Kentucky Sports Radio

Action News 5 – Memphis, Tennessee

Above is time-lapse video of the devastation in Oklahoma after a tornado in Oklahoma City and Moore. The video is shocking, but the reports are even worse. A local tv reporter just said he is at an elementary school where 75 children were trapped when the tornado hit and many are still being rescued. Prayers go out to everyone involved.

Congratulations to Andrew Harrison, Aaron Harrison, and Julius Randle, who were named SLAM Magazine All-Americans this afternoon. The trio of future Cats makes up half of the SLAM All-American First Team, which also includes Duke’s Jabari Parker, Arizona’s Aaron Gordon, and of course, Kansas’ Andrew Wiggins. James Young made the second team, Dakari Johnson the third, and Marcus Lee got honorable mention. SLAM calls the 2013 All-Americans “a potentially historic class of up-and-comers,” with the most prep talent the sport has seen since the 2007 class that included Derrick Rose, OJ Mayo, Kevin Love, Blake Griffin and James Harden.

Here’s what SLAM had to say about the Harrison Twins and Julius Randle:

Meanwhile, the Harrison twins have garnered attention for their superior guard skills and many believe they are the next great guards coming up the pipeline. And then there’s Julius Randle, who has proven to embody college-ready (or possibly even pro-ready) physique for the last few years.

Check out their individual portraits after the jump. Go Cats.

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While enthusiasm surrounding the football program is at an all-time high, it’s important to keep in mind that it’s still going to take time for that enthusiasm to carry over to on-field results. Each major recruit that Stoops and company brings in creates more positive momentum, but we are still at least a year from seeing most of these guys in action. Stoops did his best with the 2013 class, pulling off major last minute coups like Jason Hatcher and Ryan Timmons, but it will take time for the team as a whole to resemble an SEC caliber squad. Playmakers at the skill positions will be key, especially considering the lack of depth at wide receiver.

The past few months have been thrilling for Kentucky football fans, who have been thirsty for a competitive squad for years, but immediate success in the SEC might as well be a mirage in the desert. A simple look at next year’s schedule will tell you why:

08/31/13        vs. Western Kentucky TV (Nashville, Tenn)
09/07/13        vs. Miami (Oh)
09/14/13        vs. Louisville
09/28/13        vs. Florida
10/05/13        at South Carolina
10/12/13        vs. Alabama
10/26/13        at Mississippi State
11/02/13        vs. Alabama State
11/09/13        vs. Missouri
11/16/13        at Vanderbilt
11/23/13        at Georgia
11/30/13        vs. Tennessee

Based on this schedule, what are your realistic expectations for next season’s record (excluding a bowl game)? Vote in the poll below and leave your reasons in the comments section.

For what it’s worth, I see Kentucky beating Western, Miami, Alabama State, and Tennessee to finish at 4-8, with a possible upset at Mississippi State or Vandy.

No judgment.

Even though Frontier League Baseball coverage is often overlooked by KSR, our Northern Kentucky friends have a promotional offer that is almost too good to be true. If the showdown between the Freedom and the Schaumburg Boomers won’t get you in the seats of the University of Cincinnati Medical Center Stadium on Thursday night, Lennay Kekua bobbleheads for the first 1,000 fans should do the trick. The empty box should be a great mantle centerpiece over your fireplace.

Is it too late to keep joking on Manti? NO WAY! Thanks Freedom!

(P.S. does anyone have a clue what the Freedom’s logo is supposed to be? All I can see is what appears to be a 5-year old’s rendition of the yin/yang sign.)

The Green Bay Packers’ “Tailgate Tour” wrapped up on Friday after five days, 691 miles, and endless Randall Cobb photo ops. Cobb and his teammates traveled around Wisconsin and Iowa in a bus to throw tailgate parties for fans, raising over $300,000 for area charities. The players stopped by schools, hospitals, fire stations, and more to talk to fans, and Cobb even got a chance to try his hand at making pizza. As you can see from the picture above, it didn’t go too well. Next time, Randall.

