoot jumpers. These teams are driving the paint and they're drawing fouls and we're not. Sears was great. Nelson was very good. You know, I, I heard J. Billis say one time a long time ago, when two teams are basically even, if the top two players in the game are on one of the two sides, that team will win. I thought about that tonight because I think UK and Alabama are close to even. Alabama might be slightly better, but if we're close to even, the two best players on the floor tonight were Sears and Nelson, and that's why we lost. If a game's close to even and one team has the two best players, they're going to win. And I think that's kind of what happened tonight. I'm not overly down about the game. I thought there was a chance they could lose this game. That's why I thought it was so important that they beat Mississippi State and they beat Texas A and M and they did this game probably makes it hard for us to win the sec, but I don't know that we were going to win the SEC anyway. I still think a really good goal for this team is to get the double buy, be a top four in the league. And then if you're top four in the league, you're probably going to Be a three seed in the tournament. I think if the tournament started tomorrow, we'd be a three seed today. So I think your goals are still there. Now you play Vandy next on the road. You got to win that one. You play at Tennessee which is a game that's going to be very, very difficult to win. And I think if you do lose, not the end of the world. And then what are the next three after that? Billy, do you know after, after.
- [10:44]
Billy Rutledge
Van I don't. I'll pull it up right now here.
- [10:46]
Matt Jones
Yeah, pull it up. The game at Vandy next Saturday I do think is very important. It's sold out and I've got to think if it's sold out, it's sold out with a lot of Kentucky fans there. So we get this week off. Vandy Saturday. I think that's going to be a big one.
- [11:00]
Billy Rutledge
What's after Tennessee vs. Arkansas February 1st.
- [11:04]
Matt Jones
Obviously have to win that one. What's next?
- [11:06]
Billy Rutledge
And you're at Ole Miss Feb. 4.
- [11:09]
Matt Jones
Tough game, but winnable. But a tough game. And then what's the next?
- [11:13]
Billy Rutledge
You're at home versus South Carolina and.
- [11:15]
Matt Jones
You will win that one. So there is this little sequence here where you play, you play. If you win what you're supposed to you, if you can win at Vandy, you win Arkansas and you win South Carolina, you get those three and then you play at Tennessee and at Ole Miss. You know if you could steal one of those and go four and one in that sequence, be seven and three in conference, I think you would love where you're sitting. Love where you sit. So we played five ranked teams to start the conference. We're going to play two in our next five games instead of five. Got to take advantage of that during this sequence. And I'm going to look at these five and say we'd love to go four and one. Four and one gotta go three and two. But four and one and I feel like you're in pretty good shape. 859-280-2287 we're going to take your calls. Disappointing loss against a really good Alabama team. You know at some point a top 15 team had to beat us. We were five and oh, so they finally got one. We'll take a break and be right back. It's, it's the local Toyota dealers KSR postgame show. Well, you know people are down about the loss because this is the Billy said the first time this year where the phones are not full going into the fire segment. So 859-28022, 8, 7. Look, Saturday afternoons, you know, I know you got other stuff to do. Probably a lot of people thought I don't want to relive that game. But hopefully, hopefully we can talk throughout the show. One person, the Prince writes. Matt, I want your take on this. Do you. There's been a big foul discrepancy in our two SEC losses. Am I just seen it as a biased fan or do you think we're not getting a fair shake because Pope is too nice? I like how we used to always say the refs didn't like us because Cal complained too much and now it's that Pope is too nice. I look in these five SEC games I thought I wasn't a huge fan of the officiating officiating at Georgia, but I think our, our, the, the, the complaints about officials were doing too much of it to be honest with you. I thought the game was officiated fine tonight. I didn't, you know, look, they're not going to get every call right. But I did not think it was unfair. Alabama is going to draw more fouls. They cut to the rim, they go at the rim, they try to shoot layups, they shoot over people, they're going to get more fouls. We shoot jumpers. Like we fade away. When, when you do that, you're not going to get as many foul calls. That's just a fact. Like it's we, we our guys. I will give them. I think our guys have been a lot tougher the last couple games than they were for instance in the Georgia game. But our guys do not play to contact the Alabama and a lot of these teams we've played do. And you're going to get more foul calls when you play to contact. So you know, I mean there were calls I thought were wrong today, but we got benefit of calls too. I mean think about if that Kobe Braya the in the. What do you call it, Billy, when they say you're like in your zone.
- [14:19]
Billy Rutledge
Or whatever in your bag.
- [14:22]
Matt Jones
No, like when they would say that when they called that foul, Brea had the ball and the guy was in his face and they said he would. They. Oh what do they call that? Not in your back. They were like they called it in your something. Was it.
- [14:35]
Billy Rutledge
I'm not sure.
- [14:35]
Matt Jones
Whatever it was, I mean God didn't even touch him and we got that call. So you know, I just. Every game when I look at the text machine, half of the comments if not more after the game are the official stink. I mean I just. The officials I do think go to the monitor too much, but beyond that, they beat us. That's. That's kind of how I look at it. Oh, by the way, Almanor, I guess did fall. I didn't see that. So people are telling me he did fall. I think they also called a foul on Amari on the same play. So maybe because the whistle blew on that, they didn't call the other one. I don't know. All right, who's up first?
- [15:12]
Billy Rutledge
Andrew is up.
- [15:13]
Matt Jones
Andrew, go ahead, Andrew.
- [15:15]
Billy Rutledge
Hey, Matt. How's it going? Can you hear me?
- [15:17]
Matt Jones
Doing good? Yes, I'm doing good.
- [15:20]
Billy Rutledge
Awesome. I think this is the first time chatting with you. I actually interviewed for a KSR internship right after Ryan's hand got bitten in the Chick Fil A parking lot.
- [15:31]
Matt Jones
So.
- [15:32]
Billy Rutledge
It's been a while, man. But I. I feel like I'm the first fan that's very skeptical that Pope can't. Will be able to string together 16 games in March to help us win a title at any point. Just because I feel like we live and die by the three.
