Matt Jones (3:01)

Welcome everyone. This is the local Toyota dealers. KSR post game show. Kentucky with a big win. Getting back on track. Absolutely annihilating Valparaiso 10759 in Rupp arena on a rainy night in Lexington, Kentucky. We'll open up the phones here in just a minute. 8592802287 Shout out. By the way, I just heard the commercial. The big blue deli downtown. I eat lunch there a lot. Sometimes that Billy goes and we get it for lunch. Right Billy?

Billy (3:32)

Good stuff.

Matt Jones (3:32)

Yeah, good stuff. So thank you. They've joined the post game show. It was a feel good game for, for Kentucky tonight. I thought after the poor performance against Georgetown who by the way won by double digit digits on the road tonight against Maryland. So maybe Georgetown's good. And the poor first half against Nichols, it was important Kentucky come out and play well and they did. I think they made their first five shots and were excellent. Let's just go over some numbers. All five starters, all five starters in double digits. That's huge. Malachi Moreno, 18 points, gets a double double. They went, they had had 27 assists with only six points. Turnovers. That is a, that's a four and a half to one ratio. You're not going to lose any game where you have that assist to turnover ratio. They shot the ball 39% from three. That's the first time they've been over 25% in a game this year. So that was a great sign. And it all for me comes down to, well, two things. One, Valpo decided to play up tempo. I'm glad they did it because I think a lot of teams in the sec, the good teams, so Florida, Alabama, they're going to play like that. So I'd, I want us to have games like that. But also it's a very tough style to beat Kentucky at when you're a lot less talented. And that's what ends up happening is you get, you get run off the floor, especially when we're hitting shots. But put that to the side. The big difference in this game is clearly having low and Aberdeen. You know, in the first half, the last game, Aberdeen didn't play a lot of Point he comes in and plays it in the second half, you see the difference. And then tonight Aberdeen right out of the gate helps. And then Jalen Lowe, he played, you know, small amount of minutes but you could tell in those minutes you could tell exactly why he's going to be so big for this team. He just changes everything. His penetration, his passing. He had five assists, I think he had four, four in the first half. And he just. The way he gets the basket, the way he sees the floor and he's not even really looking for his offense yet. Wait until he has to do that. I just thought they were great. And that is the team offensively that I think we can have a lot of the year. You know, most teams will play a style where we're not going to be able to run up and down the court. We're going to have to do it in the half court more often. But you know, when you get a game where six guys are in double digits, nobody what I love about this, six guys in double digits. But of the starters everyone had between 12 and 15 points. Completely even scoring distribution load. You know, owe had his now standard. He'll get 13 to 15 every single game. Garrison played well, Moreno played well, Diabate was good. Honestly, every single person on the floor was really excellent. You know, poor Kim Williams still can't make a shot. But pretty much everybody else I thought really showed something. You saw Colin Chandler making all those threes to start. You know he. If you take the second half of the Nichols game and the first half of this game, I mean dude was on complete fire. I think he made seven of eight. If you combine those two halves, this is what you want. Now is Valpo good? Probably not. They're probably mid pack of the Missouri Valley Conference. But for me I just wanted to see, I just wanted to see Kentucky play like that. Because even in the Purdue game, as good as they were offensively, it wasn't in a style like this. Half of our SEC games are going to be like this and half of them are going to be like Georgetown in terms of the way they play. And now we've gotten a test against both of them. We won't really play a team like Purdue in the conference, but we will play teams like this, better versions of teams like this and we'll play teams like Georgetown. And now we've gotten a test in both of them. Thought the arena was sounded great. Love the ovation that Jalen Lowe got when he checked in the game. I watched it at home. The Travis Ford Billy Sounds just like Jimmy Dykes. When did that start happening? Has he always sounded like Jimmy Dykes?

Billy (7:47)

I don't know. I don't get to hear it. So, like, what do you mean? Is he doing the bits and things like that?

Matt Jones (7:51)

No, he literally. His voice, it's. He sounds like Jimmy Dykes has a nasal cold. That's what he sounds like. Because I for a minute was like, oh, they got Jimmy Dykes for this game. And then I realized it was Travis. I had never noticed how much they sounded alike. Overall, though, I'm thrilled with this performance. And now you get Louisville on Tuesday and of course, Louisville's player. Yes. Yet last night said blank them when talking about Kentucky. I have not read quotes yet, but I'm sure the Kentucky players were asked about it. I'll be interested to see maybe between now and the end of the show. Bill, you can find me any Kentucky player, quotes about Louisville.

Billy (8:29)

Okay.

Matt Jones (8:30)

Because I would like to see what. What, what we. What we did. But that is a team that was out there on the court tonight that even without Jaden Quaint, can beat anyone in the country. And I needed a game like that. And we got it. And defensively, I know this team's going to be good, but I wanted to see him shoot the ball. I wanted to see him be efficient on offense. And they were 859-280-2287. North Carolina puts a beat down on Kansas. They were down in the first half, came back won by double digits. That's good for us because we play North Carolina. So if we can win that game helps the strength of schedule. It's very, very early. Very, very early. We. But we're second in the Kim Palm right now. That's good. Georgetown beats Maryland, even though that doesn't really officially affect our strength of schedule. Kind of unofficially, people in college basketball know what happened with the Kentucky Georgetown game. And maybe Georgetown is actually good. But all of that is going to be secondary to playing Louisville on Tuesday. And I hate that it's this early in the year. Hate it, hate it, hate it, hate it. But we're gonna play it. We might as well beat them. And I now think that can happen, whereas a little bit worried, to be honest with you. Before tonight. 859-280-2287. We will open up the phones. It's a rainy Friday night. We got football tomorrow. Obviously, the Zach Calzada news today was not good. He has apologized for that. And but remember, we'll be on the sideline tomorrow potentially as the backup quarterback. Another thing to watch. We'll deal with all that when we return. This is the local Toyota dealers KSR postgame show. Welcome back. It is a local toy dealers KSR postgame show. 859-280-2287. We're just talking about. I asked Billy during the break if he'd ever been on a date or with a woman and argued in public at a restaurant. There's a video of this couple arguing at a restaurant kind of going viral tonight. And I asked Billy, has that ever happened to you? Have you ever been in an argument at a restaurant with someone you were. You were dating?

Billy (10:36)

Yeah. But it never escalated.

Matt Jones (10:39)

Yeah.

Billy (10:39)

To something. What about you?

Matt Jones (10:41)

Yeah, it's hard. I. I think when I've done it, I've always, like, argued, but, you know, in a whisper. You know how you can sound like you're really upset, but in a whisper? Like, how could you do. You know? But you can tell I've been in a restaurant, though, where. Where people. Well, I've been in a restaurant once where a couple stormed out from my table. Oh, from your people.

Billy (11:02)

People.

Matt Jones (11:02)

People I were with. Was with. Yeah. Left. The rest of us were just sitting there. Yeah. Actually, that's happened a couple times. I've been there. I. Luckily, I wasn't the one that did it. Mark Pope says he has jury duty next week. Billy? Yeah, the week of the Louisville game, he has jury duty in Fayette County. What? Louisville clerk. County court clerk in the Fayette county courthouse. What Louisville fan did that to us?

Billy (11:29)

Exactly.

Matt Jones (11:31)

How are you going to give. You know, I've lived in. I've lived my entire life in Kentucky and have never. I've never had jury duty ever. And Mark Pope's been here a year. Drew's had it, like, four times since we've been here.

Billy (11:48)

I have.

Matt Jones (11:48)

And I've. I've never had. You've had it. Yeah, I've never had it. Which is crazy to me.

Billy (11:55)

You would love it, too. I'm sure you'd be really.

Matt Jones (11:57)

Well, I would get struck immediately, though. Like, it would actually be terrible because I know no one. No. No one lawyer is ever going to keep me on.

Billy (12:04)

That's probably true.

Matt Jones (12:05)

Yeah. Lawyers do not keep other lawyers on. But the question you were asking me, if I thought Mark Pope was going to get dismissed, get excused. He will, probably. But it's hard to get excused, you know, because everybody thinks that they have a valid reason, and the court tends to, like, you know, really, the only people that get excused are, you know, maybe doctors, but really Nope. Like, he'll get excused, probably, but it was. So it's not 100.