Because I can’t end any Randall Cobb post on a bad note, here’s a picture of him in a full firefighter’s uniform from one of the stops:

Photos by Aaron Popkey, Packers.com

The lines are out for the first week of college football and BetOnline has your University of Kentucky Wildcats as a 3-point favorite over Western Kentucky. The season opening Stoops-Petrino clash will be played in Nashville on Saturday, August 31.

Cue the sirens.

About a month ago, 3-star safety Mike Edwards was on the verge of committing to UK, but postponed his announcement due to pressure from his coach and family to take his time with his search. If his Twitter account is any indication, Edwards is still very interested in UK, and today, will bring his parents to Lexington to tour the campus and meet the staff. Having his parents on board for his decision is very important to Mike, who is ranked the 28th best safety in the nation by Rivals. He’s also got offers from Louisville, Nebraska, Missouri, Vandy and Wisconsin, among others.

Edwards and Darius West have gone on record saying they want to play college ball together, and Edwards is also close friends with Derek Kief. Landing Edwards would be a big enough deal on its own, but add in the other two and it would be absolutely huge.

Stay tuned, and if you see the Edwards out and about in Lexington today, please make them feel at home.

24/7′s new 2014 player rankings are out! Check out how UK’s seven commitments rank above, along with this list of UK’s top 2014 targets, which I put together for you below:

Braxton Berrios
Wide Receiver
Raleigh, North Carolina
247 ranking: 3-star, #37 athlete, #12 in North Carolina

Derek Kief
Wide Receiver
Cincinnati, Ohio
247 ranking: 4-star, #135 nationally, #21 WR, #5 in Ohio

Darius West
Safety
Lima, Ohio
247 ranking: 4-star, #20 safety, #12 in Ohio

Matt Elam
Defensive Tackle
Elizabethtown, Kentucky
247 ranking: 4-star, #242 nationally, #20 DT, #2 in Kentucky

Right now, UK’s 2014 class ranks 25th nationally, and 9th in the SEC. Rivals is expected to update their rankings today as well.

Former Tennessee basketball player Kenny Hall wants everyone to know that he did not sleep with Jenny Wright, the former UT administrator in trouble for allegedly getting too close to student-athletes.

“I like to think of myself as an attractive guy so she could’ve been given me some kind of eye, I mean, if she did I ain’t bite on it,” Hall told WATE 6 news in Knoxville. “I looked at her like, yeah, she’s an attractive woman, you know… had given the opportunity… you know… but, it didn’t even cross my mind.”

Welp, I’m glad we got that cleared up.

The NBA Draft is a little over a month away, and the NBA Draft Lottery is tomorrow night, which means we’ll find out which team is lucky enough to win Nerlens Noel’s services. Nerlens is the consensus projected number one pick, and spent the end of last week at the Draft Combine interviewing with teams and the media. ESPN went one step further, profiling Nerlens for their All-Access series. Check it out above. Here are my highlights:

– The camera crews follow Nerlens through some of his rehab exercises, which include balancing on a bosu ball, riding a stationary bike, and using various weight machines.

– We get the first glimpse of Nerlens’ bright pink scar, and yes, I shuddered.

– The best part is when Stephania Bell and Nerlens walk into a gym, which is apparently the first time Nerlens has been back on the court to work out since his injury. Now, this very well could have been set up by ESPN, but Nerlens’ emotions in the moment seem genuine.

Good luck, big guy.

KSR is back for another fun-filled Monday morning of radio gold. Have a listen as Matt and Ryan recap the weekend (sorry, Waddy) and look ahead to the fall when UK sports get going again.

Go Cats.

Join in on the fun by calling (502) 571-1080.

