Loading summary
Matt Jones
Running a business is hard enough. Don't make it harder with a dozen apps that don't talk to each other. One for sales, another for inventory, a separate one for accounting. That's software overload. Odoo is the all in one platform that replaces them all. CRM, Accounting, Inventory, E Commerce, hr. Fully integrated, easy to use and built to grow with your business. Thousands have already made the switch. Why not you try Odoo for free@odoo.com that's odoo.com this is Julian Edelman from Games With Names. Football is back. That means it's tailgate time and this season the only meat I'm going to grill is Dietz and Watson. I'm loving the Black Angus Dietz dogs. They're flavor packed and you can tell they are made with the highest quality ingredients. Sundays just got a whole lot better. Visit deetsandwatson.com the right way to learn more about the the deets difference. If you're waiting for your AI to turn into ROI.
Caller
And wondering how long.
Matt Jones
You have to wait, maybe you need.
Caller
To do more than wait. Any business can use AI. IBM helps you use AI to change how you do business.
Matt Jones
Let's create smarter Business.
Caller
IBM.
Matt Jones
Limu Emu and Doug Here we have the Limu Emu in its natural habitat helping people customize their car insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual.
Caller
Fascinating.
Matt Jones
It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug.
Caller
Limu is that guy with the binoculars watching us.
Matt Jones
Cut the camera. They see us.
Billy
Only pay for what you need@libertymutual.com Liberty.
Matt Jones
Liberty Liberty Liberty Savings Very underwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and affiliates Excludes Massachusetts. Welcome everyone. Boy, that was a tough start to the game and to the post game show. It is the local Toyota UK Postgame show local Toyota dealers It is a bad night in Kentucky land as the Cats take a big loss against Georgetown at home and kind of an embarrassing performance, 84 to 70. All the positive emotions we had last week against Purdue, I think you can basically say we have the exact opposite this week as Kentucky falls down early and stays down the whole game. You can give a shout. 859-280-2287 we're going to talk about the game, but also just the season as a whole as it kicks off or tips off on Tuesday. You know, it's, it's, it's very rare you'll see two games that give you such divergent emotions. I mean, you play the number one team in the country, you absolutely dominate the game and you come away Going, okay, you know, are we the best team in America? And then you play just a few days later and you look actually really bad and absolutely get physically dominated against a team that hasn't been to the tournament in a number of years. While I think they might break that streak this year, it's not a. It was not a good night. So let's just break it down. First of all, I think it's important to say, yeah, it's an exhibition, but we're going to do what, to be fair, we're going to do what we do with Purdue, which is talk about it like it's a real game, even though it doesn't count. You know, Kentucky tried to win this game as much as they tried to win the game the other night. So I don't think you can say, well, we tried on Friday and didn't try here. I think we Cats wanted to win both of them. You did not have Jalen Lowe. I don't even throw in quite as. Because we, like, it's not even really a possibility yet for him. So I kind of leave him out of it. But you didn't have Jalen Lowe and you didn't have Denzel Aberdeen, which basically means you didn't have your two point cards. And this is now the second straight year that we've had this happen where you've had to play games, in this case an exhibition game, but there might be a couple regular season games where you don't have your starting two point guards. And I think what's become clear to me, as we've tried to learn the Mark Pope era, is it is just really, really difficult to play Mark Pope's system without a really good point guard. I think that's part of why they went and got Jalen Lowe. It's why they initially tried to get Donovan Dent. They went and tried to find the two or three best point guards in the country and said, all right, who.
Caller
Are we going to.
Matt Jones
Who's going to run it? And they had Aberdeen last game. Didn't have either one of them. And I'm not sure they were ever really able to recover from that. Colin Chandler was really bad. I mean, I'm not putting tonight on him, but he was really bad. Five turnovers. You cannot have a point guard that has five turnovers. What. What is he. What was he from three. He made one of six. One of six? You know, I mean, you. You can't have that happen. I think between him, Cam Williams and Trent Noah, they went 2 of 15 from 3. I mean, those guys are all in there to some extent to try to give you shooting. And if none of them or you get two, you know, two out of 15, you're going to have a hard time winning the game. But he was, he was not good. And so without the point guard position, the offense just becomes really stagnant. I was really in the first and second half. I mean, they just did not get easy shots when they got them, they didn't go in, but they, it was just a struggle for them to get good shots off. The offense was very stagnant. Guys not moving as much as. Not only the Purdue game, but even what we've seen in practice. And I think the main reason is Georgetown played Kentucky very physically. The easiest analogy to this game is you may remember the game last year in Madison Square Garden against Ohio State. I think that was a carbon copy of that game. Ohio State ended up not being very good, but they just physically dominated us and made us look awful for 40 straight minutes. And I think that's exactly what Georgetown did. They came in, they had a couple good guards just like Ohio State last year that could take their man off the bounce. We did not have Aberdeen out there and you know, I don't know, maybe it's like sluggishness because he's been out for a while. I thought away did not look good either. Didn't seem to me to have the energy and kind of the awayness that I, that I sort of have come accustomed to. So without those two guys, it was a, it was just a drive to the basket fest for them. And on the other side defensively in the first half it was Kentucky looked like school kids out there. I thought the play that most symbolized it there was a two on one break and yellow bitch tried to yellow. Vich was standing in front of a defender who was driving the lane. And Billy, I don't know if you remember this play. Rather than jumping up to contest it or standing there and taking a charge, he just turned to the side. Yeah, he just turned to the side like he was trying to brace for contact. And he not only did he not stop him from scoring, he found him. So you gave an A and one without even a contest. And I thought in some ways that was a little bit of a symbol of a game. It was like a team that got punched in the mouth and didn't really know how to handle it. Now I don't know if this is going to be something that over time, like I got to make sure I don't sort of fall for. But Mark Pope makes me feel better after games because I don't know if he just tends to talk or use language the way that I like because he tends to say things that make me say, okay, I get that. And it seems like he understand it. So this was Mark's quote. He said, I think this team has potential, but we're not runaway good. We're team great. Or we can be team great if we lean into each other. But we're not going to go out and dominate people because our individual talent is overwhelming. That's exactly right. He is 100% dead on. You know, we've had some Kentucky teams where the individual talent was overwhelming. Wall and Cousins overwhelming. Davis overwhelming. 2015 overwhelming. Now, some of those teams didn't win. Some of them did. But they're the individual talent. They could not even play well or. And they could still win. This team, actually, I don't think has individual, like, has overwhelming talent. Of course people are going to say, well, you spent $22 million, but they spent that for depth. They didn't really spend it. There's no guy on this team that is currently playing that is going to start on an NBA team. I don't think there are a couple that'll make the league, but I don't know if anybody's going to start. Jaden Quaintance may end up starting when he gets one, but I don't think any of these guys are going to start. So I don't think there's any overwhelming talent. But collectively, because they have two of everything and because they're smart and because they give effort, although I will say I think effort was a little down tonight, they can collectively become very, very difficult. But they have to do it collectively because when they start trying to do it one on one, I mean, one on one, Colin Chandler is good, but he's not great. Trenton's good, but he's not great. Garrison's good, not great. Diabate good, not great. Even away, it could be an all American, but I wouldn't say he's a great like NBA talent. But they can be great collectively. And if you go look at Mark Pope's teams over the years, that's what he assembles. Last year's team was like that. Last year's team was a group of guys who the whole was greater than the sum of the parts. What's supposed to be different about this year is this team's really athletic. And tonight their athleticism and their physicality was overwhelmed by Georgetown. Now Going forward, am I concerned based on anything on this game? Not really. I do think Pope said after the game, look, Georgetown played us in a way that teams will do all year. They're going to look at us and say, let's be physical with them and they're going to have a hard time. And he said last year, over the year, over the course of the year, we got better at beating teams like that. And he's right. Illinois is a perfect example of that. When you got into the tournament, I think they thought they would out physical Kentucky and it didn't really happen. But just like Ohio State last year, this team's not ready for that yet. I'm glad they got it in a preseason game. Chances are they wouldn't have played a team like this until maybe Michigan State in the Champions Classic. And maybe this is a game that you get this out of the way and you're better prepared when you play that Michigan State team, you know, we'll see. Whereas their athleticism overwhelmed Purdue, Georgetown was able to match you with athleticism and we didn't really handle that well. I'm not concerned necessarily about the turnovers. I think that was. We had a lot of them, but I think that can get cleaned up. Free throw shooting was bad, but there's no reason this team shouldn't be good free throw shooters. I think that'll be better. Away missed three. Williams missed two. Noah missed one. Chandler like I, I think overall that's going to be fine. I think the defense will be better. The one thing I am worried about, you know, I wonder if Mark Pope teams have to shoot the three well because his system is designed. You get a lot of open three looks and you've got to make them. And they just weren't making them tonight. And they didn't make them in the first game, really. And they didn't really make them in the blue white game. So it's a small sample size, but what are they? 16 of 60 from 3 point land in the two exhibition games. I mean, it's really not good. You know, you got a guy like Cam Williams, he's over five. I mean you can't play him if he's going to be over five. You said Colin Chandler was one for six. You can't play if he's going to do that. What was Trent? No, one for four, one for five.