Billy (12:45)

Like, there is a world out there.

Matt Jones (12:48)

There's a world.

Billy (12:49)

They say now he lived.

Matt Jones (12:51)

Like. Like, okay, you know, Vince Merrill lives in Lexington and coaches Louisville. There's definitely a world that if he got called to fake county jury duty, they would make Vince Merrill sit there.

Billy (13:01)

They would dismiss him. Yeah, that would.

Matt Jones (13:03)

Yeah. Because. Because being a basketball coach is not like, you know, you can't use as an excuse. I have to work because everyone has to work. You know what I mean? The excuse has to be something like, I have a job. I can't remember what the wording is, but. But it's like, I have a job that cannot be replaced, and it's a serious public concern. Well, basketball coach in this state, I think it fits at the week of the UK U of L game, doesn't it?

Billy (13:32)

Any week of the year in this state, I would say so.

Matt Jones (13:36)

But I'll say this. If he was not. If it wasn't during the season, I bet he couldn't get out of it.

Billy (13:40)

Yeah, that would be much tougher.

Matt Jones (13:42)

Yeah, Lexington's actually hard to get out of it. Some cities are easier, but Lexington can be hard. All right, who's up first?

Billy (13:48)

Jeff.

Matt Jones (13:49)

Jeff. Go ahead, Jeff.

Caller (13:51)

Hey, Matt. Jeff. And Bardstown, a couple things. We obviously looked a lot better with our two point guards in. I guess any team would look more organized, get Colin Chandler more opportunities and just pass the ball a lot better. I guess my only concern, not even concerned, really, because we've won two games, it's hard to have a concern. Where do you think we find the star power on this lineup? We have a lot of players that can score 15 points. Where do we see a guy that just really woos you Offensively, I don't.

Matt Jones (14:18)

Think we have one, to be honest with you. And to the extent we do, I'm hoping it's Jalen Lowe. I mean, I appreciate the call. I love Ortega. Away. I think Away is going to finish the season with, like, 15 points, and, you know, he's going to be great, but I don't think he's that guy. Now, I know he made winning shots last year against Oklahoma, and he can make winning shots, but I think you've got to have the dude that creates, and I think that's Jalen Lowe by the end of the year, but we do not have the overwhelming star. And it is the case that if you kind of look back at national championship winners, they usually do, and we don't necessarily, but we have, I think, seven or eight guys that could get an important bucket down the stretch, and I think that's. Most teams don't have that, so it'll be interesting to see. But this is why I've said all year. Billy, did you see today why I've said all year this team will go as far as it. As how good Jalen Lowe is.

Billy (15:26)

Yes. Yeah.

Matt Jones (15:27)

I mean, that, that, that's. Tonight was an obvious example. Now, Denzel Aberdeen is. Is better than I thought he was. He's better than I thought he was. So I, I'm excited about that. But this team goes based, I think, on how good Jalen Lowe ends up being. Who's next?

Billy (15:43)

Angus.

Matt Jones (15:44)

Angus, how are you, Angus?

Caller (15:47)

I'm good. How are you guys tonight?

Matt Jones (15:49)

Doing Good.

Caller (15:51)

Good to you guys. Same point. I think that when Denzel Aberdeen runs into Mikhail Brown and Louisville on Tuesday, we've seen enough over our last 15 years to know that those true freshman point guards, when they run into a grown man, they seem to struggle. And Denzel Aberdeen will be that grown man that Mikhail Brown runs into.

Matt Jones (16:07)

Well, let's talk. Are you. Are you. Let me ask you about. Are you. Have you. Do you know a lot about Louisville's roster this year?

Caller (16:15)

My family. My family is all Louisville fans. I'm the only Kentucky fan in my family.

Matt Jones (16:19)

Look, real quick, because I, I, I will admit I watched them play Kansas a little bit in the exhibition. I have not watched any of their games so far this year. So I'm sitting here looking at it.

Caller (16:28)

I watched it purely for, Purely to talk trash to my family is the only reason.

Matt Jones (16:33)

So their starting lineup is. What is it gonna. It's Mikhail Brown. It's Conway.

Caller (16:37)

It could be Mikhail Brown and Casey Wallace. I mean, Casey Pryor, McNeil you're talking about. I'm not sure who the other two. I'm not sure. The other two.

Matt Jones (16:46)

Conwell and.

Caller (16:47)

Yeah, McNeely's gonna start. Yes.

Matt Jones (16:49)

And then what through. Is that his name? Fru. The guy? I don't know.

Caller (16:53)

Yes, that's it.

Matt Jones (16:54)

Yeah. So, like, you know, they don't have.

Caller (16:57)

As physical of a team as we have. We have a true sec. Athletic, defensive, physical team, and they're just kind of rolling with the punches as they, they just find offense as they go. They don't have the physicality to match up with us, in my, in my opinion.

Matt Jones (17:10)

I agree with that.

Caller (17:10)

Hopefully, it's going to come back to bite me.

Matt Jones (17:13)

I agree with that. I appreciate, I mean, I, I look at matchups for me, it'll be interesting to see because the best player on the floor from a talent perspective will be Mikhail Brown. But he is a freshman. Against Kansas, he went what, one for 14 or whatever in that game, in a preseason game. So I think it's one of those feast or famine we've seen over the years with Cows freshmen in the Louisville game. Sometimes they play great and sometimes they don't. Pryor's only going to be in his second game. McNeely's a good shooter. I don't, I don't know as much about Conwell. He played. Who did he, who did Commonwealth play for last year? Is that the kid that came from Xavier? Yes. Okay, so that's the kid that came from Xavier. He's pretty good. And he, you know, again, I have not seen them play except for a few minutes and they were awful the few minutes I saw him. But I think we match up pretty well with them. I think, I think Diabate will be a huge advantage for us. And I think watching that Aberdeen and Low versus Mikhail Brown, you know, that that might be where the game is one, to be honest with you, how those, how those, how those guys go against each other. Prior, I think it's going, Diabate, Prior, that. Well, first of all, Prior and Garrison are going to almost fight. Would you agree? Yeah, Billy, that, that's going to happen.

Billy (18:30)

Can't wait.

Matt Jones (18:31)

And Prior and Garrison are gonna, they're gonna fight. As a matter of fact, I, I, you know, I don't mind if Garrison gets a technical in that. Sorry. If he wants to establish himself because Prior is going to be doing that. It's going to be interesting. The crowd is going to be a big deal. I mean, this is a true road game. If you go. Look, honestly, every Kentucky team of the last will have always. We always struggle in our first true road game. Just go back, go back through history. I mean, we over the years have lost our first true road game. Remember, we lost one year at Purdue or, excuse me, at Notre Dame. Not Purdue. We lost at Notre Dame one year. We, I don't. We very rarely play a true road game this early in the year. Trying to think the last time that's happened. Yeah, I don't know when's the last time we've played a true road game this early in the year.

Billy (19:27)

We've always had the champions Classic so early and that doesn't count. Right.

Matt Jones (19:30)

So I don't know, maybe back in the day, maybe we played Carolina this early. Sometimes I cannot remember a true road game. This early in the year. So that's. That's the one thing that worries me the most about the Louisville game is your third game of the year, and you're having to go into that home environment. Who's next?

Billy (19:45)

Jalen Lowe was asked about Case and Pryor's comments after the game tonight, and he said, we will save our chirping for during the game and after the game, after we win.

Matt Jones (19:55)

Oh, did he really?

Billy (19:56)

Yes.

Matt Jones (19:57)

Oh, that's my guy. I like that. Remember, Jalen Lowe's played against Louisville twice, maybe three times. So he knows. He certainly knows Prior, and he may know more of the guys as well. I love that answer. What's. Who's next?

Billy (20:13)

Chance.

Matt Jones (20:14)

Chance. Go ahead, Chance. Where do you see that quote, by the way?

Billy (20:18)

Dylan Ballard posted it.

Matt Jones (20:20)

Okay.

Billy (20:20)

Got the video.

Caller (20:23)

Yeah, I'm on.