Topics include:

– The 2013-14 Wildcats

– New Rupp Arena

– Stoops versus Petrino in Nashville

Listen to Kentucky Sports Radio

KSR Affiliate List

WAIN (93.9 fm) Columbia
WHIR (1230 am) Danville
WCLU (1490 am) Glasgow
WJKY (1060 am) Jamestown
WLAP (630 am) Lexington
WFMW (730 am) Madisonville
WFTM (1240 am) Maysville
WKYM (101.7 fm) Monticello
WMSK (101.3 fm) Morganfield
WKJK (1080 am) Louisville
WKYH (600 am) Paintsville
WLSI (900 am) Pikeville
WPRT (960 am) Prestonsburg
WSFC (1240 am) Somerset
WTCW (920 am) Whitesburg
WBTH (1400 am) Williamson, WV

On Delay…

WBGN (1340 am) Bowling Green 3-5 pm
WKFC (101.9 fm) London 6-8 pm
WLBQ (1570 am) Morgantown 3-5 pm
WRIL (106.3 fm) Middlesboro Thur 8-10 pm
WKYQ (1560 am) Paducah 5-7 pm

If you listen to the radio show (and if you don’t ask yourself…why?), then you undoubtedly know of one of our favorite callers, IU fan “The Truth”. The Truth has called since the show’s inception, talking about Redbones, Cody Zeller and little Jimmies, entertaining fans and giving us all a good laugh. But up until this point, we had no idea what he looked like. We knew he lived in Evansville, Indiana, but otherwise little was known. But then Owensboro David came along with this email on Sunday:

I took my family to a WWE house show in Evansville last night and we stopped by CiCi’s to eat the buffet. We’re sitting there and along comes a busser saying something about my UK shirt. After a chuckle, I asked him who his team was and he replied “the only team there is….Indiana.” I laughed but I knew I recognized his voice. Then it hit me, it was The Truth from the show. I looked back at him and said hey man, you’re the truth aren’t you? He kinda got flustered and said he wasn’t the truth but he went to church with him.

Well, I wasn’t buying it. This guy came back and asked us if we were little jimmies but then said that he knew The Truth and that he was a millionaire and a good dude. (Yeah right!!!) So all the while the more this guy is talking the more I’m convinced who he really is. I showed him a pic of Cal signing my sons basketball and a pic of our view at the spring game (of course bragging about the 51k). So he leaves and comes back over and I told him if he’s not The Truth, to at least tell him that the BBN has said prayers for him and we hope he feels better. So then I asked him to do me a favor and say “Matt Jones”. He then tired HORRIBLY to not say it the way he says it on the radio. So he starts laughing (knowing he’s busted) and admits to being The Truth. We talked about IU and he admitted we’re gonna be loaded next year. He said that he wishes there was a ISR but I told him they got pro teams which we don’t have. I do think a show like yours could work in Indiana.

I told him to keep calling because its all fun. He said he’s gonna try and come to a remote in the summer. I told him that you’d be happy to meet him. Hopefully he’ll call Monday (he said he would) and we can have a summer of trash talk. If this guy isn’t The Truth then he’d be a great imposter. He sounded just like him and knew all the quirky stuff about KSR. I just thought I’d share the story and ill try to call as soon as I get the chance. Go Big Blue!!!!

I don’t know for sure if its him, but the story seems to be pretty solid. I am not sure if he looks like I expected, but I think we may have seen the Truth’s secret revealed for the first time…at of all places, a Cicis in Evansville…lots of pizza, a little price and the chance to meet The Truth.

Similar fax sent to offices of Matt Jones in Middlesboro yesterday.

Well, well, well, we meet again.  Although I would imagine for many of you, we are meeting for the first time.  Considering this website has blown up even larger than when I left 18 months ago, I’ve got to wonder how much I held this site down.  But nonetheless, that is not important.  What IS important is how much I am going to drag the site down from here on out.  And the answer to that question is A LOT.  I figure I should really address 2 different groups of people about my return, those who are long-term followers of the site, and those who have gotten on board in the last year or so.  First up, the newbies:

New readers, for this site’s purposes, I go by Bryan the Intern.  My last name isn’t that important, but for many of you it is what you smoked on Friday night.  Now, when determining a person’s intelligence, I usually split people into 2 groups: those who think I am actually an intern and those that don’t.  I wrote for this site for FOUR YEARS.  I worked with Matt on 2 different radio shows.  I am almost 28 years old.  If you think I am actual intern, well, sorry for you.  Now that we have that out of the way, what kind of posts do I make?  Well, I am a bit of a numbers overload guy, or as most people call it, a nerd.  I’m going to throw stats broken down in all kinds of ways at you.  I’m going to try and prove things you never thought could be proven and make you think outside the box.  But most of all, I am going to piss you off like you couldn’t believe.  I don’t do it on purpose, I am just THAT guy.  I’m a pessimist and I love to argue.  Meaning I’m not always going to prop up the home team.  Sometimes things are not so great, and I’m not afraid to say so.  I also love sports outside of the UK world as much as inside Catsville.  If you don’t think “why soccer sucks” or “why hockey is awesome” belongs on this site, then you’re going to find me just horrible.  But I think even my most beloved detractors will tell you that even if you hate me with a passion more than any other writer, I usually make you want to read what I have next.  I try and make you think, nothing more, nothing less.  Hate it after you think, but at least think.

For the old time readers, I’M BAAAAAACCCCCKKKKKK.  Hahahahahaha.

Most all of that above is sarcasm.  I really enjoyed my first 4 years here at KSR, and I’m very excited to be back.  I took the time off to try some new things in my career, get some stability, and I’ve done that.  And I think I’m coming back to the site at an exciting time with a new era in football beginning in just a couple months, and a potentially epic basketball team.  I hope you would make 9am a must-see spot on this site, but if not, it’s cool.  I’m sure there are countless “BTI Sucks” support groups you can join.

Oh, and a couple things you need to be prepared for:

1. Bad Spelling
2. Bad Punctuation
3. Bad Humor
4. Lots of bolding

If you’re cool with that, then I’m cool with you.  Thanks for the tweets and messages I already received before even writing again.  And if you want to follow me on Twitter, my handle thingy whatever is @BryantheIntern.

This is normally the spot where we do our review of the news of the weekend, but in this case the weekend has provided us little. The UK Softball team won its regional in Lexington (for only the second time in school history) and is now headed to the Super-Regionals with a chance to make its first ever College Softball World Series. But besides that good news, UK land has provided us with little news as the Andrew Wiggins’ decision has officially closed the book on 2012-2013 and has set us on the path to one of the most highly anticipated school years in the history of UK Athletics. With the door having finally closed on this past year (one of the worst in the last 25 when looking at football/basketball collectively), it is worth noting what we learned from last season that can best be applied to next. We will start tonight with basketball and five lessons John Calipari has taken from the NIT disappointment that he will apply in future years. In some way Calipari has addressed each of these and they will be important trends to follow in the years to come:

1. Calipari Must Have a Talented, Hard-Nosed Point Guard:

There were a number of problems on last year’s team that if fixed, could have guaranteed a berth in the NCAA Tournament. Last year’s group was riddled with at least a dozen deficiencies that if they had been corrected, could have helped win or two more games and ultimately snuck the Cats into March Madness. But at Kentucky the standard is much harder and ultimately last year’s season was doomed by the decision to install Ryan Harrow as the starting point guard. This conclusion of course can only be made in hindsight, as most of the early signs for Harrow were very good. Even though many NC State fans and media questioned the kid’s toughness, when he came to Kentucky he looked up to the task for a better part of a year. He held his own daily in practice, going against a national championship team and often rising to the challenge. Going into the season, he said all the right things, was utilizing his tremendous athleticism and looked ready to make the leap to the Wall/Knight/Teague level of UK point guard leadership. But once the bright lights went on, Harrow went south. He was never able to handle the UK spotlight or the focus by Calipari on his play. From early on, his struggles became the team’s struggles, leading to a time in which he left the team and a number of behind-the-scenes issues that plagued last year’s group. Harrow is still a good kid but is an example that what Calipari always says, mainly that Kentucky isn’t for everyone, is certainly true. And more than any other person, the requirement that a player have extreme confidence in himself and top-notch ability, must apply to the point guard position. Calipari teams will go as far as the point guard takes them. He can either be a transcendent star (Rose/Wall), a great college scorer (Knight) or a solid all-around player with upside leading a great team (Teague). But what he can’t be is someone who can’t fit into Calipari’s system and is intimidated by the UK spotlight. Calipari learned in 2013 that he can’t turn every player, even those with talent, into a viable starting point guard for him at Kentucky. Judging mental and physical toughness will now be a prerequisite for all future selections at the position.