- [15:51]
Matt Jones
Well, I mean, I don't. I think that worry is completely. First of all, how many coaches string six wins together in a tournament every year? Like one. Right. So, I mean. And how many coaches have ever done it in history? You're probably talking like 40 or 450. So, you know, the chance that there's a very good chance he won't because it's very hard to do. But I did still disagree with your premise. I think this team right here, I think that argument is fair about. But how do you know he's not going to have teams that have guys who can get stops? He is going to have athletes on next year's team that are better. He's going to have three at least athletes on next year's team that are better than any athlete we have right now. And the longer he's here, he's going to get more guys like that. And he wasn't able to get guys like that at Utah Valley State and at byu. So. Excuse me. I don't know how you can say that because he'll have different kinds of rosters in the future.
- [16:54]
Billy Rutledge
Well, I agree with you. I just think that Caleb Wilson is definitely key for next year to be able to make a run. But I'm just. I'm just a little bit afraid, especially watching Popes previous tournament games with.
- [17:07]
Matt Jones
But he's never had a. He's never had a roster. I mean, he was at BYU and he was at BYU before they Started giving Big Nil money before the new guy came on. So I mean, that's true.
- [17:19]
Billy Rutledge
I'm not, I'm not.
- [17:20]
Matt Jones
He's never had. He is. Just think about it like this. He's never had an NBA player on his roster ever. And now he's going to have him. So like the idea that he can't have a team to play defense. He was at BYU without elite athletes and he probably thought his best way to win was to get a team that could shoot threes. Same thing with this team. He looks at it and says, look, I don't have any elite defenders. I have one. So I've got to play a way that can give us a chance to win. Wait till he gets those guys and then I think there's a lot better chance we will see really good defense.
- [17:59]
Billy Rutledge
I agree, Matt. I just, I just hope that Pope will be able to, I guess, change his philosophy in March where games are usually a little bit more low scoring and if we shoot 30% from the three point line, we can still win those games and move on.
- [18:16]
Matt Jones
Well, I do too, but you also, and I appreciate the call, have to deal with the roster that you have in this roster. And I've said this since like game two, we're never going to be good on defense. They just don't have the players. So we got to be the best we can be. But we got four of our top seven guys, maybe five of our top eight who cannot guard. I think Butler can guard, awaken guard, and Amari can kind of guard, but the rest of our guys can't guard and they're never going to be able to. And that's not to criticize them. They can do a lot of things really well. But I don't care how much Carr and Brea and those guys lock in, they're not, they cannot stay with these dudes. You know, I. Look, Travis Perry, there might come a time he's a good defender, but I don't care how much he locks in when he's guarding Mark Sears, he. He doesn't have a chance of staying in front of that guy. And Grant Nelson, Andrew Carr with a hurt back is not going to stay in that guy. And so it just makes it, it makes it hard. Who's next?
- [19:31]
Billy Rutledge
Mike.
- [19:32]
Matt Jones
Mike. What's up, Mike?
- [19:35]
Billy Rutledge
Hi, Matt. I enjoy your post game analysis. I'm 73 years old and even after 50 years I'm a very unlearned student of the game. So I always listen to your show and I agree with you. I Just think I'm happy, basically. I mean, not I'm disappointed, but we're a very nice team. But Alabama appears to be a little bit better. Yeah, you might easily go down there and beat them by 12 or 15 team, but I think they're a slightly better team. I think UK is a legit sweet 16 team. I think we have realistic hopes for being an elite A team and realistic dreams of being a Final Four team. And that.
- [20:31]
Matt Jones
I think that is a perfectly like. I think that is a very cognizant analysis. I appreciate the call and thank you for your nice guy. I think that is a. You know, the good thing about the NCAA tournament is you can pull an upset or a team can get upset before they play you, and you can be no better and go around or two farther. Right. Like San Diego State made the championship with Lamont Butler a few years ago. That was not a championship team, but there were a couple upsets they ended up getting. You know, I can't remember who they got in the Final Four that year. It was like, what, Miami, Florida Atlantic, Yukon and San Diego State. Right. So, you know, I think they played Florida Atlantic in the Final Four. When you get Florida Atlantic in the Final Four, all of a sudden you might be in the championship game. So I think that. I do think this is kind of a team that would be like, oh, elite eight to really good sweet 16, kind of hovering that mark. But if they get a matchup that works and they play really well, or they hit 14 threes instead of 11, they could be in the Final Four. Right. That's. And that is not. That is not me being critical. I love this team. This is one of the most fun teams to watch that I can remember us having in years, but they have limitations. And when you score 97 and you still lose, I think it's fair to say defense is going to be a limitation for this team. Who's next?
- [22:05]
Billy Rutledge
Michael's next.
- [22:06]
Matt Jones
Michael. Go ahead, Michael.
- [22:09]
Billy Rutledge
Hey, what's up, man? I hope you're having a good day, bro.
- [22:12]
Matt Jones
You, too.
- [22:16]
Billy Rutledge
I'm going to be a fan that's just going to say I'm enjoying watching Coach Pope. I didn't expect this year to play out the way it was. I was expecting, you know, to have a little bit more struggles. No. Going into the game today, I didn't. I'm not going to say I was expecting a win, but I definitely expected as close as it was. I'm proud of watching the kids play the way they did today. I do think that we would have pulled off the wind had we not allowed a back to. Back to back three point.
- [22:56]
Matt Jones
Oh, I totally agree with you. I mean, that was.
- [22:58]
Billy Rutledge
That.
- [22:58]
Matt Jones
That was the swing right there. That was the swing. That was the swing. I mean, if you. Let's. If Lamont Butler on that fast break, throws a better pass and you get a basket or maybe even an and one, and the crowd's going crazy and you come out of that timeout and Alabama has to score, could be a different game, right? Like. Like it could be a different game. I'm totally with you on that.
- [23:24]
Billy Rutledge
Yeah. Yeah. I really feel like if that portion, that few minutes would not have happened, we. I think we could have at least pulled off a win by a few points. But I think that really changed the dynamics. And anyways, appreciate listening to y'all. Y'all have a good day.
- [23:38]
Matt Jones
Appreciate the call. No, that was the swing. And even on the play after the timeout, it's 8480, Alabama makes a little baseline drive and Amari cuts it off and gets a block. And the ball, you know, I mean, he blocked the shot, so that's what he's supposed to do. The ball just falls into Mark Sears hands someone probably Butler or away should have been boxing out Sears. But Sears gets the ball and then he kicks it out for an open three and the guy makes it. And. And you know, that may have just been a bad bounce because Amari block, you know, Amari did exactly what he was supposed to do. It's just. It fell into Sears hand, and then he kicked it out and the guy hits a three. And so it went from what could have been a tie game to a six point game. And then of course, the next possession, I think Almanor had an open three, misses it comes down, we play 23 seconds of good defense, and then the guy shoots the three and lands on Butler and. Or away or whoever it was, and that's that. You know, I mean, that. That, that little run loses you the game. 859-280-2287. Who's next?
