Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
God damn. Everybody. Welcome in. It is the Leech Report.
We are presented by Bobcat Enterprises each day. Thanks to
Billy Rutlich for pinchhating yesterday as I was getting back
late from Knoxville. So good to be back with you
to talk about a big Kentucky win over the Valls.
And we'll do that with Goose Givens today and with
(00:27):
Justin Rowland from Cats Illustrated. We'll lead off with Michelle Canesvik,
one of my teammates on the UK Sports Network from
JMI Sports, to talk about a new venture for Wildcat fans,
and we'll get into that when we come right back.
But let's jump right into the Wildcat News of the day,
a service of Giuseppes of Lexington Mark Pope radio show
(00:48):
last night on Wednesday. It'll be the same next week
because of a Tuesday road game. And one of the
interesting the thing against the most coverage out of the
radio shows going to be the comments about cal that
I'll talk about here in a second. But I thought
it was really significant that Pope told the story about
(01:08):
walking into the locker room after meeting with his assistant
coaches and hearing Jackson Robinson in a long talk with
his teammates about how their play had not been good
enough at Vandy and that the Tennessee game was much
better and that's what they would have to have to
do what they hoped to do. I think Jackson talked
(01:29):
with Goose after the game in Nashville last weekend and
maybe touched on some of those points. And then I asked, Mark,
you've been with Jackson now almost two seasons. As said, essentially,
was that a surprise that he would do something like that?
And he said, two years ago, there's no way Jackson
(01:49):
Robinson would have spoken up like that. So to me,
that's a really positive sign for this team that he
is looking comfortable an asserting more of a leadership role.
And boy, he's been on a tear. This goes back
to he played poorly in the Georgia game and he
was in a little bit of a rut there. You know,
(02:11):
who knows what's going through his head. He Mark Pope
told the story about how Jackson came to Pope before
the Mississippi State game that followed the Georgia loss and
just talked about how he was going to clear all
that stuff out of his mind. And just get Blaser
focused on staying in the moment. And he has since
(02:32):
that point averaged almost eighteen points a game, and he
shot fifty percent at the three point line twenty two
out of forty four. So kudos to him for working
himself through that. And boys, it's really cool to see
how he's flourishing now. The confidence to step into more
(02:53):
of a leadership role. That has to be a good thing.
I think, so a lot of positives there in that
story from Coach Pope and the radio show last night,
and then he also talked about coach Cal coming back
with his Arkansas team on Saturday night, one of the
big stories in college basketball over the next couple of days.
(03:13):
I thought Mark had an excellent response. He said, tremendous
praise for what Cal did at Kentucky. You know, Mark
talked about, you know, being a former player UK alum
and just you know, proud he was of what Kentucky
did under John Caliperry's leadership. Said he was grateful for
how Cal has treated him and his wife Leanne in
(03:35):
their time since their arrival at Kentucky. And he said
as far as the game, it's complicated for the fan
base because of the competition aspect, but he said there
will be a day when Cal comes back and is
showered with love for what he did in his time
at UK, and one hundred percent agree with that. You know,
(03:55):
it just won't happen this particular Saturday. I suspect the
reaction will be somewhat mixed. My if I had to guess,
I'd think when Cal probably first works walks onto the court,
you'll hear some booing. I think the cheers might drown
that out after a few seconds. We'll see how it
(04:17):
plays out. Everybody's got to feel the way they feel,
and that's okay. If you're a fan, you get to
have the feelings that you have, and you can and
you can also, I'm sure understand the people who have
different feelings, and it can be the closer we get,
the I think, the more I feel it's more and
(04:40):
more of a mixed bag. So it's obviously going to
be a big storyline on Saturday up through the introductions,
and then other than that, the game will be played.
The story continues in the postgame press conference, and then
I think that's really it. Everybody moves on from that
moment and the teams go on to their respective sea,
(05:01):
so we'll see how all of it plays out on Saturday.
We'll get more into the that in the matchup tomorrow. Anyway,
a couple other things or one other thing from the
radio show last night, Coach Pope is a big fan
of the Mountain Mamba nickname for Trent Noah. I thought
that was pretty cool too. I think it came up
out of Matt's postgame show on Tuesday night after the
(05:26):
game from a listener, But is a pretty cool nickname. Now.
If Trent just keeps knocking down those long threes like
he did down at Tennessee, it will even enhance it more.
And a big game for the UK women tonight is
they take on a ranked opponent at Historic Memorial Cad.
(05:46):
I'll see them. It's number twenty two Alabama and it's
a seven o'clock tip. UK radio network coverage. We'll get
started at six forty five Eastern with Darren Hendrick's call.
It'll also be televised on the SEC network, so tune
it in on TV if you can't be there, and
then match up Darren's radio call for the best coverage
(06:07):
of Kentucky Alabama tonight and if you are going to
the game. They are making it a white out so
where you're white to cheer on the Wildcats tonight at
the Coliseum against number twenty two Alabama. Links to the
stories that we talk about each day can be found
on the bud Light Leech Troopworts page at Tom leachky
dot com. We'll talk about the new all access platform
(06:30):
for the UK Sports Network when we come right back
our opening segments presented by Giuseppes of Lexington and go
to open table today and make a reservation for Giuseppes.
Maybe around a trip to Keenland or a big event.
If you're coming in town for the Sweet sixteen, take
an opportunity to stop by Giuseppes. It's fantastic food in
(06:52):
a really special atmosphere including Dave Hall's live jazz music.
If you sit in the lounge area every night of
the week at Giuseppes. Be right back, Welcome back into
the lead, True Report, and we come to each day
from the Clark's Pumping Shop studio. Return, refresh and refuel
at Clark's. Give a new loyalty rewards program. You want
to download that to get great deals on gas and
(07:15):
also items in the Clarks stores. And we are joined
on the Club Blueennil dot com hotline by Michelle Canzabek
from the UK Sports Network and under the JMI Sports
umbrella and a new venture that is being launched what
I guess tomorrow, Michelle, the UKSN All Access platform.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Yes, tom very very exciting. January thirty first, a big
day for the UK Sports Network launching the UKs and
All Access.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
So what are fans going to find there?
Speaker 2 (07:45):
So fans know the UK Sports Network, they know you,
they know Goose, they know all the radio calls. Sometimes
it's like where is all this content we do? We
talk about the coaches shows, we talk about even BBN
tonight is under our umbrella, the UK Sports Network and
all of this content that we've been doing the last
year or so. But it essentially will be an extension
(08:07):
of UK Athletics dot com and the UK Athletics App.
So I would imagine most Kentucky fans already have the
UK Athletics App because that's where you get your tickets.
But if you don't, make sure you have it on
your phone or you can go onto the website and
there'll be a new button on the menu bar and
it'll say UKSN for UK Sports Network and you click
on that, and essentially what it'll be is a new
(08:29):
landing page where you can find a lot of exclusive interviews,
behind the scenes content. We've been really storing a lot
of this content over the last couple of weeks. There
will be new content that Kentucky fans have not seen
before when they open the app Tomorrow thirty first, and
then also there's kind of a big game on Saturday,
(08:51):
as you know, tom so the pregame show with Dave
Baker and Cameron Mills will be exclusively streamed on our
new platform. And then also the postgame show where you
speak with Coach Pope and Goose speaks with the player
of the game, will also be exclusively streamed on there,
and I know that fans are going to love to
(09:11):
hear this part. It is free. All you need is
an email and a password and you can sign up
for free. There's no paid subscription, so it'll be free,
free content for fans to look through. And both of
those shows will be exclusively streamed on there, so I
know there will be a lot of eyeballs on there
on Saturday.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
So it's a one stop shop opportunity for a fan
to find like last night's Mark Pope radio show. You
didn't catch it, you want to, you can go there
or the things you talked about. And I'm sure other
things that will be coming. I mean, you've got the
Behind the Kentucky Basketball, Behind Kentucky Football, Baseball, et cetera. Podcasts,
(09:49):
they'll be there, but I'm sure there's other new things
that will be coming.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Too, Right, Tom, you mentioned all the podcasts that we do.
