KSR Postgame UK MBB vs Florida 3/07/26

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2:03brokerage services by open to the public investing ink, member Finra and SIPC. Advisory services by public advisors LLC, SEC registered advisor. Generated assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available at public.com slash disclosures. Welcome everyone. It is the local Toyota dealers, KSR, Postgame Show, Kentucky. Loses on senior night at home. 84, 77 to the Florida Gators, finished the season 19 and 12 and now depending on what happens in the Oklahoma Texas game tonight, will either be the nine or 10 seed in the SEC tournament playing on Wednesday for what I believe is the first time in the history of Kentucky basketball. I don't think we've ever played on Wednesday before. Of course more teams play on Wednesday now because the conference is expanded but nevertheless. 859-282-287, Kentucky really never had a shot in this game and part of what is disappointing is they have now played 80 minutes of basketball

3:04against Florida this year and they have not led for one second of those 80 minutes. Florida is better and as my friend Aaron Fleaner said in a tweet, Florida is what Kentucky used to be at various points in our history and certainly in the last 35 years. Kentucky just, you know, fell down 11-0, fought back, made it 11-9 and then at one point 20-19 but then gave up another 130 run and ended up with being down 33-19 and then really never was over. As a matter of fact, the closest they got was at the end of the game when really it was just about whether or not they would cover the spread. I was there for the beginning. I love senior day. I'm a sucker for everybody's family's being there and I'm a sucker for my old Kentucky home and it was a great Kentucky pre-game atmosphere.

4:06I will say once again, you know, we have had some really, really exciting. I've gone to three of the home games before just to experience the atmosphere and Tennessee, Vandy and Kentucky and they all have, excuse me, Kintisi, Vandy and Florida and they've all been amazing. I mean, the fans showed up, fans showed up 45 minutes before the game. I mean, the place was full. It was electric in there and then just completely deflated at the beginning. I told Billy, I, you know, it's hard enough for me to watch in the games in the arena. I just don't, especially, especially it rubbed because there's, we're not allowed to sit close over way up and I ended up leaving right after that 11-0 run. It was like, I'll just watch it at home and it was, it was bad. You know, you can give Kentucky credit for fighting back but I'm sort of tired about, I'm tired of being down huge in the first half. This has been a problem under Mark's Pope for two years. To their credit, they fought back

5:07and won some of these games but they have gotten down double digits in the first half. I had kept the staff for a while and then I stopped, but I mean, literally it's, I think it's like 15 times in two years. It's a crazy amount and it's ridiculous for Kentucky to do that and it's ridiculous. They ended up not getting blown out on the score but if you watch the game, you know we were blown out and it's ridiculous to get blown out at home. Kentucky should not get blown out at home by anyone. You know, occasionally you might get blown out on the road but you should never, ever, ever get blown out at home while we only lost by seven, that's not how the game played. The team way too often takes essentially breaks. A perfect example to me was the play. I believe it, Muhammad Diabate hit a three that I want to say cut it to 11 to nine. I think that was 14.

6:08Well, no, he cut it to 11 to nine and then they got the rebound and Kentucky was celebrating and they got the rebound and pushed it down and shot a three within seconds and it was 14. Am I right about that? Is that the sequence? I think so, I'm not talking about that. I think I'm right about that. I think it was 11.9 and rather than getting back Florida who's, Florida is so well coached, gets the ball out of the net, it comes down and hits a three within three seconds and it's 14.9 and the excitement you got from a Diabate three which is rare and the crowd it's just gone, immediately gone. And the key sequence in the game, obviously the start is bad but they did come back from that. The key sequence in the game is that 20 to 19 to 33 to 19. And they get, Florida went on a 13-0 run in two minutes and 20 seconds,

7:09two minutes and 20 seconds. That is a Kentucky team not paying patiently, not getting back, Florida killed them in transition, just killed them and a couple times, I mean three times, it was literally just because we didn't run back on defense it wasn't turnovers, we only had nine turnovers for the game. It was just not getting back, it's first time all year. We've lost when we had fewer than 11 turnovers, just did not get back on defense and then Florida's really good, don't get me wrong, Florida's really good, but you did it to yourself to get that gap. So for me, this is where we are. It's like you finish in 19 and 12 in the regular season. I judge, we've talked a lot about this on KSR, I judge a team on three things. The non-conference I want you to be, play good teams, win games that matter and be competitive.

8:12But ultimately, it doesn't really matter as long as you play, I wanna beat Duke, I wanna be Louisville, you know, Kansas, North Carolina, et cetera, but it doesn't really matter. But if you look at the non-conference, we went two and four against good teams. Beat St. John's, beat Indiana. The Indiana is not that great, the beat St. John's who won the biggest, but got blown out by Michigan State, blown out by Gonzaga, lost it home to North Carolina, and didn't really get blown out by Louisville, but it was a game very similar to this one, where we really weren't in it, and then made a little bit of run at the end. So two and four, then you get to conference play. And in conference play, it's the second straight year we finished 10 and eight. Last year, we were the eight seed, or excuse me, the seven seed, and now this year, the 10 seed. Mark Pope at Kentucky has been 20 and 16 in the SEC. That's not what you do at Kentucky. You don't go 20 and 16.