Billy
Noah was one for four from three. They were O of 13 in the second half.
Matt Jones
Oh, of 13. Like you just so last year's team, you knew if you kept shooting at some point they'd make them. I don't know. I hope that's true about this year's group but so far we haven't seen it yet. Small sample size but I was worried about three point shooting coming in and I'm still worried about it. What I really though I need to see Jaylen Lowe come back. This team is J. I've said it all summer. I'm more confident about it now. This is Jalen Lowe. We will be as good as Jalen Lowe is. We can. Or if not Jalen Lowe, Denzel, Aberdeen. But if we don't have either one of them, we're in trouble. Luckily we're Pope says we should get maybe get them back next week, maybe not, but that they are close to coming back. But this team is going to need their health. I think everybody else on the team is kind of replaceable except maybe those two guys and tonight we had to play without those two guys. 859-280-2287 what do you think about the game? I'm still very pumped for the season. Stinks to lose an exhibition game at home. But it doesn't count because it was on the computer. Most people in the country didn't even see it. And Tuesday the games count for real and we get a couple games to get us going and then we play Louisville and you know Louisville had a game just like this against Kansas where they got completely physically dominated a week ago. So the Louisville game I still think is completely up in the air. Assuming we get all our team back. 859-280-2287 we'll take your calls and be right back. It is a wet kind of bummy night on the local Toyota dealers KSR postgame show. Welcome back. It is the local toy dealers KSR postgame show. Kentucky with a tough loss. Not tough loss, bad loss. The crowd was not great. So let's go to the text machine. One person writes, Matt, I thought the crowd was bad tonight. Why can't they give energy to help the team? This is an age old debate we have like all the time, Billy, which is when we lose, people blame the crowd. I don't know what people think the crowd is supposed to do. You know, like you have to have something to cheer for, don't you? I mean I just want them to yell after Georgetown scores play after play. I mean what do they want people to do?
Billy
You want them to support the guys. But I mean do they really impact the game that much?
Matt Jones
I mean no, I think they can make A huge impact when they're loud. But I also don't think you can force enthusiasm when you're down 14 and nothing good.
Billy
Sure, yeah.
Matt Jones
I mean, what do you. What are you going to cheer? So some of that's on the team now. Then when the crowd, you know, when the team makes a run or when something's happening, you need the crowd to be there. But they can't just be expected to just scream non stop no matter what's going on. One person says, Matt, I was very disappointed in o way he does not. He did not play like an all American. He did not at all. And I'm not really sure why. I mean that was. I was kind of. That's one of the first games I've seen him play where it just didn't seem like his effort was totally into it. But I, I expect it will be normal once the season starts. I mean, why wouldn't it be? He's. He's been. We've seen a whole year of him. I still think though, you have to remember, like always, very good. He can be all American good. But I don't think he's the kind of guy you can just build your offense totally around him and say go get, go get us wins. These other guys are going to have to play and. Because when we did that last year, remember, we would really struggle. So hopefully we don't have to do that a lot this year. All right, Billy, let's get started. Who's up first?
Billy
Let's start with Mo.
Matt Jones
Mo, go ahead, Mo.
Caller
Yep. Matt. Yes, it's actually bone, but no worries. But my suspicions were okay. Basically what I want to ask is I know Drew has been on Colin Chandler for the past three, four weeks and, and you know, I've been supporting it, I've been with it, but I'm just not seeing it. And tonight may have confirms my suspicions and I'm a little.
Matt Jones
I don't think he said he's not a point guard. He's not a point guard. At least he's not a point guard now. You know, I think probably Drew hoped and I hoped that maybe he could be that at some point, but. And maybe he can, but he's not now. He's not a point guard. He really. He wasn't a point guard last year. The games where he had a. Part of the reason we planned to play Travis Perry was because we couldn't really play him at point guard. And then I still don't think we can play him at point guard. And then Jasper Johnson Got some time in the first half, but if you're Jasper Johnson, point guard, you can't shoot every time you get the ball. Right. So, I mean, that's.
Caller
Yeah.
Matt Jones
That it's. We got to get absolute.
Caller
How do you feel about it now?
Matt Jones
I think Colin Chandler is still three weeks. I think Colin Chandler is still got a chance to be a really good player, but he's a two or three. He's not a. He's not a point guard. And I think it would be good if he was, but I don't think he is. I appreciate the call. I still feel good, though, about the team. You can't. You can't be excited about Purdue and then give up after this one. So, like the. The answer. I think I tweeted out. We probably got too excited. Last game will be two down this game. And then the answer somewhere in between. I mean, I'm seeing some crazy negativity online. I think that stuff's got to like, chill.
Billy
Really?
Matt Jones
Bill, you're already. Yeah. I mean, there's just some people who just were great or terrible, depending on the game, but this was a bad performance. But again, I hearken back to last year. Remember how bad we looked against Ohio State? I mean, that game. I don't know that we were ever in that game last year kind of reminds me of this one, but that was in December and this is an exhibition. Who's next?
Billy
Taylor.
Matt Jones
Taylor. Go ahead, Taylor.
Caller
Hey, Matt. So this comes with a major caveat that obviously we didn't have Quaintance. We didn't have Jalen Lowe, we didn't have Denzel Aberdeen. But this seems like Pope system is more of a fit and scheme rather than having, you know, the dudes that you. You're more athletic at every position. So like tonight, that correct. Georgetown.
Matt Jones
Quite correct.
Caller
Yeah. So it feels like Georgetown at times that I just had, you know, more athletic dudes at different positions. You know, Trent Noah, a couple times down in the second half got. Got beat. So I wonder what you think about. Obviously, I think this team as a collective whole is better than the sum of its parts. But does that impact the ceiling at all? I mean, we don't have a Walter Clayton. We don't have a John Wall. We don't have.