Matt Jones (20:24)

Yes, go ahead.

Caller (20:27)

Yeah, I'm just sitting here watching John. John Summerall put on a whooping on who should be a playoff.

Matt Jones (20:34)

What's the score? I'm watching the NBA. What's the score?

Caller (20:37)

Oh, so we're sitting here at a review. It was 2114, I believe.

Matt Jones (20:42)

That's not really a whooping. That's a one score.

Caller (20:44)

20. 2817. 2817.

Matt Jones (20:46)

Okay. All right. Well, big game for Memphis. This is there. This is their. Essentially, they're. You know, they win this, they got a good chance of making the playo. So this is big for them, but.

Caller (20:57)

It could be a big win for John Sumo, who should be our future coach, in my opinion.

Matt Jones (21:01)

Yeah, I worry about him winning games like this, though, and maybe one of these bigger schools takes him before we can. So you got. Part of me wants him to lose for that reason, but go.

Caller (21:10)

Hey, blue blood is blue blood. He's. He's here for us.

Matt Jones (21:13)

All right.

Caller (21:14)

But I just want to comment on just the effort we had as a whole team tonight. I mean, you just saw the complete effort of everybody we played as a team. And just seeing having a solid guard run the offense is something we haven't seen all year, and we just benefited at a maximum.

Matt Jones (21:42)

Yeah, I mean, it is. We gotta have those guys. I mean, without those guys, the offense just gets stagnant and becomes one on one. And you can have moments where it looks good, but it's not going to be consistent because we don't have. We don't. Without those guys, we don't have a great guy who can just take over. So you got to have a point guard. The good thing is I kind of thought we had one, and now I think we might have two. And that's exciting, I mean, because Aberdeen's better. Definitely was. And I think you put those two guys on the floor together with Owe. You got three guys who feel good kind of controlling the offense, and I really like that. And that also helps. If Brandon Garrison isn't as good at that Amari Williams role, it may not matter as much if you have three guards who can initiate the offense. Last year, if you think about it.

Caller (22:31)

And yeah. And that we realize Malachi stepping up in his role is. We don't need that Amari role. If our guards are putting out.

Matt Jones (22:41)

Yeah.

Caller (22:41)

What they can put out. You know, we got three guard deep. We can have a Malachi, a Brandon Garrison, that we don't need them to benefit our offense, but can just step up and play off the, play off the screen and just feed off of that and just, hey, go get you a bucket, get your rebound and play off that where our guards can benefit off our team in general.

Matt Jones (23:04)

All right, well, I appreciate the call. I, I, I agree with you on that. And you know, people think because last year we played with Amari Williams in that role, that means that that's the only way Pope can play. I think there's a belief that, like, well, that's how, that's how Pope played last year, so that's how he's got to play. They really haven't played that a lot this year. They have not been running the ball through the big very often. They've been letting the guards go and that's, it's opened up a lot of corner threes. Chandler made them tonight. Diabate made a really ugly three tonight. So, you know, I was very encouraged by the shooting and everything else this evening. What's next?

Billy (23:43)

Terry?

Matt Jones (23:44)

Terry. Go ahead, Terry.

Caller (23:47)

Hey, Matt. This is Big Terry from Taylor County. How y' all doing?

Matt Jones (23:51)

Hello, Big Taylor. Terry from Taylor County.

Caller (23:56)

Hey, man, great wind tonight. But I warned, I warned the fellows in the locker room. Let's not dwell on this one. I think we, we saw what happened when we dwelled on the Purdue win.

Matt Jones (24:10)

Hang on. You told who this in the locker room?

Caller (24:13)

No, that's what I want to tell the fellows in the locker room.

Matt Jones (24:16)

They're not going to be dwelling on this. They got Louisville. I mean, I don't think they're going to be sitting there saying there's a big difference between beating Valpo and beat the number one team in the country, Purdue. So I don't, I'm not worried, I'm not worried about them dwelling on a game against this team, their. Their eyes are going to be set for Tuesday.

Caller (24:34)

Now, I agree with you. I just relate this. In my past life, I did semi professional mma. Anytime I dwelled on a victory I had over opponent of lesser ability, I came out and got my butt whooped the next times. I just don't want that to happen.

Matt Jones (24:50)

What does it mean? What does it mean? You did semi professional mma? Is that in Taylor County?

Caller (24:58)

Yeah, just around Taylor County, Columbia area, even into Marion county there.

Matt Jones (25:04)

But when you say around Taylor county, where. Where are you doing this? Where are the. Where are the events?

Caller (25:12)

Well, Matt, if. If I'm being honest, some of them are in our. My buddy's backyard. These are not.

Matt Jones (25:19)

I think you're making this up. You're making this up, right, Matt?

Caller (25:22)

I promise you, Matt, I promise. I'm Taylor Big Terry from Taylor County. I promise.

Matt Jones (25:26)

You're saying you. You do MMA events in your buddy's yard in Taylor County?

Caller (25:32)

This is. This is a past life, Matt. I remember this.

Matt Jones (25:37)

Billy, I think this is more interesting than the Val.

Billy (25:39)

That's fine. Yeah.

Matt Jones (25:40)

So explain to me how, how. Backyard MMA event in Taylor County. How does it work?

Caller (25:48)

Well, I mean, you know, the Campbellsville area down there, not a lot of stuff to do. We had to keep ourselves busy. One day, my buddy Noah, he just said, hey, you think we can start putting the gloves on and kind of going at it? And before we knew it, more people would show up. I mean, we even. We even got the point where we were selling tickets at one point.

Matt Jones (26:12)

So you. You sold tickets in your buddy's backyard?

Caller (26:17)

Yeah. I mean, not a packed house, but I mean, 10, 15 people just getting together, having a good time, watching people beat up on each other.

Matt Jones (26:25)

First of all, I. Billy, would love to go to this if. Do you think, Big Terry, you could start this back up? You might. I don't know, you might be slow, but I would. I would come and watch.

Caller (26:38)

Well, I appreciate that. I have hung the gloves up. Unfortunately, I'm just too old for that. I'm sorry.

Matt Jones (26:45)

All right, well, if there's another. If you hear. Let me put it like this. If you hear of a new Taylor county backyard MMA group, will you let me know?

Caller (26:56)

Matt Jones, you will be the first person that I call.

Matt Jones (27:00)

All right. I appreciate. Appreciate the call. See, you never know what you're going to get on these shows Friday night.

Billy (27:07)

You really don't? No idea.

Matt Jones (27:09)

I spent a lot of time in Campbellsville when I was younger. There's a lot of people there. I wouldn't want to fight. Matter of fact, all of there's like nobody I would want to fight. Especially when the fruit of the loom factory was there. That was it. You wouldn't, you wouldn't have wanted to brawl with people. So I would like to have seen Big Terry go at it in Taylor County. Who's next?

Billy (27:29)

Tyler.

Matt Jones (27:29)

Tyler. Go ahead, Tyler.

Caller (27:33)

I can't help but laugh at that Big Terry stuff. I need Bruce Buffer calling him when he gets into the ring.

Matt Jones (27:38)

Big Terry, let's get ready to rumble. I don't like that. That's what I would have liked to have heard at it, but go ahead.

Caller (27:47)

I would have been even better. Anyway, so we, we got Louisville coming up, man. And I, and I, honest to God, I knew the game was, was early in the year. Not this early. I, I, I was surprised, like, holy crap, it's next Tuesday and this is yesterday. I'm like, I couldn't believe it. I just, I want to know why are we playing this game so early in the year? Are they?

Matt Jones (28:08)

Yeah, I don't know. I think, I think what has happened with these games, this is, this is just a guess. I, I honestly don't know. I think what's happened with these games is December now. They're very hesitant to play these big time games on the weekends in December because of, of bowl games. So they can't, they don't want to put the TV games against them. So now they're wanting to put them during the week and I think when they put them during the week and it's at Louisville, we're probably going to see it be early in the year. I think when it's in Kentucky, in Lexington, it might be later, the ACC schedule. So when it's in Kentucky, we'll usually play between Christmas and New Year, but I think the ACC schedule is actually starting between Christmas and New Year this year. So I think, I think that's why this game is so early. So this may be a case that when we play there, this is what it's going to be and when we play here it's later in the year. So I don't know if that's good or bad, but it may just be end up what it's been. But it sounds like neither coach really wanted this, so hopefully this is a one time thing.