2. Toughness Must Be a Majority Quality:

Nearly every basketball team has a player that struggles with confidence or is more comfortable playing a supporting rather than a leadership role. John Calipari said on our show this week that such players are almost required, because a team full of “alpha males” may simply not work. But the 2013 team proved that even if a few of those players exist in the locker room, for a team to be a contender, toughness must be a quality possessed by the vast majority of the group. Over the years, John Calipari has been possessed by great players who not only were talented, but had the confidence and desire to dominate. Wall, Cousins, Patterson, Bledsoe, Knight, Lamb, Liggins, Davis, MKG and others all believed that even if they were playing poorly, on the next possession they could score on you and then stop you on the defensive end. This team simply didn’t have that. Archie Goodwin possessed supreme self-confidence, but his eyes were often bigger than his talent at key moments. However Calipari had to live with Archie’s aggression, because without it, he had no players willing to put it on the line and take the big shot. By the end of the season, the player who should have been the sixth man, Julius Mays, was taking the big shots because no one else had the courage to attempt them. Passive play became the norm and Kentucky withered against teams with far less talent. The old adage about a “crazy” player in the NBA now also applies to a Calipari team and toughness at Kentucky. You can have one guy, maybe two, that struggle with toughness…but any more than that and it infects and plagues your team.

3. You Must Have a Bench:

John Calipari has generally always believed that you find 7-8 guys and you stick with them as a rotation. Even though UK might go 11 deep next year, I would still expect at any given time to only see 8 or so get significant minutes during the course of the year. But Calipari learned this year that a bench is required, even if not to get huge minutes in games, but to push the players you do have to perform. When Kentucky saw players such as Alex Poythress and Archie Goodwin make mistakes of a significant nature, Calipari often had to leave them in as he had no viable options coming off the bench to replace them. If Poythress was not mentally into the game, he still had to stand in the corner on offense, because there was simply no one who could even do an adequate job replacing his defense. If Wiltjer wasn’t shooting well (and then not rebounding or guarding either), Calipari couldn’t yank him without losing nearly all ability to have a consistent second three point option. The bench was so thin that even in practice, a player who wasn’t even on the team when the year began (Tod Lanter), was forced to run against the first team and try to replicate its opponents. That doesn’t happen this year. No matter who the player is for Kentucky, if they are unable to perform, there will be a replacement on the bench that can have success. This will hopefully drive all the starters to reach higher levels and competition will make the strong either survive or sit…an option that Kentucky had at no points during last season.

4. UK Must Have Guys Who Can Hit Outside Shots:

From moment one of last season, outside shooting was a concern of mine and the problem ended up being worse than I would have imagined. While Alex Poythress provided some surprising help (he was much more effective from behind the three point line than anyone imagined), those expected to open up the offensive end by making threes were disappointing. Kyle Wiltjer went through long slumps as he was the focus of the defense for the first time of his career. Virtually any team that made stopping Wiltjer a focus (and increasingly more teams did) was able to neutralize his shooting and he was unable to find other ways to contribute. Archie Goodwin shot poorly nearly all season from three point land and Ryan Harrow’s inconsistent shooting followed his overall play. Julius Mays hit big shots during the season, but because he was unable to create his own space, he was forced to make them off the moves of others. Calipari did not have the “knockdown” three point shooter that he had with guys like Brandon Knight and Doron Lamb. The shooting was even worse than his first year, when the athleticism of Wall/Bledsoe often overcame some inconsistent outside looks (at least until the West Virginia game). With no one except Julius Mays seemingly willing and able to make open threes on a consistent basis, UK’s offense grew stagnant, teams packed the lanes and the penetration of Goodwin/Harrow/Poythress became ineffective. One more three point shooting threat and this would have been solved. That is why so much of this season will depend on if the trio of Aaron Harrison, James Young and Kyle Wiltjer can provide those consistent shots. With Andrew Harrison and Julius Randle taking people off the dribble, these three will get open looks. Calipari has learned from last year, that making those shots will be crucial to the team’s success.

