Latest / Podcast on the Brink / POTB 550: Kentucky's early season struggles and the IU-UK matchup with Cameron Drummond

Transcript

POTB 550: Kentucky's early season struggles and the IU-UK matchup with Cameron Drummond · Podcast on the Brink

0:18
Speaker 1: Welcome back to a new episode of Podcasts on the
0:20
Speaker 1: Brink Thursday, December eleventh. Big basketball game coming up this weekend.
0:26
Speaker 1: Indiana Basketball will be in Lexington, Kentucky to take on
0:31
Speaker 1: the University of Kentucky, who is off to a bit
0:35
Speaker 1: of a shaky start this season under second year coach
0:38
Speaker 1: Mark Pope. To help us talk a little bit about
0:40
Speaker 1: Kentucky's early season struggles and also look forward to the matchup.
0:44
Speaker 1: Cameron Drummond, old friend now the Lexington Herald Leader one
0:49
Speaker 1: time was a student reporter for Inside the Halls with
0:53
Speaker 1: us on Podcast on the Brink. Before we get to Cameron,
0:56
Speaker 1: I wanted to just take a quick moment remind you
0:58
Speaker 1: if you're watching the show on YouTube, like the video,
1:00
Speaker 1: subscribe to the channel. Really helps us grow our reach there.
1:03
Speaker 1: You enjoy the show on Apple Podcasts Spotify. Leave was
1:06
Speaker 1: a five star rating and review. Always appreciate all the
1:09
Speaker 1: support there. Thank you for that. Cameron, welcome back. You
1:16
Speaker 1: had an abrupt ending to your time and Inside the
1:18
Speaker 1: Hall because of the pandemic. I remember still remember it.
1:21
Speaker 1: You know people you know ask me some of the
1:25
Speaker 1: moments that stand out. Been doing this now since two
1:28
Speaker 1: thousand and seven. I still think about this from time
1:31
Speaker 1: to time. You and Dylan Wallace at the Big Ten
1:34
Speaker 1: Tournament in twenty twenty. It looked like Indiana was going
1:37
Speaker 1: to break through there and make it to the NCAA tournament.
1:42
Speaker 1: You guys were finally going to get to cover the tournament,
1:45
Speaker 1: and then all of a sudden everything is shut down.
1:48
Speaker 1: You were I think in the aftermath of that, you
1:50
Speaker 1: and Dylan were like helping me grind like Q and
1:53
Speaker 1: a's with former IU players and all time IU player
1:58
Speaker 1: bracket things like that, just to kind of keep the
2:00
Speaker 1: conversation going because there were no games. But it's come
2:03
Speaker 1: a long way in those what it will be six
2:06
Speaker 1: years in March. Things much more normal now. But what
2:10
Speaker 1: do you remember about that that time in that day.
2:13
Speaker 1: I remember seeing Fred Hoiber looking ill on the bench
2:17
Speaker 1: in that game, and there's a lot of concern that
2:19
Speaker 1: and then all of a sudden it was just Big
2:20
Speaker 1: To tournament was over.
2:22
Speaker 2: You know, there's certain things that like I don't think
2:25
Speaker 2: about a ton from my time at IU or covering
2:27
Speaker 2: IU basketball, just because I've been on the Kentucky beat
2:30
Speaker 2: for a few years. And you mean, you know this
2:32
Speaker 2: as well as anyone news comes left, right and center.
2:34
Speaker 2: Things just get pushed to the recess of your brain.
2:36
Speaker 2: But hearing you described kind of the parameters of that,
2:40
Speaker 2: I remember everything about that day because there was Indiana
2:43
Speaker 2: and Nebraska in the eight twelve game or ten the
2:47
Speaker 2: eleven fourteen games, something like that. Basically, Indiana needed a
2:51
Speaker 2: win to lock up that tournament spot, and I guess
2:54
Speaker 2: what ended up being Archie's penultimate year in charge, they
2:57
Speaker 2: crushed them, and Nebraska played like two on football players
3:01
Speaker 2: in the game because they didn't have enough scholarship basketball guys.
3:04
Speaker 2: Fred Hoiberg, who ended up just having the flu is
3:07
Speaker 2: like sick on the bench. Me and Dylan Wallace you mentioned,
3:11
Speaker 2: my former roommate and fellow inside the Hall intern. We're
3:14
Speaker 2: sitting courtside at Banker's Life. Also during that game is
3:18
Speaker 2: when Rudy Gobert comes back positive for COVID. So the
3:21
Speaker 2: NBA shuts down and they canceled that game in Oklahoma City,
3:24
Speaker 2: and I remember postgame, you know, they really rushed through
3:27
Speaker 2: postgame press conferences at Banker's Life and we were basically
3:30
Speaker 2: sequestered on the Pacers practice court, which is where they
3:33
Speaker 2: had a big ten tournament. Like podium media sessions. We
3:37
Speaker 2: all had to chill out there for like an hour
3:39
Speaker 2: or two because everyone thought Fred Hoiberg had COVID. Nobody
3:42
Speaker 2: knew how it spread any of that stuff. And one
3:45
Speaker 2: of the things, actually one of my biggest regrets from
3:47
Speaker 2: my time at inside the Hall is that night we
3:50
Speaker 2: drove back from India to Bloomington, we weren't sure really
3:53
Speaker 2: what was going to happen with the world. Obviously we
3:55
Speaker 2: know everything got canceled from that point onward. But I
3:57
Speaker 2: stayed up until like three am, and I wrote a
4:00
Speaker 2: story because I was sitting right behind the Indiana bench
4:03
Speaker 2: the entire game.
4:04
Speaker 3: So I wrote a.
4:05
Speaker 2: Story that laid out exactly what Archie Miller said, did
4:09
Speaker 2: bench interactions, yelling at the ref, talking with you know,
4:12
Speaker 2: probably Bruiser Flint and tom O'strummer, whoever the assistants were,
4:17
Speaker 2: and it was I thought it was pretty good, or
4:18
Speaker 2: at least my like twenty one year old brain thought
4:20
Speaker 2: this is a killer story. And it just remained in
4:23
Speaker 2: my Google docs the entire time because it didn't feel
4:25
Speaker 2: like a good time to post it when the world
4:27
Speaker 2: was that ding, So that one never saw the light
4:29
Speaker 2: of day. So I'm still disappointed I didn't force that
4:31
Speaker 2: one through, especially when we were starved for content.
4:34
Speaker 1: You know, IU doesn't play from December twenty second through
4:38
Speaker 1: January fourth, so maybe we can fit that one in
4:40
Speaker 1: after Christmas. Just kind of look back at the story
4:44
Speaker 1: that was never told by Cam drummen. Just just kidding.
4:47
Speaker 1: So you you graduated, obviously, and then went to Austin
4:50
Speaker 1: for I think you told me eleven months to cover
4:54
Speaker 1: community news down in Austin, Texas, a good maybe break
4:58
Speaker 1: from the sports world there after covering pretty depressing time
5:03
Speaker 1: in IU basketball. For the amount of years you did
5:05
Speaker 1: in other IU sports too, there wasn't just a lot
5:07
Speaker 1: of good sports. But then get the opportunity to go
5:10
Speaker 1: to Lexington cover UK women's basketball. I believe it first.