Matt Jones
No, we don't. And that. And that. That hurts you. I don't think there's any doubt you. And, you know, it's probably the case that either Jalen Lowe or Otega away is going to have to become, if not Walter Clayton Jr. You know, somebody still really good. But, but I still think they can be really, really good because, okay, so last year I never thought that team could win a title because I just didn't think that. I just thought there were teams they could not guard. They athletically simply could not guard some of these teams. I don't feel like this team has any type of team that they cannot beat. Does that make sense? Like, I mean, they beat, they can beat anybody now. They can lose to a lot of people, too. At least until they get low in Aberdeen back.
Caller
I guess from a defensive standpoint, I agree with you. I don't think there's a single team they can't guard. What I'm worried about is in an offensive game, it. When it becomes sort of a, you know, who's got a score? I don't know that our top end. And again, without saying those top end guys. I just don't know that we have the guys that can get the buckets and hopefully Ortega or Jalen Lowe.
Matt Jones
But look how the lineup might be different in February. What if the lineup is Jalen Lowe, Otega away, Denzel Aberdeen, Jaden Quaintance, India, right? Or Jaden Quaint. And you know what I mean, it might be a different lineup there. So, you know, but I, I agree with you and that's why we have to hit shots. And my biggest worry about this team, I appreciate the call. If I assume that Jalen Lowe's going to be good because, because I do. If I assume he's going to be good, then my biggest worry about this team is can they hit shots? Because they're going to get open looks and you cannot have Colin Chandler. If Colin Chandler, Trent Noah and Cam Williams are going to get open looks, which they will. They cannot go 2 for 15. If those guys are going 2 for 15, then we're in trouble. So that's, that's my only worry. I don't expect those guys to go 2 and 15 least. Chandler, Noah. I'm a little worried about Cam Williams. I'm not gonna lie to you. I still haven't seen him really do anything in a game that wasn't a practice yet. So hopefully, I'm hoping next week when we do the pregame show, we'll be like, what do you want to see? You're going to hear me say over and over, please came Williams, hit some shots because that's what you're here for. And so far he's not doing it. Who's next?
Billy
Jake.
Matt Jones
Jake. Go ahead, Jake.
Caller
Hey, Matt, how are you doing?
Matt Jones
Good.
Caller
Hey, I just had a observation and I kind of want to get your alls opinion on this, but to the previous car's point, you know, when Jalen Lowe and Denzel Aberdeen come back, I think the ability for those guards to take their man off the dribble will kind of help alleviate some of the concerns that we saw today where, you know, we saw Georgetown defenders kind of just bully up and belly up on these defenders because they knew that Chandler and, and your favorite other guards couldn't drive past them. So that kind of ties into a second observation. I want to get your, your thoughts on it. Do you think the, the zoom action sets that Pope runs, where the big guys like Garrison and Moreno often have the ball and start the actions? Do you think that could have an adverse impact on recruiting point guards in the future? Because those elite point guards probably want the ball in their hands.
Matt Jones
Well, let's see how he does it with low yet. Right, let's see how he does it with low. I mean, I would say to you, go back to the Louisville game last year and think about how much Lamont Butler had the ball in his hands. Remember how well he played in that game last year? He basically won the game. He won the game in the second half. The ball was in his hands the whole time. I think you saw a lot more of the run things through Amari once he was hurt, you know, and we didn't have, we didn't really have a great option. And remember there were times he was hurt and Jackson Robinson was hurt. And so you had to do that with, with, with, with Williams. Let's see what they do with Jay and Lowe. My guess is you're going to see a lot more traditional point guard action when you have a traditional point guard in there, which right now we don't have.
Caller
Right, that. Yeah, that's kind of my thought too. I thought it might have been a little bit of chicken and egg theory where, you know, they probably ran a lot of that stuff simply because they didn't have Joe and Lowell in the game. So yeah, that's what I figured. I should just appreciate the call. So thank you.
Matt Jones
I mean, the thing, one of the things to remember, I think if we were to say, okay, since Mark Pope's been the coach at Kentucky, what is peak Mark Pope basketball, you'd probably go back and look at when they beat Florida and Rupp arena. And I think it would be interesting to go back because Florida won the title, obviously. Go back and watch that game and watch what we did just offensively because that's probably the peak of what Mark Pope wants to do. We had a full, healthy team. You know, Butler wasn't hurt yet. Robinson wasn't hurt yet. We didn't have Creesa, but the rest of the guys were not hurt. And I think they probably played the way he wants to play. Since then, he's been having to piece stuff together even now. Well, you get to the Louisville game and maybe beyond, we might be fully healthy, except Quaintance, and I think we'll get a better sense of what Mark wants to do with. With his offense in this team. Who's next?
Billy
Joe is next.
Matt Jones
Joe. Go ahead, Joe.
Caller
Hey. First time, long time.
Matt Jones
Hua. What's up?
Caller
So I was at the game tonight. I just wanted to. On the yellow bits play. So he got the rebound down on the baseline and threw it ahead. He actually rolled his ankle on that plate and was on the floor holding his ankle. And then he had got up when they broke down the other way and tried to just get up. And that's why he couldn't really defend that guy and just ended up turning sideways and taking a foul. And then I probably wasn't able to see it on tv, but he was. He was bent down after that tie in his shoes.
Matt Jones
Oh, he was down. He was on the floor.
Caller
Yeah, he was down under the basket. Rolled his ankle, and then when they came running down the floor, he had got up and, like, tried to do something. It was kind of like when Curve had his issue and couldn't really. Except Curse the Beast. He still jumped off the ground and defended it, but.
Matt Jones
So that may be why I turned. Okay, that makes sense. I did not see that.
Caller
Yeah, he rolled his ankle. I don't know if you could see it on the TV or not, but he was actually down under the basket and then got up when they were. I don't even know that the staff saw because nobody. He stayed in the game after that. He was tying his shoe right after, and then nobody checked on him. I don't. I don't even know if anybody on the staff saw, but the other thing I wanted to say was the crowd was. Energy was low tonight because the team energy was low. Like, I feel like missing a point guard. Like, there was no flow and there was no real leadership on the floor. Like, they. Everybody was just kind of seemed loose, casual, and diabate. Seemed like the only guy down the stretch that was trying to bring some energy. Like, last year, Brandon Garrison would be a guy that would come in and, like, there was really nobody that was coming in, trying to bring some energy. It was just kind of flat. Overall, I don't think it's anything concerning. Georgetown just exploited a lot of matchups against us. Yeah, Mac dominated the first half.
Matt Jones
Yeah, I appreciate the call. Diabatti was really the only guy that I thought felt like he was on 100% max effort. Well, I mean, that's not totally fair. I think Chandler was playing with max effort. He was just playing poorly. You know, Moreno, I thought some of those freshmen look, for the first time, a little. Little nervous. I don't know. They also faced adversity. I mean, look, they got down, what, eight at the second TV timeout, and you know that's gonna happen, and you have to come back and fight back. You know, they were down seven at halftime, and then they came out and missed their first nine shots or whatever, and then it was kind of over. So I don't know. It's disappointing. You can hear the disappointment, Billy. You said you. You can hear Mark Pope's voice. I mean, he. He's. He lost his voice, but you also could tell he's pretty bummed about it.