We did the Mark Pope Show and the Kenny Brook
Show and BBN Radio from the new Downtown studios attached
to the Central Bank Center. So in collaboration TOMI Sports
UK Athletics in the College of Communications, with the new
studio downtown, we'll be doing new productions out of there.
(10:14):
So the Coaches Show, for instance, we did out of
there on Martin Luther King Day. All of those shows,
all of the Coaches Shows, the Soup Shows, the Pope Shows,
the Kenny Brook Shows, and eventually the Coachman Jones Shows,
all of those will be on there. Some content that
we've done earlier this year, Georgia Amore did a locker
room tour when the baseball team went to Omaha. Ryan
(10:35):
Nicholson did a vlog and took a go pro around
a new piece of content that will be dropping when
the apps launches. I'm sorry, after the app launches either Saturday,
after the game on Saturday, so really Sunday in the
wee hours of Saturday night. Georgia Amore from the women's
basketball team. We did a day in the life with
(10:57):
her when they played Arkansas on Sunday, so her personality
is absolutely incredible. That'll be a fun piece of content
that'll be dropping to kind of see her behind the scenes,
how she gets ready for a game, pregame ritual, all
of those things that'll be on there. And then as
we gear up for hopefully a really fun postseason with
the men's and women's team, all of the fun coverage
(11:20):
and content that we'll be able to do alongside of
the teams. The Boost camera that people love that you
and goose too, so all of those will be on there,
but really just going to be a one stop shop
for a lot of different content throughout the entire athletics department.
So obviously we're in a basketball season right now, you know,
gymnastics is gearing up, but this will not just be football,
(11:43):
men's basketball, women's basketball. It will be sports across the board,
so looking for coverage on all of you can.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
So it's UKSN all Access at launch tomorrow and make
sure you're signed up on the app no cost and
kind of putting all of this in one place to
make it a little more user friendly for fans. So
it sounds like a great idea. Michelle, thank you for
the time.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Awesome, Thanks Tom, I'll see you. I'll see you Saturday.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Sounds good. It's Michelle Kenazivik and you'll hear her with
the coach Pope is at the halftime point during our
broadcast on Saturday, and you are properly a couple of
other times as well from the sidelines. Coming up this weekend.
Right now, we're going to get to a break and
coming up next is the Goose Jack Gibbons. It's the
(12:31):
Leak Report, presented each day by Bobcat Enterprises with four
locations in Kentucky. Google them when you need to buy
or just rent some heavy equipment for a job. They
can take care of you. They'll have the equipment you
need and then you'll get fantastic service after the sale.
Google Bobcat Enterprises, find the one of those four locations
that's closest to you, and we'll be right back. It's
(12:53):
the Leech's Report. We go back to the Club Blue
nil dot com hotline and bring on the Goose Jack
Gibvens to talk about Kentucky's big win over Tennessee on
Tuesday night and Goose, sometimes some of the best things
around covering a team just kind of happened organically. They're
not played, and so you're finishing up your chat with
Kobe Brea after the game on the network and then
(13:16):
he has a really sweet encounter with a little young
man from burying a Tennessee jersey. That was a fun moment.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
It was really neat to see that there were a
bunch of Kentucky fans at the game, and we heard
it there late when the go Big Blue chant kind
of broke out, and but that that picture, that scene
was unbelievable. I mean, you could see the kid who
(13:47):
had the Tennessee jersey on. He wasn't he wasn't the
happiest kid that that was at the game that night,
because there were a lot of kids with Kentucky stuff on.
But man, that was so much fun see that. Yeah,
we have a lot of good guys on this team, Tom,
We've been blessed over the years to have good guys.
(14:08):
I mean that's been Kentucky tradition for a long long time.
And certainly these guys are special. And Kobe spent time
with a bunch of fans out there, probably twenty minutes,
so it was a special scene for sure.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Yeah, there are some Sometimes teams have a special connection
to fans. The Unforgettable in ninety two is probably the
best example of this. Is Kentucky's coming off probation. It's
the first time they can go back into the postseason
and fans get a run that they didn't really expect
to get by going all the way to the Elite
(14:47):
eight and nearly upsetting Do twenty ten. And you know
Calcoms in his first season and the program had been
down and they're rolling again and it's an exciting team,
and that I think team had a special connection, and
I think this one has really connected with fans, And
if the postseason goes really well, this is going to
be one of those teams that will be have a
(15:09):
real special place in the hearts of Kentucky fans. Yeah, like,
you know, your team in seventy eight winning a title.
I think the seventy five team did because of you know,
that upset of Indiana. So there's just certain teams that
have that connection, right Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
And this team is even more special to me, Tom
because what three months before the season started, we didn't
even have a team exactly. I mean, we didn't have
a we didn't have a player. Everybody was talking about, well,
I just hope we can win ten games or all
of this stuff. And now you have what is number
(15:48):
one A good team. I mean, they're good teams, some
good players. But it's a feel good story even for
Kentucky basketball because we have had a bunch We've had
a bunch of him over the years, but we didn't
have a coach, we didn't have we didn't have a player.
So what this has developed into and developed into very quickly,
(16:10):
I think this team will go down as one of
the really special teams over the history of Kentucky basketball.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
And you know, they had to deal with some incredible
adversity in this game. To play a team as good
as Tennessee, number one defensive team in the country on
their home floor, and you do it without your top
two point guards and without your starting for.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
Man, and I don't want to well, I do want
to give Mark a lot of credit because as I
listened to your interview with him before the game, Man,
you would have thought he's on a ten game win
streak and they and this team was invincible because he
(16:53):
was so positive going into that game, and it's obvious
that the players felt the same. I mean, you can't
get in a more adverse situation in the SEC. You
just can't do it as what Kentucky is facing with
players out and is this guy going to be able
to play? It was just amazing how positive Mark was
(17:16):
and that goes right through the team. I mean, every
player seemed to me from start to finish, very positive
that this game was going to be a good one
for the Cats. So it's just special all the way around.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Tom. I want to pick up on some more about
that when we come right back with the Goose Jack Givens.
We're coming up on the heartbreak at the bottom of
the hour, so we'll continue our chat here in just
a few minutes, And don't forget to if you haven't
yet pick up the book. They call me Goose, That
Jack did with Doug Brunk, and you can have an opportunity.
I'm sure to get it signed sometime soon, certainly down
(17:52):
at the SEC Tournament if you're going to be there.
More of a Goose when we come back here on
the Leach Report presented by Bobcat Enterprises, and we come
to you from the Clark's Pumping Shop studio here on
this Thursday with the Goose Jack Gibbons joining us. Goose,
we were talking about what you heard in the pregame
(18:13):
interview from Coach Pope. I also thought during the game
it was maybe the most animated that I've seen him.