5:13
Speaker 1: And now you're the secondary on UK men's basketball. What's
5:18
Speaker 1: it just been like just adjusting to You've been there
5:22
Speaker 1: now for what more than four years? But what's what's
5:26
Speaker 1: it been like just covering those programs and what's your
5:29
Speaker 1: time on Lexington been like so far?
5:32
Speaker 2: Well, let me start by saying, my time in Lexington
5:34
Speaker 2: has been tremendous. I was telling you off fare that
5:37
Speaker 2: I was actually in Bloomington, Indiana, visiting friends. I want
5:40
Speaker 2: to say it was maybe around the graduation period for
5:42
Speaker 2: that twenty twenty one class, and I would just out
5:45
Speaker 2: of the blue got an email from the former sports
5:48
Speaker 2: editor here at the Lexington Herald Leader, Matt Groff, asking
5:51
Speaker 2: if I'd be interested in covering UK women's basketball or
5:54
Speaker 2: joining the sports staff here at large, and I told
5:57
Speaker 2: him I'd never been to Lexington, Kentucky before.
5:59
Speaker 3: The only thing I knew about it is that UK
6:01
Speaker 3: was situated here.
6:02
Speaker 2: But I was up for an adventure and so that
6:04
Speaker 2: could have gone really poorly if I like didn't like
6:06
Speaker 2: the city and everything that came with the job. But
6:09
Speaker 2: it's been a tremendous few years and you reference, you know,
6:12
Speaker 2: I started off on the UK women's basketball beat. I
6:15
Speaker 2: actually got to cover the senior year of Ryan Howard,
6:17
Speaker 2: who went on to be the one number one overall
6:19
Speaker 2: pick in the twenty twenty two WNBA draft. I actually
6:23
Speaker 2: was in Indiana twice of the first year I covered
6:26
Speaker 2: the UK women's basketball team, because they played at Indiana
6:29
Speaker 2: in the regular season, lost by like thirty, then returned
6:32
Speaker 2: to Indiana as their NCAA tournament site, and it was
6:35
Speaker 2: kind of billed as of maybe a big rematch between
6:37
Speaker 2: them and Terry Moorin's IU squad, and then UK lost
6:40
Speaker 2: to Princeton in the first round, So continued the streak
6:43
Speaker 2: of if I'm around a program in the postseason, it's
6:45
Speaker 2: usually going to go poorly for them. But you know,
6:48
Speaker 2: you reference kind of obviously this is a tremendous, you know,
6:52
Speaker 2: spectacle in the state of Kentucky. Like Kentucky basketball very
6:55
Speaker 2: much like Indiana basketball is something that the passion throughout
6:59
Speaker 2: the state, not just in Central Kentucky, you know, really
7:02
Speaker 2: on a national scale as well, especially given what John
7:04
Speaker 2: Calipari did, you know, kind of the turn of the
7:07
Speaker 2: oughts to the twenty tens with all the freshmen in
7:10
Speaker 2: the one and done's, Like, the leadership we get is tremendous.
7:14
Speaker 2: You know, eighteen twenty thousand people at RUP Arena, where
7:17
Speaker 2: there's fireworks going off before games. You know, we were
7:21
Speaker 2: talking off air, and I'm sure we'll get into it
7:22
Speaker 2: in the podcast, but the resources that they dedicate to
7:26
Speaker 2: the UK men's basketball program as well, the scrutiny that
7:29
Speaker 2: Calipari toward the end of his tenure, Mark Pope's gotten,
7:32
Speaker 2: especially this season, you know, it really is a pressure cooker,
7:36
Speaker 2: a fish bowl kind of environment. And I will say
7:39
Speaker 2: as well that I think I was sitting in a
7:40
Speaker 2: coffee shop here in Lexington. I want to say in
7:43
Speaker 2: twenty twenty three when the series was announced the renewal
7:46
Speaker 2: of the IU UK rivalry, you know, back when Calipari
7:50
Speaker 2: and Mike Woodson were the head coaches to people who
7:53
Speaker 2: notably are no longer here. But one of my first
7:56
Speaker 2: thoughts after writing up the news release was, man, I
7:58
Speaker 2: wonder if I may get on podcast on the Brink
8:00
Speaker 2: again when that game rolls around.
8:02
Speaker 3: So I'm happy to have a few years on.
8:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's I think it's a good thing that the
8:07
Speaker 1: game's coming back. It's been far too long. Obviously, it's
8:10
Speaker 1: the first time since the December tenth, twenty eleven game
8:14
Speaker 1: in Bloomington that they played a regular season game, or
8:16
Speaker 1: I think a lot of that obviously was because cal
8:19
Speaker 1: Perry didn't want to come to Bloomington again and Indiana
8:23
Speaker 1: was not necessarily open to neutral court games. Kind of
8:27
Speaker 1: had a bit of a compromise with this series with
8:29
Speaker 1: the four game deal where they're going to play two
8:31
Speaker 1: in Lexington one and Indy one in Bloomington. Don't love
8:34
Speaker 1: that set up from an IU perspective to give in
8:36
Speaker 1: that much, but I think that's what it took to
8:39
Speaker 1: get it done. And then, obviously, as you mentioned, the
8:42
Speaker 1: coaches that agreed to the deal no longer in place,
8:45
Speaker 1: So I do think for the long term, both programs
8:49
Speaker 1: probably in healthier positions. Just in terms of the coaching
8:54
Speaker 1: changes you mentioned cal Perry, you know, it seemed like
8:58
Speaker 1: his time had really come to an end there, just
9:01
Speaker 1: based on a lot of different factors. And obviously with
9:03
Speaker 1: Indiana Mike Woodson, I think a lot of people thought
9:06
Speaker 1: maybe after year three that it was time for him
9:08
Speaker 1: to go, and he stayed that extra year and things
9:10
Speaker 1: didn't go well and his tenure. But this Kentucky team,
9:14
Speaker 1: you mentioned the reported twenty two million dollar INIL payroll
9:20
Speaker 1: whatever you want to call it, for this group, that
9:23
Speaker 1: was obviously something that was you know, I saw it
9:26
Speaker 1: aggregated various places in the preseason, but you told me
9:29
Speaker 1: that the Herald Leader was the one that actually reported
9:31
Speaker 1: that figure. How has that impacted the way that the
9:38
Speaker 1: fan base looks at this team in terms of just
9:42
Speaker 1: the performance so far, because it seems to me, and
9:44
Speaker 1: this is again I've told you I've only watched really
9:47
Speaker 1: part of the Gonzaga game, not watch the team play,
9:49
Speaker 1: but I see some of the stuff on social media.