9:12You don't. So the SEC to me is not only disappointment, or I would say the regular season this year is at best, like a C minus D plus. I'm not gonna say it's an F, but it's barely passed. And the only reason I even given a passing grade is you did lose your point guard at the beginning, and you did lose like your six man. I've said to you, I don't put anything on Jane Queen's, I never expected him to play. You sign a guy with a torn ACL, you have to understand there's a possibility he won't play. But Jay, so not having Jay on low and Cam Williams matters, but that still doesn't excuse the record. We got more talent than teams that are gonna finish ahead of us in the SEC. We have enough talent to beat Georgia at home. We have enough talent to beat Missouri at home, right? So I just, I don't accept that it's a factor,

10:16but it's still a bad regular season. C minus D plus. Now the next thing is the SEC tournament. And it matters more to me than it has to our coaches over the years. I was glad to hear Mark Pope say we're going down there to win. I'm glad we have a coach that cares about it. I care about it, but we haven't been good in this tournament, and we haven't been to the weekends since 2019. And we are going to have to win three games to get to the weekend this time. We'll see what happens. If Texas beats Oklahoma tonight, you might avoid Florida, you're kind of looking at a path. I think I don't know where it fits out, but it looks like maybe LSU or South Carolina or Ole Miss in game one. I don't know who that would be. Then probably, I don't know where the tiebreakers get. It'll be Tennessee, Vandy, Georgia, somebody like that in round two, and then Alabama in round three. Not exactly an easy path, just to get to the weekend. Okay, that's just to get to the weekend.

11:18And then you get the NCAA tournament. I would say, unless Kentucky wins multiple games in the SEC tournament, you're probably looking at a seven. Maybe if you win two games in the SEC, maybe you get to a six, but that means you're going to have a hard first round game in the NCAA. You're going to play somebody good. So there is a chance to change the narrative on the season, but there are no more room, there's no more room for mistakes. Kentucky finishes the year disappointing. 19 and 12 is not acceptable, and I'll give you a stat that's sobering. In two seasons, Mark Pope's regular season record is now only two games better than Billy Gillespie's was. Two games. So SEC's better than it was then, but still, two games.

12:19That's frustrating. And it should be frustrating to all fans. And now we see over the, but things can change in March, the 2014 team is an example. But then a lot of times March just backs up what you saw all season. We'll see what happens this year. 8-5-9-2-8-0-20-27. Wanna hear what you think about this? What was your take on the game if you were there? I thought Otago away, by the way, went out. Playing the ways played all year, gave it is all. Aberdeen started slow, played well in the second half. But we've learned when they shut down Colin Chandler, this offense drags happened tonight, and this happened a lot of the year. We'll take your calls. 8-5-9-2-8-0-20-27. A very disappointing loss, and a disappointing regular season for Kentucky. We'll be right back. This is the local Toyota dealers KSR post game show. Welcome back. It is the local Toyota dealers KSR post game show.

13:218-5-9-2-8-0-20-287. Some good questions on the text machine. One person writes, Matt, I hadn't realized we were only two games better than Billy Gillespie. Billy Gillespie didn't come back. Do you think Mark Pope should come back? Well, should is a complicated conversation. I don't think he shouldn't. I think he, I think you just, you do it for a variety of reasons, including the fact that there are a lot of reasons. One is the contract, one is the NIL situation across, one is our athletic department budget. One is, he went here and we want it to work, but I do think next year is the year. I mean, I do think next year is the year, and he has no players. So it's understandable to be pessimistic. I think Billy would have been here a third year, if not for the off the court stuff, but Billy would have been in the same situation where it would have been, okay, we'll see what happens in year three.

14:22I would actually go so far as to say if Billy didn't have his meltdown at the end of that season where you may remember, he said, I'm not an ambassador for the school and he had all kinds of crazy stuff. I think he probably would have been back for a third year then. So yes, he will be back for a third year. I support him being back for a third year, but the third year will decide it, at least for me, going forward. One person writes, Matt, let's say all those guys were healthy. What would our record be? All those guys were healthy could be better. I'm not counting, like I said, I'm not counting coins because when you recruit that guy, you can't, like when you recruit a guy that has that injury, you're taking a chance and you know it. If you had low and Williams, maybe you win one or two more games. I don't think you, look, we, I mean, we lost four before that, right? We got blown out to Louisville with low and Williams.