Caller (29:14)

I can't wait for the postgame handshake after we win, after we get him by 20 and we get to see the height difference between Pope and that midget that they got on the sideline. Anyway, that's All I got.

Matt Jones (29:24)

Let's hope we're winning. That's the big one. I mean, this is. How important, Billy, is this one to you? I mean, the Louisville game is always important, but is it more last than usual this year? Where are you on it?

Billy (29:37)

It's just so strange because it's so early. I'm not ready for this game to happen.

Matt Jones (29:41)

I'm not either. Feels like we should be playing in the Champions Classic.

Billy (29:45)

Yeah, no, it should be like, I.

Matt Jones (29:47)

Would much prefer to be playing Michigan State in New York City Tuesday than playing Louisville.

Billy (29:54)

But Case and Prior's comments definitely got me fired up. And, you know, I want to win. Absolutely. But it's probably about the same. What about you?

Matt Jones (30:01)

I want to win. I. Obviously, I want to win. I think it's a big deal. I don't think it's more. I think this is more for, like, just chirping purposes between the two fan bases. I don't really know that it'll say anything about either team. There's probably more pressure on them than us because it's on their home floor, right?

Billy (30:20)

No, J.Q.

Matt Jones (30:21)

I mean, it's on their home floor. We have a guy. You know, we have a guy not out yet. You know, they're. We might be older, but they've got guys back that are in key roles, and they got this town talented. It's really. Because it's on their home floor. I think the pressure in this is just gonna be on whoever's on the home floor and. And they're having to defend home court. Let's do one more, and we'll take a break. 859-280-2287.

Billy (30:43)

Nick.

Matt Jones (30:44)

Nick. Go ahead, Nick.

Caller (30:47)

Hey, what's up, Matt? You got me.

Matt Jones (30:49)

Gotcha.

Caller (30:51)

All right, I got two comments for you, then I'll get off here. Jalen Lowe, from the limited minutes he played tonight, you can really see the vision, like, the way he pushes the ball down in transition and gets the break started. He's definitely our most creative playmaker. Of course, he had some, like, first game jitters, first time being in front of that rough crowd, but he definitely changes his offense, and you saw that tonight with over 100 points scored. If he stays healthy this year, I love our team, and I know that's your MVP of the year, but obviously he had limited minutes tonight. But what do you think about Jalen Lowe's debut?

Matt Jones (31:26)

He's great. He did exactly what I hoped. He played limited minutes. Pope says he's going to be playing limited minutes for a while. But he did exactly what I hope. He takes it to the. He takes it to basket. He could get a step on guys. He first play came in, he drove the basket, kicked out for a corner, three for Chandler, made it. Like that's what he's going to do and he's going to do it all year. And the great thing is, and I appreciate the call, I only saw him take one. I didn't see him take any bad shots. He only took one shot that maybe he shouldn't have, but it wasn't even that bad. Like his weakness was taking bad shots and he's not doing that. So I can't wait. By SEC play, assuming he's healthy, he's going to be all sec. Myron Metcalf asked me before the year, he's like, who should I have as my second UK guy on the all SEC team? And I said, you're going to make a mistake if you don't put Jalen Lowe on it. And I believe that he is going to be. He's going to be, in my opinion, first or second team, all sec. I think he's that good. I think he's going to be our leading scorer in SEC play. Now. I don't know what's going to happen between now and then. Like he only had six nights. He didn't play a lot of minutes. So I don't know what he's going to score in the non conference, but when we get to conference play, he's going to be. He's going to be, if not our best player. He's going to be our leading score. 859-280-2287. We're going to take a break. Apparently two fans got engaged tonight. They were waiting to meet Mark Stoops after the game and get an autograph. And when they got to the front of the line to get the autograph, the guy asked the girl to marry Stoops or Pope. Did I say Stoops?

Billy (32:56)

Yeah.

Matt Jones (32:56)

Because that would be less of a good story if it was Popes. It would be very odd to get engaged in front of Mark Stoops at the game. Yeah, Mark Pope. They got engaged in front of Mark Pope. There's video. Dylan. Dylan Boward has it. I'll. I'm gonna retweet it right now so people can see it, but it's video. They waited till they got the front of the line and then he dropped on one knee and Mark Pope was there to be the witness.

Billy (33:20)

Oh, congratulations to the happy couple.

Matt Jones (33:23)

All right, we'll take a break. 859-280-2287. It's a local toy dealers KSR post game show. Welcome back. It is the local toy dealers KSR postgame show. 859-280-2287. I started filming these little reaction videos after the thing. I can't call them rapid reactions because they do that with. With ksr, the website. Everybody's giving me a hard time, Billy, because I have a picture on the ground in behind it. Yeah.

Billy (33:52)

How long has that picture been on the ground?

Matt Jones (33:54)

It's been on the ground for a long time.

Billy (33:55)

Yeah.

Matt Jones (33:55)

It's probably been on the ground for. Well, are we talking in this exact spot? Yeah.

Billy (34:02)

No, no. I mean total time.

Matt Jones (34:03)

I've had this picture. I've had this p. I did the thing where I went to every county, so that was in 2019. So I've had this. This thing for six years. So it has been on the ground somewhere for the last six years.

Billy (34:18)

Oh, that poor.

Matt Jones (34:19)

The problem is this is hard to hang up because it's really heavy. It's wood.

Billy (34:22)

Yeah.

Matt Jones (34:23)

You know what I mean? Not that I could hang it if it wasn't wood, but that gives me an excuse that it's. It's heavy. It's really nice, though. Have you seen it?

Billy (34:33)

I like to. Yeah, I saw it.

Matt Jones (34:34)

It's a map of Kentucky and it's made of the things each region's known for. Right. So it's coal in the coal parts. Grass. It's not made of grass. But it has grass on it.

Caller (34:46)

Right.

Billy (34:47)

Yeah. It's unfortunate. I can't even view what's on the picture. I can only see that it's on the floor. So it's hard for me to actually look at it.

Matt Jones (34:54)

I'm sorry. I'll take a picture of it for you sometime. Who's up next?

Billy (34:56)

Let's go to Aaron.

Matt Jones (34:58)

Aaron. Go ahead, Aaron.

Caller (35:01)

Hey, Matt, I got two things for you. The first one is really just, you know, I know it's Valpo, but it just felt good to go in there and really kick their teeth in. I know we're supposed to, but I feel like over the last few years it, you know, we kind of sweated those games. And this year it didn't feel like that in the early.

Matt Jones (35:23)

Well, it was over from the beginning. Like we. Yeah. And we did it from moment one. I think that's probably the biggest difference. I mean. Well, we don't win a lot of games, about 50, but we've won a lot of these games by Decent spreads, but it's rare that we come in and like, it was over at the first TV timeout, you know, that that was kind of a unique, cool thing. Yeah.

Caller (35:43)

And I love that. And it's just so good. And the. The second thing, honestly, during that game, I, you know, I live in Shelbyville, and I was like, you know what? I'm going to this Wolverine because I got to be there. And my sister, who has never been to a Kentucky basketball game, I just texted her and I said, we're going to this game. I'm bringing you with me. And so I said, make it happen. So I bought two tickets and we're going and we're super pumped because I'm just. I'm so ready for. I want all the smacks on everything that happened. I'm just. You're going to have. I know there's going to be more, but you're going to have at least two Cats fans there.

Matt Jones (36:18)

Well, that's awesome. I think there's gonna be a lot. Remember, they went on sale during the show when we. Basically, our fans bought up all that was left. So I think there's gonna be a lot. I've said this many times. It's still the case, and I hope this happens for you. Appreciate the call. Nothing better than getting a win in another team's house. Always. And if you're there, it's. It's awesome sitting here looking at the scores around college basketball. Obviously, North Carolina beat Kansas, couple of interesting close games. Purdue only beat Oakland by 10. That game was tied at halftime. The Oakland that, you know, different players, but that beat us a few years ago was tied with number one Purdue. Purdue ended up winning by 10. Missouri only beat Southeast Missouri Billy by three. Oh, I don't know. I don't know what that means for Missouri. And then most of the rest of these games. The obvious Team 1. There are some schools, though. We talked about how mid majors were having a hard time scheduling, so they have to play these schools that are like Division 2, etc. Some of these schools that played games today, Fort Lauderdale. Did you know that was a school? I mean, I knew it was a city.

