Sunday Morning Sports Talk - April 4, 2024 - Hour 1

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
This is Stockyards Bank Sunday Morning SportsTalk presented by the Lead Troop Barge Radio
Network on six thirty w l AP. Welcome in, Welcome in, Stockyards
Bank Sunday Morning Sports Talk. Iam Anthony White, along with the Great

(00:23):
Larry Vault and yours truly Jack Pilgrimof KSR on three all that. Good
morning guys. We are our ownguests NCAA Championship Eve. There's a lot
of things going on. Our baseballteam is rock and rolling. We got

(00:44):
Bush Hampden Sorry busch Hamdy coming onat at ten thirty, but uh,
Jack Pilgrim, how are things goingto your world? How's your spring?
Fall? Spring? What is itcalled Gameland Spring meet week in? How

(01:04):
did that go? Oh? Beautiful, beautiful beautiful. Yeah, got a
chance to fix fix my lawn up, do some spring fertilizing and all that.
I feel like a real domestic dadnow. So it's cool, man.
And I enjoyed doing all the yardwork yesterday, getting getting done,

(01:26):
getting exhausted, and the kind ofsettling in for the final four last night
to pretty pretty entertaining games that endedup the two best teams in college basketball
all season long, ended up goingto the national championship game, so for
number one versus number two, it'sgonna be a blast on Monday. And
then we got the women's final orwomen's championship game this afternoon, So a

(01:47):
lot of a lot of fun thisweekend. And then obviously spring spring practice
for for football, we got thespring game next weekend. It's a lot
of a whole bunch of fun aroundhere. You said the two best teams
in college basketball in college basketball togethera men's college basketball, because the understanding
is the best player in college basketballis not even a male. I guess

(02:10):
you could say all four of thebest teams in all of college basketball,
men's and women's, are representing themselvesin the national championships. Yes, tomorrow,
today, and tomorrow. So yeah, you're exactly right. And yeah,
Kaitlyn Clark is musty TV. I'mhaving a blast watching her. I'm
even more excited, I think,to see what Kenny Brooks has in store

(02:34):
this week, because it's been anabsolute freaking whorl wind of adding new elite
talent and building a freaking amazing roster. It's just been I don't remember the
last time I've been as giddy,just following along with the roster dynamic and
building just the Avengers of Kentucky women'sbasketball. It's just been a blast following
along and getting excited and you know, support supporting that program too. So

(02:58):
yeah, Excitement's awesome. Man,I'm really really enjoying this. But yet
today tomorrow is gonna be an absoluteblast for the championship games. Larry Vaud,
I'm not sure if I agree withJack one on the four best teams,
the two best women team and thetwo best men team. He obviously
didn't watch the Iowa Yu Kin game, but I cannot argue with him because

(03:20):
at the end of the day,iowall beat Yu Kan in women's basketball and
Kenny Brooks is doing a bangup job. So Jack is on point as usual.
But Larry Vault yourself, how didyou start off Spring Meet? Keenland
Spring Meet weekend? Not the bestin the world. I did a five

(03:42):
k yesterday morning, about a halfmile, and I think I've pulled my
hamstring so for the first time,and it was it's not been fun,
but I managed to get to thefinish line eventually, which was I'd never
not finished one, and I wasdetermined I was going to do it.
So it's been a little bit ofa painful weekend for the old gap,
but I mean, it just happens. But jeoryde the Weather, I enjoyed

(04:06):
watching what basketball I got to watch, and enjoyed UK baseball to thumping Alabama
two games already, which is reallypretty sweet to see. And I love
women's basketball right now, Anthony,because like with the Final four, mean,
you can just mention the names page, or you can mention the name

(04:27):
Caitlin, or even before the finalyou can mention the name Angel and everybody
knows who you're talking about. Justmentioned the first names of the women's basketball
player. I'm not sure how manymale basketball players in the final four.
You you just mentioned one name everybodywould know. So it's been really really
interesting. And then I think Jacktouched on Kenny Brooks, and I think
Kenny Brooks has brought what I thinkwill be our favorite women's basketball player from