15:25Maybe you win one or two, maybe you don't lose to George at home, maybe you don't lose to Missouri at home, but you aren't being Florida, probably either way. It was just not a, it was not a well-constructed roster. So maybe, maybe you go 21 and 10, which is better, but not what we want. All right, who's up first? Brennan. Brennan, go ahead, Brennan. Hey, Matt, what's going on, man? What's up? Hey, just, so I may have been trouble watching these games. I need you to kind of pick me up here. They feel so cumbersome when we're sitting here watching them. And I feel like I'm cumbersome. It's hard not to feel cumbersome, right? You get down so much. I mean, you know, just think about the last two games. We've been down so much, so early in these games that it is cumbersome. And even, remember, even in games we've won, we've been down. I mean, we've just, I don't know what the minutes, I'd like to see, maybe somebody will do this. How many minutes have we led in the SEC versus

16:27how many have we been behind? I think it's probably the case we've been behind, significantly more than we've been ahead. And I think that's probably why it feels so cumbersome. Sure, and one more thing, just hypothetical. I'm on board with Pope. If he can get it going, I'm fully behind him, but what would you say right now? Todd Golden or Bruce Pearl, after year three of Pope? Yeah, you know, I appreciate the call. I mean, both those guys, you would both those guys have issues. I mean, I think the fan base with Todd Golden has a lot of issues, including is clearly a jerk. It is funny how the two best coaches in college of basketball right now are tremendous jerks. Well, maybe you don't need to be in here, Todd Golden. I mean, Todd Golden was screaming at everybody at the game. I had a friend sitting behind that said, he yelled at the clock, people, he yelled at fans in the front row, like he's just a jerk. Now, he's an amazing coach.

17:29Like, shockingly amazing to me how well prepared his teams are. And he could win a second title this year. So, you know, we'll see, I would have always said Mitch Barnhart will never hire Todd Golden, but Mitch Barnhart will not be the AD whenever a new coach comes up. Who's next? Skyler. Skyler, go ahead Skyler. Hey Matt, how's it going? My thought, the whole season has been Mark Pope is in the guy. And I don't want to turn this into a show about that, but I think, you know, the difference, you just mentioned Todd Golden, Bruce Pearl or whoever, there's like a dog to him. And you sit there and you watch Mark Pope on the sidelines, coaching where getting run off the court for the first half and he's there with his arms crossed, he's standing, there's nothing on his face. That's why we've seen these. I would say, performative, over dramatic, grasping for who he is kind of post games. Did I see that he only spoke for four and a half minutes

18:31after the game today or is that just a YouTube thing that I saw? I don't know how long he spoke after the game. I mean, he normally does three segments on the post game. He only did two. He's not, listen, he is, he's a kind of a poor loser, at least in terms of the media part of it. I don't think he's a poor loser in law. It seems like he's gone to the other coaches and all that. But I think when it comes to media part, he's been a poor, he's been really bad after games this year. Like really bad all year. And I don't know why because it doesn't seem to fit what I know of his personality. But I remind you, when he left BYU, I've told this a couple of times. We, this, that was when we were trying to figure out about Mark Pope and I talked to a couple of people who knew him well at BYU and they said, look, great guy, awesome person. Fanbase will love him, blah, blah, blah. Loses very poorly. Takes it personally. Loses very poorly. And I think we've seen that to be true.

19:34But, but you're right, it doesn't show that during the game, which is interesting. But, but think about John Shiret Duke. He doesn't either. And he has success. But, but I coach a six grade girls basketball team. And if we're starting to get run and I can feel the momentum swing, you call a time up, you switch something up, you put, you, you look the girls in the eye and you say, hey, let's, let's lock it in right here. And, and you're not down to one. These are like D1 basketball players that we spent a lot of money on. You can motivate them a little better. And I think it takes a dog. And I'm not sure Mark's a dog. I mean, I appreciate the call. I mean, that's, I understand what you're saying. I think there's multiple ways to do it, right? I think there is the, it seems like right now, the coaches that are excelling for the most part are these relatively younger guys who have this passion, who have embraced this whole in aisle era and who are fiery. But it all, it hasn't always been like that. And I also think, you know, I, just to me,

20:35the best coaches in the country right now are Danny Hurley, Todd Golden, John Shire and Dusty May of Michigan. I don't know as much about the guy at Arizona because I don't watch them as much because they're late at night. But those just seem like the guys who are, it's just Rowland and they're getting the players for next year and, and I, you know, I want to see Mark in that group. He, he should be in that group. They're his age bracket. They're at programs like he is. He should be in that group, but he hasn't been. Who's next? Curtis. Curtis, go ahead, Curtis. Hey, Matt, was that the game that I've been at most of every home game this year? And I, I've been all on board trying to support Pope for the last two years, but the tons of games tried to give him every benefit of the doubt. But I think today, in this week in general, has been the breaking point. I know what you said earlier that next year is going to be the tipping point. And we all know for a lot of reasons, he's going to get year three to lose the next two games,

21:36still going to get year three. But I have to ask you this. What gives you any hope that this guy can do it? I mean, today, in this week, just broke me. The absolute number of things for first time, things happening for the University of Kentucky basketball program, giving up 27 to three run, going down 11, nothing at home in Florida, just knowing you're going to lose, is excuses about being everybody's tired. And then his players going on to say, I don't know if you saw it, but yellow bitches close, say no, that's not the problem. All these kids are used to playing 35 minutes a game. If you look across the country, they're doing it. Pope just seems like he's clueless and lost, and in over his head here, and this whole week has just been the absolute breaking point for me. And I don't know how anybody else could actually believe that this guy is the right man for Kentucky basketball. I would love to hear your thoughts, but I just can't see it. And I've tried to give him time, and I've tried to give him a chance. I just can't see it.