- [24:53]
Billy Rutledge
Kyle.
- [24:54]
Matt Jones
Kyle. Go ahead, Kyle.
- [24:57]
Billy Rutledge
Hey, Matt. I'm gonna piggyback off the last two callers and add a little bit of just like a generalized thing. I think it is important to look at like this. I think we're a fringe elite eight team, probably a sweet 16 team, but you're looking at two teams who are on paper probably elite 18 sweet 16 teams. So as you said, it comes down to sometimes just those bounces. Maybe we can get them back At Alabama, it's nothing to hang our head over. But I think where I've started noticing this team starts to struggle or when we lose games is if you look at that five minutes before the end of the first half, and then I don't want to put the last, like, minute in because fouls come into that, but maybe, like, the five minutes before that, those swings have, like, killed us in some of these games where we either shouldn't have won or we end up winning. Like at Gonzaga or against Duke, we.
- [25:52]
Matt Jones
Struggled a little bit at the end of first halves. I can't remember. There is a game, and I can't remember which one it was where I felt like that run was really good for us. But, yes, we have had some problems. I think tonight we haven't even. I haven't mentioned it yet. I think fatigue was an issue tonight. You know, Andrew Carr did not play well, and he was in foul trouble. And Butler, I mean, had to play because Perry couldn't really guard Sears. Butler had to play pretty much the whole game. And I kind of felt like at the end, Butler and Robinson, maybe there was a little fatigue there at the end as well.
- [26:32]
Billy Rutledge
Yeah, I. I guess, like, what I look at and I was texting like, a. Like a friend group, is that I felt like we should have been up maybe five or seven at the end of the first half when we were down two. I felt really concerned about that.
- [26:45]
Matt Jones
I think we should have been. We should have been up, but I think it was. I. I think it was Grant Nelson. We. Grant Nelson, he killed it. Absolutely. He. And again, I'm not picking on Carr, but Grant Nelson abused Carr in that first half. He just abused him. And. And. And that was the difference. It was kind of like, in some ways, the A and M game in reverse. If you remember the A and M game, we probably should have been behind and Jackson. Robinson just had a great half. Well, I think that's what happened.
- [27:15]
Billy Rutledge
That's that five minutes.
- [27:17]
Matt Jones
Yes.
- [27:18]
Billy Rutledge
Or. Or half.
- [27:19]
Matt Jones
Like.
- [27:20]
Billy Rutledge
Yeah. As you talked about earlier, the individual players making the game important. So if you have that player who does that, you end up winning. But before you go on to the next point, and you can keep talking about what we were, but are we gonna see a game under two and a half hours this year in the sec, or should we just make this the NFL?
- [27:38]
Matt Jones
I mean that I appreciate the call. The. The. The. Matt Norlander of CBS was talking about how the SEC games are longer than any other conferences this year. And I think there's a Few things about one of them is these monitor reviews. I mean, I think he said the A and M Alabama game the other night had 11 monitor reviews. Billy. 11. I mean the fact that they went to the monitor on a shot clock one minute into the game, like who like stopped the rule needs to be monitored like last two minutes, last three minutes and each coach gets one challenge. That's it. There's no reason to do this. I mean they were looking at stuff that wasn't even close. Right? I mean that slows the game down. And then part of it are the fouls. I mean, you know, there we've, we specifically have played in a lot of games with fouls and again, I'm not saying there aren't calls that go against us, but part of the reason we foul so much is because we're not good defenders. We get beat and so we foul to keep them from score. I mean that's part of it is we foul a lot because we've been beaten. You know, I think if you go and look at the guys who generally speaking foul the most, it's usually the guys that we don't that aren't the best defenders. Cars been probably leads the team in fouls. So, you know, it is what it is. Let's do one more and we'll take a break.
- [29:13]
Billy Rutledge
Chris.
- [29:14]
Matt Jones
Chris, Go ahead, Chris.
- [29:17]
Billy Rutledge
Hey guys, thanks for taking my call. First time caller actually took my 5 year old to the game, my daughter to the game. She loved it. Sour Patch Kids and the popcorn was, was great.
- [29:28]
Matt Jones
That's all that matters for them, right?
- [29:31]
Billy Rutledge
Yes. Got a couple things. I thought it was a well played game. Both really good teams. Toward the end, some of the 50, 50 balls went their way and I thought, you know, you all touched on it. Fatigue did play a factor. I think toward the end there, some of those 50, 50 balls that mark Pope team I think would get went their way and about ball kind of bounced the wrong way. But I do want to talk a little bit about our bigs, specifically Williams and the fit for the offense. Big Z I think a lot of people would agree would have been an awesome fit for this offense. And his hair was on fire playing for Arkansas earlier in the season. He was banging threes and looking really good. The last three games that they've played he's scored zero points and he's had 10 or less minutes played. I don't know if he's hurt or what he's got going on, but we've already had one free Big Z moment when he Was at uk. I think we need another free big Z moment when they come on February 1st. Well, I think, I think get him out of that.
- [30:38]
Matt Jones
But there's a lot of players. There's a lot of players out there that are. I mean I appreciate the call. We know Z because he was here. But I mean there are dudes all over the country that you know my, here's my guess. My guess is his. Pope's big men next year are going to be a returning Garrison and then he will go find a guy somewhere to be what you're talking about. I agree with you. I don't think Amari is the ideal big for Pope's offense. He can't shoot threes and I think Pope would like to have a big who can dribble. While Amari certainly I think things he can dribble. It is not his strong suit. Now I think the thing Pope probably likes is his passing which is probably why he brought him in because he's a. He's a good passer. Really good passer. But I think you will see probably next year in the portal him get a big that is more attuned to how he plays. I've got a feeling and I have no idea if this is true, but I got a feeling that our big most years is going to be a transfer that Mark is going to look around and see because the big is so important for his system with the passing and running the offense at the top of the key. He'll look around and go where are the bigs that can shoot that are good passers at the top of the key. I'm going to go look for a dude like that and are smart. I think that's going to be what he'll do going forward. But with this year he had to get who he could get. He looked at Amari, he looked at Garrison and he looked at Osbor. And if you, if you were to watch great Osbor play, he's a load but he's also a good passer. Like I can see why he was interested in him. Right? So, you know, I think the passing is why amari is the center. 859-280-2287 we will take a break and we will come back. Cats tough loss against Alabama. It's the local Toyota dealers KSR postgame show. Welcome back. It is the local toy dealers KSR post game. So it's in the cylinder is the rule I was trying to think of.