Billy (37:25)

I know the city.

Matt Jones (37:26)

It was a school.

Billy (37:27)

Not. No, I did not.

Matt Jones (37:28)

Harvard played MIT. I don't think MIT is Division 1. A school named Jarvis Christian played Evansville, beat Calumet. I'm assuming that's not the farm. Delaware lost to a school. The name of the school is Wilmington Delaware State School being. But have you ever heard of a school being named? The name of the city and the state. No, that would be like a school being named Louisville, Kentucky.

Billy (37:59)

Yeah.

Matt Jones (38:00)

School is named Wilmington, Delaware. And then they beat Delaware. So one city is better than the entire state. So kind of odd. Who's next?

Billy (38:11)

Jen May.

Matt Jones (38:12)

Jen May, how are you?

Caller (38:14)

Oh, I don't know.

Matt Jones (38:15)

You don't know how you're doing?

Caller (38:18)

Oh, hey, I'm on. Sorry, I'm talking to somebody else.

Matt Jones (38:21)

Oh, okay. Go ahead.

Caller (38:22)

Hey, I just wanted to say. Yeah, so my son was playing at a concert uo I had to listen to most of the show on the radio. I have to say that I was really impressed with the way that like the or we made so many shots. I just feel like the last game like of missed a lot of shots. And Jalen Lowe came in tonight, which I was really happy about because I commented on one of his posts. He liked it. So I was like, he's my best friend.

Matt Jones (38:51)

Oh, so you commented on a Jalen post? Jalen Lowe post. And he liked it. Well, that's probably why he played so well, I think. So you should take full credit for it.

Caller (39:03)

Right. And drew Yellow Vic. I think that he's going to come up. I'm a fan of the next yellow Vic fan club. Let's go.

Matt Jones (39:12)

Okay.

Caller (39:13)

All right.

Matt Jones (39:13)

He played. I thought. I see he played well tonight. He. He hit a couple shots. I thought he looked comfortable on the floor. I like the way he plays. You know, he seems to be able to play in a two big thing pretty well. So I thought yellow Vic was good tonight.

Caller (39:28)

Yeah, I wish I could have seen it. I listened to it on the radio. So how do you think they're gonna play against. I haven't seen uofl play all year. How do you think?

Matt Jones (39:36)

I don't know. I really don't. I. I mean, there's never been. I appreciate the call. I've always felt like I had a pretty good handle on the uofl game. Like, if I look back, I feel like I went into every one of those games thinking that the team would that was going to win. Ended up winning. There are only two times I've been genuinely surprised by the results of uofl games. When the fox monk team lost to them, I was surprised by that. And then I was surprised when we won with jorts and that year because we beat them on their home floor and they were really good. But generally speaking, I kind of feel like going into it every year you kind of know who's the better team. And I'm not sure that I like Our upside long term, more than theirs. But I'm not sure who's better right now. I don't really know because we've only. I mean, today was the first game we've had our whole team and you know, I do think we have our whole team with Quaintance. I do think he's going to play. I do think he's going to be a big deal. I don't think we can. When we signed Quaintance, we knew he was not going to be here at this game. So Billy, I don't think we can use him not playing as an excuse. You know what I mean? Like, we knew when Mark Pope signed Quaintance, he knew he would not be playing in this game. So if Jalen Lowe didn't play, that'd be different. But I don't think if we, if we lose Tuesday, we can't go. Well, we didn't have Jaden Quaint. Oh, we didn't think we were going to have.

Billy (41:03)

He's still part of this team ceiling, right?

Matt Jones (41:05)

That's exactly right. But the question is today, right? And today he's on the team, but no one expected him to play. So, you know, part of when you bring in Jaden Quaint says you're acknowledging he's not going to play during the non conference, so.

Billy (41:20)

Well, scary thought of adding that guy to this team.

Matt Jones (41:23)

Yeah. Especially if he gets. If he's on the team before February, you know, if he doesn't join the team till mid February, while I do think he'll play, I mean, he's not going to be. You can't base the team around him if he doesn't join until mid February. The question for me is when's he gonna play? He was doing five on zero drills apparently. Which by the way, you better be able to score to 5 on 0.

Billy (41:44)

Drill back down your man.

Matt Jones (41:47)

If you can't, you're gonna be in trouble. But he, but that says he's getting some game action, which is good. Who's next?

Billy (41:52)

Noah.

Matt Jones (41:53)

Noah. Go ahead, Noah.

Caller (41:56)

Hey, Matt. So I'm actually in the middle of watching the recap from the game. Was my wife's birthday today, so we went out for a nice dinner and dance banquet. Fun thing to celebrate for her. So I'm in the middle of the recap watching it. But for. If you, if you're not able to get like from the third party streamers that are probably getting knocked off now after.

Matt Jones (42:21)

Yeah, I think the one, I think the one Shannon mentioned got knocked off tonight or else he didn't do it.

Caller (42:26)

I couldn't find him.

Matt Jones (42:27)

Yeah, I also didn't do it. Now, I will say the Islamic one had 25,000 people at one point. Billy, who would have ever thought people are watching Arabic UK basketball. That to me, you know, say whatever you want. The world is small and we can all come together for, for basketball. But go ahead.

Caller (42:47)

Yeah, so, But I want to let people know with it. So there's a different streamer, a guy that I found who he take, if I'm correct, from the name, if you look up just the letter O, underscore ball, underscore O. The. He basically does all. As far as what I can see, all of UK basketball, I think volleyball and football, basically takes the entire streams of the games, records them, but then takes out any commercial breaks. So you're actually. It's not just like a highlight, really. I, I personally, I like being able to watch and, like, sit and watch. Like, Like, I'm actually watching the game. So he has the entire stream of the full game just taking out the commercials. So it's not just, like the random highlights for it. So it feels like you get the actual experience of the game. So that's.

Matt Jones (43:32)

Okay.

Caller (43:32)

That's cool. Underscore.

Matt Jones (43:33)

Okay. Be careful, though. Don't, don't, don't narc him now. Shannon already did that to the one guy. No, no, no.

Caller (43:39)

He. He's been around for a while. I don't think he's gonna get an art, so I, I think he's all good with how he does it. All right.

Matt Jones (43:44)

All right. I appreciate the call. The. I, I, I wonder if the guy Shannon mentioned, I wonder what happened. Was he on there at all tonight? Because I went looking for him soon after the game started. Didn't see it. I wonder if Shannon scared him from even doing it.

Billy (43:58)

I don't know. He brought a lot of know.

Matt Jones (44:01)

Did Ryan tip the ar?

Billy (44:05)

Well, they, I don't know if they said his name. That was kind of what put him over the edge, right?

Matt Jones (44:09)

He did. He did tweet that somebody hadn't said his name, which makes me think he paid someone to say his name and they didn't say it.

Billy (44:16)

See, that's gonna make him upset.

Matt Jones (44:17)

He's. That's gonna make him sad. There has to be a level of trust between the illegal streamer and the streamy, and I don't know if there was tonight, I think. When's our next. When's our next illegally streamed game? We still have, like, two more, so. Yeah, I had to check all right, who's next?

Billy (44:35)

Danny.

Matt Jones (44:35)

Danny, go ahead.

Caller (44:39)

Yeah. So, Jaden Quaintance, do you think he's an immediate impact when he comes in? I mean, how good is this guy?