22:37Well, first of all, I think you articulate all that very well. I understand what you're saying. And let me be clear. I'm not saying I believe he is. Okay, I'm not saying that. I mean, I probably thought that, let me put it like this. I certainly thought that going into the year. This year has very much disappointed me in really every way possible. It's disappointed me in roster management. It's disappointed me in performance. It's disappointed me in off the court media, just things that the way you kind of run a program like this. And early in the year, although this is, I haven't heard as much of this recently. Early in the year, it kind of disappointed me in what I was hearing behind the scenes with the team. That seems to have gotten better. But so, no, I'm not confident. I would look at it and say, in year one, in year one, I considered it a success. In year two, I consider it, unless there's a big change,

23:41I would consider it a fail. So that then leads to me to year three breaks the time. Does that make sense? That's probably where I. No, it's not. No, that's well put, that's well put. I think we're both kind of on the same level. But I'm glad to hear you say that because I follow you on Twitter. I get emotional and stuff during games and whatnot. But I kind of feel like, and tell me if I'm wrong or you can just kind of plead the fifth. But I feel like you have even said this even with Kyle, you gotta be careful about calling for somebody's job and your position. And I get it, but I've kind of got the hint from you and even Drew and whatnot. And I see that you guys have kind of. Drew's much more negative about it. I mean, Drew's much more negative about it than I am. If there's a scale, I would say Drew is maybe not where you are, but close. Ryan still believes and I'm kind of in the middle because I see a lot of troubling concerns, but I can't overlook that I actually think you did a really good job last year.

24:43So, you know, so I appreciate the call. That's a good conversation. I, in terms of calling for somebody's job, I wouldn't, I'm not going, I wouldn't call for a job either way this year. But I will know like, it is different when I talk, I can't just go online, but, you know, any criticism that we at KSR, but I specifically do, it resonates, and it's not like, it's one of those things you can't take the genie out of the bottle. I don't have the, you know, so I try to consider that. That's what makes me so frustrated when coaches or the AD, you know, say, oh, there's a couple people doing this, they're knuckleheads, what makes me frustrated is? I bite my tongue. I mean, ask Billy in our group text, I bite my tongue, and like, they get mad

25:46at the smallest criticisms. At the small, just going, hey, where's this money coming from for $950,000 leads to and is good by press conference calling people knuckleheads. That's what we've dealt with since COVID, our coaches, starting with Cal, stoops in the last year or so. He wasn't like that before, Mitch, like, everybody gets, they are also on edge about everything that I try to be responsible and like, not say it until you can't not say it, and even then, you see the result. So, but I'm still going to do the same thing. I'm going to be responsible, and then when I say it, like I eventually did with Mark Stoops, and like I eventually did with John Calipari, and like I did with Mitch, I mean it at that point. And I think when I've said it, like, 70% of the fan base has agreed at that.

26:48Now, on this, I think it's a lot closer, and I think people are over the points. Who's next? Ryan is next. Ryan, go ahead. Hey Matthew Herbert Jones, I was just calling to see what kind of success do you need to see from Coach Mark Pope in order to be excited for season three. We got recruiting. It's a giant issue. Talent is an issue. We're outmatched in every game we play. He's been out there today. Can I be honest with you on that question? There will be almost nothing that can happen in the NCAA tournament that will change my mind. And let me say why? I think the tournament, there's a lot of randomness. So let's say we make a run to the Elite Eight. Do I still think this roster was well put together? No, I don't. Do I still not have problems with his coaching? I do. So what would make me feel better going in the next year? Them going out and getting a good roster and not striking out with every recruit

27:48and striking out with all of their top portal attempts. That's what's happened last year. They lost their top three guys in the portal and they got probably their second choice on like three different guys. And they've got no recruits. So you want me to have excitement? Let's see what you do. If we make the final four, I'll be excited. We make the Elite Eight, I'll probably be excited. But there's probably not, my view's probably not going to change much based on what happens in the next few weeks. The biggest you've seen is our guys getting out coached every game. It doesn't matter if we're out of every game, but it doesn't matter if we're in Reparina. A lot of games, he's getting out coached. He looks out match. Looks like he can't coach out of a paper bag to me at times. We are not the end of the bill. We are not Ole Miss. To quote Marcus Teague, we is Kentucky. And right now it feels like we are Mississippi State. Appreciate to call. I don't disagree with you. Couple things before we take a break. More head states playing for a tournament birth tonight.

28:50The OBC Championship is here relatively soon. Who do they play? Do you know who they play? I don't. Let me just look it up right now. They play tonight for the first official bid. And there actually is one bid that's already been decided. Long Island plays Mercy Hurst tomorrow in the Northeast Conference. And Mercy Hurst is not eligible for the tournament this year because they're still transitioning from Division 2. So Long Island automatically has the bid. And do you know who coach is Long Island, Billy? No, who? That would be Rod Strickland, former UK assistant coach, who has built that team from his first year. They won three games. To this year, they won, I think, 23. And they're going to the NCAA tournament. Tennessee State is who more head states. Tennessee State, yeah, I think that. I think Tennessee State may be the one and more head the two or something. So good luck to more head tonight. We'll take a break and be right back. This is the local Toyota Brothers KSR post-games show. Welcome back. It is the local Toyota Brothers KSR post-games show.