- [32:44]
Billy Rutledge
That makes sense.
- [32:46]
Matt Jones
Yeah, that's what they called the thing on the, the BREA. The BREA play 859-280-2287. What I need, if somebody reminded me as I should have, is we also have Malachi Moreno coming next year, who is very, very talented. I, I, I don't know how much. Like, I don't know if he can be your, I don't know, maybe that's Pope's plan, is to have Garrison as the starter and Malachi as the bench player. Garrison, you know, Garrison, defensively, I don't love the way, you know, he's a step slow to actually looking at the, the foul leaders. He's actually set third on the team and fouls, and he plays significantly less minutes than everybody else. So he's also a kind of a foul, foul. First guy, one person writes. Matt. Next. Our team shoots a lot of threes, and when we make them, we're good. When we don't, we're bad. Is it just that simple? Yeah, but no, I mean, yes, I think it was that simple today because we were playing a team that plays just like us. But I don't think it's that simple. Like next week when we play Vandy or when we played A and M, I think it's different in those games, but against the team, Florida and Alabama are going to play just like us. And I think whoever makes the most shots wins. We said that before the game, and I think that'll be true down in Tuscaloosa, too. And I also just think the one thing this team has struggled with is when we play against a guy that we just cannot guard, we have a hard time overcoming that. The only team I think we've beaten that had a dude we just couldn't guard was Cooper Flag and Duke. We couldn't guard him, but, like, he made those errors at the end of the game. But we could tonight. We could not guard Nelson in the first half and we could not guard Sears in the second half. And even, even when he didn't score, he was kicking it out for open. Looks like we just, we had no answer for those two guys tonight. And I think it's ultimately what, what took us down. Who's next?
- [34:53]
Billy Rutledge
Andy.
- [34:53]
Matt Jones
Andy. Go ahead, Andy.
- [34:57]
Billy Rutledge
Hey, how's it going?
- [34:58]
Matt Jones
What's up?
- [35:01]
Billy Rutledge
Yeah, a couple things, you know. You know, I hear people talking about the, the free throw discrepancy and the foul calls. I mean, I don't really know if that's the best thing to really kind of blame the game on. I think the Georgia thing is one thing, but that's Kind of just the nature of how we play. I mean, you know, they take a lot of outside shots. They don't really drive the ball a lot. So I mean, that's just kind of how, how it's going to end up.
- [35:25]
Matt Jones
I totally agree with that. I mean, we don't, you know, Jackson, Robinson, Kobe Brayer, they avoid contact. OA gets a little. Butler will draw con, try to draw content, but he also fades away. We just, we just don't play it away. That's going to draw a lot of fouls, especially at the rim. So you're, we're, we're not going to get as many free throws as everybody else, the way we play.
- [35:51]
Billy Rutledge
Yeah, and I think, I think, well, I think Butler, I think Butler could sort of fix that. You know, I like that he plays off of two feet, but I think that, you know, he sort of, when he drives to the rim, I think that he's predetermined. He already makes up in his mind that he's going to come to a jump stop and pump fake. When I think that he should just lay the ball up and try to draw contact instead of trying to go for a pump fake and get him up in the air.
- [36:15]
Matt Jones
I think that's, I think that's a pretty good critique. Also, you know, he had that play at the end of the game where he gave up a wide open layup to circle around and shoot a contested three. I don't know what he was doing right there, but you know, listen, he's a great defender. He's. He's the only guy we have. It's a really good defender. But I didn't think tonight was his greatest game offensively.
- [36:35]
Billy Rutledge
If you agree or disagree. But I think they kind of surrendered the game really sort of in the first half and especially in the second half they stopped trying to run with them. They stopped trying to match them on their three point attempts. And even in the first half there was at least like three straight possessions where they just forced, started force feeding the ball into Amari Williams. And I didn't really understand that there.
- [36:57]
Matt Jones
Those three possessions were big to me. Yeah, those three possessions were big to me. Twice they force fed him and once he tried to take a guy off the dribble. And I, you know, I, I like Amari Williams and I don't think he played bad tonight. Although his plus minus was awful. I think he was like minus 18. But you, I don't know. I don't know. I don't think you force the ball to him. Offensively, sometimes it's going to happen, but like when he takes off dribbling from the free throw line, I just am like, oh, no. So you're right. There were like three straight possessions that kind of went through Amari and it. I don't think we scored on any of them.
- [37:34]
Billy Rutledge
Yeah, I don't understand that. I'm not saying like, they. To me, it just seemed like they. They surrendered it. In that sense, they. They stopped trying to match the volume on their three point shots. I mean, they got to shoot more to be able to be able to win a game like that.
- [37:48]
Matt Jones
Yeah, I appreciate the call. I mean, I think Brandon Garrison was like plus 10 tonight and Amari was minus like 18. But I mean, that's one game. There have been a couple games this year where Amari was first in plus minus, including, I think our last one. So, you know, that stat can be a little misleading depending in an individual game. Who's next?
- [38:11]
Billy Rutledge
Stub is next.
- [38:12]
Matt Jones
Stub. What's up, Stub?
- [38:15]
Billy Rutledge
Hey, Matt. So the SEC is not messing around, man. I've been on my calculator for the past few minutes. So first of all, Mark Pope works the officials. You can work the officials, not be a lunatic about it. He works.
- [38:29]
Matt Jones
I agree, I agree.
- [38:30]
Billy Rutledge
But the five teams that Kentucky played outside the SEC in the Power four conference. Duke, Clemson, Ohio State, Gonzaga, Louisville. Yeah, Those teams shot 101 free throws.
- [38:42]
Matt Jones
Okay.
- [38:43]
Billy Rutledge
The five SEC opponents have shot 150.
- [38:47]
Matt Jones
Okay.
- [38:48]
Billy Rutledge
It's not. It's not even close. Man, these teams are so good and so skilled. If Duke was in the sec, they'd be two and three, I think five games in.