Matt Jones (44:50)

I know. I mean, I think he's great, but I think any kid who hasn't played basketball in over a year is not going to immediately come in in the middle of SEC play and just be excellent. But, yes, is he an impact? The dude's a freak. I mean, go. There are videos of him at Arizona State, Nadine. And play a lot because he got hurt. But when. But if you go watch him, I mean, he is a freak of nature. And he was 17 when he played last year. So, yeah, he's going to be. He's. He's gonna be one of those athletic guys where you're like, oh, my. But is he. And I think he can raise our ceiling, but I think a lot of it's going to depend on when he starts. If it. If it's February, then I don't know. But now if it's. If it's SEC play and he gets SEC play to ramp up, then I think we're talking about something.

Caller (45:42)

Yeah, man, I hear you.

Matt Jones (45:45)

So I appreciate the call. Here's a. Here's a picture of Jalen Lowe when he committed to Kentucky. He did a live stream video and he threw the L's down, up. See, I'm gonna love this. He's gonna be my favorite player. Well, he is my favorite player.

Billy (46:01)

I.

Matt Jones (46:03)

You know, now in the world of college basketball, some night when you're like, don't have anything to do and you just turn a game on, you might see a guy who will be a future capped. And. And I got that a couple times with Jalen Lowe last year, and I was like, this kid's crazy. But I love it.

Billy (46:17)

By the way, Kentucky plays Eastern Illinois next Friday.

Matt Jones (46:20)

On next Friday is another illegal streaming. Yeah, that'll be the. That'll be the championship of the BDN.

Billy (46:27)

United Tip Off Classic, presented by Kentucky.

Matt Jones (46:29)

Health Care Tech Tourism. All right, who's next?

Billy (46:32)

David.

Matt Jones (46:33)

David. Go ahead, David.

Caller (46:36)

Hey, Matt, can you hear me?

Matt Jones (46:37)

I can. Go ahead.

Caller (46:40)

I've been fortunate enough to go to the first two games this season, and I got to say, Malachi has really impressed me and tell me if I'm wrong here, but, you know, he's kind of reminded me of Nick Richards a little bit, in a way. You know, catching a lot of lobs a little bit.

Matt Jones (46:55)

I mean, I think he's a better. He's a Better shooter than Nick. Nick was a better defender. Nick. Nick was a really good defender his last year. But. Yeah, but I mean part of it is they have their hair looks alike when they. And when they play, but they do, but they do catch the lob. Similarly. I think Moreno's upside is huge. I mean it's huge. What's going to be great about him is unless he gets too good, he'll be back next year and he'll be like a centerpiece of the team next year. But he's great. I think he's going to be great. I mean at 18 tonight. And the thing is he can catch that lob and finish it. And while guys like Nick Richards could do that easily. Willie, we've had a lot of guys over the years who were tall and just, they just couldn't consistently finish that. Right. Just think about all the various dudes we've had like that he can do it and I. And then he can shoot threes and long. He starts making free throws. I think he made his two tonight. We'll be good. Appreciate the call for sure. Let's do, let's do one more then we'll take a final break.

Billy (48:03)

Travis.

Matt Jones (48:04)

Travis. Go ahead, Travis.

Caller (48:07)

Hey Matt. Really enjoying the show tonight. I know this might be a little random, but I really enjoyed the TV broadcast. I gotta give props to Andrew Kappas. He sounded like a 10 year veteran on ESPN with Travis Ford and I just really enjoyed him.

Matt Jones (48:22)

I thought he did a good job as well. I actually when listening thought that how did he end up doing that game? Didn't that other guy get hired to do that?

Billy (48:29)

Yeah, the Noah guy or whatever.

Matt Jones (48:30)

What happened to him? I don't know. Well, I thought Andrew did a good job. That's. I agree with you.

Caller (48:38)

I'm glad you do. And I got a question for you. I live here in Louisville. I work with a lot of UOFL fans and with the game coming up, should I be chesty with them or should I keep just kind of be chill until after the game and just cautiously optimistic?

Matt Jones (48:54)

Okay, cautiously optimistic. I, I would not talk trash because I don't know, like I said, I have no idea what's going to happen in this game. I, I don't even know what the line will be. I'm going to assume Louisville is going to be favored, but they might not. I don't know. I mean it is a completely up in the air game and you throw in first true road game which we've not always had the most success in. It's probably if you look at their schedule, their biggest game of the year on their court, they might, I don't, I don't even know if they, I don't think. Do they have Duke this year? I think they had them last year. So I don't even know if they have them this year at home. So it's gonna, I mean, I, I wouldn't be chesty because I don't know if we, I don't know what's going to happen. But I also wouldn't, like, be nervous because I feel like it's, I'm not nervous at all.

Caller (49:45)

It's just, I got, I just need to know if I need to stand my ground or just kind of, like.

Matt Jones (49:48)

I just kind of wait. I, I, I do like Jalen Lowe and I appreciate the call. We'll talk after the game. In my view, we're better than them, but I don't think that gap today is huge. And we're on their home court and I just believe in college basketball, home court means a lot, and it almost means a lot more in Kentucky games because everybody shows up when we play, whereas they don't always show up when other teams play. So I would say we're better, but the home court makes it a toss up. We'll take a break. 859-280-2287. Do the final segment. This is the Local Toy Dealers KSR Postgame Show. Welcome back. Final segment, Local Toy Dealers KSR PostGame Show. The NBA cup is going on, which I'm sure most of you did not know, but these courts are crazy. Did you see the one earlier today that was like bright yellow?

Billy (50:45)

Bright yellow. That sounds annoying for a basketball court.

Matt Jones (50:49)

You gotta look at the picture. It was wild.

Billy (50:52)

Is there a game on there?

Matt Jones (50:53)

The Cavaliers scored 50 points in the first quarter in their game tonight, which is an insane amount of points for. They finished with 146.

Billy (51:03)

Is that on ESPN or something? I can't find it.

Matt Jones (51:06)

I think the games tonight are on Amazon.

Billy (51:08)

Oh, okay.

Matt Jones (51:09)

You. So I, I just turned on. You said turn on usc, Northwestern. All right, I did that.

Billy (51:14)

Yeah. That's what I got on.

Matt Jones (51:16)

That's, that's exciting because of this YouTube ESPN thing. I don't even think to turn on YouTube TV. It's actually hurt the other channels because I don't even think to turn them on. It's funny, you start to learn you don't have to have it after a while. I wonder if, you know, you got, you got the Arabic streams on YouTube if you need if you need to.

Billy (51:37)

Watch anything, people are finding other ways. Yeah.

Matt Jones (51:39)

All right, we'll do six and call it a night. Who's next?

Billy (51:41)

Before we do, it's time for the Johnny Rocker. Perfect. Personal injury attorney, moneymaker of the game.

Matt Jones (51:47)

Oh, this is a new name.

Billy (51:47)

New name? Yeah, money maker.

Matt Jones (51:49)

So it's called the money maker of the game. That's what Johnny Rocker. Where is Johnny Rocker, by the way?

Billy (51:53)

Lebanon.

Matt Jones (51:55)

I wonder if he's okay. So that's right next to Taylor County. You think he's ever been to the backyard MMA fight?

Billy (52:01)

That's a great question. I'm going to have to ask him.

Matt Jones (52:03)

And you have to ask John back. All right, so this is the moneymaker of the game. Who are you picking?

Billy (52:07)

That's right. Injured get small town compassion with big city results. When you call The Rocker at 270-321-4429. And the story of the night was Jalen Lowe. But how about the guy he played pick and roll with most of the night? Malachi Moreno. I thought David hit the nail on the head. 18 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, 0 turnovers in one block in 21 minutes. Malachi Moreno, our. Our second ever Johnny Rocker, personal injury attorney, moneymaker of the game.

Matt Jones (52:33)

Moneymaker of the game. The text machine. 772-77-45254. One person writes, Matt, I'm from Taylor county and Terry calling that MMA fighting semi professional is the most generous adjective anyone could use. I like it. I mean, professional means you have to get paid. Do you think they got paid? I guess I should ask that question.

Billy (52:53)

I mean, paid in drinks and food for the night maybe.

Matt Jones (52:57)

Yeah. By the way, lower, so lower level prices for the game. You want to guess what, what the lower level price for Louisville, Kentucky is.

Billy (53:08)

Like 400 bucks Looks like?

Matt Jones (53:11)

Yeah, it looks like about 440 bucks per ticket for lower level.