Billy
Yeah, it's. Every loss is devastating for him. And. And I think. I like that. I want him. I like that. He also said going into halftime that this was exactly what we wanted. I mean, is there any credence to, like, getting tape on your guys and being able to show them what they're doing wrong?
Matt Jones
Well, he said. He said this in the post game that teams will play us like this, but we don't practice like this. And so usually we figure it out as the season goes on. Now we'll be able to figure it out a little bit earlier. I don't know totally what that means. He also said it's on me that we don't. We didn't practice this. I don't know exactly what that means, if it means he thinks they should have or they don't necessarily have the. You know, sometimes you can't recreate what other teams do because you don't have those dudes on your team. So. I don't know. I'm not really sure what he meant by that, but I. He's exactly right, though. What you saw tonight is how mediocre SEC teams will play us all year. Right. Remember that game we won last year? I think it was at Mississippi State, and I think that was the first time we beat a team that played like this last year, that teams like that are going to play us just like Georgetown did, and we need to win those games last year, we won most of them. I don't think we won all of them. We need to win those games. And that's, that's. That's how Georgetown is going to play Purdue. Like, it's odd because Purdue, I think, is a lot better than Georgetown, but Purdue is actually easier for us to play because they're running sets and things that Mark can defend and that our athletes can handle. Just being physical and like cutting gaps and stuff. We. We just weren't ready for it. We just weren't. And Ohio State did this exact same thing to us last year. It was. It was a carbon copy of that game. Who's next?
Billy
Gary?
Matt Jones
Gary. Go ahead, Gary.
Caller
Hey, Matt. Man, I'm frustrated. My question is, how many point guards is. Is Mark Pope gonna have to recruit so the will have a point guard at all times? I feel like we're always saying, well, yeah, we, we lost this game because we didn't have his point guard. We didn't have that point guard. I mean, when are we going to have some of the play?
Matt Jones
I mean, some of it's bad luck, though, man. I mean, like, you know, I mean, think about. He said four point guards go down, all right? Two of them were just separated shoulders. I mean, it's not really a traditional injury for a point guard. One was an Achilles tear. So what are you going to do about that? And then I don't really know what's wrong with Daniel Aberdeen, but he said he's going to be back. So, I mean, to some extent, it's just bad luck. I. I mean, you know, sometimes I say if guys keep getting injured, at some point, you have to look at yourself. But when dudes get their shoulders separated out of their socket, I don't know what you're supposed to do about that, you know?
Caller
Yeah, yeah, I, I know. I just.
Matt Jones
Man, it's just bad luck.
Caller
I mean, I wasn't that excited last week. I mean, I was. I was excited. I mean, I thought, hey, we beat this on with him nation. But now I'm thinking, but Purdue must be awful. And yeah, I don't think, you know, 15 to 17.
Matt Jones
I think sports. Unless you are. And I appreciate the call, unless you are uber elite talent, which I don't know if there's any team in college basketball that's uber elite talent. And I kind of wonder if they'll ever be an uber elite talent team in college basketball again. I think NIL has brought not parity to the talent because you can spend more than other teams but it has distributed the talent much more widely than it used to be. I mean, right now, the preseason All Americans this year are at Purdue, Texas Tech, Michigan. You know, it was only a few years ago. Everybody was at Duke or Kentucky or Kansas. So it's different now. And I think because of that, the reason you win and lose games is going to be matchups and coaching and guys fill in roles. And I like Mark Pope in that world, but in that world, you might be beating a team by 21 night and then losing by 15 the next. You know, Billy, think about the NBA. Right? Right. The best teams in the NBA are going to win the title. Like the Thunder, you know, pick the teams. Right. But the Thunder could play the worst team in the league tomorrow night and lose by a lot.
Billy
You know, sometimes.
Matt Jones
Yeah, by a lot. Like, that's what happens in the NBA. The gaps. Over time, the best teams win, but the gaps are not that large. So the Wizards can, in one night, beat the Thunder. College basketball at the major conference level, I think it's kind of going to become more like that and, you know, so you can get results like we had in these last two games. Let's do one more. We'll take a break. Who's next? Mitch. Mitch. Go ahead, Mitch.
Caller
All right. I'm gonna ask permission to try to do a Halloween theme take.
Matt Jones
Go for it.
Caller
I think the cats and our fans have swallowed the Blue Boo lead tonight. I felt like they played really slow and kind of heavy, like Frankenstein. And I really think that anybody who's worried about how this team's going to be this year will be just a bunch of hocus pocus.
Matt Jones
All right. That was a stretch. I appreciate that.
Billy
Thank you.
Caller
It was a hard stretch.
Matt Jones
You know, it's all right. It's rainy outside. It's kind of gloomy. Game was gloomy. You're trying to cheer things up. Tomorrow's Halloween. By the way, I don't have anything to wear this show.
Billy
Yeah. What do we wear? I don't either.
Matt Jones
What am I gonna wear? I can't. I would. I would just go as a cowboy again. But the problem is I can't wear the headset with a cowboy hat. So what am I gonna do? I don't know. I don't have anything. Why did I. Why did I suggest that? I was very adamant.
Billy
You signed us all up there.
Matt Jones
I was very adamant, and I don't have anything to wear at all. And I'm already here. I don't know. I literally have no options. And I'm not creative so well. All right, we'll take a break. 859-280-2287. We'll be right back. It's the local Toy Dealers KSR postgame show. We put out a new episode of COVID Zero today. Billy and I on Cover Zero are still in the Survivor League. Drew lost a few weeks ago, so he and I still. If you've never done an NFL Survivor league, you keep. You pick one game a week until you lose. And you can only pick each team once. So Billy and I are still in. It's week nine here. Billy, you and I are still in. We've done a good job. We're hot. You won it last year.
Billy
No, second place.
Matt Jones
Second place.
Billy
Tim Couch, number one overall draft pick.
Matt Jones
Yeah, but that was when we had 50. This has just been three of us. You and I are like the two left. And I almost picked the Ravens, but then I didn't and they're killing the dog.
Billy
Looks like you should have.
Matt Jones
Yeah, so I should have. And then John Sumrall and Tulane are losing to UTSA. They're getting run 4000, 119. Here's the good news about that. I think Auburn and lsu, are their fans going to want to hire a guy who gets run off the field?
Billy
Now you're thinking.
Matt Jones
No, that's what I'm saying. A little reverse psychology.
Billy
Yeah.
Matt Jones
I'm not kidding. Like, you think LSU after Governor Foghorn Leghorn down there. I say, I say, I say I'm going to call out the coach. You think that they're going to go hire him?
Billy
Yeah.
Matt Jones
You think their fans are going to be happy about that?
Billy
Yeah, probably not. But there are reports that they're splitting with the AD now, too.
Matt Jones
Yeah. Did you hear that? You hear him on Macafee today?
Billy
No, not on McAfee. What do you say?
Matt Jones
Yeah, Today he was like, I'm going to give a different kind of contract, one where you get paid to win. All right? Yeah, sure, man. Good luck. Every other. Every other school in the country is going to give a guaranteed contract and you're going to get. Make him get paid for winning. Who's agreeing to that, Billy?
Billy
Nobody.
Matt Jones
Nobody?
Billy
Nobody. Sounded like a little dabo there, though, in your impression?
Matt Jones
Well, I try to get more Louisiana. That's more South Carolina. I don't really know that I have.