- [38:57]
Matt Jones
I think it's also when you're playing those. When you're playing those other teams, you. I mean, there's a culture of officials, too. Like how many fouls they call. And the SEC officials may just call more. I mean, I don't know. But you're right. The athleticism is so good. In the sec, you're going to get more collisions, which means you're probably going to get more fouls.
- [39:23]
Billy Rutledge
And we just have guys that don't. Our guys, I think are so. They're. I think they're a little bit more undersized. So even when they do draw contact, I think the officials are just like. Well, the other team's just bigger, more athletic. I mean, Kobe Bra has only shot 10 free throws for the year. Jackson Robinson's only shot 27.
- [39:44]
Matt Jones
Yes, but think about Kobe Bray. He avoids contact. You know what I mean? Like, Kobe doesn't Jackson that that number should be. But you know, I appreciate the call. The person on our team that I think gets the worst whistle, to be honest with you, is Amari. Because I think the very nature. He fouls a lot and he gets fouled a lot and I think they end up just. It's like when Shaq used to play. Like Shaq got fouled more than anyone in the league, but he also was massive and I think they used it against him and Amare. I think Mari's the one guy that I think gets fouled and then doesn't get the call more than most because he, Amari does not avoid contact. But you know, he's also not the greatest free throw shooter. Who's next?
- [40:31]
Billy Rutledge
It's hard to avoid contact when a guy like Grant Nelson pushes off every single shot that he has.
- [40:38]
Matt Jones
Wow, you have some strong feelings there. You anti Grant Nelson?
- [40:41]
Billy Rutledge
I am.
- [40:42]
Matt Jones
I mean, you don't like the little.
- [40:43]
Billy Rutledge
Whiskey he was carving him up.
- [40:46]
Matt Jones
No, I mean I thought he was, you know, in the second half I think he only had five points, but I thought in the first half he was. He was great. He was great. Like that was the dude that Alabama thought they were getting when they are. He originally transferred. Who's next?
- [40:59]
Billy Rutledge
Hunter.
- [41:00]
Matt Jones
Hunter. What's up, Hunter?
- [41:03]
Billy Rutledge
Matt. Billy. How we doing?
- [41:05]
Matt Jones
Good.
- [41:07]
Billy Rutledge
Yeah. Hey, for my first ever game, that was a top two atmosphere and it wasn't too. That's for damn sure.
- [41:13]
Matt Jones
Yeah, you like that? That was Willy's line. Yeah, it was. It sounded loud in there. And you know, again with espn, it's hard to tell sometimes but it sounded like it was a good atmosphere.
- [41:24]
Billy Rutledge
Yeah. I was chatting with Mario. Mario said this was just as good as Louisville and I agree just from hearing it. But my two points as far as like the game goes, really what it just kind of came down to everyone blaming the refs and like maybe it was a factor but ultimately it just came down to like you said, the 50, 50 balls and honestly it was a lot of trying to do one handed rebounding instead of two. And what was happening is they'd have to pop that ball up with the one hand and then you're scrambling trying to find it where if they got the two handball, maybe we're going to able to get more rebounds. Could be a different ball game.
- [41:54]
Matt Jones
I think you're right. I'll tell you, the one guy we have that does rebound with two hands is always. I thought he had some really strong rebounds tonight. I love the way he crashed the glass.
- [42:05]
Billy Rutledge
Yeah. He did. He did an awesome job. It's just everyone else again, it was the 50, 50 balls. And then my second point is I'm not worried about this game at all. Just especially because I could see it like in the March post game show, after he was done answering, he would cut to the break. You could just see on his face that he was just like, he was just sad and angry and he wanted to put on the best performance he could. And I know that that's going to translate into this little mini bye week that we have. And I am not worried about coming the next couple.
- [42:34]
Matt Jones
Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up. I appreciate the call. He both said in the media post game press conference and then he said on his radio show he used the phrase losing is the worst. And you know, I love, I love that he hates to lose. He says we are supposed to win every game. That is a stark contrast from, you know, wait till March and its process and blah, blah, blah. He is like, we should win every game. And I love, I feel like Billy, if he were not the coach, he would be pacing in his room like I'm pacing in my room. Right?
- [43:16]
Billy Rutledge
You think he'd do a lot of the similar stuff you do?
- [43:18]
Matt Jones
Yeah, like, I think he would do. I think he would go up and get in the shower. Right? Like, I feel like. I feel like it matters to him on such a level. And I, I really do. I really do appreciate that about him. That it. You know, this is the second time now we've lost a game. This in Ohio State where we were losing going into a week a buy. And you can tell he hates that. Like he's gonna, it's gonna bother him all week that we lost going into a buy. I like that about him. I like that. I like that these regular games matter because they, they do matter to us. I mean, on one level, if you're in the tournament, like, it's all the same, but it's not here. Like, here we want to win these games. And I like that he seems like he does too. Who's next?
- [44:05]
Billy Rutledge
Jake.
- [44:06]
Matt Jones
Jake. Go ahead, Jake.
- [44:09]
Billy Rutledge
Hey, Matt. I've just got a couple of points. I know this has been talked about a lot, and this is not a complaint about the officiating at all because all of the fouls I thought were pretty legitimate. But I really think that Alabama getting in the bonus like six minutes into the second half, as well as they were shooting free throws, was huge.
- [44:27]
Matt Jones
Yeah, huge. We. We had, we had three. We had three fouls in like 30 seconds in that game and that got them in the bonus early. And you're right with them shooting the way they were, that was huge.
- [44:41]
Billy Rutledge
Yeah. And then my other point, you brought up Garrison's defense, and I agree with you that his defense is pretty bad, but I've really enjoyed watching his development as an offensive player throughout the season so far. Yeah, I think he had, if I'm correct, I think he had 11.6 rebounds, five assists, and no turnovers today. So, I mean, if he can keep just improving and if he can get better on defense, I think he could be a difference maker for us later in the season.
- [45:08]
Matt Jones
Well, and his ability to shoot threes has an impact with the other players. Right. They have to come out and guard him and they have to close guard him. They have to face guard him, which they don't face guard Amari. So that's a big deal. That allows backdoor cuts, that allows guys to, to get more space. You know, in the first half, Alabama was doing to us every possession what Garrison allows us to do on offense, which is play five out and then take a guy off the dribble or back cut, etc. So, yeah, I mean, I think Garrison next year will be our starting center and I think, you know, his defense needs to improve, but there's a lot of stuff I think he does really well.