9:54
Speaker 1: It seems to me that people are kind of throwing
9:56
Speaker 1: that number out when it's can in terms of criticizing
10:02
Speaker 1: Mark Pope and saying that he's not done a good
10:04
Speaker 1: job with this team. And I'm just curious how that
10:07
Speaker 1: kind of how that number is maybe kind of weighed
10:09
Speaker 1: on the start that they've had so far.
10:11
Speaker 3: Certainly.
10:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, and let me just start by saying that if
10:14
Speaker 2: anyone has any interest in any of our Kentucky preview content,
10:17
Speaker 2: please go over to Kentucky dot com and Kentucky dot
10:19
Speaker 2: com slash sports. We have a really good men's basketball
10:22
Speaker 2: staff led by my kind of senior colleague, Ben Roberts,
10:25
Speaker 2: who was the first to get that twenty two million
10:27
Speaker 2: dollar number out there. And we have a ton of
10:29
Speaker 2: stuff this week leading up to the IU game, even
10:32
Speaker 2: some Indiana focused stuff that I'm taking a crack at
10:34
Speaker 2: my expert knowledge of both the both teams that I
10:37
Speaker 2: think people will enjoy. But you mentioned the twenty two
10:40
Speaker 2: million dollar number. Obviously that was something that came out,
10:43
Speaker 2: you know, September ish. I think is when we reported it,
10:46
Speaker 2: you know, kind of in the lead up to the season.
10:49
Speaker 2: You combine that with defeating Purdue, then the number one
10:51
Speaker 2: team in the country in their first exhibition game, and
10:54
Speaker 2: that those two factors I think really rashed up expectations
10:58
Speaker 2: for this team, which were already high. I think a
11:00
Speaker 2: lot of people remember Mark Pope's introductory press conference some
11:03
Speaker 2: eighteen months ago where he's yelling about raising banner number
11:07
Speaker 2: nine and that national championships and final fours are really
11:10
Speaker 2: the only standard that matters at Kentucky.
11:12
Speaker 3: The fan base ran with that obviously.
11:14
Speaker 2: Last year they were hindered a bit by injuries and
11:16
Speaker 2: some on the fly roster construction, but they showed a
11:19
Speaker 2: lot of promising play. They played a really beautiful brand
11:22
Speaker 2: of basketball that was predicated on cutting three point shots,
11:26
Speaker 2: free flowing offense. They had a ton of seniors, fifth
11:29
Speaker 2: year grad transfer guys who really made that gel and
11:32
Speaker 2: it was a pretty likable team to kind of fall
11:34
Speaker 2: in love with from a fan based perspective. Stylistically, all
11:38
Speaker 2: those things entering this season, as I was telling you
11:40
Speaker 2: off air, Mark Pope really kind of changed the roster construction,
11:45
Speaker 2: or at least based on historically what he did both
11:47
Speaker 2: during his first year at Kentucky in his previous stops
11:50
Speaker 2: at Utah Valley and BYU, he went a lot more physical,
11:53
Speaker 2: a lot more defense.
11:54
Speaker 3: First.
11:55
Speaker 2: You know a lot of these guys that they targeted
11:57
Speaker 2: in the portal, the likes of Jaden Quainton's, who is
12:00
Speaker 2: their top transfer from Arizona State, who hasn't even played
12:02
Speaker 2: yet this year because he's recovering from a torn acl
12:05
Speaker 2: but other guys as well. You know, I'm thinking about
12:08
Speaker 2: Mohammed Diabate from Alabama, Denzel Aberdeen, who was the sixth
12:12
Speaker 2: man on last year's Florida National Championship squad. You know,
12:15
Speaker 2: even otega Oway, who was the preseason SEC Player of
12:18
Speaker 2: the Year. It was a little bit less offensive skill
12:21
Speaker 2: and a little bit more like physicality, grittiness defense, because
12:26
Speaker 2: that was an area that Kentucky struggled in last year.
12:29
Speaker 2: So far this regular season, they've gotten none of that
12:32
Speaker 2: defensive trade off, and their offensive ceiling has seemingly shrunk.
12:36
Speaker 2: Feels like a case where maybe they brought in a
12:37
Speaker 2: lot of pieces that don't necessarily fit the coaches playing
12:41
Speaker 2: style or philosophy super well, and then the result of
12:44
Speaker 2: that has been in zero to four record in high
12:46
Speaker 2: major games. You know, you lose a rivalry matchup to Louisville,
12:50
Speaker 2: they hadn't lost in several years. You go down by
12:52
Speaker 2: north of twenty points at one point, you know, in
12:55
Speaker 2: the Cardinals gym at the Young Center, you get blown
12:58
Speaker 2: up by Michigan State. In the Champions Classic, you lose
13:01
Speaker 2: what was an eminently winnable game against North Carolina where
13:04
Speaker 2: Kentucky kind of choked a bit down the stretch and
13:07
Speaker 2: I think missed thirteen or their final fifteen shots in
13:10
Speaker 2: a really lively rap arena. And then you reference the
13:13
Speaker 2: game that you watch part of that Gonzaga embarrassment where
13:16
Speaker 2: that Nashville crowd booed the Wildcats off the court like
13:19
Speaker 2: nothing too many people have ever seen before. So the
13:22
Speaker 2: twenty two million dollar number to go back to that
13:24
Speaker 2: obviously plays a role. You know, I think a lot
13:26
Speaker 2: of members of the fan base feel that that's currently
13:29
Speaker 2: not money well spent or money that cope and just
13:31
Speaker 2: the roster building folks have kind of mismanaged. I will
13:36
Speaker 2: say some of that is a little bit misleading, only
13:38
Speaker 2: from the standpoint of a large chunk of those deals
13:41
Speaker 2: and that monetary payout came before the true summer house
13:45
Speaker 2: settlement regulations came in, so you know, you can look
13:48
Speaker 2: at it from more so players that Pope identified to
13:51
Speaker 2: maybe give some more money on the front end, while
13:55
Speaker 2: you know, maybe taking a longer term approach, like hey,
13:57
Speaker 2: if we give you a little bit more here, committing
13:59
Speaker 2: you to stay for an extra year or two, or
14:02
Speaker 2: just you know, looking at not just from the pure
14:04
Speaker 2: twenty two million dollars for one season lens. All that
14:07
Speaker 2: being said, I think a lot of people in the
14:09
Speaker 2: fan base are very dubious, shall we say, about this
14:12
Speaker 2: team's roster construction, how they fit in together. You know,
14:16
Speaker 2: if there's enough offensive production. If there's one, go get
14:19
Speaker 2: a bucket guy on this team. And there's also been
14:21
Speaker 2: a ton of questions recently about just basic tent pole
14:24
Speaker 2: things like energy, effort, hustle. We had Kentucky's starting center
14:29
Speaker 2: at the beginning of the year, Brandon Garrison getting benched
14:32
Speaker 2: during the wildcats last game against North Carolina Central on
14:35
Speaker 2: Tuesday night for a lack of hustle.
14:37
Speaker 3: You had one of the.