Maybe it was because we're we're there next to them,
but it sure felt like maybe he was more animated
than usually. I thought at one point he was going
to get a t And I'm guessing part of that
is that he has seems to have a really tight
(18:37):
connection with this group that he had to put together
in short order, and then you had to do a
lot of work to you know, build the chemistry because
they were all coming in from different places, and then
he sees them facing this adversity and he sees how
hard they're battling. Right from the start, they were playing great,
and so I don't know. I don't know if you
(18:59):
saw the same thing, but he was. He's always coaching hard,
but I don't know, he may have turned it up
one more notch on this game.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
Totally agree with you, Tom, I totally agree. And you know, Mark,
having played here, he understands the Kentucky Tennessee robbery, you
know first hand, and he knows how hard it is
to win in Knoxville. And when you have the team
working as hard as Kentucky was working, and certainly in
(19:30):
the first half, it seemed as though Kentucky was getting
not getting the benefit of the whistle. And frankly, when
you work as hard as Kentucky was working, when you're
as physical and as aggressive as Kentucky played in that
first half, you would love to see a little more
(19:51):
even whistle. And when Mark thought those whistles weren't coming, yeah,
he got into it.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Man.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
He was wanting to let the officials know and that
he wasn't gonna stand back and just watch you call
it one way. And he did get more involved. And
but I think it was a direct result of how
well and how hard if guys were playing, they deserved
a better whistle than they were getting, and Mark wanted
(20:19):
to make sure the official knew that.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Yeah, I think sometimes you kind of make a little
noise when it's a nine to two difference in the
free throws. Edit evened up pretty quickly there in the
second half. Yeah, I wasn't really surprised to see Kentucky
reassert itself in the start of the second half because
they had control of that game really until I thought
a Mariy Williams picked up his second foul and went
(20:44):
out and then Tennessee came alive on the boards. There
was It was deep into the first half where Tennessee
didn't even have an offensive rebound.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
Yeah, and boy, mari was pretty special in that game,
no question about it. But you're absolutely right, Tom, And
when you have a half like that, it's really good
to go in the locker room and point out all
the good things you were doing as opposed to talking
about you're not rebounding. You gotta you know, you gotta
be more physical. Whatever that message is. It's great to
(21:13):
be able to go into the locker room and say, man,
I told you we could rebound with these guys. I
told you we could be as physical as these guys
and we could deliver the punch as well as take it.
I mean, and that's one of the real things. When
you run into a team that like Tennessee who wants
to kind of uh intimidate you through their defense, you
(21:37):
you have to number one, you have to embrace it.
You have to say, bring it on, come on, just
bring as much as you can. You have to want
to do that. And then the other thing, you can't
be h you can't be shy about dishing it back out.
And and and one of the uh I don't want
to say skinniest guys on the team, but cause certain
(22:00):
he's got a good body. But Colin Chandler one of
the last guys you would think of as being a
physical player. Man. You saw it, Tom, how physical and
how you know he was with the guy he was
matched up against. And I saw the look on the
Tennessee player's face one time when Colin stepped in and
(22:22):
gave him a body check as he tried to cut
across the basket. He looked at him like, man, this
wasn't in the scouting reported it when I've read about
this guy, you know, but that kind of stuff is
what it delivers the message. And you know I talk
about delivering messages all the time. It delivers a message
that if you dish it out, I'm going to dish
(22:45):
it right back to you. And that's one of the many,
many areas this team has improved.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
You know, the one sequence there or a couple things
I remember with Colin there was he was Mayshak tried
to back him down into the lane and at one
point it's just like Colin didn't move, and they talk
about the championship chest and so what he did and
doing that, he kind of sticks his chest out, his
arms are off to the side, so he's not reaching,
not gonna get a foul call usually that way, and
(23:13):
he holds his ground. May Shaqt couldn't move. He could
see Mayshat get frustrated. Same thing in Lanier. There was
a sequence a little later where Colin was on him
and Lanier coming off a screen and he couldn't you
Colin wouldn't let him buy. He just kind of muscled
him back a little bit. And I was just so
impressed with that, especially since he had a really bad
three minutes when he went in down at Vanderbilt, and
(23:34):
sometimes that could destroy a young player's confidence, and instead
he came back one hundred and eighty degrees the other way.
Speaker 3 (23:41):
Well, and the reason for that, and I know exactly
the reason why he came back the way he did
is because he had Ansley Almanor in his ear, He
had Andrew Carr in his ear, he had all these
veteran players. Otaga was in his ear, Kobe was in
(24:05):
his ear saying, man, you're fine, don't worry about it.
That's part of part of learning, part of growing. And
when you're a young guy and you get that kind
of support for him from I mean, these are true
vettes on this to if you know, these for guys
who have been around. And when you get that kind
of uh pat on the back in spite of not
(24:26):
being as productive as everybody knows he can be, Uh,
it makes you feel good. You can't wait to get
back out there, as opposed to hiding on the bench.
And uh, you know when coach looks down, you kind
of sit back a little bit so he can't see you. No,
you're not gonna You're not gonna do that. Man, You're
gonna you're gonna stand up and point to your chest
say Coach, I'm ready and and that's what Colin did
(24:49):
in that game. But it's because of that camaraderie and
and and that excitement these guys have uh playing with
each other. Kobe Brath said that after the game when
I interviewed him, Tom, we enjoy playing with each other man,
and we go to battle for each other. And that's
a true true statement with this team.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Last question, cal and Arkansas coming in on Saturday, and
that's going to be a big storyline over the next
couple of days. What's your take on all of that.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
Well, you know, I think it's going to be a
great atmosphere for basketball. Tom. I think what I would
like to see ish and I think Mark was absolutely right.
There's going to be a time when when Kyle comes
in here and we will celebrate him in a mighty
(25:47):
way for all the wonderful things he did. But I'm
just hoping that we are respectful and I'm not trying
to tell you how to be a fan, because we
have the best to the best here at Kentucky. But
I would like to see him get an ovation. And
I said it after the game the other night. I'm
(26:08):
going to stand up in clatform because I appreciate what
he did for our team. So I'm going to stand
up and clap. I know a lot of people are not,
and I'm good to go with that. Man. Once that
game starts, I want to hear as many sit down
cal as we heard every place we went on the
(26:30):
road in the SEC. I want to hear sit down,
stop screaming, shut up. I want to hear as much
of that during the game as I can. But before
the game, respectful and some applause. There'd be some boos probably,
but that's what I would like to see. I'm looking
forward to the game.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
I saw a clip of when coach Patino came back
when he was at Louisville and made his first return back,
and after the game there was a quote from Bill
Kiteley that I love Rick like a son. Sometimes your
son needs his butt kicked.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
That's a great way to put it, great way to
put it down.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Ghost. Thank you much, see Saturday.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
Thanks so much, Tom.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
It is the Leach Report, and we're gonna come back
and chat with Justin Rowland from Cats Illustrated. Go to
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out and you'll get thirty percent off your first order
of the Sleep Gummies or the new THCHC Gummies that
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(27:34):
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This is the good life. We'll be right back. It's
the Leach Report, percented each day by Bobcat Enterprises, and
(27:57):
we are working to catch up to Justin Rowland for
our next segment. In the meantime, me let you listen
in on what Mark Pope had to say last night
on his radio show on the UK Sports Network when
he was asked about the storyline of John Caliperry returning
to Raparina with his Arkansas Razorbacks this Saturday.
Speaker 4 (28:20):
I love Cal. I love Cal for what he did
for for Kentucky basketball, and on a very personal level,
he's been He's been so great to Leanne and I
as a mentor and a friend and so uh, you know,
it's it's it's a little bit of a complicated relationship
right now because he's coaching the other team, and so
that always makes it complicated. But you know, I know
(28:42):
that I know BBN man, I just know our fan base,
and I know there will be all kind of There's
be so much emotion because we care so much. So
there'll be so much emotion in the gym on Saturday.
And as time goes on and circumstances change, Uh, there's
gonna be a time when Cal walks back into this
arena and he is gonna feel all of the love
(29:07):
that BBN possibly has to offer, because that's what we
do with our family. Now, you know, we'll see Thursday,
like Friday, Saturday, Saturday is going to be you know,
it's also a competition, right, So it's.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
Just gonna be what it is.
Speaker 4 (29:21):
But but you know, I have a ton of love
for Cal, and I'm grateful for what he did here
at Kentucky and I'm grateful that, you know, I get
to be here and enjoy some of the fruits of
his incredible labors here, and so I was super appreciative
of him, and I know everybody in BBN feels the
same way, even though I also know everybody at BBN
wants to win this game on Saturday.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
So that was a good answer. He handled that really well,
not trying to tell any fans how they need to
feel or how they need to react, and but that
the very respectful of what cal accomplished in his time
at u K. There's the documentary Cruise Peyton Manning's company
(30:03):
that's doing a documentary on Cal's first season at Arkansas
and the Era. I think it's on Netflix and I
think it comes out. The first episode comes out on
February tenth, and they're going to start with this game
as the first episode. So they had asked to do
(30:23):
an interview with me, and we did that yesterday, and
as they said, when I talked to the guy was
working with ahead of time, it was just what he
said they wanted to talk just go through each season
and talk about how things unfolded and some of the
highest of high's early and some of the low points
(30:45):
that came later. So we'll see how that turns out.