- [45:55]
Billy Rutledge
Yeah. And then my last question. What would you think about him maybe getting more minutes over Carter? Because in my opinion, neither of them are really great defensively and I just think Garrison might offer more.
- [46:06]
Matt Jones
I just don't think you can play him and, and Williams together. I, I don't, I, I don't think that's.
- [46:11]
Billy Rutledge
Yeah.
- [46:11]
Matt Jones
You know, and I appreciate the call. If there was ever a game you could probably do it, it would like be against Arkansas because, you know, Cal plays, plays two bigs together a lot. But I just, I don't know that that works with him with Williams. You know, I do think though, with Garrison, you know, you could put almanor at the 4. You know, I thought going into the year you'd be able to play Brea at the 4 a lot, and I just don't think you can because he can't guard those guys and he struggles with the guys at the 3 2, but he just, when he's had to play the 4 and we've only had one big out there, we do struggle. I mean, he just, he has a heart. He has a heart he can't buy. He can't rebound with the Fours. That's the problem. He can't really guard the threes or the fours, but he can't rebound with the fours and that, that hurts us. And so if you're putting, you know, Carr or Garrison at the five with him at the four, you kind of have a defensive problem. We, we, they went on a 100 run and our lineup I think was, was, was Perry Almanor or excuse me, Perry, Braya, Garrison and then maybe away and Robinson and it just. That lineup can't play, can't play defense. Billy, do you. I mean, I know I guess you don't hear it because you're hearing the radio broadcast, but do you. Can we get one billis game without the ice cream? Just one.
- [47:36]
Billy Rutledge
Did they do it again? Because. Wow.
- [47:38]
Matt Jones
Like, is there any, like, will they ever have a game where they don't do it ever?
- [47:43]
Billy Rutledge
I don't think so. I think that's kind of Jay's thing at this point now. So. I mean.
- [47:47]
Matt Jones
Yeah.
- [47:48]
Billy Rutledge
Kill some time after a commercial break.
- [47:49]
Matt Jones
By the way, SMU beat Miami by 45 points on the road today.
- [47:54]
Billy Rutledge
45.
- [47:56]
Matt Jones
And Virginia lost by 20 at Louisville. Those two coaches, listen, Tony Bennett, Larryga Legends. But quitting on your team mid season and then watching them collapse is to me a really, really bad look. We'll take a break and be right back. It's the local toy dealers KSR postgame show. Welcome back. It is the final segment Local toy dealers KSR post game show. You got the Chiefs and the Texans about to start. It's freezing cold in Kansas City.
- [48:25]
Billy Rutledge
Already started, by the way.
- [48:26]
Matt Jones
Has already started. Yeah.
- [48:27]
Billy Rutledge
It's 30 Kansas City.
- [48:29]
Matt Jones
Rio, Kansas City. All right. Tennessee is losing to Vanderbilt in the second half. 4137. Vandy trying to pull an upset in, in Nashville. We'll see what happens. And then at midnight tonight, Billy, the Tick Tock CEO has announced they will pull Tick Tock at midnight tonight. What do you think about that?
- [48:51]
Billy Rutledge
It's disappointing.
- [48:52]
Matt Jones
Yeah, I guess Trump announced that he would give them 90 more days. But then I saw he actually doesn't have the power to do that unless they can prove that there are papers ready for it to be sold. So. But I feel like Monday there's gonna be a lot of things that they go, I don't know if he can do that. And then maybe they will anyway, but either way it's going off at midnight tonight. So get your, get all your tiktoks in tonight. You gonna give like a goodbye, Billy?
- [49:25]
Billy Rutledge
No, but I am going to be disappointed to not See any more dancing videos from you? I mean, you kind of got started and then didn't really a lot after that.
- [49:33]
Matt Jones
Well, we. I mean, we've. We. The KSR account has gotten a lot of people. It'll. I bet it'll be back. Even if it's gone for a little while, I kind of bet it'll be. Be back. The. My. My Democratic Party is really terrible at PR because, I mean, think about this. They set this thing up where the Republicans. Trump wanted it banned. The Democrats helped him bandit ban it, and now Trump's gonna get to save it.
- [50:02]
Billy Rutledge
He's gonna come in and say he's.
- [50:03]
Matt Jones
Gonna come in and save it. Like, we are the worst at pr. Like the worst. And like, Trump's really good at pr. Like, he. It was literally their idea. And then he's gonna be the one that gets to save it. So. Oh, well. 859-280-2287. Another three for Vandy. Man, they're hot. Who's up next?
- [50:22]
Billy Rutledge
Joy is next.
- [50:23]
Matt Jones
Joy. What's up, Joy?
- [50:25]
Billy Rutledge
Hey, Matt. I have two things. One was at the ball game about the officiating. After we had the ninth foul called on us and they had won. Pope actually got to talk to the official, and he was hot. And even when he sat down, oh, he was hot. And when he sat down, he was still hot. Fox had to go out and talk to coach. Fox had to go out and talk to the official.
- [50:49]
Matt Jones
Oh, interesting. See, I didn't. None of that was on television, so I didn't get to see that. So you guys. So you got to see Mark Pope get hot. We want somebody called this week and asked if he did that. So you saw it?
- [51:02]
Billy Rutledge
Yes, he did. He. And. And it changed. I mean, you started seeing foul call on both ends that way, because every time they went down the floor and it was a stoppage in play, Alabama's coach would be talking to an official. It was every stinking time that they go down, he would be talking to the officials. And I think Pope finally said, hey, wait a minute. I needed my chance to talk to him, too. So anyway, that was one thing, but the other was, I have to tell a funny story about Arkansas. I was listening to Paul Feinbaum the other day, and a guy called in, and he's an Arkansas fan. And he said, Mr. Feinbaum, I think you probably know more about Coach Cal than we do, but what kind of offense does he run? He said he dribbles the ball all around the floor, and then he shoots a shot at the Last second. And I thought that's exactly the kind of offense that he blamed.
- [51:50]
Matt Jones
So I just know you're exactly right. Well, he. We could have told him that, couldn't we? We. We kind of knew that nobody. They didn't listen. I appreciate the call. They got a big one tonight. They can't lose tonight. They have any chance of pulling it off in Missouri tonight, Billy?
- [52:05]
Billy Rutledge
No, no, not on the road. I don't think they're going to win until they can get an easy team at home.