(04:53):
a fan point of view in along time, and maybe have more nil
opportunities than anybody, because how canyou not love anybody coming to Kentucky named
Lexi Blue? Yeah, yeah,so her and I should do a segment
we call it Blue and White Yeah, what a podcast with a regular Sunday

(05:16):
morning theater. That's exactly right.Yeah, yeah, that is good stuff.
That is good stuff. Looking seewhat Kenny what else he has of
sleep. I'm like bo Man,I don't know what's next. I know
there's a whole lot of things comingdown the pike, and I know things
are going to change around and thingsare going but because I don't want to
start there's some tweets going on,and I don't want to start on the

(05:38):
somber note of negativity because there ain'ta whole lot of negativity. Plus we
got Bush coming on a little later. We're gonna talk some a little football.
But right now, Jack Pilgrim,there not a good or bad thing.
We haven't heard a lot about UKbasketball now. I know McDonald's played
and Quainton and we had a coupleguys in the McDonald's Salt American. We

(06:05):
haven't heard who's coming and who's staying. I know you always got a little
inside scoop and I don't want toprecede any any articles you have coming out
or any articles you are currently writing. But UK basketball, why is it
good? As things are quiet?Or you know there's some some rumbling going
on. Yeah, the fans thatwere disgruddled last Sunday, I don't think

(06:28):
there was anything to really change theirtune this Sunday because we didn't get any
news. I mean, Justin Edwardsdeclares for the NBA Draft, but that
was to be expected. That wasone that the minute he signed, you
knew that whatever the path was goingto be, kind of like Chris Livingston,
he was going to end up beinga one and done. It sucks
that, you know, he hadhis ups and downs, and that's a
kid that could have really used thesecond year, and there was a lot

(06:51):
of excitement at various times about theupside, but you know, extended stretches
of you know, you just wishthat there was an next level to his
game, and you know he hadto battle through some mental stuff. So
I'm rooting for him. I'm abig fan of Justin Edwards, but that
was one at the end of theday, nobody around the program. I
don't think any realistic fan expected JustinEdwards, who came in as a potential

(07:15):
number one pick, is just goingto magically decide to come back, especially
considering his you know, agency tiesand all that fun stuff. So yeah,
justin expected news. Now you couldkind of start penciling in what a
return, you know, what otherreplacement options are out there. And then
obviously, yeah, the McDonald's game. It's hard. It's it's kind of
we're in a weird time where it'shard to get excited for any high school

(07:41):
All American event because we just wentthrough the cycle of you know, one
of the best freshman classes in termsof production and reach Epherd, Rob Dillingham,
and you know, the freshman beinga freshman led team. We've seen
that that this Kentucky team has somany ridiculous highs that the fact that they
came up short again makes you notreally want to care about the next batch

(08:03):
of talent and what they're going tolook like and how excited you should be
about them. So when the McDonald'sgames rolls around and you have to write
about, you know, how thepractice reports were and how they looked in
the actual game and the scrimmage andall that, there's just a real sense
of apathy, I think from thefan base, where doesn't matter if they
look like Michael Jordan out there,that they were just going to go,
eh, we'll see what happens whenthe balls tipped in the actual season,

(08:26):
So I get it. I thinkJayden Queen's played incredibly well. I think
Boogie Flann there's a lot to beexcited about, some potential there with Carter
Knox. So I liked what Isaw out of the three in the McDonald's
game personally, but I totally understandif fans just aren't ready to get there
yet. And we are going tomarch this first segment together. We had

(08:48):
a little technical difficulties getting off theair, and I did not tell you
where it comes from. Clarks fromMain Street Market and beautiful downtown in Lexic,
Kentucky. And we are sponsored byStockyards Bank, your trusted partner since
nineteen oh four. Head on overto syb dot com for all your banking
and financial needs. We are goingto go until nine thirty has so we're