They were also telling me that it's not the same crew,
but the same companies also doing one of those documentaries
on Rick Patino, So there will be at least two
of them out there, if not more. Just rolling joining
us now from Katzillustrated dot Com. It's at Roland rivals
on X and that is the big storyline. What's your
(31:08):
take on Col's return to Lexington justin.
Speaker 5 (31:13):
I mean, I think in the long run, unless he
hits every note wrong, he's gonna be well remembered.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
Right.
Speaker 5 (31:19):
People want to have good will, People want to hold
on to the best memories, and so there's a process
that everybody goes through. Patino went through the process, Former
presidents go through the process, and everything will be okay
in the long run. That in the short run, he's
got several guys that played for Kentucky last year and
fans were not happy and they weren't happy with how
it dragged out. So you're gonna get mixed reactions. You're
(31:40):
gonna get a range of emotions. There's not gonna be
one universal noise made by the Kentucky fans there, and
people just got to handle it the way that they
want to as long as they're not you know, overly
vulgar or crude. And you know, I think everything is fair.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
Yeah, I think that's well put. And this is a
Kentucky team now coming off a huge win and a
chance to keep the momentum rolling, you know, three a
three game losing streak would have been tough to take
if you're looking ahead to you know, SEC tournament seating
(32:15):
and all of that. And it's kind of funny Kentucky's
had these back to back road trips now twice. And
I made this comment. I'll see if you agree that
they get more credit for the games that they want
at Mississippi State and Tennessee, then they would get penalized
for losing at Georgia and Vandy.
Speaker 5 (32:34):
That's a great point. Yeah, I mean, when you talk
about this Kentucky team, there really are no bad losses.
You're eight no in non quadrant one games and whatever
you think about Ohio State and Somemson and amblems. Just
like that, I mean, they aren't bad losses. If you
look at what's dragging Kentucky down a little bit in
the seating, it's their margin of victory and their adjusted
(32:56):
defensive efficiency ratings, which I understand that that can centers
both of these things, but just purely in terms of
the overall wins and the quadrants and the resume they're
as good as anybody except Mae, Auburn and Oregon, which
also has a really doughty Quadrant one record. So it's
an interesting point.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
Let me go back to one other thing. On the
Kentucky Arkansas game, I think there's some fans were surprised,
maybe ticked off that the game day show is not
coming to Lexington for this game. You would think that's
the bigger story than Carolina Duke this year, Carolina struggling
and the ACC's down. They always do Carolina Duke. However,
(33:36):
usually I think they often start with that one with
their game day shows on the road, as they are
doing here. So you know, maybe it's like we've just
done it, always done it this way, We're still gonna
do it this way kind of thing. I think on Sunday,
I think the first college basketball story on Sports Center
will be Kentucky Arkansas, not Duke Carolina. You agree, Yeah, yeah,
(33:59):
I thought.
Speaker 2 (33:59):
It was a little bit lazy.
Speaker 5 (34:00):
Maybe they already had all the video cut ups for
the montage, and it's just I mean, it's it doesn't
feel like Duke Carolina. It's not Coach k versus Roy Williams.
It's John Shire against Supert Davis, and we don't know
if Hubert's going to be around much line, and North Carolina's.
Speaker 3 (34:13):
Kind of taken the place Kentucky had.
Speaker 5 (34:15):
Last year, where you're not happy with the with the
product on court, but you're banking on these five star
freshmen to fix the situation. It just doesn't feel right.
It doesn't feel like North Carolina basketball. They're not getting
high percented shots, They're running a stagnant, boring offense. And
you know this is at Duke and there's not a
lot at stake. And one of the things that you
(34:36):
have always been able to say about Carolina Duke is
they've they hadn't played many of the high high stakes
games outside of the regular season. This one doesn't mean
a hill of beans. And you think back to Patino's
return to Kentucky back in two thousand and one, that
was that was a historic moment for the sport. And
I just feel like that's just clearly a more relevant
interesting storyline the average non affiliated fan that might tune
(34:57):
in from California. I think we'll find more intrigue what
happens in Lexington then Endureham.
Speaker 1 (35:01):
Yeah, No, I think that's that's well put that's kind
of that exactly what I would think as well. It's
just the people that aren't deeply emotionally invested that's the
more interesting storyline.
Speaker 5 (35:13):
Sure, yeah, how're Kentucky fans gonna treat Cali Ferry in
his first return to rupp Arena. What's the contrast going
to be? Like, You're gonna hear all the buzzwords and
the slogans and it's really gonna be interesting. Patino dreaded
that return to rub and I'm sure Calipery dreads that
return to rub And you know, even at North Carolina wins,
you know they're not going to where this year. So
(35:34):
I thought it was a little bit of a Lady
Lady de vision. But this is a game that they
have always branded and hyped over everything. I understand the
value of adding college basketball. There aren't many games that
have true national appeal, and it's important for that Duke
North Carolina game to have that. But this year it
just doesn't mean.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
GATS Illustrated dot Com is where you can find the
work of Justin and his team, and he joins us
here on Thursdays. Thank you, thanks a lot of time.
It is the Lads Report justin Roland joining us on
the Club bluel dot com hotline, and today's your last
day to sign up for the chance to win the
two lower level sideline tickets for Saturday's Kentucky Arkansas game.
(36:11):
Click on the giveaways tab when you go to Club
Blueenil dot com and you can get signed up. And
they're also hosting a pig Roast watch party at Manchester
Music Hall here in Lexington, open to fansy even if
you're not a Club Blue member, but you can go
to Club Blueinil dot com and get signed up to
help out the NIL efforts at UK with the official
(36:33):
collective partner of UK Athletics that is Club Bluenil dot com.
You can find out more about the watch party there
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it's the official coffee of rapp Arena and the KFCM Center.
It is a Kentucky based company and they are all
about being the best. They like to say they follow
(36:55):
the process from seed to cup with making the best
cup of coffee starts with the best coffee means it's
a fantastic Aroma. The taste is even better Shufflebean Coffee.
Give it a try if you haven't done so already.
If you have spread the word help out a Kentucky company.
You can pick up some at Central Kentucky Myers stores.
You can order it through Amazon, or you can also
get it at Shufflebean dot Us Shufflebean Coffee. Couple of
(37:19):
Wildcat birthdays today, Rick Roby celebrating a birthday from the
seventy eight National Championship team. Josh Carrier, another great Kentucky
basketball high school star that came on to play for
the Wildcats. Happy birthday to both those guys. Wildcat History
notes presented by Kentucky road Show Sports Cards and Memorabilia.
They're on Romney Road in Lexington at a Roadshow cards
dot Com. Neat story from John Hale, the Herald Leader
(37:42):
about Darien Kinard and he's with the Eagles now and
so he has a chance to get a third straight
win in the Super Bowl because he's been with he
was with the Chiefs the last two years. Last night,
Alabama beat Mississippi State in Startville eighty eight eighty four.
Ole miss a future upcoming Kentucky opponent at home beat
Texas seventy two sixty nine. Auburn went in and won
(38:03):
at LSU eighty seven seventy four. Late Report presented each
day by Bob Kat Enterprises and we will see you
tomorrow with Oscar Combs and Mike de Corsi
God damn. Everybody. Welcome in. It is the Leech Report.
We are presented by Bobcat Enterprises each day. Thanks to
Billy Rutlich for pinchhating yesterday as I was getting back
late from Knoxville. So good to be back with you
to talk about a big Kentucky win over the Valls.