29:54One person writes, Matt, you really need to hear Yelvich post-game answers. They were very telling. What did they say? I haven't heard these. Do you know what they said? I haven't been able to hear it. And he said they said that he was, they were not tied. By the way, I've never bought the tire. I wish Mark Pope, he said that at the game tonight. He was like, you know, we start making turnovers when we're tire ridiculous. Ridiculous statements. It continues the, I don't know what he thinks when he says stuff. I mean, he may actually believe that. But I mean, we were down 11, nothing to start the game. Were we tired? The game was just starting. And then we were, the 13-0 run that changed the game was with it 20 to 19. Were we tired? We were still 10 minutes into the game. If we are so tired all the time, I don't believe we're tired, by the way. I watch it. I do not, I sometimes see the bigs get tired, but the guards never look tired to me. Chandler looked a little tired one of those games. I can't remember which one. I have yet to see a way an Aberdeen look tire.

30:56But the tire is ridiculous. But if they are tired, then that's on your conditioning. Yes. If they really are tired, then that's on you. Cause like these are crazy good athletes. Almost every player on this team is at least a good athlete and some of them are great athletes. So don't give me the tire. It's just, I'm tired of the tire, Billy. I'll be honest with you. Yeah, tonight was demoralizing for me. I will say that 11-0 run to start the game. The game wasn't even on TV yet. I know. I couldn't even watch it. And by the time I came on, it was, there were down double digits. I got to see it up close. It was like watching chill. I thought we were gonna lose by 40 after watching the first few minutes. Cause it looked like we were pathetic. But you know, he did fight back on it. One person writes mad, it looks, if you say Drew is the one that is most negative, it's look like he's the only one that understands

31:57what Kentucky basketball is. No, I mean, I understand. This has not been Kentucky basketball. It's not like it's, this has been, but it's not been Kentucky basketball really for six years. I mean, if we're really honest with ourselves, we've had one good season in six years in the regular season. And in that year, we lost to St. Peter's in the first round of time. So think about it. Kentucky basketball has not been Kentucky basketball since COVID. So the question is, when's it gonna change? But we have to, but I also accept the realities of, you know, there are people who want to just fire people all the time and think that's gonna help. I think what's gotta help is a complete change of mentality at the university. That's what has to start. The university, well, I mean, that's a conversation. We'll save it for the off season. But no, this isn't Kentucky basketball. It has not been Kentucky basketball

32:58since they shut down that SEC tournament in Nashville. It really has. Who's next? Mike. Mike, go ahead, Mike. That's just Mike, e-town. What's going on? A couple of points. The Billy Gillespie comparison to Mark Pope. It calls basketballs in a different landscape now. Well, okay, but I don't disagree with that, but so what? So what, you've gotta adjust, right? I mean, yes, it is different. The SEC is better. In Iowa exists, you are exactly right, it's different. But you know who I'm watching play right now? Duke, they're number one in the country. They're 28 and two. It's they're winning by 20 against North Carolina. And they don't even have the coach that built the program. So guess what they did?

33:58Yeah. Just, yeah, but that's just true. You know who else has been good the last six years? You know who made a national championship in the last six years? A national championship game, North Carolina. They adjusted, so why can't we? All right, so another point is. But I'm going to answer that question because I'm not trying to like go at you. But when I hear that conversation quite a bit, college basketball is different. Okay. But why have all the other powers adjusted? And we have wise floor that going for a back-to-back title with a completely different roster? Well, you definitely have to get out there and find some good talent. But we also have them do it. But what? What's the excuse? There's no excuse. There's no excuse. That's right. There's no excuse. If college back, if like if I was looking

34:58at the top 25 in college basketball, and the top five teams were Minnesota, LSU, like just complete random teams, then I might agree with you. But they're the same teams that have been good all the time. It's just we're not there. Correct. Now my last point, and then I'll hang up. Hope is soft, and it comes to the officials. You see John Shire. You see Hurley. What you even see for his coach tonight, they win all the time. Todd Golden, they did. And they did. And they did. And they, yeah, Todd Golden. And they get all the cost. And so why couldn't we get a review tonight? That's what I want to know. Well, we were out of time outs, and we had used our, so like, that's why. When you take your last time out, then the only way you can get a review is if the ref initiated himself.

35:59And he has the ability to do it in the last two minutes. So I think it's fair to criticize that they didn't do it. But at the same time. Yes. But at the same time, if you watch college basketball for the most part, on things like out of bounds, they almost never initiated unless a coach challenges it. Well, but you got ditched coach, you got coach and Florida's coach putting pressure on the referees. Well, let's look at it. And they get it. And they get it. Well, I appreciate it's called. I mean, that's, that's true. I don't, I don't disagree with that. He's, he yells at refs. He just does it a different way. I don't know what the right strategy is with refs. But I will say this. Todd Golden does not shut up during the game. Who's next? Neither did Cal. No, he didn't. Neither did Mark. Sometimes we thought Cal. And sometimes we thought Cal heard himself by doing that. Correct.