(09:09):
gonna mush both our first segment segmentstogether, So do not prepare for a
break. We got ten more minutesto go on this hour, and if
you would like to join the show, you can join the show eight five
nine to eight zero two two eightseven eight five nine to eight zero Cats,
Jack, I did want to asktoo though, what can you with

(09:33):
your inside knowledge? Is there arethere anybody that we expect to leave that
is gonna stay? I'm sure youdo. You have a barameter on Reid.
At this point, there's been beenpeople acting like DJ may come back,
and if Justin Network's left, I'mnot sure why DJ would come back

(09:54):
because I think DJ has positioned inNBA just being a ball control guard.
I'm really not about his shooting,just getting the ball up court. If
he's a tour or third man,third option, I think he can get
any offense into their sets because he'sstrong with the ball and he's more than

(10:15):
you just made Justin netwards. Becausejust neveris has an off shooting night,
you kill your team. He Imean, he's not really a shot creator.
He can do a lot, hecan do several things, but if
he's off on any given night,it'll hurt the team. I don't think
he's going to be the number oneoption, probably not the number two option.
But if you're looking at somebody beingthe two or three option, I
think this doesn't include Dillingham or orShepherd. But but DJ Wagner is consistent

(10:45):
with the ball in his hands,he can he can get the ball to
court. He can, and inthe NBA they don't do all those exotic
things they do in college. Youknow, it's just pretty much man up
however you want to do it.So do you think that anybody may stay
that we think is going. Yeah, it's it's very up in the air

(11:09):
with some guys. I know,all eyes are on Red Shepherd for what
his his future holds, and Ithink there's a lot of you know,
hope more than actual optimism about what, you know, whether he decides to
come back. I think at theend of the day, and we've talked
about it, you know, he'skind of caught lighting lightning in a bottle
this season where he has shot historicallywell, he has you know, outperformed

(11:33):
every single expectation imaginable, put himselfin a in a position draft wise that
in a historically weak draft, hethere's a you know, very slim chance
that if he were to return,that that he could do anything to raise
his draft stock. I mean atthat at the end of the day,
top three, top five is topfive. I mean that's uh something that

(11:58):
that even in a an O Kdraft class, or you know, even
slightly bad draft class, it's probablyunrealistic for a guy as what we thought
coming in maybe a multi year,three four year type of player. So
I think people aren't completely out ofhope that Reid is going to come back,
but I think the growing consensus islet's just kind of assume the worst

(12:24):
and hope for the best, becausefinancially it would probably be irresponsible for him
to decide to come back, especiallyconsidering his father is a financial advisor,
and kind of be malpractice on hispart to advise his son to make what
would end up being a pretty poorfinancial decision. No matter what NIL guarantees
he has coming back. I mean, just four years of guarantee ten million

(12:46):
dollars a year is just, youknow, that's that's once in a lifetime
opportunity, generational wealth that I thinkat the end of the day, that's
going to be the expectation internally,and if he wakes up with an Oscar
sheeb Way level epiphany of I justneed to come back for unfinished business,
that's one bill welcome with open arms, but I don't think that's something that
they're expecting. I think there issome talk and some optimism about DJ Wagner

(13:11):
coming back he's really really young.That's something to keep in mind. Justin
Edward was old for a freshman,and that's something that is playing into his
decision to leave. But DJ Wagneris eighteen, still not even turning nineteen
until May, so he's really reallyyoung. Could come back and still kind
of be I almost use this asas this past year as a redshirt year,

(13:33):
dealt with a lot of injuries andthings that kind of screwed up his
development and trajectory toward being a lotterypick. And I think there has been
kind of some growing this level ofcomfort internally on DJ side and his family
that you know, maybe we shouldn'tbe in a rush to just kind of,
you know, fast forward through thisprocess. He's clearly young, clearly

(13:54):
raw, clearly has a lot ofroom to develop. Why not just kind
of go with the guy we trustmore than anybody in John Caliperry to see
if we can, you know,kind of get him back on track draft
wise for for the following season.So yeah, there is growing optimism there,
and you know, I think BigZ is the one to watch.
Z is a guy that everybody expectedto leave. He came in on a