14:38
Speaker 2: Transfer editions, Cam Williams, not checking in until there were
14:41
Speaker 2: thirteen minutes to go in the game. I think you
14:44
Speaker 2: referenced injuries earlier too. Mohammed Diabate has been out with
14:48
Speaker 2: a high ankle sprain. Their projective starting point guard, jail
14:51
Speaker 2: and Low, actually hasn't started a game yet this year
14:53
Speaker 2: because he's hurt his right shoulder for the last two
14:56
Speaker 2: or so months. So a combination of a ton of factors,
14:59
Speaker 2: but it's all leading to some really intense scrutiny of
15:01
Speaker 2: Mark Pope his roster building approach for this season, and
15:05
Speaker 2: you know, plain and simple, the allocation of resources for
15:08
Speaker 2: a team that on December eleventh, as we record on
15:11
Speaker 2: Thursday morning, still doesn't have a high major win and
15:14
Speaker 2: could really be staring down the barrel of things if
15:16
Speaker 2: they losed Indiana this weekend and Saint John's next weekend
15:19
Speaker 2: before SEC play begins.
15:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, so I understand the you know, you mentioned fish
15:25
Speaker 1: Bowl and scrutiny and everything. Is it and you'll never
15:30
Speaker 1: I think there's it's probably impossible to rationalize with some
15:33
Speaker 1: Kentucky fans ever about the program and what it should be.
15:36
Speaker 1: But do you think the do you think it's a
15:38
Speaker 1: little overboard in terms of what the reaction has been
15:41
Speaker 1: so far based on the fact that Hope did go
15:44
Speaker 1: to the Sweet sixteen last year, had a really solid
15:47
Speaker 1: first year. He seems to do everything kind of the
15:51
Speaker 1: right way, just in terms of how he presents himself.
15:53
Speaker 1: He always takes responsibility. It feels like for losses when
15:56
Speaker 1: things go bad and there's still a lot of season left,
15:59
Speaker 1: I mean, the season's clearly not over. There's gonna be
16:01
Speaker 1: a ton of opportunities. You mentioned the Indiana game, you
16:03
Speaker 1: mentioned the Saint John's game. There's gonna be eighteen sec games.
16:07
Speaker 1: It just feels to me and in some ways, you know,
16:10
Speaker 1: I think Indiana can be this way too, that sometimes
16:15
Speaker 1: every loss is every win is expected, and every loss
16:20
Speaker 1: is magnified to the point where it just becomes sometimes
16:23
Speaker 1: the negativity is hard for a coach and players to
16:26
Speaker 1: operate in. Is that is that kind of the Is that?
16:29
Speaker 1: Is that a fair way to put this? And do
16:30
Speaker 1: you feel like the scrutiny sometimes is maybe a little
16:32
Speaker 1: bit too high on on this on this team?
16:36
Speaker 2: Well, certainly from like a potential coaching Chaine standpoint, we
16:39
Speaker 2: are eons away from that. I don't think there's any
16:42
Speaker 2: world short of anything off the court occurring, which there's
16:46
Speaker 2: no semblance of Mark Pope not returning as UK's coach
16:49
Speaker 2: next season. I do think even some of this fan
16:52
Speaker 2: anger is maybe built up from the tail end of
16:54
Speaker 2: last season. You know, Kentucky's defense was really porous. You know,
16:58
Speaker 2: they kind of had an improvement toward the end of
17:00
Speaker 2: SEC play going into the tournament, but still, this is
17:03
Speaker 2: a team that lost its SEC tournament game by nearly
17:06
Speaker 2: thirty points in the quarterfinals to Alabama, your reference going
17:10
Speaker 2: back to the Sweet sixteen for the first time since
17:11
Speaker 2: twenty nineteen. But then in the Sweet sixteen, which they
17:14
Speaker 2: played at Lucas Oil up in Indy, lose to a
17:17
Speaker 2: Tennessee team that you had already beaten two times earlier
17:20
Speaker 2: in the season, which a lot of people you know,
17:22
Speaker 2: kind of really earmarked is a pretty golden chance to
17:24
Speaker 2: get to the Elite eight, I believe, also for the
17:26
Speaker 2: first time since twenty nineteen. And obviously a lot of
17:29
Speaker 2: this is you know, kind of fan angst and anxiety,
17:33
Speaker 2: and that's always going to get blown out of proportion
17:35
Speaker 2: at a place like Kentucky. I do think the manner
17:38
Speaker 2: of their defeats have really driven a lot of this
17:40
Speaker 2: as well, because again, this is not like they've lost
17:42
Speaker 2: four coin flip games against name brand opponents. They've gotten
17:46
Speaker 2: absolutely boat raced in three of them. I think a
17:48
Speaker 2: lot of people have the jury still out on how
17:51
Speaker 2: good North Carolina is and losing you know, a blue
17:54
Speaker 2: blood premier game at home like that when they had
17:56
Speaker 2: the game won several times over isn't going to sit
17:59
Speaker 2: well with folks. You know, people are probably very much
18:03
Speaker 2: like kind of still jumpy and reactionary. Again because you know,
18:07
Speaker 2: Kentucky basketball. Pope comes in preaching the standard of banners
18:10
Speaker 2: and final fours the north of twenty million dollars anil figure,
18:13
Speaker 2: and then starting off oho and four in high major games.
18:17
Speaker 2: The way that they've played, I'm sure is unacceptable in
18:19
Speaker 2: a lot of people's viewpoints. I think now Pope is
18:21
Speaker 2: something like two and nine in his last eleven games
18:24
Speaker 2: against ranked teams, which isn't going to help people. And again,
18:28
Speaker 2: some of the things I've referenced earlier, like Mark Pope
18:31
Speaker 2: was really mad postgame Tuesday after they clobbered North Carolina
18:34
Speaker 2: Central talking about how there's a standard that the players
18:37
Speaker 2: need to live up to that they're not currently reaching.
18:40
Speaker 2: That you know, there's basic kind of requisite things like
18:43
Speaker 2: giving the right energy, hustling back after a turnover, playing
18:46
Speaker 2: off two feet and trying to make plays for your teammates.
18:49
Speaker 2: He even talked about how this team doesn't truly know
18:52
Speaker 2: what it means to compete yet, and he described that
18:55
Speaker 2: as terrifying. You know, again, we're here on December eleventh,
18:58
Speaker 2: after an off season where anybody who watch the UK
19:00
Speaker 2: practice was willing to tell media members how competitive and
19:04
Speaker 2: feisty and you know, tenacious they are. Yet this is
19:07
Speaker 2: a team that seemingly just doesn't gel on the court,
19:10
Speaker 2: or at least hasn't to this point. And obviously that
19:13
Speaker 2: spins off into a million different message board rumors, right.
19:15
Speaker 2: I mean, we've heard everything from off the court stuff
19:18
Speaker 2: involving players, to this team doesn't really like each other,
19:22
Speaker 2: to this team you know, is fighting in pregame meetings,
19:26
Speaker 2: in the locker room, you know, some outlandish things that
19:29
Speaker 2: you know, for the most part, is not true. And
19:31
Speaker 2: then Pope's also had some pr blunders as well, and
19:34
Speaker 2: I think that kind of goes into why the fan
19:35
Speaker 2: base has been particularly disappointed in him this season. As
19:39
Speaker 2: you mentioned, he does a lot of things the right way.