- [52:11]
Matt Jones
Lsu for some reason I feel like, though, maybe they pull one from the ashes tonight. We'll see. 859-280-2287. Vanny up 10 now in Tennessee. Let's do five more. Who's next?
- [52:26]
Billy Rutledge
Greg.
- [52:27]
Matt Jones
Greg. Go ahead, Greg.
- [52:30]
Billy Rutledge
Hey, Matt. Second time caller. Love your show. All right, two points. And first of all, I love Pope, so. But just two points and it just drives me crazy. And I coach so, you know, first part of the game for me is so important. The first half, I get my teams to drive the ball and get. Get fouls, right? And I isolate on the two players, the three players. The one player that I know is going to kill us in this game. Go after him and drive at him and get him in foul trouble. We did it the second half with Nelson and it just drove me crazy. Why didn't we do in the first half? That's one point.
- [53:06]
Matt Jones
No, we did. I think that's a really good. That's a really good point. They did clearly start going at Nelson. He got his fourth foul. He had to sit a little bit. Probably should have done that earlier.
- [53:19]
Billy Rutledge
Yeah. It makes the game so easy because you got him in foul trouble. The second point is I hear what you're saying about defense, Right. We're never going to be defense. But I'm watching this team play defense. And I did the same thing with Cows because he couldn't coach defense for crap. But the things they're doing are so correctable. It's stuff you learn in seventh grade. Don't let your man drive baseline. They keep doing it and they keep doing it. Amari, put your dang hands up in the air. And some of the other ones.
- [53:47]
Matt Jones
I wonder, Coach, though, I wonder about. I feel like, and I could be wrong about this, but I wonder if they tell him to or if he just does it on his own. I feel like Amari sits back like a half a step to then try to go for a block. I don't know if you noticed that.
- [54:04]
Billy Rutledge
Yeah. But he does but he doesn't do it well.
- [54:07]
Matt Jones
He doesn't always get it, but.
- [54:09]
Billy Rutledge
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But two things to that point you had. If you look at, I think watch 2012 video, right, they were great at the second guys and the third guys behind, they would wait and then they jump up and block it. Perfect, if you want to do that. But watch the film, how they did it. Second thing, off ball, defense and help. We're still terrible at it. They got a couple times today they kind of got it a little bit. I saw a little bit of progress, but if you see guys coming in, you got to come off your guy a little bit and then go towards the ball and help out. They did it a little bit better, but, you know, it just got to get better. And those are all correctable things, right?
- [54:50]
Matt Jones
Okay, well, that's a fair. That's a. That's a. Yeah, that's a fair point. I might let you go because we're going to get cut off here, but I appreciate the call, but those are all good points. You know, you. You probably know more about it than I do. Four more. Vandy now up 13. Four more. Who's next?
- [55:07]
Billy Rutledge
Drew.
- [55:07]
Matt Jones
Drew. Go ahead, Drew.
- [55:10]
Billy Rutledge
Hey, Matt. First time, very long time. Just a quick point about Amari Williams. I mean, honestly, I think overall he could be great at the end of the season. We just got to get him to play a little bit more aggressive. And by that, I mean going and grabbing the ball with two hands, going to the basket. Not really trying to be pretty with it and fading away. But I think by the time the season's over, I think he could be really good for us. And then the. The question I had for you and just. Just real quick about the officiating, like any fan. I mean, I hate the officiating, but that's not why we lost the game. With the gambling that we have now with all these sports. Do you think. I mean, is there any way that, like, some kind of accountability will be brought with. With bad calls and missed calls and things like that? Just kind of want to get your take on.
- [56:00]
Matt Jones
Well, the officials do get graded now, right? Like, they get graded by the league, and they don't release those grades, but it decides who gets the marquee games, who gets the NCAA tournament, who gets the Final Four. Now, I mean, are those grades good? I don't really know. I mean, I don't see them, but they are graded. Now, if you're talking about with gambling, like, if you're thinking, like, oh, well, there could be A ref cheating. I mean, I would say to you, if any ref thought about doing that, he is an idiot, because you would be looking at federal prisons. So, you know, it's not just like a little thing. It's like a, you know, federal prison thing. And so, like, go see what Michael Porter's brother is looking at for the Raptors right now. So. Yeah, I don't. I. I would be surprised if anybody.
- [56:51]
Billy Rutledge
Accusing anything like that. I just. Yeah, I wasn't trying to accuse anything like that. I just didn't know. I mean, there's a lot more money at stake and, like, ad calls, missed calls, things like that. If there would be just some. And I didn't. I didn't know that there was anything.
- [57:03]
Matt Jones
They do get graded. They do get graded. And. And I appreciate the call. They don't release the grades, but it decides who gets the big games in the marquee. The marquee games. Three more. Who's next?
- [57:14]
Billy Rutledge
Wc.
- [57:15]
Matt Jones
Wc. What's up?
- [57:18]
Billy Rutledge
Thanks for taking my call, Matt. It was a little. This is, I guess, first time. Well, I got on there one time a little bit before, but it's a little bit easier to get through tonight than it was the before and after the Duke game.
- [57:34]
Matt Jones
Yeah, I bet that's true. Yes.
- [57:37]
Billy Rutledge
So I tried to get through beforehand, and I couldn't. And I was going to predict the score for you, and I didn't get on and I texted to you. I know that you read the text.
- [57:50]
Matt Jones
Because I may have. I mean, it was a while. Okay, but what'd you say?
- [57:55]
Billy Rutledge
I know you. I know you did, because when you came on air, you said that we just got through beating Duke by a certain score. You gave the score that I sent you instead of. Instead of the score that the game actually was.
- [58:07]
Matt Jones
Okay, well, I guess you got my brain then.
- [58:11]
Billy Rutledge
Yeah. Okay, well, I think we. If you go back about 10 months and think about what we thought we might be at this time of year, you compare that to what we are now, and everybody'd be real happy, I believe.
- [58:23]
Matt Jones
Totally agree with you on that. Totally agree with you.
- [58:26]
Billy Rutledge
I'm sure glad we've got Coach Pope instead of Coach Octave. You know, that Alabama coach, his name is Eight Notes. Eight Notes. You know, all you musicians know that. You know, eight consecutive.
- [58:42]
Matt Jones
Well, he's a good coach, too. I will say. I. I mean, he's a good coach.