And we'll do that with Goose Givens today and with
(00:27):
Justin Rowland from Cats Illustrated. We'll lead off with Michelle Canesvik,
one of my teammates on the UK Sports Network from
JMI Sports, to talk about a new venture for Wildcat fans,
and we'll get into that when we come right back.
But let's jump right into the Wildcat News of the day,
a service of Giuseppes of Lexington Mark Pope radio show
(00:48):
last night on Wednesday. It'll be the same next week
because of a Tuesday road game. And one of the
interesting the thing against the most coverage out of the
radio shows going to be the comments about cal that
I'll talk about here in a second. But I thought
it was really significant that Pope told the story about
(01:08):
walking into the locker room after meeting with his assistant
coaches and hearing Jackson Robinson in a long talk with
his teammates about how their play had not been good
enough at Vandy and that the Tennessee game was much
better and that's what they would have to have to
do what they hoped to do. I think Jackson talked
(01:29):
with Goose after the game in Nashville last weekend and
maybe touched on some of those points. And then I asked, Mark,
you've been with Jackson now almost two seasons. As said, essentially,
was that a surprise that he would do something like that?
And he said, two years ago, there's no way Jackson
(01:49):
Robinson would have spoken up like that. So to me,
that's a really positive sign for this team that he
is looking comfortable an asserting more of a leadership role.
And boy, he's been on a tear. This goes back
to he played poorly in the Georgia game and he
was in a little bit of a rut there. You know,
(02:11):
who knows what's going through his head. He Mark Pope
told the story about how Jackson came to Pope before
the Mississippi State game that followed the Georgia loss and
just talked about how he was going to clear all
that stuff out of his mind. And just get Blaser
focused on staying in the moment. And he has since
(02:32):
that point averaged almost eighteen points a game, and he
shot fifty percent at the three point line twenty two
out of forty four. So kudos to him for working
himself through that. And boys, it's really cool to see
how he's flourishing now. The confidence to step into more
(02:53):
of a leadership role. That has to be a good thing.
I think, so a lot of positives there in that
story from Coach Pope and the radio show last night,
and then he also talked about coach Cal coming back
with his Arkansas team on Saturday night, one of the
big stories in college basketball over the next couple of days.
(03:13):
I thought Mark had an excellent response. He said, tremendous
praise for what Cal did at Kentucky. You know, Mark
talked about, you know, being a former player UK alum
and just you know, proud he was of what Kentucky
did under John Caliperry's leadership. Said he was grateful for
how Cal has treated him and his wife Leanne in
(03:35):
their time since their arrival at Kentucky. And he said
as far as the game, it's complicated for the fan
base because of the competition aspect, but he said there
will be a day when Cal comes back and is
showered with love for what he did in his time
at UK, and one hundred percent agree with that. You know,
(03:55):
it just won't happen this particular Saturday. I suspect the
reaction will be somewhat mixed. My if I had to guess,
I'd think when Cal probably first works walks onto the court,
you'll hear some booing. I think the cheers might drown
that out after a few seconds. We'll see how it
(04:17):
plays out. Everybody's got to feel the way they feel,
and that's okay. If you're a fan, you get to
have the feelings that you have, and you can and
you can also, I'm sure understand the people who have
different feelings, and it can be the closer we get,
the I think, the more I feel it's more and
(04:40):
more of a mixed bag. So it's obviously going to
be a big storyline on Saturday up through the introductions,
and then other than that, the game will be played.
The story continues in the postgame press conference, and then
I think that's really it. Everybody moves on from that
moment and the teams go on to their respective sea,
(05:01):
so we'll see how all of it plays out on Saturday.
We'll get more into the that in the matchup tomorrow. Anyway,
a couple other things or one other thing from the
radio show last night, Coach Pope is a big fan
of the Mountain Mamba nickname for Trent Noah. I thought
that was pretty cool too. I think it came up
out of Matt's postgame show on Tuesday night after the
(05:26):
game from a listener, But is a pretty cool nickname. Now.
If Trent just keeps knocking down those long threes like
he did down at Tennessee, it will even enhance it more.
And a big game for the UK women tonight is
they take on a ranked opponent at Historic Memorial Cad.
(05:46):
I'll see them. It's number twenty two Alabama and it's
a seven o'clock tip. UK radio network coverage. We'll get
started at six forty five Eastern with Darren Hendrick's call.
It'll also be televised on the SEC network, so tune
it in on TV if you can't be there, and
then match up Darren's radio call for the best coverage
(06:07):
of Kentucky Alabama tonight and if you are going to
the game. They are making it a white out so
where you're white to cheer on the Wildcats tonight at
the Coliseum against number twenty two Alabama. Links to the
stories that we talk about each day can be found
on the bud Light Leech Troopworts page at Tom leachky
dot com. We'll talk about the new all access platform
(06:30):
for the UK Sports Network when we come right back
our opening segments presented by Giuseppes of Lexington and go
to open table today and make a reservation for Giuseppes.
Maybe around a trip to Keenland or a big event.
If you're coming in town for the Sweet sixteen, take
an opportunity to stop by Giuseppes. It's fantastic food in
(06:52):
a really special atmosphere including Dave Hall's live jazz music.
If you sit in the lounge area every night of
the week at Giuseppes. Be right back, Welcome back into
the lead, True Report, and we come to each day
from the Clark's Pumping Shop studio. Return, refresh and refuel
at Clark's. Give a new loyalty rewards program. You want
to download that to get great deals on gas and
(07:15):
also items in the Clarks stores. And we are joined
on the Club Blueennil dot com hotline by Michelle Canzabek
from the UK Sports Network and under the JMI Sports
umbrella and a new venture that is being launched what
I guess tomorrow, Michelle, the UKSN All Access platform.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Yes, tom very very exciting. January thirty first, a big
day for the UK Sports Network launching the UKs and
All Access.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
So what are fans going to find there?
Speaker 2 (07:45):
So fans know the UK Sports Network, they know you,
they know Goose, they know all the radio calls. Sometimes
it's like where is all this content we do? We
talk about the coaches shows, we talk about even BBN
tonight is under our umbrella, the UK Sports Network and
all of this content that we've been doing the last
year or so. But it essentially will be an extension
(08:07):
of UK Athletics dot com and the UK Athletics App.
So I would imagine most Kentucky fans already have the
UK Athletics App because that's where you get your tickets.
But if you don't, make sure you have it on
your phone or you can go onto the website and
there'll be a new button on the menu bar and
it'll say UKSN for UK Sports Network and you click
on that, and essentially what it'll be is a new
(08:29):
landing page where you can find a lot of exclusive interviews,
behind the scenes content. We've been really storing a lot
of this content over the last couple of weeks. There
will be new content that Kentucky fans have not seen
before when they open the app Tomorrow thirty first, and
then also there's kind of a big game on Saturday,
(08:51):
as you know, tom so the pregame show with Dave
Baker and Cameron Mills will be exclusively streamed on our
new platform. And then also the postgame show where you
speak with Coach Pope and Goose speaks with the player
of the game, will also be exclusively streamed on there,
and I know that fans are going to love to
(09:11):
hear this part. It is free. All you need is
an email and a password and you can sign up
for free. There's no paid subscription, so it'll be free,
free content for fans to look through. And both of
those shows will be exclusively streamed on there, so I
know there will be a lot of eyeballs on there
on Saturday.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
So it's a one stop shop opportunity for a fan
to find like last night's Mark Pope radio show. You
didn't catch it, you want to, you can go there
or the things you talked about. And I'm sure other
things that will be coming. I mean, you've got the
Behind the Kentucky Basketball, Behind Kentucky Football, Baseball, et cetera. Podcasts,
(09:49):
they'll be there, but I'm sure there's other new things
that will be coming.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Too, Right, Tom, you mentioned all the podcasts that we do.