19:41
Speaker 2: At his best, He's a very engaging personality. He'll dive
19:44
Speaker 2: into the basketball X and o's all day, but at
19:47
Speaker 2: his worst, like if anybody saw him post that Michigan
19:50
Speaker 2: State game at Madison Square Garden, he is he takes
19:53
Speaker 2: losing really hard, so he'll go up there at the
19:55
Speaker 2: postgame press conference and he'll mumble out some words and
19:58
Speaker 2: just maybe not be the most engaging, confident, gregarious presence.
20:03
Speaker 2: And for the last fifteen years before that, you got
20:05
Speaker 2: nothing but that, you know, with John Caliperi, in the
20:07
Speaker 2: best of times and in the worst of times. So
20:10
Speaker 2: that's been adjustment, and you know that leads to you
20:12
Speaker 2: know again people on message boards being mad that Pope
20:15
Speaker 2: isn't getting angry in the huddles and that he's not,
20:17
Speaker 2: you know, projecting this bombastic presence that people usually look
20:22
Speaker 2: for from the Kentucky basketball coach. He did break a
20:25
Speaker 2: clipboard over his knee in that North Carolina Central game
20:27
Speaker 2: on Tuesday night, which is just about the angriest I've
20:30
Speaker 2: ever seen him in any setting. So maybe that tide
20:33
Speaker 2: is starting to change. But I think all those factors
20:35
Speaker 2: are kind of co mingling in a way where the
20:38
Speaker 2: fan base is overreacting in the overall about Pope's tenure,
20:42
Speaker 2: but specifically within like the micro of this season, why
20:45
Speaker 2: they're so desperate for a win, like the opportunity will
20:48
Speaker 2: come for on Saturday.
20:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, so it feels like a big game for Indiana,
20:53
Speaker 1: but it's not a game. I don't think before the
20:55
Speaker 1: season that you would look at the schedule, you know.
20:57
Speaker 1: I looked at the schedule before the year in turn,
20:59
Speaker 1: like leading to the Washington game, which is the first
21:02
Speaker 1: game after this long break after Christmas, and I thought,
21:05
Speaker 1: if they could get there with only two losses, they'd
21:08
Speaker 1: been doing pretty well for themselves. Well, they have two
21:10
Speaker 1: losses now, and the Minnesota game was the game where
21:13
Speaker 1: I think people were a little perplexed they lost. I
21:15
Speaker 1: don't think anyone in the preseason would expected them to
21:18
Speaker 1: beat Louisville and North Misial Court. And I don't think
21:19
Speaker 1: anyone expected them to go into Rept. Breen and win Steels.
21:23
Speaker 1: Is obviously a little bit more possible now, just kind
21:25
Speaker 1: of based on how Kentucky's played so far. But is
21:28
Speaker 1: this a much bigger game for Kentucky than it is
21:30
Speaker 1: Indiana at this point?
21:32
Speaker 2: I think that's fair to say, because again, looking at
21:35
Speaker 2: the UK schedule, they get Indiana on Saturday.
21:38
Speaker 3: After that they go to st.
21:39
Speaker 2: They play a neutral syde game in Atlanta against Saint John's,
21:43
Speaker 2: and the whole tenor of that game completely changed with
21:45
Speaker 2: Kentucky's slow start to the year, because before that's Rick Patino,
21:49
Speaker 2: who was the head coach of UK's ninety six title
21:52
Speaker 2: team that Mark Pope was a captain on. They finally
21:55
Speaker 2: got this game on the schedule, you know, a four.
21:57
Speaker 2: Patino finally exits college basketball may be or maybe whole
22:00
Speaker 2: coach to be one hundred and fifty, who knows, And
22:03
Speaker 2: then they play another Cupcake. They get Bellerman right after
22:06
Speaker 2: that Saint John's game, and after that it's only SEC play,
22:09
Speaker 2: and all of a sudden, this looks like a bit
22:11
Speaker 2: of a down year for the SEC, or at least
22:12
Speaker 2: certainly not the heights that it was at last year
22:14
Speaker 2: when they got fourteen of the league sixteen schools into
22:17
Speaker 2: the tournament. You start as a CE play at Alabama.
22:20
Speaker 2: That's probably not going to go well for this Kentucky
22:22
Speaker 2: team if they keep playing that the way that they are,
22:25
Speaker 2: And so all of a sudden, you know, you get
22:27
Speaker 2: off to an oh and one star and SEC play
22:29
Speaker 2: you're potentially and seven at high major games at that point, you.
22:34
Speaker 3: Know, some of the other off court stuff as well.
22:36
Speaker 2: Has been a lot of scrutiny about Kentucky's NIL procedures,
22:40
Speaker 2: not just in the context of this season, but in
22:42
Speaker 2: the aggregate. They still don't have a true high school
22:45
Speaker 2: commitment from the twenty twenty sixth class, despite being rumored
22:48
Speaker 2: with several five star prospects from that group, so that
22:52
Speaker 2: stop people on edge as well. It does feel like
22:55
Speaker 2: the season's on a little bit of a knife edge.
22:57
Speaker 2: The season might be on the brink. Some people are
23:00
Speaker 2: saying to borrow a line. So it's crazy to think about.
23:03
Speaker 2: But this game actually matters a ton for Kentucky, way
23:06
Speaker 2: more than I would have expected to begin this season.
23:09
Speaker 3: And you mentioned I use season to this point.
23:11
Speaker 2: You know, the Minnesota loss not great, but again, you
23:14
Speaker 2: probably didn't expect to beat Louisville in a neutral court.
23:16
Speaker 2: You probably didn't expect to go into rep Arena and
23:19
Speaker 2: beat Kentucky. But if Kentucky can pinch this off, or
23:22
Speaker 2: if Indiana seem we can pinch this off, this is
23:24
Speaker 2: already a team that's projected to be in the tournament,
23:26
Speaker 2: This would be a nice feather in their cap. Certainly
23:28
Speaker 2: a win you that you would expect to remain as
23:30
Speaker 2: a quad one win as the season goes onward, and
23:34
Speaker 2: especially given the way that it looks like the seasons
23:36
Speaker 2: are trending for the like of Marquette and Kansas State,
23:38
Speaker 2: you know, maybe the signature win of I use non
23:41
Speaker 2: con if they're able to pull this off on Saturday.
23:44
Speaker 1: So how do you think the team you mentioned you're
23:46
Speaker 1: going to do some stuff on India and I've before
23:48
Speaker 1: we got on here and I started to write my
23:49
Speaker 1: preview which will probably be up at some point on
23:51
Speaker 1: Friday and inside the hall, how do you kind of
23:53
Speaker 1: see these teams matching up? I looked at Kentucky's last game.
