Chapter 1: What are the latest updates on the transfer portal?
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Chapter 2: How does the team feel about the current roster situation?
This is Kentucky Sports Radio presented by Stockton Mortgage. Now, here's Matt Jones.
Welcome, everyone. It is Kentucky Sports Radio Tuesday, April the 21st. I am Matt Jones here on a... It's going to be the start. I think this is the start of summer right now. Right now, okay.
Today.
I just feel it within the weather. It's going to be like 80 at the end of the day. Summer begins today, April 21st, day after 420, Shannon's favorite day of the year. You can give a shout out to Clark's Pump and Shop phone line, 859-280-2287. We're going to open up the phones in a minute. A-Vision Auto Glass Text Machine is 772-774-5254. And this edition is sponsored by the T.J. Smittle Off.
Call TJ. He's going to make some pay. We're going to do something we do every three months or so, 30-second day where people can call. I think this is a day for BBN, like a group therapy or a group just get-it-out-there day. Because I think a lot of people are frustrated, and then there are people that are frustrated that people are frustrated.
And just on a selfish note, Ryan Lemon, I don't want everybody just going... Matt Jones is raising ā I'm going to let everybody give their own opinion. Some. 30 seconds. 30 seconds worth of opinion. Shannon, you got the buzzer? There we go. So we will set that up. We'll start it next segment. We're going to go today because I got energy. I have energy for really three reasons.
Okay, what are they? Reason one is I was telling Shannon ā For some reason, I found myself in the last six months just walking down the street going, God's up to something. God's up to something. I've decided I think that's the most successful ad campaign in the history of our show, Shannon.
Well, you're welcome, because you heard it first from me. I'm the one that told you all about it.
I can't think of a hook of a song.
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Chapter 3: What are the implications of losing key recruits like Donnie Freeman?
For people who don't know, I don't know. I guess, does it run on podcast, the commercial ever?
I don't think it runs on podcast. It runs during the show.
Sure. So if you listen on podcasts, you may not hear... Who's the singer? That's the one thing I don't remember.
That's Carson Byer.
Carson Byer.
We know the hook, but we don't know the singer.
He's written an ad for a song, and it's worked. Because... You might feel that you're down and out. What happened, Shannon? God's up to something. God's up to something. And I think a successful ad or song is one that stays in your head, and that has worked. If I was at a club, which I would not be, but if I was and that came out or that came on, Ryan, I'd be excited.
You'd be putting your boogie shoes on, getting down and getting dirty. And I've heard all of you... at one point, sing that hook, including Mario, who doesn't even know who Bruce Springsteen is. Mario will be walking down the street and just go, God's up to something. So it works, Shannon. That's advertising right there.
Yep, you've heard it probably a hundred times now, and you can get it out of your head.
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Chapter 4: What strategies are being discussed for improving recruiting?
So Carson, what's his last name again?
Carson Beyer.
Thank you for advertising. I want you to go buy his music.
Yes, because God's up to something. And it also just, let me just say, good message. Yeah, everybody's a little more God in their life. Listen, if something bad's happening, you want to feel better? God's up to something. God's up to something. If something good's happening, you go, well, see? God's up to something. It works.
The next single is God's up to nothing. Can't wait for that one to come out.
That one, I don't think that one will be. God's just twiddling his thumbs. God's not thinking about you. Nope. All right. God doesn't care about you.
I'm glad.
That was the original lyrics. And then Carson came in and changed it. Yeah. And it was better. Okay. Second thing. I, you know, yesterday, you started getting news in the afternoon that Donnie Freeman was not going to pick Kentucky. And then I think it got announced in the evening. But by about 4 or 5 o'clock, it became pretty clear he was going to go to St. John's.
And that's a diabolical move, which we have to talk about. But I realized what a different viewing experience watching my other team's is versus watching Kentucky. Kentucky is still the one I care about the most. But the Reds and the Hurricanes are next for me, along with the Bears, but they don't play very much. And watching the Reds and the Hurricanes is such, Ryan, a joyous experience.
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Chapter 5: How does Mark Pope plan to address the team's needs?
So, Shannon, a lot of people in the Matt Joneses of the stadium, as soon as they hit what they thought was the winning goal, they sprinted out the door to beat the traffic. Yep. But then the refs came back. Wow. And said it was offsides. And then they were pounding on the gores trying to get back in, and they wouldn't let them back in.
Oh, the fans got locked out.
See, Shannon, Iā I think you have to let them back in, don't you?
No, no, no, no, no.
If you're that much of a Fairweather fan, you leave. It's not Fairweather. They thought we won.
Well, that's what you get for thinking. You should have stayed.
See, I would have been outside. Because the moment we hit the winning goal, I'm gone. Get out of here. Beat the traffic. Beat the traffic. I almost did that at the Braves-Reds game last year, if you remember that one. I do remember that. When the Braves were about 10 yards and the Reds came back and tied it up. Yes, I do remember that, actually. So apparently they're...
They were pounding on the door to come back in, and they would not let them back in. Wow. And then it was like an hour later that they scored the goal that won, but a lot of people weren't there. They're stuck out in the parking lot. But my point in watching, I watched both those games back-to-back, because I had such joy and excitement, but it wasn't the stress that UK basketball is.
You know what I mean? Well, yeah, especially for you. You have a hard time watching UK basketball during March Madness. Do you not find UK basketball stressful? Absolutely stressful. UK football, UK basketball. Do you find it stressful? I find it very stressful. I don't find my other teams as stressful. And I don't know what that is.