We did the Mark Pope Show and the Kenny Brook
Show and BBN Radio from the new Downtown studios attached
to the Central Bank Center. So in collaboration TOMI Sports
UK Athletics in the College of Communications, with the new
studio downtown, we'll be doing new productions out of there.
(10:14):
So the Coaches Show, for instance, we did out of
there on Martin Luther King Day. All of those shows,
all of the Coaches Shows, the Soup Shows, the Pope Shows,
the Kenny Brook Shows, and eventually the Coachman Jones Shows,
all of those will be on there. Some content that
we've done earlier this year, Georgia Amore did a locker
room tour when the baseball team went to Omaha. Ryan
(10:35):
Nicholson did a vlog and took a go pro around
a new piece of content that will be dropping when
the apps launches. I'm sorry, after the app launches either Saturday,
after the game on Saturday, so really Sunday in the
wee hours of Saturday night. Georgia Amore from the women's
basketball team. We did a day in the life with
(10:57):
her when they played Arkansas on Sunday, so her personality
is absolutely incredible. That'll be a fun piece of content
that'll be dropping to kind of see her behind the scenes,
how she gets ready for a game, pregame ritual, all
of those things that'll be on there. And then as
we gear up for hopefully a really fun postseason with
the men's and women's team, all of the fun coverage
(11:20):
and content that we'll be able to do alongside of
the teams. The Boost camera that people love that you
and goose too, so all of those will be on there,
but really just going to be a one stop shop
for a lot of different content throughout the entire athletics department.
So obviously we're in a basketball season right now, you know,
gymnastics is gearing up, but this will not just be football,
(11:43):
men's basketball, women's basketball. It will be sports across the board,
so looking for coverage on all of you can.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
So it's UKSN all Access at launch tomorrow and make
sure you're signed up on the app no cost and
kind of putting all of this in one place to
make it a little more user friendly for fans. So
it sounds like a great idea. Michelle, thank you for
the time.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Awesome, Thanks Tom, I'll see you. I'll see you Saturday.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Sounds good. It's Michelle Kenazivik and you'll hear her with
the coach Pope is at the halftime point during our
broadcast on Saturday, and you are properly a couple of
other times as well from the sidelines. Coming up this weekend.
Right now, we're going to get to a break and
coming up next is the Goose Jack Gibbons. It's the
(12:31):
Leak Report, presented each day by Bobcat Enterprises with four
locations in Kentucky. Google them when you need to buy
or just rent some heavy equipment for a job. They
can take care of you. They'll have the equipment you
need and then you'll get fantastic service after the sale.
Google Bobcat Enterprises, find the one of those four locations
that's closest to you, and we'll be right back. It's
(12:53):
the Leech's Report. We go back to the Club Blue
nil dot com hotline and bring on the Goose Jack
Gibvens to talk about Kentucky's big win over Tennessee on
Tuesday night and Goose, sometimes some of the best things
around covering a team just kind of happened organically. They're
not played, and so you're finishing up your chat with
Kobe Brea after the game on the network and then
(13:16):
he has a really sweet encounter with a little young
man from burying a Tennessee jersey. That was a fun moment.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
It was really neat to see that there were a
bunch of Kentucky fans at the game, and we heard
it there late when the go Big Blue chant kind
of broke out, and but that that picture, that scene
was unbelievable. I mean, you could see the kid who
(13:47):
had the Tennessee jersey on. He wasn't he wasn't the
happiest kid that that was at the game that night,
because there were a lot of kids with Kentucky stuff on.
But man, that was so much fun see that. Yeah,
we have a lot of good guys on this team, Tom,
We've been blessed over the years to have good guys.
(14:08):
I mean that's been Kentucky tradition for a long long time.
And certainly these guys are special. And Kobe spent time
with a bunch of fans out there, probably twenty minutes,
so it was a special scene for sure.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Yeah, there are some Sometimes teams have a special connection
to fans. The Unforgettable in ninety two is probably the
best example of this. Is Kentucky's coming off probation. It's
the first time they can go back into the postseason
and fans get a run that they didn't really expect
to get by going all the way to the Elite
(14:47):
eight and nearly upsetting Do twenty ten. And you know
Calcoms in his first season and the program had been
down and they're rolling again and it's an exciting team,
and that I think team had a special connection, and
I think this one has really connected with fans, And
if the postseason goes really well, this is going to
be one of those teams that will be have a
(15:09):
real special place in the hearts of Kentucky fans. Yeah, like,
you know, your team in seventy eight winning a title.
I think the seventy five team did because of you know,
that upset of Indiana. So there's just certain teams that
have that connection, right Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
And this team is even more special to me, Tom
because what three months before the season started, we didn't
even have a team exactly. I mean, we didn't have
a we didn't have a player. Everybody was talking about, well,
I just hope we can win ten games or all
of this stuff. And now you have what is number
(15:48):
one A good team. I mean, they're good teams, some
good players. But it's a feel good story even for
Kentucky basketball because we have had a bunch We've had
a bunch of him over the years, but we didn't
have a coach, we didn't have we didn't have a player.
So what this has developed into and developed into very quickly,
(16:10):
I think this team will go down as one of
the really special teams over the history of Kentucky basketball.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
And you know, they had to deal with some incredible
adversity in this game. To play a team as good
as Tennessee, number one defensive team in the country on
their home floor, and you do it without your top
two point guards and without your starting for.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
Man, and I don't want to well, I do want
to give Mark a lot of credit because as I
listened to your interview with him before the game, Man,
you would have thought he's on a ten game win
streak and they and this team was invincible because he
(16:53):
was so positive going into that game, and it's obvious
that the players felt the same. I mean, you can't
get in a more adverse situation in the SEC. You
just can't do it as what Kentucky is facing with
players out and is this guy going to be able
to play? It was just amazing how positive Mark was
(17:16):
and that goes right through the team. I mean, every
player seemed to me from start to finish, very positive
that this game was going to be a good one
for the Cats. So it's just special all the way around.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
Tom. I want to pick up on some more about
that when we come right back with the Goose Jack Givens.
We're coming up on the heartbreak at the bottom of
the hour, so we'll continue our chat here in just
a few minutes, And don't forget to if you haven't
yet pick up the book. They call me Goose, That
Jack did with Doug Brunk, and you can have an opportunity.
I'm sure to get it signed sometime soon, certainly down
(17:52):
at the SEC Tournament if you're going to be there.
More of a Goose when we come back here on
the Leach Report presented by Bobcat Enterprises, and we come
to you from the Clark's Pumping Shop studio here on
this Thursday with the Goose Jack Gibbons joining us. Goose,
we were talking about what you heard in the pregame
(18:13):
interview from Coach Pope. I also thought during the game
it was maybe the most animated that I've seen him.
Maybe it was because we're we're there next to them,
but it sure felt like maybe he was more animated
than usually. I thought at one point he was going
to get a t And I'm guessing part of that
is that he has seems to have a really tight
(18:37):
connection with this group that he had to put together
in short order, and then you had to do a
lot of work to you know, build the chemistry because
they were all coming in from different places, and then
he sees them facing this adversity and he sees how
hard they're battling. Right from the start, they were playing great,
and so I don't know. I don't know if you
(18:59):
saw the same thing, but he was. He's always coaching hard,
but I don't know, he may have turned it up
one more notch on this game.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
Totally agree with you, Tom, I totally agree. And you know, Mark,
having played here, he understands the Kentucky Tennessee robbery, you
know first hand, and he knows how hard it is
to win in Knoxville. And when you have the team
working as hard as Kentucky was working, and certainly in
(19:30):
the first half, it seemed as though Kentucky was getting
not getting the benefit of the whistle. And frankly, when
you work as hard as Kentucky was working, when you're
as physical and as aggressive as Kentucky played in that
first half, you would love to see a little more
(19:51):
even whistle. And when Mark thought those whistles weren't coming, yeah,
he got into it.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Man.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
He was wanting to let the officials know and that
he wasn't gonna stand back and just watch you call
it one way. And he did get more involved. And
but I think it was a direct result of how
well and how hard if guys were playing, they deserved
a better whistle than they were getting, and Mark wanted
(20:19):
to make sure the official knew that.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Yeah, I think sometimes you kind of make a little
noise when it's a nine to two difference in the
free throws. Edit evened up pretty quickly there in the
second half. Yeah, I wasn't really surprised to see Kentucky
reassert itself in the start of the second half because
they had control of that game really until I thought
a Mariy Williams picked up his second foul and went
(20:44):
out and then Tennessee came alive on the boards. There
was It was deep into the first half where Tennessee
didn't even have an offensive rebound.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
Yeah, and boy, mari was pretty special in that game,
no question about it. But you're absolutely right, Tom, And
when you have a half like that, it's really good
to go in the locker room and point out all
the good things you were doing as opposed to talking
about you're not rebounding. You gotta you know, you gotta
be more physical. Whatever that message is. It's great to
(21:13):
be able to go into the locker room and say, man,
I told you we could rebound with these guys. I
told you we could be as physical as these guys
and we could deliver the punch as well as take it.