- [58:47]
Billy Rutledge
I think we need to start calling him Coach Octave. Yeah, he whines a lot, but he's okay. But anyway, that. But about that game and another A little more about the last game or the next home game. Yeah, I know you all. When you played Florida, have you all served Gatorade?
- [59:09]
Matt Jones
We do. Yes, we do.
- [59:11]
Billy Rutledge
You know, there's a certain part of the pigs anatomy, the pork. You could serve some pork dishes there that night.
- [59:20]
Matt Jones
We're already doing. Don't you worry about it. I. I appreciate the call. We're already. We're already planning on that. I like Nate Oats, by the way. I didn't know until today that he was a math teacher. Did you know that? Have they said that before?
- [59:33]
Billy Rutledge
I did not know that. I never heard that.
- [59:35]
Matt Jones
He doesn't look like a math teacher, but he was a math teacher. It said he was a high school math teacher when Bobby Hurley hired him as an assistant at Buffalo. So he's smart. He's a good coach. Like the two. I think it was easy when he first got here to kind of dismiss him. It's just a loudmouth, blah, blah, blah. But he's. He's a good coach and he. His schemes are good. And I think you can tell Pope respects his offense and vice versa. So I think. I think that's a. He's a. He's a. He's a smart, smart guy. Two more. Who's next?
- [60:07]
Billy Rutledge
Luke.
- [60:08]
Matt Jones
Luke. What's up, Luke?
- [60:10]
Billy Rutledge
Hey, Matt. Just kind of wanted to say, I think, you know, obviously losing sucks, but I don't think that my view on the team as a whole has necessarily changed after today. I think this is kind of who we are. We are a sweet sixteen elite Eight team, and Alabama, to me, is a. An elite eight Final Four team. I think we are a slight step below them because they. In my opinion, I think the difference is very simple. They have a Mark Sears and we don't. We just don't have that truly elite go to Guy. I mean, we have a group of very good players, and we're very, very well coached. And I'm obviously very, very excited about what Mark Pope can. Can do here in his time at Kentucky, but I just don't think that we are truly an elite, elite team. I think we are a top 15 top 10 team, but I don't think that we are a top five team where we're a legitimate national title contender. Now, that does not mean that something crazy can't happen where we can make a Final Four. I'm not going to rule that out, and I'm not down on the team by any stretch, but I've always felt that that's who we are. That's Kind of who we are. But one more thing real quick. I just want to say we obviously play them again, so we will have a chance to go down there in about a month. And what they did to us today, we will have the opportunity to return the favor and do that to them and beat them on their home floor.
- [61:32]
Matt Jones
Totally agree. And for the tournament, you're better off winning if you. I had somebody explain this to me. When you play a team twice for the tournament, you're actually better off beating them there and losing at home than the other way around. So if you can.
- [61:46]
Billy Rutledge
Yeah. Which is weird.
- [61:48]
Matt Jones
That makes no sense, but it doesn't.
- [61:49]
Billy Rutledge
I understand the net ranking don't make sense, but that's, you know, it is what it is. But, you know, I'm still very excited about this team. We're obviously very, very, very good. The question is, is, can we. Can we shore up the defense to become more of a truly elite team? And I'm not really sure what the exact answer is, because I know.
- [62:10]
Matt Jones
I think the difference is what you said just a minute ago, and I appreciate the call. The difference is we don't have a Mark Sears, right. Like Mark Sears. And remember, Grant Nelson has been a little disappointing at Alabama, but he was a. He was one of the. Maybe the best player in the portal last year, two years ago or whenever he was there. Mark Sears is like a. He's been. He's not had the best year, but last year he was. He was an SEC Player of the year candidate and maybe even won it. Who won it last year? It was Reeves, Sears and somebody else were the three guys. Oh, Dalton. Connect. Connect. Won it. But Jackson Robinson's good, but he's not that. And Andrew Carr's good, but he's not Grant Nelson. And I honestly think if you take Mark Sears and Grant Nelson and then put them up against, say, Robinson and Carr, that's the difference in the two teams, honestly, is that those guys, Robinson and Carr, might be our two best scores, even though away probably leads the team in scoring. But if I'm just talking about guys who, at their peak can get. Can get you buckets and their two guys are better. And that's, I think, ultimately probably what it is. Let's do one more. Who's next?
- [63:27]
Billy Rutledge
Mike.
- [63:28]
Matt Jones
Mike. Go ahead, Mike.
- [63:31]
Billy Rutledge
Hey, Matt. How y'all doing tonight?
- [63:33]
Matt Jones
Doing good.
- [63:35]
Billy Rutledge
All right. I just want to say I'm not too worried about the loss tonight. Alabama's a good team, and I got faith in Pope. He'll figure it out. And I Also want to say that me and my wife listen to you every day and we love you all.
- [63:47]
Matt Jones
But we disagree with Billy.
- [63:50]
Billy Rutledge
Agree with you, but we disagree with you with Jay Billis and the ice cream. We look forward to that. Whenever he calls a game.
- [63:58]
Matt Jones
Okay.
- [63:59]
Billy Rutledge
That is a rough arena thing. He only does that up. So just lay off of him a little bit with the ice cream.
- [64:10]
Matt Jones
Love you to death. Appreciate the call. All right, so there's one vote for the ice cream. Billy, for the bringing it up.
- [64:16]
Billy Rutledge
I love you.
- [64:16]
Matt Jones
I'm not. I'm not taking an opinion on whether or not the ice cream is good. Like, I've only had it once or twice and it seemed fine. And then I met the young woman who, who started it and her dad and they seem really, really nice people. So I want it to succeed. I'm just saying. I'm just surprised they bring it up every single time he's on there. But you know what? That's okay. That maybe that's the thing. That's our thing. Right? That's the. Willie played wide receiver. It's just. It will be that in perpetuity ever long as Jay Billis is the announcer. Hey, thank you folks, very much. If you get up tomorrow morning and you are feeling it, turn on ESPN radio, listen to me on the NFL pregame show. We are off on Monday. We're taking the holiday off and then we'll be back Tuesday. National championship game is Monday night at the bar. We're giving away money, so be watching my social media. I got to see how many spots we have open, but I'm going to give away the final few spots. Billy, enjoy your holiday and thank you all very much. Alabama wins 102, 97. We'll get them next week. This has been the local toy dealers KSR postgame show.