Billy
Louisiana in my repertoire, but he's got the Louisiana accent. He really does.
Matt Jones
I mean, he is. You talk about. I don't know anything about him politically, but just in terms of this, he has come off as a complete clown, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyway, I may play his voice here in a minute so I can try to.
Billy
Can I. Can I tell you the Johnny Rocker role player of the game?
Matt Jones
Sure. Go for it.
Billy
Injured, get small town compassion with big city results. When you call The Rocker at 270-321-4429, I'm going to go a different direction that you may think. Matt, not mode, not a tag away. I'm going. Malachi Moreno, he had six points, including a three pointer. He tied for the team lead in rebounds with seven rebounds, was tied for the lead and assist with three. Was first on the team with two blocks and was only minus four in 19 minutes. That second best on the team. He is our Johnny Rocker role player of the game.
Matt Jones
All right. I like that pick. All right, I'm going to play you. Just a minute. Governor Landry.
Billy
Yeah.
Matt Jones
Please see what he sounds like. All right, ready? This is McAfee asking him a question and then here's his answer. A lot of people have said Scott's the athletic director for a reason. You're going to have people that aren't in athletics now making an athletics decision. Do you view it that way? And why do you think that is kind of how it's going to go?
Caller
Look, let's unpackage that. Let's talk about number one. There's a number of bad contracts that seem to have followed Scott Woodard.
Matt Jones
Okay, let's unpackage that. Let's unpackage that. Is that better? Yeah, let's unpackage that. All right, I want that guy. I want that guy running my state and hiring my coach. Who's next?
Billy
Mark is next.
Matt Jones
Mark, go ahead, Mark.
Caller
Yeah, Matt, first time caller, long time listener. Who are the, you know, what you touched on earlier, some of the fan base. It's ridiculous. It's a second exhibition game of the year. And on Pope's TV interview on Facebook Live, the first guy, now I even call him by name, Sean. I won't say his last name. All right, Sean just said had STFU on there. Now you can figure out the lettering for that. That was the first time.
Matt Jones
Wait a minute, hang on. I know what the P in the F, but what is that?
Caller
As in st. Oh, st.
Matt Jones
Okay. St. All right, now. Yeah, you know, I got it. You don't have to keep going. I got that. Yeah, but again, it's Facebook. I mean, it's Facebook. You like, like, you can't judge anything by people on Facebook. Facebook is literally like. If you just Facebook's like if you went out in the middle of the jungle and just picked random groups of animals and then had them become the symbol for like all life. You can't do that. Yeah, like that's, that's just the lowest common denominator. People who comment on live streams of Facebook. So I don't think you should. That's not representative of our fan base.
Caller
I know. And it just got me. I mean, I was watching it just theme on tv and then I always listen to the post game on the radio too. But this was. That was the very first comment and I just. It blew me up because I said without Low and without Aberdeen, you. They exposed us. Yes. And not to steal a line from Caliperi, which I hate to, but what do you think he would have said after this game, we don't have to make them all, but we can't miss them all.
Matt Jones
No, I mean, he's right about that. Like, not all. Like he had a lot of lines that were correct. And he's right. We don't have to make them all, but we can't miss them all.
Caller
Tonight was one of those nights, you know.
Matt Jones
Well, and it's another thing, like sometimes basketball. So what do we go? 9 of what? 32. Not 9 of what was our.
Billy
What was 7 of 30 from 3.
Matt Jones
All right, so 7 of 30. So let's just say for sake of argument, you go 11 of 30, which isn't even a great percentage. I mean, that's like 30. What is 11 of 30? 33 or no, third. I can't do math. 35%. Well, if you go 11 of 30, we're down 2. So like, you don't. He's right. Cal is. You don't have to miss, you don't have to make that many more, but you have to make more than seven.
Caller
Right. And having the seven in the first half and what Jasper Johnson's gonna do for us, I think it's gonna be great. But tonight, if you're facilitating the offense, it's like you said earlier, you can't come down and jack it up the first thing.
Matt Jones
Well, I think Travis Ford said, and I appreciate the call, you can't take a three seconds into the shot clock, contested three like you. You don't need to do that. You know, Jack, this is good. This is going to be a Jasper giveth. Jasper taketh away team because probably more than any other player, we'll see what Jalen Lowe does. We haven't seen him yet, but of the guys that are on the team, Right now, there's nobody on this team who can get his shot easier than Jasper Johnson. Would you agree with that, Billy? He's. He could probably get his shot easier than anybody on the team.
Billy
Yes.
Matt Jones
But with that, though, it's going to come a lot of times that he gets his shot and takes bad shots, and so that balance is going to be key. But I like him as a dude in the second unit, coming in, trying to get buckets. I don't like him as your starting point guard right now, but, you know, if you were to play Louisville. Let's say we're to play Louisville next and you didn't have lower Aberdeen, you might have to start him at point guard because that was. Because college. I don't want to pick on the kid because I'm still a Colin Chandler guy, and I think he's got a lot of talent. But he was bad tonight, and on all ends of the floor, he got exploited on offense. I mean, the two guards. The two guards, him and Jasper got lit up defensively. And then the five turnovers and one for six shooting like, you just. You can't do that. Who's next? Steve. Steve. Go ahead, Steve.
Caller
Hey, Matt. So, really, I just want to ask you. So last week I was with you, man, I was. I was out trick or treating with the kids, and you came out, you said, I want to have my moment. This is the greatest thing in the world.
Matt Jones
So we had 24 hours that way. 24 hours.
Caller
Yeah, we had 24 hours. Right, but so how to. How do we set expectations after tonight? You just said. And I, I feel like you're. You're. You don't know a lot of the answers to these questions, and I feel I can hear yourself talking, talking yourself through them as you're. As. As you're. As you're saying them. And. And for example, eight at 18 game. SEC season. We have 18. 18 games in the SEC. Where. Where are your expectations now? And.
Matt Jones
Well, I gotta know if we're healthy. I gotta know if we're healthy. I got to know if we're healthy. Specifically, are we healthy at the point guard? All right, if you tell me that Jaylen Lowe and Aberdeen are both healthy all year, I still think we're really, really, really good. Right.
Caller
Just now, you just said just now that this is going through Jasper Johnson, and that scares me a little bit on yours and Drew.
Matt Jones
Yeah, no, hang on. It's going through him. If you don't have low in advertisement. Now, if you tell me that low and Aberdeen are Going to be out multiple parts of the year, then my expectations go way down. But right now, if Jalen Lowe and Aberdeen are playing, I still have high expectations. I still think. I thought before the Purdue game, I thought we were an elite 18 that could get to the final four and more depending on what happened. I still think we're that, but now I think it's more important than ever that low and Aberdeen are healthy.
Caller
All right, so 18 games. Where are you?
Matt Jones
18 games? If you tell me they're healthy, then I'll say 14 and 4, 13 and 5, something like that. If they're not healthy, they're not. Appreciate the call. If they're not healthy, then I think we're going to end up a lot like last year. We, where we beat really good teams, but then we lose to some teams we shouldn't. So. And then there's also the fact we have yet to see Jalen Lowe play a basketball game here. And so, Billy, I am expecting him to be good. Now, if he's not good, that's a.
Billy
Whole nother conversation, especially since you've bought a lot of stock. And Jalen.