(14:16):
one year plan, but considering wherehis draft stock is currently, uh,
he would be spending the entire entiretyof his fresh rookie season in the G
League riding on buses from Fort Wayneto Greensboro and just not a way to
live if you have a clear cutrole in college the way he would coming
back to Kentucky. So you know, I think the nil opportunities would be

(14:39):
here if he were to return,and he's a guy that you could clearly
see a path to you know,becoming a what what he is now a
second round pick, to maybe evenfly all the way up to the lottery
lottery status. So that that thoseare the two names that I'm keeping a
very close eye on. D J. Wagner in Big zuh and Larry bought
up Go ahead's gonna as checkor with with with the are his nil

(15:05):
opportunities limited like what oscars were?They are? They are somewhat limited,
but he has more freedom. Ithink there's a there's some loophole that Croatia
has that that isn't as strict asbecause they have such a direct relationship with
the United States for basketball reasons.I think that there's a there is a

(15:26):
slight loophole where he's able to makea little bit more. It's still it's
still not the freedom that he hasa you know, as if you were
a United States citizen. But hehas a little bit more wiggle room than
than even Oscar, if you will. But Oscar still made out like,
you know, like a bandit withwhat he was able to do given the
restriction. So uh, there,there, there are some things in UK

(15:50):
has done a really good job ofkind of putting themselves at the forefront of
n I l with with you know, international student athletes. So because of
their experience with oscars, so Ithink they know some of the things that
work, some of the things thatdon't to put him in a position to
where it's going to be more thanwhatever he'd make as a you know,
undrafted kid or you know, secondround G League or something like that.

(16:14):
So they just got to be financiallycompetitive because the upside with him is just
so clear, Larry, Larry Vought. Uh, well, as we are,
as I asked Jack, and weare talking about players that may return,
may not return DJ Wagon and it'sinteresting cal with dj Or senior,
Dwyane Wagner Senior that how he howhow his interest to the NBA happened.

(16:41):
Cal kind of forced him to taketake a leap of faith for that opportunity,
and I think it probably changed thelife or catapulted his life some before
he had the health issues. Uhis that coming to player? Are?
Do you? As a father?You follow in Kentucky sports as long as
possible? Is there any thought thatDJ Wagner would come back? Concern would

(17:04):
happen? And I'm only basing thatsolely off of what happened with the Wye
Wagner Senior. I think in today'sworld you never say never to anything,
Anthony, because I think there's somany things that go on that we don't
know about anymore, with with Niland different things. So if DJ leaves,

(17:25):
it wouldn't surprise me. If DJcomes back, it wouldn't surprise me.
I just know that it's hard touse logic when you're making these decisions
because that didn't always seem to bethe determining factor, because if you just
look at it logically, in theseason that DJ had, I think for
the reasons Jack just laid out,you have to be a lot better for
him to come back. But then, as you noted, there is a

(17:48):
there is a path where you cansee, well, yeah, he can
go ahead and go I think,hold his own and develop. So I
don't know what will happen. Iknow when the season first ended at Sure,
seemed like the John Caliber period waspretty confident that he was going to
have a point guard back. AndI think I'm a little surprised. I
don't know if you are or not, Jack, that was gone this long

(18:08):
and we've heard nothing from Shepherd,Dillingham or Wagner. I mean, I
just assumed that Reeve was going togo ahead and announce that he's going to
put his name into the draft andgo through the evaluations, because I think
he has to do that. Butthe fact they've already gone this long and
nobody's done anything as a little surprisingto me. Out of those three and

(18:32):
Jack, put your thinking cap on, because we, like I said,
we had a long first segment.If you would like to join the show
eight five nine to eight zero twotwo eight seven eight five nine to eight
zero, Cats and Jack when wecome back, we do. I do
want to know something that came upthat the coaching staff does not have any
notable expected changes. There's as Larrysaid some guys, if you know you're