23:57
Speaker 1: They kind of started for I want to call Trenton
24:00
Speaker 1: Noah a guard. I mean they really started four guards
24:03
Speaker 1: in Malchoim moreno at the five. Is that with the
24:06
Speaker 1: injury situation, do you can do you expect a similar
24:11
Speaker 1: kind of line up in terms of what the C Saturday?
24:13
Speaker 1: Could there be changes? Are guys going to becoming available
24:16
Speaker 1: that were maybe injured? And then just in terms of
24:18
Speaker 1: the matchup specifically with IU, how do you feel like
24:20
Speaker 1: the two teams match up?
24:22
Speaker 2: Well, let me start on the Kentucky side, of things.
24:25
Speaker 2: And one of the issues where that's kind of gone
24:27
Speaker 2: hand in hand with their slow start is Mark Pope
24:30
Speaker 2: very much feels like he's still trying to figure out
24:32
Speaker 2: optimal rotations. You know, there's been calls for him to
24:35
Speaker 2: shorten the group of guys who are playing. I think
24:37
Speaker 2: entering the game earlier this week, they had eleven players
24:40
Speaker 2: who were averaging at least fifteen minutes, which is a
24:42
Speaker 2: pretty hard thing to do. Again, a lot of this
24:45
Speaker 2: is predicated on the health of point guard Jalen Low.
24:47
Speaker 2: He hurt his right shoulder, which is his non shooting shoulder,
24:50
Speaker 2: during UK's Blue White exhibition game in October, So the
24:54
Speaker 2: worst thing that can happen in one of those, you know,
24:57
Speaker 2: just fan fest kind of exhibition, he kind of things.
25:00
Speaker 2: He really has not come back to full form. He
25:03
Speaker 2: didn't shoot it super well as a sophomore pit without
25:06
Speaker 2: a right shoulder injury. This year, he's come off the
25:08
Speaker 2: bench in four games. He's really the catalyst for their offense.
25:12
Speaker 2: He offers them a lot of pace, you know, to
25:14
Speaker 2: a man, UK players have described him as a vocal
25:17
Speaker 2: leader on this team. Not having him has really hurt
25:20
Speaker 2: their ceiling at both ends. Of the court, so Pope
25:22
Speaker 2: has really played around with the lineup. One of the
25:24
Speaker 2: biggest storylines this year has been a lack of inconsistent
25:27
Speaker 2: point guard play because some of the name brand guys
25:30
Speaker 2: on this Kentucky team, otega Oway, Colin Chandler, Denzel Aberdeen
25:35
Speaker 2: all great in a two or three role, you know,
25:37
Speaker 2: off ball stuff, none of them a super true point guard.
25:40
Speaker 2: Jasper Johnson, who's a five star recruit who came in
25:43
Speaker 2: this year, has had a real up and down year
25:46
Speaker 2: in terms of his backup point guard role. He scored
25:48
Speaker 2: twenty two points on Tuesday night. I actually have a
25:50
Speaker 2: story up this morning about that potentially being a breakthrough,
25:53
Speaker 2: but obviously the Indian game being a bigger sign of
25:57
Speaker 2: things to come. Your reference mal Chai Moreno, He's probably
25:59
Speaker 2: been the standout player of this UK year. Five star
26:02
Speaker 2: freshmen from just down the road in Georgetown, Kentucky slotted
26:06
Speaker 2: into their starting five role and been really effective. But
26:09
Speaker 2: another thing to watch with the Kentucky team and some
26:11
Speaker 2: of the lineups that Pope puts out there is they
26:13
Speaker 2: have not shot the ball well from three point range.
26:15
Speaker 2: They're at thirty two point nine percent for the year
26:18
Speaker 2: mark that's right around the two hundreds nationally. And this
26:21
Speaker 2: is a team that in theory likes to get a
26:23
Speaker 2: lot of threes up, but the volume of threes has
26:26
Speaker 2: decreased from last year, and last year they were shooting it,
26:29
Speaker 2: shooting it at nearly thirty seven percent. So they're shooting
26:32
Speaker 2: it worse from three because they're putting lineups out there
26:34
Speaker 2: featuring maybe the likes of Diabate and moreno who are
26:38
Speaker 2: kind of non shooters from deep. That's putting a lot
26:40
Speaker 2: more stress on the guards. Without their starting point guard,
26:43
Speaker 2: they're having a very difficult time driving past guys playing
26:46
Speaker 2: off two feet in the lane, kicking out to teammates,
26:49
Speaker 2: and the cycle kind of repeats itself, right. So we've
26:51
Speaker 2: seen some small ball lineups where you mentioned what they
26:54
Speaker 2: started on Tuesday night, Malachis at the five and Trent Noah,
26:57
Speaker 2: who's effectively a wing gone kind of players at the four.
27:02
Speaker 2: They've done some big lineups where they've played two seven
27:04
Speaker 2: footers who are kind of non shooting personnel at the
27:07
Speaker 2: four and five. They have an international player from Croatia,
27:10
Speaker 2: Andreya Yelovich, who hasn't been super consistent from three this year,
27:14
Speaker 2: despite taking a lot of them, so we're waiting to
27:16
Speaker 2: see if he has a breakout moment from deep. So
27:19
Speaker 2: a lot of these roster construction issues are kind of
27:21
Speaker 2: bearing fruit in some of these high major losses. So
27:24
Speaker 2: to be completely candid with you, I'm not quite sure
27:27
Speaker 2: what Pope's gonna do on Saturday.
27:29
Speaker 1: You know.
27:30
Speaker 2: Again, it feels like he's trying to figure out things
27:31
Speaker 2: on the fly, giving certain guys rope to play, pulling
27:34
Speaker 2: it back on others. How much Jalen Low can play
27:37
Speaker 2: and if he slots back into the starting lineup I
27:39
Speaker 2: think will be kind of a major indicator of how
27:41
Speaker 2: this game goes. And from the IU standpoint, you know,
27:44
Speaker 2: I was kind of analyzing the roster. I watched a
27:47
Speaker 2: large portion of that Louisville game from this past weekend,
27:50
Speaker 2: and then Lamar Worklessing goes out and has like the
27:53
Speaker 2: best shooting night in Assembly Hall history. And this was
27:56
Speaker 2: already kind of going to be a weak filled with
27:57
Speaker 2: Lamar Wilkerson discourse because of the transfer portal battle between
28:01
Speaker 2: Kentucky and Ie for him over the spring when he
28:04
Speaker 2: transferred from sam Houston State. I'm sure a lot of
28:07
Speaker 2: people who are listing have seen the photo of him
28:09
Speaker 2: and Mark Pope with a horse at Keenland during his
28:12
Speaker 2: UK recruiting visit. So I'm sure that one's gonna come
28:15
Speaker 2: up on social media this week. But you know, looking
28:18
Speaker 2: at the game specifically the matchup between Wilkerson and I
28:21
Speaker 2: think otega Oway, who's going to draw that assignment and
28:23
Speaker 2: always maybe been the most disappointing player on this Kentucky
28:27
Speaker 2: team this year just because of the SEC preseason player
28:29
Speaker 2: of the Year hype that he had. He's really tried
28:32
Speaker 2: to own up the things developing, being more of a
28:34
Speaker 2: vocal leader, and he's supposed to be a guy who's
28:37
Speaker 2: leading by example with defense with his driving ability and
28:40
Speaker 2: physicality on offense. How always able to handle Wilkerson, or
28:44
Speaker 2: if he's able to handle Wilkerson, I think will be
28:47
Speaker 2: a big factor in how this game goes on Saturday
28:51
Speaker 2: in terms of.