36:59Yeah. You know, who knows what works. Who's next? Another mic. Mike. Go ahead, Mike. Hey, as I'm saying, man, there's nobody has been a bigger post supporter than me. But he's battered me because you know, I hear all these people talking about our talent. It's not the most talented. But I do believe it's talented enough to compete in the FCC. And I think his management of the roster is worse than the actual roster. I agree with that. I agree with the second point. And I actually agree with the first point. He may not have the talent to be as good as Florida. But we have just as much talent as probably everybody in the league except Florida Arkansas and Alabama. And guess what? And guess what? We better have more talent in Georgia. Oh, without question. More talent than Georgia, Missouri, Texas, all these teams we've lost to, we beat Texas. But A&M, like we have more talent than all those teams. You're exactly right. And shout out to Oscar Collins for calling for some of these upper guys to step aside.

38:00I thought that was a bold take, but also the correct take. Appreciate to call. Who's next? Andrew is next. Andrew. Go ahead, Andrew. And I. I called you after the. Well, we'll get back to football game and I kind of have the same question again. Like what's like the sales point? If you're the 80 obviously won't be Mitch. But, you know, a few of these and think it's a football as I do and basketball both. What's like the sales point for me to renew again? They got it with football because they fired seats or whatever. Well, basketball, my sales point would be. We're going to be good at basketball again. And we're going to be really good. Now, is it going to be a pope? I don't know. Yeah. Yeah, we will. This school. There's too much. But there's only next year we will. No, no, no, no. Oh, well, I mean, the reason you would renew is if you lose your season tickets, next year you're going to be sitting up in the rafters.

39:01Unless you already sit in the rafters and then maybe you don't, then maybe you don't renew. I don't know. But I'm just saying like the reason it's the same reason I renewed for the reds when I knew they were going to be terrible because I wanted to keep my seats for if they got good. That's the way. But again, before when you say would you renew next year, let's see what the rock. We don't know what the roster is. Like we don't know one person that's going to be on the team next year for sure. Yeah, but we'll probably have to renew before that. Before that. You know, we're going to know by we're going to know pretty quick. We're going to know by probably May 1st, most of the roster. Sure, should we. Okay. Okay, so maybe the roster will be fine. I guess I just, I just feel you can't really feel optimistic about it. I do. I want to succeed more than anyone. I just don't think how you can feel optimistic about like the direction of the program. I'm just saying the football and it changed and changed after I talked to you in that game.

40:01So I kind of think what can basketball do to change the direction? And I don't want it to be a coach change like it was for football. I want there to be something else. Well, that's not going to happen. So I and I appreciate the call. That's not going to happen. So you'll have to decide if you're positive enough without that. Who's next? Let's give our Johnny rocker personal injury attorney money maker of the game. Next, Matt, injured, get small tank of passion with big city results when you call the rocker at 2703214429. And tonight it goes to a taiga. Oh, a 28 points was four of eight from deep eight of eight from the free throw line in 38 minutes. He had only one turnover and to add to the stat that you shared on the pregame show. Oh, a has now scored double digits and 63 of the 67 games that he's played with at Kentucky. He is our money maker of the game tonight. All right, sounds good. 8592802287. By the way, well, let's do one more call real quick. Who's next? Okay, Chris is nice. Chris, go ahead, Chris.

41:02Hey, Matt, I kind of like where the conversation's going because I got program concerns. Two years ago, we made a reach higher, but I was one of 24,000 people at rep to welcome Pope with open arms. We flash forward these two years. The record is what the record is. We have no recruits. We have no site of hiring a general manager to run this thing. We have JMI who just can't make or who I love. We have Mitch, who's stepping aside. Kind of, but he's in another role, but he's not going to be DAD. Okay, great. Like, where is my hope for this program coming from? Well, I mean, I can't determine your optimism or not. But everything you just questioned, I have the same questions. Mark's story wrote in the hero leader just a week ago.

42:03These next two months are Mark Pope's career. I completely agree with that. I'll go further. These next six months are massive for the future of Kentucky basketball, not just Mark Pope. I would make an argument that if Kentucky doesn't get its act together in the next four to six months, and do not make does not make the right decision, then that will become a three or four year process that's hard to get out. The AD higher is going to be crucial. There are many things happening behind the scenes that are not part of the issue is I can't just talk about them because me talking about them will change everything will change things. Not change things, but we'll make it completely different, but they're happening. Quick follow up math. Well, I mean, I just can't, yeah, I can't, but Mark Pope, whether he's going to succeed, what kind of roster are we going to have?

43:04Are we going to hire a GM? Is it going to be the right hire? I would argue that when we get to the decisions that will be made from today until August 31st of next year, I'll even say July 1st because we'll have to have an AD then the decisions from March 7th to July 1st are going to determine the next five years of Kentucky basketball. And so I'm nervous about it, but I'm not giving up, but I am nervous about it. Are you hopeful there are folks in the room? That I don't know who's making this. I'll be honest with you. I don't know who's making decisions. I'm going. I'm not. I'm not. Alito is not, you like, I know offense to you because I like you like, I think he's done a good job. I don't even have, he's making decisions. I kind of don't think he'll be the president next year. That's just my guess. That's not inside information. It's just a guess. I mean, so, you know, you like, have little spends a lot of his time in Alabama.