(18:57):
leaving, just come out and sayit. Now you know a lot of
guy, What is everybody holding onto? If there was another rumor about
the UK basketball locker room, Iwant to ask you about Jack, but
we will talk about those on theother side of this break. You were
listening to Stockyards Bank Sunday Morning SportsTalk on news radio six thirty WLAP.
This is the home of the Wildcatssix thirty WLAP. Welcome back stock Yards

(19:22):
Bank Sunday Morning Sports Talk guym AnthonyWhite, along with Jack Pilgrim and Larry
Vaught. This our Sunday Morning sportsTalk because it brought to you by Country
Boy Brewing. If you would liketo join the show, I would like
to know because we are talking rightnow. Kentucky baseball is hot, hot,
just like an oven, as MarvinGay would say. Basketball men's basketball.

(19:48):
We have talked about that for thefirst segment, and that is that
is kind of where our bread isbuttered. Some people think we are something
other than the basketball school. Isolely, I stand, firmly planted that
we are a basketball school, eventhough I played another sport. Football sounds
exciting. We got our office coordinatorcoming on at ten thirty and women's basketball

(20:12):
had not a home run higher,So if you're going to jump on,
you need to get on the bandwagonearly because there may not be room come
next season. So and Lexi Bluejoining the crew is as something that I
think is huge for UK at thispoint. So give us a call,
let us know what you think.What sport are you following? What sport

(20:34):
are you most optimistic about next season? And with that said, the numbers
eight five to nine two A zerotwo two eight seven eight five nine two
A zero cap. With that said, Jack Pilgrim, I know there was
a lot of talk and I kindof bought into the whole idea. And
I think Larry Vaughton yourself may nothave thought that the coaches had the assistant

(20:56):
coaches had a lot to do withthe non success unsuccessful. Well I can't
say it was unsuccessful, but unKentucky characteristic for having such a high recruiting
class that we had last season.And there was expected coaches changes with cal
coming back, and is that outof the window. Are there going to

(21:17):
be no coaching changes? And ifnot, are you okay with that?
That's the rumor I'm just hearing itfrom the rumor. So I don't know
if there's not going to be well, I don't know if you followed along
on social media, but late lastnight the good old Trillie Donovan said that
there's some buzz to Cal go intoArkansas, So maybe maybe there are some

(21:40):
big, big time coaching changes stillnow. I mean, if you follow
along with coach cal and the wayhe has operated over the years, he
does not fire assistance. He letsthem find other jobs, lets them become
head coaches elsewhere, lets them findyou know. So there was never,
I think, going to be anexplicit like you are, you are getting

(22:03):
canned, have a nice day withany of the assistants. And I think
it was something that was discussed interms of okay, there's a lot of
talk about you know, expenses pilingup and you know, people overlapping with
duties and is there any way wecan maximize you know, kind of we're
we're putting a lot of money intothis staff. Is there any way we

(22:25):
can maximize this a little bit further? You know John Wells coming in and
being a you know, kind ofa player development guru and having his own
offensive ideas and philosophies and different things, and we see kind of what that
did to the offense. You know, he wasn't the puppeteer of of you
know, making the offense one ofthe historically great ones at Lexington. But

(22:47):
a new voice, a new freshvoice that did impact things one way or
the other. Why not have thedefensive equivalent to that come in and you
know, kind of do the samething on the other side of the ball
for a historically bad so there.I still think that there is a path
there for a new voice to comein and just kind of you know,
pitch ideas and maybe some reshuffling ofroles. But I think the scuttle butt

(23:12):
in some of the rumors that werecoming out about you know, Mitch having
some of these demands coming out ofthe uh you know, NCAA tournament,
saying that he needs, you know, he's putting his foot down, he
needs I think a lot of thatwas blown out of proportion and maybe some
uh some internal frustration, and Idon't think that there's some some friends internally
that uh, you know, we'rewe're leaking certain things to try to add