Matt Jones
Well, listen, I mean, I watched Jalen Low. Just coincidentally, I watched him play a lot last year. For whatever reason, I'd have like ESPNU or the ACC Network on sometimes when we'd be doing these shows, right? And it'd be like Pitt versus Syracuse or something, and it'd be on. And I was like, if. Because that kid's fun to watch, he kind of lights up a screen. But he could also shoot some really bad shots. And so I'm taking solace in the fact that that mark's going to get him to make better decisions. But I will tell you this, I will promise you this, Bill. He will electrify people. A lot of the things that we saw happen tonight where the ball just gets stuck and it doesn't look like that ain't gonna happen with him. He's gonna get to the basket. He's gonna be. What I just said about Jasper Johnson, it's just. I think he's better than Jasper Johnson right now. Jasper might be better down the road, but he's better than Jasper Johnson. But he's going. Jalen is going to be fascinating because, you know, go watch a pick. Did you watch him play last year, Billy?
Billy
Yeah, yeah.
Matt Jones
He shoots every.
Billy
A lot of bad shots.
Matt Jones
He shoots every time. But he also. No one could stay in front of him. He can get to the basket on anybody. And we haven't had a point guard who could get to the basket on anybody since, well, Ashton Hagans could get to the basket, but he couldn't always finish. Surprising Fox. Right? It's price since Fox, since we've had a guy who could get to like low is not Fox, but he plays like Fox. And so now put him on this team. I think it looks different. 859-280-2287 we will take a break and we will come back. Final segment. It's a local toy dealers KSR postgame show. Welcome back. It is the local tech Toyota dealers KSR postgame show. One person writes in and says matt on the text machine. 772-774-5254. My mom wanted me to write the text machine and say to you that she thought it was mean that they said you were successful but widely unknown.
Billy
Oh, stop it.
Matt Jones
What?
Billy
No, somebody didn't send you this. They did.
Matt Jones
Yes. People's moms worry about me. Okay. What? I mean, I don't. All right. If you're gonna say something like that, I'm about to make fun of you for something. Okay.
Billy
So, you know, that's.
Matt Jones
I wasn't gonna do it, but now I will.
Billy
What do you got?
Matt Jones
But so just to the mom that was right, though. We are, I am wildly unknown Billy in the world of national media, right?
Billy
I mean, you've, you're on espn, you've worked for the NFL.
Matt Jones
But compared to the names on that list, yeah, right.
Billy
I guess, yeah.
Matt Jones
Successful but widely unknown.
Billy
I'm gonna put that in your bio.
Matt Jones
Maybe that's what I'll be for Halloween. Successful.
Billy
You didn't dress up, man. Well, I'm successful.
Matt Jones
I'm successful. I'm wildly unknown. Or I'll just have a T shirt and just write in marker. Widely unknown.
Billy
Might have to.
Matt Jones
Somebody writes in. Since you're gonna be a jerk about it. Can you address the closing sign off statement on the UK radio network which listed all the participants in the game, Tom Leach, Jack Givens, etc. And then said outstanding producer Billy Rutledge. How much does Billy pay that guy? I did notice that. Why did he say that?
Billy
I think it was just because we did a good job tonight. I mean, the player and coach, me and Chris Labar who does the post game stuff, they've just been coming out later and later every game. And so we've got to fill a lot of time. I've got to take control and, you.
Matt Jones
Know, lead and so you're saying you're doing a really good job.
Billy
I didn't say that.
Matt Jones
Okay, well, good here. I want to hear the Louisiana governor some more. Hang on. Can we do that real quick, please? All right, number one, there's a number.
Caller
Of bad contracts that seem to have followed Scott Mortar. Okay. Number two, his agent and Brian Kelly's agent are the same agent. That's a something else. That's misinformation on there.
Matt Jones
I believe that Armstrong represents misinformation out there.
Billy
Like he's gonna eat some crawfish in the middle of this.
Matt Jones
That's some misinformation out there.
Billy
Clark is up next.
Matt Jones
Clark, go ahead, Clark.
Caller
Hey, man. How's it going?
Matt Jones
Doing good.
Caller
Yeah, I was at the game night. I mean, a little disappointed in the outcome, but without your two guards, it's hard to get your offense going, hard to stop what they're trying to do to you. So, I mean, like, that works, but Billy's been. Outstanding job, by the way. My question is, at what point does Pope decide that yellow bitch can give you exactly what Cam Williams does, maybe just a little more.
Matt Jones
I mean, Yovich played a lot. Yeah, I think the hope. The hope is with Williams, that he's a three and D guy, and the D being. Remember when. I mean, I think they want him to be what Winion Gabriel was his last year. Right. But. Right, but the problem is I haven't seen him guard anyone or make shots, and so that's what worries me. And if he. Well, here's the thing. When. When those guys are back Low and Aberdeen, but especially if Quaintance gets back, if he doesn't make shots, he's just not going to play. So, I mean, it's kind of up to him. You know, part of it is Pope played nine guys tonight, and he played them all equal minutes again. Starting the next game, by the way, that's not going to happen anymore. He's going to play the guys he thinks are really good. So we won't see this distribution of minutes as much as we've seen.
Caller
Right? Yeah. And now, like, there are some of the fan bases, doom and gloom right now, but unlike the previous regime, I do think Pope's gonna sit down and actually break down this film and. And put it in the action. What needs to be worked on.
Matt Jones
Yeah, I agree with you. Appreciate the call. What do you think Ed Cooley meant when he said in the postgame, billy, if we had not scouted this team, we would have lost by a hundred. Wow.
Billy
Well, they had a game.
Matt Jones
But that also, on the one hand, you would say. Because he was, like, saying he was Saying in the context of this team's really good. But if we had not scout and we lost by 100. But then it almost makes it sound like. So we scouted them. So then we figured them out, right?
Billy
We figured out their secret.
Matt Jones
I didn't really know. I mean, I think he meant it in the context of a compliment, but it actually worries me a little bit. Are we so easy to scout that you could go from losing by 100 to winning by 50?
Billy
Well, did Purdue say they didn't scout for.
Matt Jones
Well, that's what they say, but I don't know.
Billy
Does it sounds like it matters if they scouted or not?
Matt Jones
Yeah. And we also. All of our players are new. What were they going to scout? You know, I mean, they could scout. I guess they could scout away.
Billy
Away's jump shot.
Matt Jones
Yeah, I mean, that's. That's really it. All right, five more. Who's next?
Billy
Hunter.
Matt Jones
Hunter. Go ahead, Hunter.
Caller
Matt, we got to get that Chucky doll out of camp.
Matt Jones
That is true. These dolls have not been good for us. Mario brings that doll. This is ultimately Mario's fault. I'm with you.
Caller
Oh, no, no, it's not. Mario. Sorry. Mario's my boy. I love Mario.
Matt Jones
Mario's the one who brought.
Caller
Well, sometimes we all make mistakes, you know.
Matt Jones
Okay, fair enough.
Caller
Anyways, you kind of segue right into my point. I heard Tom Leach on the radio. He was saying about how we were using the same plays that Purdue had or that we use against Purdue, and that they had scouted us and that they were prepared for him and they were ready in every situation. And that's kind of where, like, I think we are blaming a lot on the players, but also, like, there's a little bit of criticism to Mark for trying to do the same plays, like, knowing that they're going to look at it and they're going to scout it and they're going to be ready for that.
Matt Jones
Yeah, I mean, I get that, but then wouldn't the counter to that be, why didn't we run different things?