I mean, and that's one of the real things. When
you run into a team that like Tennessee who wants
to kind of uh intimidate you through their defense, you
(21:37):
you have to number one, you have to embrace it.
You have to say, bring it on, come on, just
bring as much as you can. You have to want
to do that. And then the other thing, you can't
be h you can't be shy about dishing it back out.
And and and one of the uh I don't want
to say skinniest guys on the team, but cause certain
(22:00):
he's got a good body. But Colin Chandler one of
the last guys you would think of as being a
physical player. Man. You saw it, Tom, how physical and
how you know he was with the guy he was
matched up against. And I saw the look on the
Tennessee player's face one time when Colin stepped in and
(22:22):
gave him a body check as he tried to cut
across the basket. He looked at him like, man, this
wasn't in the scouting reported it when I've read about
this guy, you know, but that kind of stuff is
what it delivers the message. And you know I talk
about delivering messages all the time. It delivers a message
that if you dish it out, I'm going to dish
(22:45):
it right back to you. And that's one of the many,
many areas this team has improved.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
You know, the one sequence there or a couple things
I remember with Colin there was he was Mayshak tried
to back him down into the lane and at one
point it's just like Colin didn't move, and they talk
about the championship chest and so what he did and
doing that, he kind of sticks his chest out, his
arms are off to the side, so he's not reaching,
not gonna get a foul call usually that way, and
(23:13):
he holds his ground. May Shaqt couldn't move. He could
see Mayshat get frustrated. Same thing in Lanier. There was
a sequence a little later where Colin was on him
and Lanier coming off a screen and he couldn't you
Colin wouldn't let him buy. He just kind of muscled
him back a little bit. And I was just so
impressed with that, especially since he had a really bad
three minutes when he went in down at Vanderbilt, and
(23:34):
sometimes that could destroy a young player's confidence, and instead
he came back one hundred and eighty degrees the other way.
Speaker 3 (23:41):
Well, and the reason for that, and I know exactly
the reason why he came back the way he did
is because he had Ansley Almanor in his ear, He
had Andrew Carr in his ear, he had all these
veteran players. Otaga was in his ear, Kobe was in
(24:05):
his ear saying, man, you're fine, don't worry about it.
That's part of part of learning, part of growing. And
when you're a young guy and you get that kind
of support for him from I mean, these are true
vettes on this to if you know, these for guys
who have been around. And when you get that kind
of uh pat on the back in spite of not
(24:26):
being as productive as everybody knows he can be, Uh,
it makes you feel good. You can't wait to get
back out there, as opposed to hiding on the bench.
And uh, you know when coach looks down, you kind
of sit back a little bit so he can't see you. No,
you're not gonna You're not gonna do that. Man, You're
gonna you're gonna stand up and point to your chest
say Coach, I'm ready and and that's what Colin did
(24:49):
in that game. But it's because of that camaraderie and
and and that excitement these guys have uh playing with
each other. Kobe Brath said that after the game when
I interviewed him, Tom, we enjoy playing with each other man,
and we go to battle for each other. And that's
a true true statement with this team.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Last question, cal and Arkansas coming in on Saturday, and
that's going to be a big storyline over the next
couple of days. What's your take on all of that.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
Well, you know, I think it's going to be a
great atmosphere for basketball. Tom. I think what I would
like to see ish and I think Mark was absolutely right.
There's going to be a time when when Kyle comes
in here and we will celebrate him in a mighty
(25:47):
way for all the wonderful things he did. But I'm
just hoping that we are respectful and I'm not trying
to tell you how to be a fan, because we
have the best to the best here at Kentucky. But
I would like to see him get an ovation. And
I said it after the game the other night. I'm
(26:08):
going to stand up in clatform because I appreciate what
he did for our team. So I'm going to stand
up and clap. I know a lot of people are not,
and I'm good to go with that. Man. Once that
game starts, I want to hear as many sit down
cal as we heard every place we went on the
(26:30):
road in the SEC. I want to hear sit down,
stop screaming, shut up. I want to hear as much
of that during the game as I can. But before
the game, respectful and some applause. There'd be some boos probably,
but that's what I would like to see. I'm looking
forward to the game.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
I saw a clip of when coach Patino came back
when he was at Louisville and made his first return back,
and after the game there was a quote from Bill
Kiteley that I love Rick like a son. Sometimes your
son needs his butt kicked.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
That's a great way to put it, great way to
put it down.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Ghost. Thank you much, see Saturday.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
Thanks so much, Tom.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
It is the Leach Report, and we're gonna come back
and chat with Justin Rowland from Cats Illustrated. Go to
Cornbreadhemp dot com and enter the code Tom and check
out and you'll get thirty percent off your first order
of the Sleep Gummies or the new THCHC Gummies that
they rolled out earlier late last year. Oils and lotions.
They can all help you feel better naturally without the hangover.
(27:34):
It's Kentucky grown hemp. Couple of Kentucky boys started this
company and it's going fantastically well. And corn bread hemp
can help you live a healthier, care free lifestyle without
the alcohol. Get better sleep, fewer aches and pains. Cornbred hemp.
This is the good life. We'll be right back. It's
the Leach Report, percented each day by Bobcat Enterprises, and
(27:57):
we are working to catch up to Justin Rowland for
our next segment. In the meantime, me let you listen
in on what Mark Pope had to say last night
on his radio show on the UK Sports Network when
he was asked about the storyline of John Caliperry returning
to Raparina with his Arkansas Razorbacks this Saturday.
Speaker 4 (28:20):
I love Cal. I love Cal for what he did
for for Kentucky basketball, and on a very personal level,
he's been He's been so great to Leanne and I
as a mentor and a friend and so uh, you know,
it's it's it's a little bit of a complicated relationship
right now because he's coaching the other team, and so
that always makes it complicated. But you know, I know
(28:42):
that I know BBN man, I just know our fan base,
and I know there will be all kind of There's
be so much emotion because we care so much. So
there'll be so much emotion in the gym on Saturday.
And as time goes on and circumstances change, Uh, there's
gonna be a time when Cal walks back into this
arena and he is gonna feel all of the love
(29:07):
that BBN possibly has to offer, because that's what we
do with our family. Now, you know, we'll see Thursday,
like Friday, Saturday, Saturday is going to be you know,
it's also a competition, right, So it's.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
Just gonna be what it is.