(23:36):
public pressure and and get things outthere to the public to maybe force Mitch's
hand or you know, for forceCol's hands. So yeah, it's I
don't think that there's a lot ofgood blood with with some people internally right
now. So I wouldn't say thatany coaching change that I've heard on my
end that there aren't expected to beany as of today. Uh, but

(23:56):
that's also how Col operates. He'snever going to be a guy that that
fire somebody out right, because heis loyal at times to a fault.
He does just not how he operates. There's kind of a running theme in
college basketball where if you are firedas an assistant coach, it's kind of
a kind of a sometimes ends careersin coaching, you just don't get fired

(24:19):
as a coach, you get relocated. And so I don't think that was
ever on the table. If anything, it was going to be this coach
magically shows up at Missouri, You'remagically shows up wherever. So as of
right now, I'm not expecting anyI don't think there's been any ultimatum that
you have to get rid of thisguy. But I do think that there's
something to be said that the defensehas been historically poor in recent years and

(24:44):
probably safe to assume that you wantto add some new fresh voices in there
to try to get things get thingsfixed. And I'm not ruling that out
yet. I don't think Cal probablyshould firing nobody. I don't think I'm
with you. I don't think he'sabout firing nobody. But you can if
Cal calls any it's any college inAmericas, because there's no college above Kentucky.
You called any colleges in an Americans, say look, I'm going to

(25:07):
so and so. Look for aplace, man, you need, you
need whatever. And I don't knowwhat these guys. They're not like football.
We're just office corner. Somebody's responsiblefor for some aspect of the sport.
But you did say somebody leaks stuff. And I don't like going down
this road. I went down thisroad last week, but I am gonna
go down because I'm curious. AndI know every time people stopped me in

(25:27):
public and ask me about rumors,they hear I don't really get in a
rumor meal. But and we normallydon't get on the rumor meal on Sunday
morning sports stuff. We typically justthrow around facts. But since you brought
it up, Jack, now I'mnot saying you brought it up. I'm
not going to bring it up.There was there was a rumor that there
was a scuffle in the locker room, and if you don't want to indulge,

(25:52):
then you don't have to indulge.But can you confirm or deny that
there was a scuffle this year,because I know that I've heard from a
reliable source that last year there wasa scuffle in the locker room and man's
basketball and it never got into thepublic. So there was not a hand
to hand combat uh scuffle this thisseason. I am very very confident in

(26:18):
saying. But yeah, at halftimeof the Oakland game, because it was
pretty you know, pretty public publiclydiscussed and rumored and and and and you
know kind of spread like wildfire.But yeah, the at halftime of the
Oakland game in the tunnel, therewas some kind of getting in each other's
face, and you know, becauseit's it's been put out there now,

(26:41):
Jordan Burk's and Rob Dillingham, youknow, just kind of a bucking up
to each other and saying, youknow, put putting their thoughts out there
and and opinions out there about howthe game was going and what needed to
change to uh, you know,not embarrass themselves against a fourteen seed.
But you know that's that's that You'vebeen in locker rooms for for a long

(27:03):
time, you know, across varioussports. How tense in game situations get,
you know, heated arguments and confrontationshappen. That's just kind of the
nature of a locker room, thenature of sports. So nothing out of
the ordinary happened with this team.And what's funny is Rob Dillingham and Jordan
Burke's are two of the best friendson the team. Like talking to people

(27:25):
around the program, you could notfind two closer human beings in terms of
teammates between them because of their historywith ote and just kind of coming from
similar backgrounds and how they got towhere they did today. They share some
they share some stuff, so they'remore comfortable talking a little bit more openly

(27:45):
with one another about their you knowups and down. So yeah, that
that happened, and it kind ofturned, you know, it turned into
a you know, something of legend. You know, it is a little
minor, you know, getting ineach other's faces and getting frustrated about how
a game is unfolding turns into theirhitting each other over you know, with

(28:07):
each other, over the heads withyou know, metal chairs. So just
kind of funny how things spread andexplode and unnecessary ways. But it was
a big old nothing burger that endedup, you know, unfortunately the heat
heat of the moment of yet anotherpretty disappointing loss for Kentucky basketball. Yeah,
because I was thinking about Burk's andthe role Burkes plays on the team