Caller
Yeah. And it would be. Is, why don't we switch it up and do some of that, but also have something else?
Matt Jones
But ultimately, if it is the case. So Tom Leach said, and I. If Tom said this, this means it's correct that, you know, Georgetown scouted us and knew exactly we're gonna do it, stopped it, then my argument would be we should have been a little bit harder for them to scout. I mean, there's been one game, so. But again, it's an exhibition. It's not the worst thing in the world, but that is a little worrisome, you know?
Caller
Yeah. And that's what I was gonna say. Ultimately, like, the reality is, you know, this is a humbling game. It's. Doesn't count, doesn't matter. Just stay off Twitter, stay off Facebook for the next couple of days, and let's go wallop Nicholas. Let's go wallop Valparaiso and let's go beat them. Have a good night, guys.
Matt Jones
Appreciate it. Yeah. Nichols and Valparaiso. Let's see. Billy, your job during this phone call is to tell me how good were Nichols and Valparaiso last year. I want to say that Valparaiso, I could be wrong about this, but I think they were like, one of the worst teams in the country last year. Like, I think they were, like, really bad. I don't know about Nichols, but sorry about the fun one. One more Jeff Landry thing.
Billy
You want more governor talk?
Matt Jones
Yeah, I'm gonna have to do a little bit more, but go ahead. Who's next?
Billy
Noah.
Matt Jones
Noah, Go ahead. Noah, go ahead.
Caller
I got. I'll end this, put in the last segment. I'll put on a good note in the middle of this whole thing with the loss. So I gotta say, as someone who went from the game tonight and had teeth and nosebleeds, like being able to come through afterwards for the. For Pope's interview with Tom Leach afterwards and having. Being able to have the access to go down the front road in the midst of some of that, like there's. And the interactions from an afterwards like tonight, even. Even in the midst of feeling like depressed from what the loss. There's. There's just a difference. Essence of. With how the UK Athletics and the team all around it are. Have been just so much more inviting in every part from Even the way of. Even if it's regular stuff, even if it's things that Cal in his era, even for the players we're still doing and stuff like that. There's just a different sense on how much Pope and this team, UK Athletics and every part of it are so willing to be able to make this so much more with the fans. And that is why I feel like.
Matt Jones
I do agree with that. Completely grateful for. Completely agree with that. Completely agree with that. I pre. I appreciate the call. And you know, Pope and his teams are going to get a level of leeway and forgiveness that I think are in part because all that stuff is iron. People appreciate all of that. Look, he.
Caller
He.
Matt Jones
He came out and did the interview post Game. He's, he thanked the people that were there, talked to him. You know, I mean, that's a pretty bad loss. Seemed like he's lost his voice, but he's still the off the court stuff. Like he's, I don't know that we'll ever have a coach that does a better job. All right, so what did, what did Nichols and Valpo do? You.
Billy
Nichols State was 20 and 13 last year, 13 and 7 in their conference. And then.
Matt Jones
Okay, but they're in like a terrible conference. But. All right, and what, what's Val.
Billy
And then Valpo was 15 and 19, 6 and 14 in their conference.
Matt Jones
Yeah, okay. All right. All right, well, so both those games are games we should have win. All right, here we go. I don't know that this is a legitimate question whenever I say this.
Caller
Yeah, so, so we've got a number of four year universities in the state of Louisiana and each LSU has their own board. It's called the board of Supervisors. It's appointed by the governor.
Matt Jones
The governor. See, you can always tell when they're from a state like that by how they say governor. Right? Yeah, by the governor. I hope that guy does interviews from now on and I hope John Sumrall interviews with him so that he then comes here instead. Who's next?
Billy
Ian.
Matt Jones
Ian. Go ahead, Ian.
Caller
Hey, Matt. I am not concerned. I'm not worried about this team, but I am worried about your Halloween costume tomorrow.
Matt Jones
Okay.
Caller
There. Yeah. I think you, there's a couple easy things you can do if you take a white T shirt and you just take a Sharpie and write a big letter P on it. Now you have to be, you have to be comfortable with the fact that somebody's going to say, what the heck are you? And then you also have to go, when you get to the remote, you got to ask the prettiest girl for, or any woman for mascara. And you've got to make your eye black. Like you've got a black eye. Right. And what are you? You're a black eyed pea. But you have to ask every, every person come up to you is going to be like, what? I don't know what the hell you are, but, but it's an easy outfit that you can do.
Matt Jones
It's actually, it's actually a really good idea. The problem is you've given it away on the radio. But I actually think that's a really good idea. I, I, I don't know if I'll do it, but I like it. What was your other one?
Caller
My, my favorite grade School teacher that to school one year and that was. It's been with me for 40 years. Anyway, so the other thing is with the governor talk. I, I, I love it as much as you do. I got somebody here that wants to say something.
Matt Jones
Okay.
Caller
Hey, Matt Jones is coacho. And I got something to say about Billy. I got something to say about Billy Osborne.
Matt Jones
Sports.
Caller
Why is Billy all sports. Why is Billy all sports? Like a farmer.
Matt Jones
I don't know.
Caller
Why is Billy outstanding in his field? He's outstanding in his field. He's outstanding in his field.
Matt Jones
Well done, well done. Well played, coach. I appreciate the call. Now that's an old school fake KSR call. He did an accent. He had content. That was funny. That harkens back to, like, fake David Beckham. Fake Obama. Like Earl, like fake Barney. Like that, that, that goes back. That's well done because he's outstanding in his field.
Billy
Great stuff, Ian.
Matt Jones
Really was. That was Ian. That is my call tonight. I don't know if we have a sponsor. We should get a sponsor for this. You got to be brave to do.
Billy
An impression on this.
Matt Jones
No, no, I don't want an impression. You do, because I do not like impressions unless they're good. And he did a good job and he had content. It's one thing to sound like a person. It's also another thing to fake. I'm trying to think. Best fake callers since we're doing our 15th anniversary coming up. Fake Barney, fake David Beckham, fake Ralph Hacker. Fake Ralph Hacker. Fake Daniel Orton's dad.
Billy
I never heard that one.
Matt Jones
Oh, you never heard that one? He was Daniel Orton's dad. He would just keep going. He's a good kid. I don't even know if Dan Orton's dad sounded like that. He would just say that we had a guy who sounded just like Obama who called. I mean, you know, that's a hard impersonation to do. And he would sound just like him.
Billy
So, yeah, we know Ryan's good for a couple.
Matt Jones
Fake Lou Holtz. Fake Lou Holtz. Can't forget him. Yeah, he was great. He was. He was. I was back a long time ago when we just, we didn't have as much to talk about, so we would just let people rant. Two more. Who's next?
Billy
I only have one on the phone, so.
Matt Jones
Well, somebody's got to call in and finish. I can't finish. Well, I have two more. I can't just have one on 859-280228.
Billy
Michael is up next.
Matt Jones
Michael, go ahead, Michael.
Caller
Hey, Matt, when you play those videos, it's like listening to A Time to kill with Matthew McConaughey in there.
Matt Jones
It's another good call. He does sound like that. You're right.
Caller
But my evaluation is, like, if we did cut down on those turnovers because they led to, like, 20 points off turnovers and. And maybe made, I don't know, 35 of our threes that have been a close game. At least that's my opinion.
Matt Jones
Well, there. There is a lot. I mean, I know that sounds simplistic, but I actually don't think you're wrong. I mean, if you make four more threes, it's a game. That's why I still think shooting is going to be such a huge. A huge part of this. But go ahead.