28:52
Speaker 1: The other big guys injuries. I mean, is is Diabate
28:56
Speaker 1: or I know Quaintance is a little bit further away,
28:59
Speaker 1: but is expected to play on Saturday.
29:03
Speaker 3: So the technical term on Diabat is day to day.
29:06
Speaker 2: Right now, Mark Pope's presser is going to be Friday
29:09
Speaker 2: at noon, so that's when you'll get the latest update
29:11
Speaker 2: on that he is dealing with the high endful sprain
29:13
Speaker 2: that Pope has said includes a torn ligament in his
29:16
Speaker 2: ankle area, so that's not great. He hasn't played since
29:19
Speaker 2: the Michigan State game in the Champions Classic back in
29:22
Speaker 2: early to mid November when he sustained that injury in
29:24
Speaker 2: the closing minutes of that one, So that means again,
29:27
Speaker 2: mal Chai Moreno is probably going to continue to shoulder
29:30
Speaker 2: a big load for Kentucky upfront. You put in Yellovich
29:33
Speaker 2: for some shooting space or in theory, some shooting gravity.
29:36
Speaker 2: Brandon Garrison's a fascinating player because he was one of
29:39
Speaker 2: the four holdovers from Pope's first year, but he's really
29:42
Speaker 2: regressed so far to this point this year. He got
29:45
Speaker 2: benched in the North Carolina Central game on Tuesday night
29:47
Speaker 2: for failing to hustle back after getting ripped on a
29:50
Speaker 2: turnover on the offensive end. So Kentucky really hasn't gotten
29:54
Speaker 2: what they've needed from Garrison so far this year. And
29:56
Speaker 2: Diabate is considered a game changer for Kentucky based on
29:59
Speaker 2: his physicality, his rebounding prowess, you know, especially in Kentucky's
30:03
Speaker 2: losses to North Carolina in Gonzaga, a major issue has
30:06
Speaker 2: been UK's inability to rebound the ball defensively. I think
30:10
Speaker 2: they're giving up like a thirty three percent offensive rebounding
30:13
Speaker 2: rate currently. Yabat is a guy who's long been promised
30:17
Speaker 2: as a physical player who can hit you once, hit
30:18
Speaker 2: you twice, track the ball whether he's able to go
30:21
Speaker 2: or not again, I think will be a big marker
30:23
Speaker 2: in if UK's big men are able to have an
30:26
Speaker 2: advantage from a size perspective over IU, you know, and
30:29
Speaker 2: maybe you get some of those perimeter guys using their
30:32
Speaker 2: foot speed, their relocation tactics to also get some stuff
30:35
Speaker 2: on the margins. But the big men battle will be
30:37
Speaker 2: huge in this one as well, assuming Kentucky is at
30:40
Speaker 2: full strength, and if they're not, that's a huge opening
30:42
Speaker 2: for IU to maybe take advantage of down low.
30:45
Speaker 1: How have they been in terms of guarding the three,
30:47
Speaker 1: because obviously it's clear Indiana wants to take and make
30:50
Speaker 1: a lot of three pointers. They've done that in several
30:53
Speaker 1: games at other games where you know, Minnesota and Louisville
30:56
Speaker 1: kind of took them off what they wanted to do
30:58
Speaker 1: in terms of getting up threes. But this is Kentucky,
31:01
Speaker 1: how's their ball pressure on the perimeter, and in terms
31:03
Speaker 1: of contesting shots and kind of reacting to Indiana runs
31:07
Speaker 1: some pretty sophisticated things in terms of try to free
31:10
Speaker 1: shooters up. So I think they'll be a little bit
31:12
Speaker 1: better prepared for this opportunity based on what they saw
31:15
Speaker 1: defensively against Minnesota and Louisville. Louisville was able to really
31:19
Speaker 1: keep them all balanced to start the game, and then
31:21
Speaker 1: as the game went along they adjusted better to it.
31:23
Speaker 1: But you know, Louisville, watching them up close to me,
31:27
Speaker 1: they felt like a top five, top ten team in
31:29
Speaker 1: terms of talent and just kind of the way their
31:32
Speaker 1: their guards were to me pretty elite in terms of
31:35
Speaker 1: what Indiana will see the rest of the way. So
31:37
Speaker 1: I'm curious kind of how you see, because I think
31:39
Speaker 1: the key to slowing Indiana down obviously is getting into
31:44
Speaker 1: their shooters and making them uncomfortable because they don't really
31:47
Speaker 1: have necessarily a back to the basket guy that you're
31:49
Speaker 1: going to throw the ball to in the post and
31:50
Speaker 1: it's going to hurt you. But they like to get
31:52
Speaker 1: paint touches and then get the ball out to the
31:55
Speaker 1: perimeter freezy look, So I'm just curious how you kind
31:58
Speaker 1: of see them being able to defend that and if
32:01
Speaker 1: that's something that they're good at.
32:03
Speaker 2: Well, good news for Indiana fans out there. Let me
32:05
Speaker 2: read you out the splits right now. So Kentucky has
32:08
Speaker 2: played four games against top one hundred teams this year.
32:10
Speaker 2: In the Torvic metrics, all those have been losses. That's
32:13
Speaker 2: all their high major games. In those four games, UK
32:16
Speaker 2: is shooting twenty four point three percent from three and
32:19
Speaker 2: UK's opponents you're shooting thirty nine percent from three. So
32:22
Speaker 2: that's a huge margin right there. You reference Indiana's desire
32:26
Speaker 2: to get up and shoot a lot of threes. Obviously,
32:28
Speaker 2: Wilkerson coming off a game where he was I think
32:30
Speaker 2: ten to fifteen from three against Penn State. So those
32:34
Speaker 2: numbers right there should be, you know, having Mark Pope
32:36
Speaker 2: sweat bullets currently. Right There's been a lot of defensive
32:39
Speaker 2: issues with this Kentucky team. The latest ones that Pope's
32:42
Speaker 2: had gripes with have been just their kind of one
32:45
Speaker 2: two in passing lanes, their help defense, their gap defense,
32:49
Speaker 2: their ball screen defense, which was a major theme and
32:52
Speaker 2: a major reason why the defense was so bad for
32:54
Speaker 2: most of Pope's first season last year has come back
32:57
Speaker 2: up again and been a constant negative for this team
32:59
Speaker 2: this year. Ball Screen defense is obviously a major key
33:02
Speaker 2: to three point defense as well. Right so, based on
33:06
Speaker 2: the numbers, based on what we've seen against high major opponents,
33:09
Speaker 2: Indiana should have its chances this game to get the
33:12
Speaker 2: three pointers off in theory to make them at a
33:15
Speaker 2: high clip. You know, again, this will be a major
33:16
Speaker 2: stress test for Kentucky's ball screen defense. Again, a lat
33:19
Speaker 2: of that maybe you can trace back to Jalen Low
33:22
Speaker 2: being out, not maybe for his defense specifically. You know,
33:25
Speaker 2: he's not quite the Lamont Butler type player they had
33:27
Speaker 2: last year, but the way that's changed, the rotations, the pairings,
33:31
Speaker 2: having guys kind of play a bit out of position.