(28:30):
and the road Dellingham plays on theteam. You kind of look at it
like, you don't you say whathappened with Jeremy Flax and whoever he busted
up in the football locker room?Like hey, you don't. You don't
talk to a big dog like that. You don't talk to the start.
But I do understand the aspect.Uh. And and any of my boys,
ask ain was Stewart? Any ofmy boys? I played football?
Basketball? Uh? I don't remembermy baseball years. But I'm gonna get

(28:53):
in your face. They gonna getif I'm not playing the way I'm supposed
to play, if I'm not doingsomething, that's gonna be the person to
feed you the stuff, that's gonnabe the first, the person that fees
you the juju Like look, man, you be you her bsing, I
mean and you that is so thatthat is more understandable. But like you
said, it was I think whenthey were trying to get Barnhart to do

(29:15):
something, I do think they were. They were kind of whoever it were
painting some kind of picture that itwas a scuffle. I thought I thought
hands were flying, I thought fisticuffswere flying. And uh, that is
not the case. Larry Vaught,I'm gonna I'm gonna ask you, uh,
coaching do you are you with Jack? You do you think there's not

(29:37):
a coaching change coming. I knowyou may have a little more inside were
not a little more inside school,but you may understand why there will be.
I'm sure he wouldn't fire anybody,but he can find a way to
upgrade his staff. And I didask you last week, is he going
to relinquish the whole that if youhire these people, they should be capable
of doing te post moves, teachingdefense. Obviously, as Jack stated,

(30:03):
Welch came in. He amped upthe offense, but he had a lot
of offense and power to do thatwith no changes on the coaching staff.
I don't know, Anthony, it'sI think it's kind of hard to predict.
And as Jack said, I mean, I don't think it's a bad
thing that John's loyal to people.As somebody that got fired, I didn't

(30:26):
like somebody that's loyal to the peoplethat have been there. But I also
think you have to be realistic aboutthe situation that you are in. And
I don't know exactly where some ofthese guys if they wanted another job,
what another job might be available toolBut I think when you've gone through three

(30:48):
seasons like what Kentucky has, youjust need to make a change just for
the sake of making a change andtrying something different. Whether they will or
not, I don't know. AndI remember there was a football coach at
Kentucky one time named Jerry Clayburn,and that was one of the big knocks
on Jerry that he never fired anassistant, never really had an assistant to

(31:10):
anybody else came and tried to hireaway from him, and his staff always
stayed the same. And as thelonger he coached to Kentucky, the more
stagged at the program kind of becameand that was an issue, and John
may have to do something that hedidn't want to do. But I think
they have to go into next seasonwith some changes on that coaching staff just
for the sake of saying, Okay, we admit things didn't work. We

(31:33):
got to try something different. Larry, you starting to sound like the fan
base because you started your conversation offsaying the past three seasons, we got
wins over North Carolina, we gotwins in Gainesville, we got wins in
Arkansas, we have wins in Tennessee, we got We've had some big wins

(31:55):
on the road this season. Ifyou take if you take away if you
take away the tournament NA Tournament,in the SEC tournament, is this team
really that bad? Are you justsaying that we have nice signed to fan
base, Larry, we haven't gottento where our expectations were. But the
season wasn't bad. We had someterrible losses. We did have some bad

(32:15):
loss but we have some great wins. Feel great wins, true, But
aren't the best wins the wins youget in March? Those only wins that
count. Well, that's what I'msaying. That's kind of what you're judged
on. And so if you're whateveryou're doing to get you ready for March,
I mean Kentucky, Walla, Alabama, and now I don't watch Alabama

(32:37):
still playing last night in the Finalfour. So those guys apparently did something
different from the time they lost toKentucky until they got ready for March.
And I think you just have tolook at the overall expectation for Kentucky and
I don't think that ten lost seasonsand not playing it on the second weekend
in March or in the SEC tournamentsemifinals are what the expectations are are.