Caller
I think out of this, we need to find the person, the leader that's going to get into their faces, out on the court to get them motivated to, you know, just play harder, defend harder, things like that. But, you know, what. Exhibition game. But my question is. Well, actually, I've been. I love. I live here in Little Rock and I've been watching. Cal's got a pretty physical team, so if we don't, we don't do well, we're gonna get run off before there. But do you think that they have.
Matt Jones
Remember. But remember, Cow's weakness, Cal's weakness. You're exactly right. Cal does have a physical team. That will be a hard game for us. But Cal's weakness will be when he plays against teams like Purdue. Right. So, like, Cal probably wins this game tonight, but Cal probably loses to Purdue. It's interesting. He and Pope have completely different styles and maybe different weaknesses. And you're right, Arkansas will be a hard game for us, but when they play a team like Purdue, they can't score and they got. And the other team just gets layups and open looks. So it's interesting how the different strengths and weaknesses.
Caller
Do you think they practice any zone? Because do you think they. That they could have, like, thrown a zone at him and. And maybe cut down on those drive ins and different things like that?
Matt Jones
I've only been to two practices, so I can't. I've not seen them practice zone. Now, they did play it the last play of the first half, so clearly they've done it at some point. But no, I don't think that's a big part of what they do practice.
Caller
All right, Appreciate.
Matt Jones
Appreciate the call. All right. Do we have somebody?
Billy
Yeah, we do.
Matt Jones
Okay. Who is it?
Billy
Jim.
Matt Jones
Jim. You get to finish off.
Caller
Yeah. Hey, thanks for taking my call by the way.
Matt Jones
Of course.
Caller
I just wonder. You mentioned Louisville a couple times tonight and you know, I get it, the rival and all but man, they got waxed by Kansas. They, they just get their ass kicked.
Matt Jones
And we got waxed, we got waxed in Georgetown might be worse than kids.
Caller
Good point. But here's the thing. Two words. Exhibition game.
Matt Jones
Well, there's was an exhibition game too. I mean I'm not trying to take up a candidate but like that theirs was an exhibition game.
Caller
Yeah, but don't you think Louisville was more locked in on Kansas thinking than we were on on Georgetown?
Matt Jones
I mean maybe, maybe, but I like, but that, but that's not an excuse. I mean the reality is Louisville's probably going to be more locked into that game with us than we are them. I mean Louisville wants, Louisville's not beating Kent Kentucky. What? They've beaten us once in seven years. I mean they're going to be on their home floor. They're going to want it really badly. So I don't, I don't know that that mindset necessarily even helps us.
Caller
Well, you may be right. I just, I just think like what, what do you think Louisville can really do to us? I mean I, I, I feel like.
Matt Jones
Well, I mean they got a lot of talent.
Caller
We got so many advantages on them.
Matt Jones
They got a lot of talent. I mean I, I, I appreciate the call. I mean I don't know how good they're going to be because their talent really didn't coalesce in that game against Kansas. Kind of like ours didn't tonight. But they got a lot of talent. They got a great freshman, he played awful against Kansas but he'll play well in games this year. They got a couple great shooters that are there. They got the big dude who got hurt last year. That was, was it Sean Pryor who was their really good guy? He might be coming off the bench for him. They got some dude named FRU who I haven't seen but they talk about all the time. So they're going to be good. I mean that game's going to be hard. I would argue that might be the hardest non conference game we play because it's on their floor. It's the only true road game we play. I mean we have six power non conference games but only one of them is a true road game and that's the one against Louisville. So you know, we're gonna have to be ready for that because it is now, Billy. What 12 days away, which is bizarre.
Billy
That we're getting this basketball I don't.
Matt Jones
Like is what it is. I have something we'll leave with this. I have something for you to watch when you get home. Billy. Yeah, watch the skits with Jason Sudeikis and Jimmy Foxx called Main justice from Saturday Night Live.
Caller
Maine.
Matt Jones
Just like the state. Maine.
Billy
Okay.
Matt Jones
And it's made and it's essentially the governor of Louisiana in a, in a, in a skit. You'll like it. Thank you folks very much. We will see you tomorrow. Whiskey Thief what's the address?
Billy
Billy it's the one outside of Frankfurt.
Matt Jones
So that's not an address, but it's the one outside of Frankfurt. Whiskey Thief we will see you tomorrow. Cats With a tough loss, regular season starts Tuesday. This has been the local toy dealers KSR postgame show. Get ready to power up your play.
Billy
With Nintendo Switch 2.
Matt Jones
Power up the visuals with 4K support.
Billy
And a bigger, more vivid screen.
Matt Jones
Power up the fun with exclusive new games like Mario Kart World.
Billy
And Donkey Kong bonanza. Nintendo Switch 2 all together, anytime, anywhere.
Matt Jones
Games rated E to E10 plus. Games and systems sold separately. Compatible TV required for 4K display. Running a business is hard enough. Don't make it harder with a dozen apps that don't talk to each other. One for sales, another for inventory, a separate one for accounting. That's software overload. Odoo is the all in one platform that replaces them all. CRM, accounting, inventory, E Commerce, hr. Fully integrated, easy to use and built to grow with your business. Thousands have already made the Switch. Why not you try Odoo for free@odoo.com that's odoo.com we finally switched to T Mobile because with them we can be connected here and there.
Caller
Dad, the cousins in Mexico have a surprise for you.
Matt Jones
And enjoy the gift of staying connected. Switch and start saving today. Get four Samsung Galaxy S25 phones with Galaxy AI on us and four lines for just 25 bucks per line plus non stop talk, text and data between us and Mexico. Visit a store t mobile.com or call 1-800-T-Mobile 1-800-T-Mobile. See details@t mobile.com this is Julian Edelman from Games With Names. Football is back. That means it's tailgate time and this season the only meat I'm going to grill is Dietz and Watson. I'm loving the Black Angus Dietz dogs. They're flavor packed and you can tell they are made with the highest quality ingredients. Sundays just got a whole lot better. Visit deetsandwatson.com the right way to learn more about the deets difference.
Date: October 31, 2025
Hosts: Matt Jones & Billy Rutledge
Podcast: KSR (iHeartPodcasts/Sports Talk 790 WKRD-AM)
Matt Jones and the KSR team dissect a surprising and disappointing loss by Kentucky men’s basketball to Georgetown (84-70) in a preseason exhibition at Rupp Arena. They analyze what went wrong, how it contrasts sharply with the high from beating Purdue days earlier, and what the game reveals about the current roster, coach Mark Pope's system, and the outlook for the regular season starting next week. The show also features a lively call-in segment with both thoughtful and humorous takes from fans.
"I think this team has potential, but we're not runaway good... We can be team great if we lean into each other. But we're not going to go out and dominate people because our individual talent is overwhelming." (08:55)
— Mark Pope, relayed by Matt Jones
“I don't know if there's any team in college basketball that's uber elite talent... The reason you win and lose games is going to be matchups, coaching, and guys filling roles.” (32:20)
On the loss and team approach:
On point guard dependence:
Mark Pope, postgame (via Matt):
Advice for fans:
On shooting concerns:
Humor & Levity:
The regular season begins Tuesday, with Kentucky focused on finding its rhythm, getting healthy, and turning this exhibition wakeup call into a learning experience. As always, KSR will be there, bringing both insight and laughter to Big Blue Nation.