Billy (53:15)

Good guess, Billy. Thank you.

Matt Jones (53:19)

You gotta compliment yourself. One person writes, first rule of fake Taylor County Fight Club is you shouldn't be talking about Taylor County Fight Club. You know, it doesn't, it doesn't exist anymore. Now one person tells me that in pike county they do that every weekend.

Billy (53:34)

That's just a normal weekend for them.

Matt Jones (53:37)

Another person says, matt, you know that there are backyard fights all over the state. They sometimes stream live on Tick Tock. Who. Please let me know when that happens. All right?

Billy (53:48)

Would love to see that.

Matt Jones (53:49)

I, I would love to watch one live on, on Tick Tock. I promise I won't narc you like, like Shannon did. All right, who's up next.

Billy (54:00)

Corey.

Matt Jones (54:01)

Corey. Go ahead, Corey.

Caller (54:03)

Hey, Matt. Just curious. Well, first and foremost, Louis. Been at least at my Twitter talking quite a bit. What do you think about their big man's matching up against ours? How do you think we compare?

Matt Jones (54:17)

So I haven't. I haven't watched enough of the fruga, so I don't know. I do like the matchup of Diabate against Pryor. I think we. I think we can win that matchup, but I don't know, like FRU versus Gary. I just haven't seen him, so I can't really say that. I would just be guessing again. I watched a handful of minutes of their Kansas game. It's hard because, you know, they changed the roster. It's hard to know. So I can't. I do that. I think the prior. Diabate. I'll take advantage. Diabate. Whoa. We still on here, Billy?

Billy (54:52)

No, he's gone.

Matt Jones (54:53)

I said, are we still on here?

Billy (54:54)

Yeah, we're sure?

Matt Jones (54:55)

Okay. Yeah. I think the point guard matchup, I think it's likely low and Aberdeen will play better than Brown, but Brown is more talent. Brown is a super talent. So, like, if you do one of these things of, let's say everybody's at their peak performance, Brown will be the best player on the court. But I don't know if he'll be at his peak performance. I mean, he wasn't against Kansas. He has been pretty good in these two games to start the season, but they haven't been playing anybody. So we'll see what happens when he plays. You know, he's played one game against a good team and did not play well. So we'll see what happens in this one. Five more. Who's next?

Billy (55:32)

Jackson.

Matt Jones (55:33)

Jackson. Go ahead, Jackson.

Caller (55:36)

Hey, Matt. So, great game tonight. First things first, I saw analytically, we're ranked third in the country defensively, which is. It's only been two games, but we haven't had a top 20 defense since 2019, which is kind of crazy.

Matt Jones (55:51)

It is crazy. Mark Pope, for Mark Pope to have a top 20 defense. I mean, historically, that's not. His teams haven't done that. So, I mean, that's a really good sign if that keeps up.

Caller (56:04)

Yeah, I mean, it would be electric to have a great defense this year. So, yeah, it's only been two games, but still, you know, scheduling for the analytics, I love that. And the second thing is, it seems like the days of random guys coming into Rupp arena and going nuts on us seems to not be a thing under Mark Pope in two years Or a year and two games. We haven't seen it so far. So. Any comments on that?

Matt Jones (56:29)

That's a great point. I think it's a, I think it's a scouting thing, to be honest with you. I mean I, I think when I think Cal's view, in my opinion, way too long into the season, sometimes even in the tournament is we do what we do, we don't worry about what you do and what that can lead sometimes is the only guy that can beat you will go off. We've seen it, we've seen it over the years, especially in Rupp Arena. These po. I mean, like they're breaking down these teams, they know the tendencies. I mean, listen to Pope in a pr. You've heard this, Billy. Listen to Pope when he does his pre game interview with Tom Leach. Like he knows every player on the team. He rattles off the numbers, what they do. He usually doesn't say their names, he says their uniform number. He rattles it all like it's clear. He knows, he knows everybody. He knows what they're going to do. So I think it makes it less likely. I think they come into these games and go, okay, Valpo or a team like Valpo's got one or two guys that can maybe score on us. We shut them down and we make these other guys beat them. This. And usually they're going to have a hard time doing that when you're getting to the third, fourth, fifth, sixth guy on a team. Four more. Who's next?

Billy (57:41)

Let's go to Brad.

Matt Jones (57:42)

Brad, go ahead. Brad. Brad. All right. No, Brad. 859-280-2287. Who's next?

Billy (57:53)

Caleb.

Matt Jones (57:54)

Caleb, go ahead. Caleb.

Caller (57:57)

Hey, Matt, what's up? First time a long time. I just wanted to say, you know, we've talked a lot about, about who's going to be pushed out when we get, we get all healthy and JQ gets back, but nobody's really talked about Brendan Garrison taking that role. With Malachi really, really flourishing and JQ coming back at the, at the five. You know, I want to get your take on what you think about Brendan Garrison maybe getting pushed off to the side. I mean, I love him. I love how fiery it is, but.

Matt Jones (58:27)

I mean, I don't think it's impossible. I don't think it's possible. I'd be a little surprised. I think defensively they really like what Garrison does and he's more physical than Malachi. So I think defensively is why it's more likely to him stay on the court. But I could see a world where you go, well, wait a minute. Malachi's offense maybe makes up for some of the Abate's offensive weakness. Diabate's defense helps Malachi and, and then Garrison and Yellow bitch. Yellow bitch. Add some offense. Garrison defense, so I could see it. I don't think it's crazy. I think they'll, they'll stay with Garrison until. But if Malachi scores 18 a game, he's going to be starting, so a lot of it will pin on it because I don't think brand Garrison is not going to do that. So. But my initial reaction would be I would expect Garrison to keep it. Now, when quaintance comes, if he were to start in December, then by February he'll be starting. But we'll, we'll. We'll see what happens. Three more. Who's next?

Billy (59:24)

Ryan.

Matt Jones (59:25)

Ryan. Go ahead, Ryan.

Caller (59:28)

Hey, Matt. I just wanted to call and say, you know, that the first half of the game, I don't know if there's a team in the country that could beat first half Kentucky tonight for sure. You know, foul, foul kind of slowed the things down the second half. And then I did also want to call in just to take up for Taylor. I'm actually driving through Lebanon now. Home back to Taylor County. We're not all in our backyards MMA fighting. We are. We're trying to clean it up. We're getting a Zaxby, you know, so it's not all just service people.

Matt Jones (59:55)

You're acting like. I don't, I don't think that's good. First of all, I've been to Campbellsville next to Lexington, Louisville and Middlesbrough. I've been there more than anywhere else in Kentucky. All right, you have the best. Mr. Gaddy's, is that still open?

Caller (60:10)

I'll give you that. I'll give you that.

Matt Jones (60:11)

You got the best. Mr. Gaddis, you're getting a Zaxby's, is that right?

Caller (60:17)

Got Zaxby's. We just got a cookout a couple years ago, so things are looking.

Matt Jones (60:21)

Wait a minute. That's high class. Middlesbrough does not have a cookout or a Zaxby's. So, like, you got. Now, that's a huge uptick in the quality of fast food restaurants.

Caller (60:32)

And that's, that's what I'm trying to say. You know, come to Taylor county, eat your cookout, eat your Zaxby's, and if you want to stay for an MMA fight, you know, there's options there. It's just not all MMA fighting, you.

Matt Jones (60:41)

Know, sounds Like a fun night. Not gonna lie. Appreciate the call. Cookout. I see. I didn't think cookout went to places like Campbell's. I thought that was more like of a Lexington.

Billy (60:51)

Louisville cookouts.

Caller (60:52)

Good.

Billy (60:54)

Anytime you get a corn dog as a side.

Matt Jones (60:55)

That should be my next investment. Bring a cookout to Middlesborough. I could see it.

Billy (61:00)

Doing well enough people in Middlesborough to.

Matt Jones (61:03)

Well, we got. We got LMU over in Cumberland Gap. Those kids like. Those kids like a good hamburger. Two more. Who's next?

Billy (61:09)

Jason.

Matt Jones (61:10)

Jason. Go ahead, Jason.