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Chapter 6: What are the fans' reactions to the current state of Kentucky basketball?
I think it's a combination of I always was nervous for UK basketball, but never regular season games until post-COVID. And it felt like post-COVID... I think it was because I thought we could literally lose any game at any time. You know what I mean? Yeah, of course. Because I didn't feel that way for 10 years. I think it has become like it's just stressful to watch.
I don't know if other people agree, but I find it stressful. Are we just too emotionally involved in our Kentucky Wildcats? Maybe I am too emotionally involved.
thing is it's that emotional involvement that makes it when we get a special win that makes it feel so good that's a good point you know uh-huh the reason that beating duke when when pope was right when he first got here yeah that felt special beating arkansas this year and we've beaten tennessee like four times but there's it's been so stressful which gets me to the recruiting yesterday
You know, do I care about Donnie Freeman? Not really. Shannon, I didn't have a thought about Donnie Freeman until a week ago. None of us do. If you had just told me Donnie Freeman, I'd think, doesn't he work on refrigerators in Bell County? Who'd he play for? But then I convinced myself, because you start seeing video rankings. Okay, well, we got to have this guy.
And then there's some guy named Sebastian. If you had told me we needed a basketball player named Sebastian, I would have thought, no. But then I convinced myself, well, if we don't get Donnie Freeman, at least we'll get Sebastian. And we ended up getting none of them, neither of them, in what I think is objectively a failure. But I was really bummed last night, and I'm like, why?
I didn't even know who these guys were, Shannon.
Right. We all, though, have to do a crash course on who these guys are quickly, learn who they are, and then convince ourselves that we have to have this guy to win next year.
We have to have them. Now, I think it is objectively true that UK completely fumbled this situation. I don't know how you can come up with another solution. They had two guys who both visited here, both of whom expressed significant interest in coming here, and both of whom UK thought they could not only get, they had. They decided they wanted one over the other.
The other said, look, I got to decide. And they go, well, just give us a day. And in that day, he went somewhere else. That's rancid. Yep. And they did that because they were like, Freeman's ours. And then he kept waiting, and he kept waiting. And his agent was like, all right, anybody want to give us more money?
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Chapter 7: What changes are expected in the upcoming season?
And then they find somebody to do it, and it's Pope's mentor. Makes it sting a little more. Patino, et tu, Brute, comes in and nails him. It's kind of a crazy thing. And it seems like once again, for about the 10th time in two years...
Mark Pope and his staff have misread the market and have lost guys that seemed almost assured to be Kentucky players by their decision-making, and it's frustrating. I actually think it's really frustrating. Now, could they scramble out of it, go get somebody really good, maybe even get somebody better by overpaying? I mean, they can, but...
But it's just another example, Ryan, of decision-making and recruiting with this staff that has been not just bad for Kentucky, but I would say objectively bad. There are people who cover this saying that Kentucky's having the worst portal season of anybody when you consider what they could have gotten versus what they're getting. I think you summed it up perfect, what fans feel like.
Losing Donnie Freeman was a hit. But you lose these 10 guys you're talking about, that's a major hit. Well, just go through some names of guys that Kentucky thought they had that they didn't get. Right? Yeah. Donovan Dent, back in the day. Yeah. Right? The Wilkinson kid. Yes. The famous one you had. Went to Indiana. Magoon Gwa. Yeah. The first time. Mm-hmm. Rob Wright. Yeah. Donnie Freeman.
Sebastian Rancic.
Yeah.
Who else?
Yaxel.
I don't think they thought they were getting Yaxel. They tried, but I don't think they thought. But those are six guys that I think Kentucky thought they had. And the freshman kid, the big kid this year. Oh, Caleb.
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Chapter 8: How can Kentucky regain its competitive edge in college basketball?
Well, yeah. I mean, Christian Collins. Christian Collins, yeah. That was done. Kentucky was the leader for him forever. That was done, people thought. And then, no. And yet, Pope and them still don't have a GM.
No.
Still don't think they need help. It's very frustrating. And I can see why. I think fans get too negative, but I can see why they're negative. It's hard to see. If they fumbled, they had two guys. They could have gotten either one of them, and they found a way through decision-making, Ryan, to get neither. That's a bad, bad look when you're still trying to recruit some kids.
Like, why is everybody leaving? Why does nobody want to commit to Kentucky right now? This is Kentucky. We probably have. And so I don't want people to think I'm a doom and gloomer. This is just true. Kentucky probably has third through fifth most money in the country to give away. There's probably a couple schools that have more. Louisville, I think, is giving away some more this year. Maybe St.
John's. But we probably have third, fourth, or fifth most money. So that's not the excuse. And we can't get people to come here. So what is it? Well, there you go. I don't know. Maybe God's up to something. You might feel that you're down to nothing, but God is up to something. Well, maybe he will be. Maybe we'll get that kid from Iowa State who's better than all these guys.
He still may go pro, though, right? NBA? Oh, he's probably not coming here. I'm just trying to ā That was ā everybody yesterday was like, okay, didn't get Donnie Freeman. Who's next? Well, there is no ā There is nobody next.
The problem is there is no next that's on their level unless you get ā there's a couple guys that are better than them but that we've never really thought we had a chance with. The kid from Iowa State and then Alan Grace from ā the two guys we played in the tournament. Uh-huh. They're both better. But I don't think anybody thought we were going to get them.
But then again, we thought we were going to get these guys, and we didn't get them. So maybe if we don't think we're going to get the other guys, Shane, and then we do get them.
I feel like Stokes, we're all in at this point. We've got to get him.
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