44:07I don't know. So I honestly don't know who's making the decisions. the decision. So when you ask me are the people in the room, I don't even really know who's in the room. I mean, I was shocked today to see WKYT say the Board of Trustees of the University did not know about the Mitch contract. What? You all did that on his own. But did you all do it? Did somebody else tell you? I don't know the problem. So to answer your question, I don't know who's making the decision. So it's hard for me to know. Well, Matt, thanks for being a voice beast. I appreciate you. I appreciate what you do. We need some hope, man. I appreciate the call. And I have hope because I'm an optimistic person. But, you know, I'll be real with you on July 1st. I'll tell you how positive I feel. And that doesn't mean I'll be right. Like, you know, my initial reaction to the Popeye was negativity. And then I switched. Maybe my initial reaction was right. Maybe my switching

45:07will be right. I've been right. Who knows. But we'll see. We'll time break. Come back. Final segment. Local Toyota dealers, KSR post games. Welcome back. Local Toyota dealers, KSR post game show. Do you say LSU and A&M's in triple overtime? 87, 85 triple overtime three minutes left. Yeah. I don't know. I don't know what the what what what that game impacts who we who we would play first. Right. I'm sitting here looking at the SEC standings. LSU is three and 14. LSU looks like they well, if so if they win, then they would get into a tie with South Carolina and Ole Miss. So I think we can say with confidence that we are either going to play South Carolina Ole Miss or LSU in the first room. Do you have a preference as to which of those you would play? Not Ole Miss because I know Travis Perry score in 20 in that game. So yeah, I think LSU is the best of those teams. Yeah.

46:09Oh, they're the best. I think South Carolina is awful. But so I mean, we should beat all of those teams, but LSU is probably the best of that group. So one at South Carolina already. And it looks like we're going to be either the nine or the ten. So that will be us or it would look to me like if we are the nine, we would play Missouri in the next round. And if we were the ten, I think we would play Georgia in the next room. I would. So so it looks like we're going to get a chance to avenge one of those home losses. We'll see. I can't the tiebreakers are so weird. So would you Arkansas or Alabama or did who won when Arkansas played Alabama this year? That's who the two would be. I don't know. I'm guessing Alabama, but let me check. Let's see Alabama beat Arkansas.

47:11So that means Alabama will be the two C to assuming they beat Auburn tonight, which would make Alabama our team. We would play on Friday. So it looks like we will play either South Carolina, Mississippi or LSU. Then in the next round either Missouri or Georgia. And in the next round either Florida or Alabama. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. But that's what happens when you go to the night. Who's up next? Stubb. Stubb. Go ahead. Stubb. So Colin Chandler is way too easy to take out of a game. He is unfortunately. Yeah. Yeah. It's unfortunate. And that is worrisome for the postseason. He's been essentially taken out of both of those games. Yeah. He's just. Bus is hard. He's just he's just soft. But what frustrates me Matt is these teams like you asked the average Florida fan.

48:19They would trade in a heartbeat. If you said hey, if we would trade your three basketball national championships, so even make the football playoffs, they would trade it without even batting on eye. Same thing with. I agree with you. I totally agree with you. I totally agree with that. So frustrating. And you're right. I thought that today I was looking at the Florida fans there. And they had so few fans there. And I was sitting there thinking, man, they don't even care in their good. And we would give anything to be good. And we're not. And same thing with Alabama fans with whatever success they've had in Alabama football. I don't know. That is without question. I completely agree with you. You I completely agree with you. I appreciate the call. That is that is that I thought about that tonight. It's frustrating. Who's next? Jeremy. Jeremy. Go ahead. Jeremy.

49:20Hey, what's up, Matt? What's going on? So two things. Not much, man. Good rough night. I think I think I'm going to hit on a couple of things that some other college have already hit on. And they've been good calls. But I think what we're talking about is uncertainty. There's a kind of uncertainty surrounding the state of the basketball program with a new AD coming in. You know, Pope to some level on on the ropes game to game. I think it's fair to say. There've been times that this program is based on certainty. But I don't think they've ever faced it in the types of times that we're in, where you've got NIL, you're paying players. But we don't we don't have a recruit, man. We don't have a top 20, 20 class kid at a high school coming in next year. And that is that's uncharted territory. Well, part of the uncertainty for me is the fact that the entire system is changing. And if you look throughout history, when the systems change, okay? So when college sports has undergone massive institutional change,

50:27the teams that figure it out the best are not only good immediately. They tend to become the teams that are good for the next 10 to 15 years, right? So they write the rules basically. And they do write the rules. And so think about when the one and done era started, we took advantage of it first. And we kind of owned the sport for a few years. And for a decade, you know, this next iteration of college basketball, it feels like you can't and Florida and Duke and Houston have kind of figured it out. And they're kind of being good every year, no matter who they have. I worry we're getting left behind. Now, there's another change coming, which is whatever college sports looks like after Congress passes, whatever legislation they pass. And so that is the next thing. But I do I'm with you part of the uncertainty is it feels like it's a crucial time to be good and we're not good. That's right. And the only other thing was, and this just literally gets back,