Caller (61:12)

Hey, let me. Let me first start off, say I work in Taylor County. We'd love to have you come back and do another live show there. I. I went the last time you were at Gaddy's back, and I think.

Matt Jones (61:23)

Yeah, well, we used. That usually happens in the summer, and I was gone two summers ago to Europe, and then this summer, we didn't do it. We're probably going to do some summer stops this summer, so hopefully they'll bring us there.

Caller (61:36)

Awesome. So the reason I called. I've got a stat you're gonna love. I got a stat. I know you're gonna love this. You know how at the beginning of the show, you were talking about true road games?

Matt Jones (61:46)

Yes.

Caller (61:48)

Okay, so go Back to Kentucky's three title teams. 96, 98, last three title team. 96, 98, 2012. Out of those three, teams only had one true road loss between them out of all three.

Matt Jones (62:06)

Interesting. What? Indiana. Right, Indiana.

Caller (62:10)

That. That was it. That was the one that was on the last second shot by Watford, as we know. But the other ones, 96, they lost to UMass on a new court. They lost the Mississippi State and SEC tournaments on neutral court. In 98, they lost to Arizona and Maui. And then the other three were Louisville, Florida and Ole Miss at home. And then, of course, in 2012, the Indiana game that you mentioned, and then.

Matt Jones (62:37)

The other one in 98, we lost. We lost three home games and didn't lose any road games. That's interesting.

Caller (62:43)

Exactly. Yeah. So I say let's. Let's start it out with a win on Tuesday night. I want to see road warriors this year. We do that. And 2012 or 20, 2015, you know, was their other best team. Obviously, they went on the road.

Matt Jones (62:58)

Yeah. I've always judged teams by how they do on the road, and I appreciate the call, specifically how they do their mentality on the road, because, you know, like, in 2010, we lost a couple. We lost one two games on the road. But, like, those guys liked being on the road. I think part of what I want to see is like, you know, win or lose, what's. What's their attitude in. In that. Because we've had teams look scared in those games. You know, we've had teams who just couldn't win on the road. You know, I think it's Robert Goulet who said, anybody can win at home, but a true team wins on the road. He said that in that song. Patino and the Cats. Will you play that for me before the thing? Will you look that up?

Billy (63:41)

Tino and the Cats.

Matt Jones (63:42)

Yeah, it's like ESPN2. He has a song, it's called Robert Goulet. Look it up. It's on YouTube. It'll be like Patino and the Cats. They go riding together. Let's go. Something like that.

Billy (63:54)

Okay.

Matt Jones (63:55)

If you find it, I'll be impressed. Two more. Who's next?

Billy (63:58)

We only have one more and it's Brian.

Matt Jones (63:59)

Well, somebody else is going to have to call because we have two more.

Billy (64:02)

Oh, okay. Brian.

Matt Jones (64:03)

Or did or did I say one more?

Billy (64:05)

Well, you said six more and this is the sixth.

Matt Jones (64:08)

Oh, okay. Well, then this will be the last one. Go ahead. Who's up?

Billy (64:11)

Brian.

Matt Jones (64:12)

Brian. Go ahead, Brian.

Caller (64:15)

Hey, buddies. I just want to thank you all for your show. I love it. My question is, what's your opinion on the Portal? I mean, I know it allows us to get better players and the teams with more money get the better players. So isn't it not affecting the Cinderellas that we'll never see?

Matt Jones (64:32)

A little bit. A little bit. I mean, it's. Well, yes and no. Okay, so we lost Oakland in the Portal era, right? Yale beat Auburn. Yale beat Auburn in the tournament in the Portal era last year. There wasn't a McNee State last year won in the Portal era. Now what is happening is I think you're seeing a lot less upsets here in the non conference. But the reason I think that's happening is less the Portal than what we talked about. Did you hear what we talked about on the show earlier this week about scheduling philosophies? Have we. Did you hear that?

Caller (65:09)

No.

Matt Jones (65:10)

The basic is this. The basic is this. They've now changed the way they do the. They now use the net to seed the tournament and the net, whereas the RPI used to value the teams you played whether or not you won or lost. So like playing a good team and losing sometimes is better than playing a bad team and winning. The net values winning and it values margin of victory. Margin of victory is now part of it. The in the rpi, it really wasn't. So because of that schedule, like these coaches and ADs have realized it's better to beat teams by 30 than to beat a team by 10. So there's a story on the athletic about how Belmont and schools like that, they can't get anybody to play them because now these schools are saying, rather than play Belmont, which used to be a game that helped you in the rpi, Belmont make the tournament, then you could have beaten a tournament team. Now beating Belmont by 10 is much worse than beating Valpo by 50. And so now these teams are all scheduling Valpo. So I think the kind of teams that used to pull off those games that you and I like to see, they're just not getting to play these teams. So, like the Belmonts of the world just aren't getting to play games that they can pull the upset on. And I think that's really what's happening more than. There's just these huge gaps in who everybody's playing. So I think they got to fix that because they need to make this non conference better. And to do that, I think they're going to have to encourage. Find ways to encourage teams to play the Yales, the Belmonts, the teams like that, that can actually get. Pull off an upset.

Caller (66:48)

Yeah, I mean, I agree. Don't you think the Portal has some effect on it? I mean, it seems like the parody is getting thinner and thinner as the years go by.

Matt Jones (67:01)

It is, and the Portal is part of it. But I think the Portal giveth and the Portal taketh away. One of the good things about the Portal is teams. Teams can be good, new teams can be good. Think about how good the SEC was last year. Right. That's also because of the Portal too.

Caller (67:17)

Yeah, I agree with that. I agree with that. And these teams have a lot of money and get the best players, you know.

Matt Jones (67:22)

Yeah, but it does hurt. I agree it hurts these small schools, but I also think the kind of small schools that can win these games, they're not getting a chance to play them because of the new. They're going to have to fix that, I think. But appreciate. No, it's because of the new way they're doing the tournament. It's because of the net. They got to fix the net to make it to where teams like Kentucky want to play Belmont instead of wanting to play Eastern Illinois. That's what they need to do.

Ad/Promo Voice (67:47)

Yeah.

Caller (67:47)

And I would that help recruiting for those schools?

Matt Jones (67:50)

Yeah, I appreciate. Appreciate the call. All right. Do you have that little song?

Billy (67:54)

No, I couldn't find it. I only found Patino got ran over by a wildcat. Do you want to hear any of that?

Matt Jones (68:00)

Patino got ran over by a while.

Billy (68:02)

It's a song. It's all right. Not what you were looking.

Matt Jones (68:05)

Not what I asked you for, but go ahead.

Billy (68:07)

You want it anyway. All right, sure.

Matt Jones (68:08)

Over by a wildcat leaving Freedom hall on Christmas Eve.

Billy (68:16)

You could say it was a chance and can encounter.

Ad/Promo Voice (68:20)

But as for me and Tubby, we believe.

Billy (68:23)

Oh, how about that?

Matt Jones (68:27)

Okay, that's not as good as what I wanted to hear, but I did not know that song existed.

Caller (68:33)

Crucial mistake.

Matt Jones (68:34)

Who. Who is it? Who is it that's singing?

Billy (68:37)

This looks like a fan made video.

Matt Jones (68:40)

Well, it's actually sounded well produced for a fan made video. And that's probably what, 2000? So that was the year Patrick Sparks. Yeah, that was year Patrick Sparks got fouled on the free throw. So what was that? 2007? Is it 2007? 2000. What year is that?

Billy (69:04)

All right, I'm sorry, I'm distracted by this.

Matt Jones (69:08)

Let's get it off. All right, so thank you all for very much for listening. Thanks for Billy for finding that great song. We will be back at 3:30 tomorrow afternoon from KS Bar for the for the football pregame show. The bar opens at 11. Get in there, come see us, have some of our new food but also get ready for huge football game tomorrow night. At this time the game will be ending and then we'll be coming on afterwards. We may be talking about getting a new coach or we may be talking about having a 500 record in the SEC and a chance to go to a bowl a swing game if there ever was one. Tomorrow night we will see you later. Cats win 107.59. This has been the local Toyota dealers KSR postgame show.

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Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang.

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Matt Jones (71:38)

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