33:34
Speaker 3: So good news for who's your fans on that front.
33:36
Speaker 2: It seems like the opportunity is right there for your
33:39
Speaker 2: Indiana to at least have the success from three point
33:42
Speaker 2: range that the North Carolinas, the Michigan States, the Gonzagas
33:46
Speaker 2: of the world certainly did enjoy as well. You know,
33:48
Speaker 2: obviously Kentucky will try and make strides in that regard.
33:51
Speaker 2: You know, we'll see again. I mentioned Jashper Johnson earlier.
33:54
Speaker 2: He's a real skinny guard six five point eighty, but
33:57
Speaker 2: he does have some length, you know, ways a physical player.
34:01
Speaker 2: Aberdeen can be a physical player. Colin Chandler, maybe alongside
34:04
Speaker 2: Moreno has been another one of the benefits in year
34:07
Speaker 2: two under Pope, and he's come along offensively, but he's
34:10
Speaker 2: still trying to find his way defensively. So all that
34:13
Speaker 2: to say that Indiana, as a team that likes to
34:15
Speaker 2: shoot the three and likes to shoot a lot of
34:17
Speaker 2: the three, has to be looking at those three point
34:19
Speaker 2: shooting splits for Kentucky this year and really liking their
34:22
Speaker 2: chances of at least playing the style of game that
34:25
Speaker 2: they want to play at Reparina.
34:28
Speaker 1: Well, Cameron, thanks for the time. Always good to catch
34:31
Speaker 1: up with a inside the Hall alum. Do it from
34:34
Speaker 1: time to time here on the show because so many
34:36
Speaker 1: of you guys have gone on to have great careers
34:39
Speaker 1: in sports media. Love to see your success. We do
34:42
Speaker 1: check in from time to time you me and Dylan
34:44
Speaker 1: on text and follow your work as closely as I
34:47
Speaker 1: can from afar, even though I'm not obviously locked into
34:51
Speaker 1: reading things about Kentucky at this point, but congrats on
34:55
Speaker 1: your success there and thanks for making the time to
34:57
Speaker 1: come on the show today, of.
34:59
Speaker 2: Course, and if I could take a moment to thank
35:01
Speaker 2: you for everything that you've done for again all the
35:03
Speaker 2: student interns and writers that you've had down the years
35:06
Speaker 2: that inside the hall, you know, we were talking off there.
35:08
Speaker 2: It's funny like so many people, you know. Again, I
35:11
Speaker 2: lived with Dylan for a year and me and him
35:13
Speaker 2: are still good friends. I was a groomsman in his wedding.
35:15
Speaker 2: But even some of the older guys as well, the
35:18
Speaker 2: Ben Ladner's of the world, where I'm still really good
35:20
Speaker 2: friends with the seth Tows. You know, every now and
35:23
Speaker 2: again I'll see a Josh Margolis tweet. You know, I
35:25
Speaker 2: think he was on the field after I you beat Oregon,
35:27
Speaker 2: and that always gets me a good chuckle. You know,
35:30
Speaker 2: only one of one Margolis is, but you know, just
35:32
Speaker 2: a tremendous opportunity that you gave all of us that
35:34
Speaker 2: helped obviously launch so many people's like legitimate careers as
35:38
Speaker 2: a professional salary with healthcare sports reporter. So we can't
35:42
Speaker 2: thank you enough.
35:43
Speaker 1: On our end field, well, I usually don't do too
35:47
Speaker 1: much but provide the platform. You guys do all the
35:50
Speaker 1: hard work and it's it's a lot of fun. And
35:52
Speaker 1: I mean you and you and Dylan were early adopters
35:55
Speaker 1: of Tyler Tashman, right, I mean you you bought you
35:58
Speaker 1: had the first stock in him. And look at Tyler,
36:01
Speaker 1: I like to give him a hard time, but he's
36:02
Speaker 1: gone on to do great things covering Iowa now And
36:06
Speaker 1: it's just a lot of some of my closest friends,
36:09
Speaker 1: I mean are people that wrote Friends with the whole
36:11
Speaker 1: before your time that I still keep in touch with,
36:13
Speaker 1: and still keep in touch with Tyler pretty often too.
36:16
Speaker 1: So just it's a lot of fun. I think what
36:19
Speaker 1: we're able to do, you know, with obviously me not
36:22
Speaker 1: living in Bloomington, it's a great opportunity for kind of
36:24
Speaker 1: students to kind of take the reins on the day
36:26
Speaker 1: to day on the ground coverage, get to travel to games,
36:29
Speaker 1: get to do different things. I mean, we've had a
36:30
Speaker 1: great experience this year with covering football for the first time.
36:33
Speaker 1: Josh pos has really kind of taken that opportunity and
36:36
Speaker 1: run with it. And obviously it's not going to be
36:39
Speaker 1: a thirteen and o season for every student that comes
36:41
Speaker 1: in the future to cover IWU football will see how
36:43
Speaker 1: it continues to go in the future. But it's been
36:46
Speaker 1: a lot of fun, and yeah, I appreciate you saying that,
36:48
Speaker 1: but you know, it's it's the hard work that all
36:52
Speaker 1: you guys have done, and it's it's rewarding for me
36:54
Speaker 1: to see the success. I mean, there's others I can
36:57
Speaker 1: name him and Graycie Barrow is doing great work now.
37:00
Speaker 1: Duram is now doing his thing covering Louisville and on
37:05
Speaker 1: the radio network there. I mean Matt Press last year
37:09
Speaker 1: now at the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Will Foley, Kevin Vera.
37:12
Speaker 1: You know, all these guys are going on to do
37:15
Speaker 1: good things and it's been a lot of fun just
37:18
Speaker 1: to be a part of it and give everyone a
37:20
Speaker 1: platform to do the work. So I appreciate you saying that.
37:22
Speaker 1: Thanks everybody as always for listening to the show. As
37:25
Speaker 1: I said at the top, if you enjoy the show
37:27
Speaker 1: on YouTube, like the video, subscriber to the channel really
37:29
Speaker 1: helps uscrow our numbers as we're on our way slowly
37:32
Speaker 1: to ten thousand subscribers, but we'll get there eventually. Also
37:35
Speaker 1: leave us a rating and review over on Apple Podcasts
37:37
Speaker 1: at Spotify, and we'll be back soon with another episode
37:39
Speaker 1: of podcast on the brain,