(33:00):
And I think when you're not reachingthat, yeah, you have to try
to make some make some changes.No argument there. That is Larry Vaught
and we will be back after this. You're listening to Stockyards Bank Sunday Morning
Sports Talk on news radio six thirtyW a P. This is the home
of the Wildcats. Six thirty wl a P. Welcome back Stockyards Bank

(33:23):
Sunday Morning Sports Talk. I amAnthony White along with Jack Pilgrim and Larry
Vaught. I I was there's somethingthat's been on my mind and has come
up a lot this week because ifyou watch and I didn't watch a lot
of the men's Final four games.I didn't watch at leite aid a whole

(33:47):
lot. But I have watched alot of the women because I was interesting
with Kim Loki was gonna do.I was interested what Juju was gonna do,
What Caitlin Clark was gonna do?Uh, and and Don Staley.
I just like her, but she'sjust she kind of reminds me of Dolly
Parton. She always has some positiveto say. She's just always positive.

(34:07):
So I want to ask you this, Jack, And I know this is
kind of off the subject is notreally a normal topic, but I'm looking
at the top because Kenny Brooks expectto do great things here as a women
coach at Kentucky, and I thinkhe's making like one point five a year
or whatever, which is the thirdhighest paid coach in the SEC. And

(34:31):
that is behind Kim Monkey and DonStaley, which are three point two million
and three and fifty million, threeand fifty thousand, So three point oh
five I think maybe three point onethree point oh five, So it's half
of what the top two are making, but the top two in the conference,

(34:52):
which are top two in the country, probably next to Gina Oriema.
But yet when you go to themen's you got Bill Soff, you got
John Caliperry, You got Tim Imean Tom Izzo. Have you watched the
games enough to think that there's gonnabe an impact from the women's on the

(35:12):
women's side of the sport where peopleare going to start saying that, you
know, they deserve the product thatwe watched on the final four for women
and the product we watching the finalfour men. I'm with you. I
think thing's into how they supposed you. I do think Ukim was probably better
than Iowa without the Zebra's helping,but the product was well worth watching.

(35:35):
And there's just such such a hugepay gap and coaching, although I think
Kenny Brooks is a great coach anddeserves a lot more and he has to
show that. But you got Johncali Perry not making ten million what everybody's
saying. I thought he was atleast a nine million, but USA today
reporting that is eight point five.I mean yet eight point five, which

(35:57):
is almost a whole million dollars underMark stuts. Do you think that changes
anytime soon? Jack? It's beenpretty fascinating because this year it's been just
a renaissance of interest and excitement,and obviously Kaitlyn Clark has been a big
part of that. But I feelpeople getting rallying around the women's program for

(36:22):
Kentucky, especially more so than theyever have even like Peek Matthew Mitchell days.
It was excitement, but it justwasn't an all in. I am
invested and obsessed with the roster,contruct construction in each individual edition. Oh,
they just offered this brand new Topseventeen for you know, five star

(36:45):
in the class of twenty twenty five. What's the latest there? Like,
there's just a new level of obsessionwith this that that drives TV numbers.
We just saw the record set forthe Connecticut Iowa game. Those things or
the Iowa l s U games,those things matter in terms of overall revenue,

(37:07):
and you know, obviously more buttsand seats means more dollars brought in
for your for your school and justnationally across all schools. As excitement picks
up with the sport, it's goingto raise revenue and drive some of those
those prices. And I think thiswas a forward thinking move for Mitch to

(37:29):
invest big. You know, asof right now top three in the SEC.
That's a statement to bring in aguy like Kenny Brooks for the costs
that he is, even if itseems low on the grand scheme of things,
when you have cow making as muchas he is, and all that,
but it is a forward thinking movebecause money is going to start pouring
in and as excitement starts to build, so before long it will all right,

(37:52):
will continue this conversation at the topof the hour. You listen to
Stockyards Bank Sunday morning sports talk onnews radio six thirty w a p.