Speaker 4 (29:21):
But but you know, I have a ton of love
for Cal, and I'm grateful for what he did here
at Kentucky and I'm grateful that, you know, I get
to be here and enjoy some of the fruits of
his incredible labors here, and so I was super appreciative
of him, and I know everybody in BBN feels the
same way, even though I also know everybody at BBN
wants to win this game on Saturday.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
So that was a good answer. He handled that really well,
not trying to tell any fans how they need to
feel or how they need to react, and but that
the very respectful of what cal accomplished in his time
at u K. There's the documentary Cruise Peyton Manning's company
(30:03):
that's doing a documentary on Cal's first season at Arkansas
and the Era. I think it's on Netflix and I
think it comes out. The first episode comes out on
February tenth, and they're going to start with this game
as the first episode. So they had asked to do
(30:23):
an interview with me, and we did that yesterday, and
as they said, when I talked to the guy was
working with ahead of time, it was just what he
said they wanted to talk just go through each season
and talk about how things unfolded and some of the
highest of high's early and some of the low points
(30:45):
that came later. So we'll see how that turns out.
They were also telling me that it's not the same crew,
but the same companies also doing one of those documentaries
on Rick Patino, So there will be at least two
of them out there, if not more. Just rolling joining
us now from Katzillustrated dot Com. It's at Roland rivals
on X and that is the big storyline. What's your
(31:08):
take on Col's return to Lexington justin.
Speaker 5 (31:13):
I mean, I think in the long run, unless he
hits every note wrong, he's gonna be well remembered.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
Right.
Speaker 5 (31:19):
People want to have good will, People want to hold
on to the best memories, and so there's a process
that everybody goes through. Patino went through the process, Former
presidents go through the process, and everything will be okay
in the long run. That in the short run, he's
got several guys that played for Kentucky last year and
fans were not happy and they weren't happy with how
it dragged out. So you're gonna get mixed reactions. You're
(31:40):
gonna get a range of emotions. There's not gonna be
one universal noise made by the Kentucky fans there, and
people just got to handle it the way that they
want to as long as they're not you know, overly
vulgar or crude. And you know, I think everything is fair.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
Yeah, I think that's well put. And this is a
Kentucky team now coming off a huge win and a
chance to keep the momentum rolling, you know, three a
three game losing streak would have been tough to take
if you're looking ahead to you know, SEC tournament seating
(32:15):
and all of that. And it's kind of funny Kentucky's
had these back to back road trips now twice. And
I made this comment. I'll see if you agree that
they get more credit for the games that they want
at Mississippi State and Tennessee, then they would get penalized
for losing at Georgia and Vandy.
Speaker 5 (32:34):
That's a great point. Yeah, I mean, when you talk
about this Kentucky team, there really are no bad losses.
You're eight no in non quadrant one games and whatever
you think about Ohio State and Somemson and amblems. Just
like that, I mean, they aren't bad losses. If you
look at what's dragging Kentucky down a little bit in
the seating, it's their margin of victory and their adjusted
(32:56):
defensive efficiency ratings, which I understand that that can centers
both of these things, but just purely in terms of
the overall wins and the quadrants and the resume they're
as good as anybody except Mae, Auburn and Oregon, which
also has a really doughty Quadrant one record. So it's
an interesting point.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
Let me go back to one other thing. On the
Kentucky Arkansas game, I think there's some fans were surprised,
maybe ticked off that the game day show is not
coming to Lexington for this game. You would think that's
the bigger story than Carolina Duke this year, Carolina struggling
and the ACC's down. They always do Carolina Duke. However,
(33:36):
usually I think they often start with that one with
their game day shows on the road, as they are
doing here. So you know, maybe it's like we've just
done it, always done it this way, We're still gonna
do it this way kind of thing. I think on Sunday,
I think the first college basketball story on Sports Center
will be Kentucky Arkansas, not Duke Carolina. You agree, Yeah, yeah,
(33:59):
I thought.
Speaker 2 (33:59):
It was a little bit lazy.
Speaker 5 (34:00):
Maybe they already had all the video cut ups for
the montage, and it's just I mean, it's it doesn't
feel like Duke Carolina. It's not Coach k versus Roy Williams.
It's John Shire against Supert Davis, and we don't know
if Hubert's going to be around much line, and North Carolina's.
Speaker 3 (34:13):
Kind of taken the place Kentucky had.
Speaker 5 (34:15):
Last year, where you're not happy with the with the
product on court, but you're banking on these five star
freshmen to fix the situation. It just doesn't feel right.
It doesn't feel like North Carolina basketball. They're not getting
high percented shots, They're running a stagnant, boring offense. And
you know this is at Duke and there's not a
lot at stake. And one of the things that you
(34:36):
have always been able to say about Carolina Duke is
they've they hadn't played many of the high high stakes
games outside of the regular season. This one doesn't mean
a hill of beans. And you think back to Patino's
return to Kentucky back in two thousand and one, that
was that was a historic moment for the sport. And
I just feel like that's just clearly a more relevant
interesting storyline the average non affiliated fan that might tune
(34:57):
in from California. I think we'll find more intrigue what
happens in Lexington then Endureham.
Speaker 1 (35:01):
Yeah, No, I think that's that's well put that's kind
of that exactly what I would think as well. It's
just the people that aren't deeply emotionally invested that's the
more interesting storyline.
Speaker 5 (35:13):
Sure, yeah, how're Kentucky fans gonna treat Cali Ferry in
his first return to rupp Arena. What's the contrast going
to be? Like, You're gonna hear all the buzzwords and
the slogans and it's really gonna be interesting. Patino dreaded
that return to rub and I'm sure Calipery dreads that
return to rub And you know, even at North Carolina wins,
you know they're not going to where this year. So
(35:34):
I thought it was a little bit of a Lady
Lady de vision. But this is a game that they
have always branded and hyped over everything. I understand the
value of adding college basketball. There aren't many games that
have true national appeal, and it's important for that Duke
North Carolina game to have that. But this year it
just doesn't mean.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
GATS Illustrated dot Com is where you can find the
work of Justin and his team, and he joins us
here on Thursdays. Thank you, thanks a lot of time.
It is the Lads Report justin Roland joining us on
the Club bluel dot com hotline, and today's your last
day to sign up for the chance to win the
two lower level sideline tickets for Saturday's Kentucky Arkansas game.
(36:11):
Click on the giveaways tab when you go to Club
Blueenil dot com and you can get signed up. And
they're also hosting a pig Roast watch party at Manchester
Music Hall here in Lexington, open to fansy even if
you're not a Club Blue member, but you can go
to Club Blueinil dot com and get signed up to
help out the NIL efforts at UK with the official
(36:33):
collective partner of UK Athletics that is Club Bluenil dot com.
You can find out more about the watch party there
as well. We'll be right back. Shuffle Bean Coffee can
be the go to coffee in your home, just like
it's the official coffee of rapp Arena and the KFCM Center.
It is a Kentucky based company and they are all
about being the best. They like to say they follow
(36:55):
the process from seed to cup with making the best
cup of coffee starts with the best coffee means it's
a fantastic Aroma. The taste is even better Shufflebean Coffee.
Give it a try if you haven't done so already.
If you have spread the word help out a Kentucky company.
You can pick up some at Central Kentucky Myers stores.
You can order it through Amazon, or you can also
get it at Shufflebean dot Us Shufflebean Coffee. Couple of
(37:19):
Wildcat birthdays today, Rick Roby celebrating a birthday from the
seventy eight National Championship team. Josh Carrier, another great Kentucky
basketball high school star that came on to play for
the Wildcats. Happy birthday to both those guys. Wildcat History
notes presented by Kentucky road Show Sports Cards and Memorabilia.
They're on Romney Road in Lexington at a Roadshow cards
dot Com. Neat story from John Hale, the Herald Leader
(37:42):
about Darien Kinard and he's with the Eagles now and
so he has a chance to get a third straight
win in the Super Bowl because he's been with he
was with the Chiefs the last two years. Last night,
Alabama beat Mississippi State in Startville eighty eight eighty four.
Ole miss a future upcoming Kentucky opponent at home beat
Texas seventy two sixty nine. Auburn went in and won
(38:03):
at LSU eighty seven seventy four. Late Report presented each
day by Bob Kat Enterprises and we will see you
tomorrow with Oscar Combs and Mike de Corsi
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