51:34it gets back to, you know, fundamental coaching, you know, and even Jimmy Dyke's pointed out today, you know, there was a couple of different instances where, you know, Ty golden cost plays, right? Like they, they set up three dudes on the right side of the court. It's a smokescreen. That dude set a simple pick, handed the ball to Halc and he nailed a three. I mean, that's, it's fundamental basketball, right? It's coaching. And I think there's a level, like I think Mark Pope, maybe two smart. I think he gets locks, he gets locked in that you can be battle then his own head, man. Yeah, he doesn't know what to do. I think he gets free. I bet he, I've been around those. Yeah, I appreciate that. I was around a lot of those people when I was in law school, people who were really, really smart and they almost were so smart that when they got in front of a courtroom, they couldn't do it because they, they couldn't make oral arguments because they were almost to bookish. I'm not saying Mark Pope is like that, but that does exist in some form. Who's next? Cletus. Cletus. Go ahead, Cletus.

52:38Cletus. All right. No, Cletus. Who's next? I have a feeling that was probably a fake caller. Just just a guess. Who's next? Jen May. Jen May. How are you? Hey there. I'm doing okay. Really sad about the loss. I was in the show yesterday and was really excited when I heard Jasper Johnson and Marino talk about the game and they were really pumped up about it and I really thought that we were coming in. I thought it would be really close. I didn't think they'd sound like we did, but I give a shout out to O.A. he's been carrying us and he did a fantastic job tonight. Yeah, I agree with you. And Jack Gibbons apparently said in the post game show that he didn't think Kentucky believed it could win. I hope that's, I didn't hear him say that, but I hope that's not true. Right. I know. Right. I thought they would. I just also thought that Jasper Johnson, like when he came out, there was like a momentum change. He kind of was a little

53:40bit selfish there. Well, you know, his plus minus was interestingly not that bad. I mean, Billy was telling me the plus minus. You said only one player had a positive plus minus and I appreciate the call. Billy tell everybody who the one player that had a positive plus minus. Brandon Garrison and 14 minutes was plus five, only person in the plus for that step. It's interesting. Sometimes you never know who's next. Bob and James town Bob, go ahead. Matt, we could have, I mean, the way that game played and at that clock business, we could win a very good game. I'm not, but I'm not blaming the, I'm not blaming the clock or the rest. We were completely outplayed. There were a couple of bad calls down the stretch. The clock thing was an issue, but you know what? We, if I kind of feel like this game the way I did, I'm trying to think was it all burn it or one of those games where we had no business winning. And if we had won, it would have been lucky. Oh, it would have been a stunner. I mean, I could say

54:45it would have been lucky. We got completely outplayed the entire game. Oh, yeah, I grit, but because I mean, look, the last minute to the game. Well, how about those Miami Red Hawks? Now, I got my fingers. I appreciate the call. I worried about your Miami Red Hawks. It's a UK post image. I think that was the only reason he wanted to call. You know, we're seeing them in the turn of the thing is I want to root for Miami, but then it's Bob, right? So you have to, so that makes it hard. Who's next? We're getting matched up with them. How many more might take here? Because I got let's do let's do let's just do one more. Who's next? Okay. Dirk is dark. Go ahead, dark. Hey, man, I got a couple of thoughts and I'll try to be brief before I hang up and listen, you know, to the point at the very beginning of the show about getting in these deficits and then coming back for a lot of games this year, you know, as my buddy Nick from Paris said, we're in a bit of a rinse and repeat cycle with this team. And unfortunately, the way the games change, I don't think you can draw any positive lessons from coming back the way you could 10 years ago.

55:50You say you got a second year coach rebuilt or you know, building back the program, but now you got to forget all the lessons year to year because you got total rock. Every team is a new team. You're exactly right. And the coaches that will adapt are the coaches that can take a new group and go. And I don't think there's any doubt about that. And the games themselves, I think, are playing out more like, and this is not bad. This can be fun to watch. They're playing out a lot more like NBA games where you have wild lead changes. Everybody's shooting 25 to 33s of games. So it's not uncommon to just turn a game on and see a team up 17 in the first half and then you look back at the TV and it's a tie game just like in the NBA. And so unfortunately, I mean, of course, you'd like to see a team fight back when they're down 20 and they lose by seven instead of giving up and losing by 40, but I'm just not sure what kind of lessons you can draw. So yeah, I agree with all that. And I also would say, you know, if you fall down 20 every game,

56:50yeah, you come back and steal a couple, but what about the other six? You know, how about we, how many games this year have we gotten up a lot at the first half? Not many. But we've been down a whole lot. So Kentucky will either play at, they will either play at one o'clock or actually noon or seven. It will all come down to the Oklahoma Texas game tonight. And they are in the first half and I'm going to give us a score before we get out of here. 12.7 Oklahoma. Yeah, so really not much to say yet. Oklahoma wins. We play at noon, if Texas wins, we will play at seven. Thank you, folks, very much for listening. We appreciate it. Tuff into the regular season. Cats go down. We will see you on Monday morning. This has been the local tornadoes KSR post game show.

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