Other lessons exist as well, but Calipari sees these four as takeaways that I think will have a major impact on recruiting going forward. He won’t get caught again in a situation like he had this past season. A good week of radio begins tomorrow and we will have Patrick Patterson, Matthew Mitchell and the “Biggest UK Fan Couple” contest though the course of the week. Until then, watch a singer named Miguel (he isn’t big enough to just have one name in my view) accidentally kick some poor woman in the head as his jump comes up just a bit short at the Billboard Awards:

A hot topic around SEC football recently is whether or not the SEC will expand to a nine-game schedule. Mitch Barnhart and Kentucky oppose the SEC schedule expanding to nine games for obvious reasons, but Nick Saban is all for it and so are all the parties that would benefit from the extra money and television spots on the new SEC network. If the SEC does expand to nine games, there’s a good chance Louisville could be dropped from Kentucky’s schedule to create some breathing room for the Cats. With an eight-game SEC schedule, Kentucky already has what some are calling the toughest schedule in the nation next season. If you add another SEC game to an already brutal schedule, it may give Kentucky no other option than to drop the annual home and away series with its in-state rival in order to be competitive and position themselves for regular appearances in bowl games. It would be unfortunate to lose the Governor’s Cup series, but it could be a harsh reality given the circumstances of a possible expanded SEC schedule.

If Kentucky does drop Louisville from the football schedule, it will be important to fans that the game is replaced with another program that will generate fan excitement. Replacing Louisville with a MAC opponent every year is not what fans want to see. The key may be to find another regional school that fans would be excited about playing, but at the same time, a program that Kentucky can defeat on a regular basis. Throughout the history of the UK-UofL series, Kentucky HAS beaten Louisville on a regular basis, but a Charlie Strong-coached, ACC-member Louisville team may be too much to handle after adding a ninth SEC opponent. If you don’t replace Louisville with another potential regional rival, than Kentucky should at least keep the schedule flexible for the chance to occasionally add a BCS-level opponent on a one or two year basis, potentially at a neutral site. The first program that comes to mind as a replacement for Louisville as an annual opponent is Indiana. The next school that comes to mind is Cincinnati.

Renewing the Indiana football series, an easier game to win against a regional BCS opponent, makes the most sense for Kentucky if Louisville would be dropped. The argument against playing Indiana would be that it’s not the most exciting choice, even if it is a game you can count on for wins on a regular basis. Cincinnati would be a much more entertaining option, but may be a tougher game to win. However, if Cincinnati’s program declines as many expect it will in the American Athletic conference, the Bearcats could be the perfect scheduling alternative for Kentucky. A major advantage of playing Cincinnati is the opportunity to show off the program to more Ohio prospects once every two years, and if the away game is moved to Paul Brown Stadium, lots and lots of blue will get in.

If Kentucky would not replace Louisville with an annual opponent, then it must strategically schedule games against other BCS programs on occasion. By “strategically”, I mean that Kentucky should schedule a “Stoops Bowl” against Oklahoma or a one-time meeting with a traditional regional power such as Ohio State or West Virginia only in years that Kentucky is expected to be good and able to handle such an opponent, while also in a season when the Cats have a softer SEC West schedule. Perhaps, you could even try to continue to play Louisville every once in a while, but not on an annual basis. These are games that could be one-time neutral site meetings in Cincinnati, Indianapolis or Nashville. On years that Kentucky is expected to struggle or face a tough SEC West slate, they could welcome MAC or FCS schools to Commonwealth in those seasons.

If you were in Mitch Barnhart’s chair and had to make such a decision, would you drop Louisville if the SEC expands to nine games?

If you do drop Louisville, how would you replace them on the schedule?

A. Renew Indiana game

B. Begin rivalry with Cincinnati

C. Keep the schedule flexible for an occasional big game

D. Schedule all non-conference cupcakes every season

E. Begin annual rivalry with (insert team name here)

Sound off in the comments section.