0:06

Everyone. Welcome to Behind Kentucky Basketball. I Camera Mills, and today we're

0:10

gonna spend some time with new assistant basketball coach Chuck Mark. So, coach,

0:15

let's I want to go back and talk about your history. But sure,

0:19

you were born in Puerto Rico. Born in Puerto Rico, All right,

0:21

so how long did you live there? I was there. I was

0:24

born in Puerto Rico. I was only there for like two months. Oh

0:27

so you have very little memory, Yeah, very little memory. Now I

0:31

go back. I would go back every summer. So what happened was my

0:35

parents decided to go to New York with two other families cousins, aunts,

0:40

uncles, and you know what, let's go to New York. Let's try

0:44

try our luck in New York City and two of the three state my family

0:49

stayed in the Bronx. I have another family who stayed in Harlem. The

0:53

third family was just too cold in New York City. Yeah, it was

0:56

too cold cold, and in New York City was just rough in the seventies,

1:00

and it was like, you know what, I'm going back to a

1:03

slower pace, going back to the Caribbean. So that third family went back

1:07

to Porto Rico, I got you, but you all stayed. We stayed. So the pace was okay with with the Martins. Yeah, you know

1:11

for me Martines, Yeah, yeah, we were For me, it was

1:15

just normal. Yeah. I was so young and it was just a way

1:19

of life. And in the summers, my parents will send me back to

1:22

Puerto Rico to keep the connection between me and my family. So every summer

1:26

I would go back for a month. So this is this is kind of

1:29

getting into it's off basketball, but I'm just curious. So you went through

1:32

your Your born name was Jose Luise Martin CORRCT. Then you moved to New

1:36

York and because we're idiots in this country, we couldn't pronounce one of those

1:41

names that we changed, you know, if we if we can just imagine

1:44

New York City in nineteen seventy, nineteen seventy one. It's a tough area.

1:48

Yeah, it's a it's a doggy dog. Yeah. And my nickname

1:52

was chech c h e right, and that no one could really pronounce it.

1:57

They just couldn't do it to pronounce it. And my mom would be

2:01

livid, Yeah, because people would just say born name. That's not my

2:05

born name. So people just call me Chuck. She'd be upset and it

2:09

just kind of stuck. It didn't go anywhere. Yeah, and so that's

2:13

why we were talking off camera earlier. If you call me Jose, I

2:16

know you do not know me, right, If you call me che I

2:20

know you really there, we go call me Chuck. You probably know me

2:23

through the profession. Yeah, So are mom and dad still with us?

2:27

My dad passed away, okay, twenty six years ago, so my mom

2:30

is still here, So you go by Chuck professionally? Yeah, people,

2:34

does mom feel about that? She? You know, at this point,

2:37

at fifty four, she still calls me chet, but uh, but she

2:42

she accepts that at this point. Funny, Yeah, reluctantly. Reluctantly.

2:45

Oh, I know, I can understand that. So since let's move into

2:49

basketball. Since you've been here, which is what what'd you get here?

2:52

I got here July, right before we went to Toronto? Okay, oh

2:55

okay, so yeah, that's right, that's right. I remember that when

2:58

you got here as a coach, you looked around, you saw the state

3:01

of the program. Yeah, you saw the recruits coming in, But what

3:05

did you identify as a I mean, you've got you got twenty years in

3:08

this business as head coach and assistant coach, you've been to final fours.

3:13

What did you look at and say, this is an area I can help

3:16

with, I can change. And I know you're head of recruiting, you're

3:19

also the head of development, or that's part of it. I mean,

3:21

you're definitely something you're doing. But what did you personally look at without coach

3:24

Cali Perry's direction and say I need to I need to implement myself here or

3:29

I need to insert myself here to help with this issue. I think one

3:32

of the things I've been really fortunate to be good at. There's certain there's

3:36

a lot of things I'm not good at, but there's certain things I'm pretty

3:38

good at, and that's connecting with people. Yeah, And I think you

3:42

can't underestimate that in any organization, whether it's in business or in sports.

3:46

And I felt like I can really impact the program, connecting our players,

3:53

our support staff, community. It just comes natural to me, and so

3:59

I didn't need it anyone to tell me, hey, Chuck, you need to help in this area. I just felt like I can do this,

4:04

and I've been able to do that fairly well at other places, so so

4:09

it came natural to me. Coaches teams always have a reputation. I think

4:13

it's because of coach call and how he is would look. He's very giving

4:15

and very generous, even downstairs. I literally walked by a year All's office

4:18

and there are a thousand Christmas gifts in there a week for thirteen special families

4:24

Christmas that he's helping through his foundation, which I didn't know he did.

4:26

Yeah, I mean that, and I don't know if too many people maybe

4:29

BB and knows he does. That's just amazing to me. He did it back in Memphis when I was with that. Apparently he's done it every year.

4:33

Yeah, and you know, like the big fundraisers that he uses the

4:36

team to help do, like for the Hurricanes in twenty hours. We all

4:39

know about, right, but I, and maybe it's public knowledge. I

4:42

didn't know about this. I just thought it was cool. So you made

4:45

and I don't know what year this was, I'm if his official title, but you made the list of the fifty most influential assistant coaches in presumably d

4:53

one. Was that like a legitimate award? Was that just somebody wrote an

4:59

article and then what did that mean to you? Yeah? It was a.

5:03

It's a company who comes up every every two twice a year. They

5:09

come up with a list of the top fifty head coaches, rising head coaches

5:13

assistant coaches. So I was just kind of surprised because no one ever was

5:17

this was about a year ago. It's perfect time. Yeah, it's about

5:21

a year ago. And it was just, you know, just kind of

5:24

I got a phone call said, hey, Chuck, you know, congratulations,

5:28

and then I got a text message and you know, I'm on the

5:30

West coast at the time in Oregon. Yeah, that's right, and it's

5:32

like six in the morning and people are texting me and yeah, I barely

5:36

get enough visit is correct. Yeah, And I just I'm like, what

5:40

what are you talking about? So finally Simil sent me an article and it

5:44

was it was nice, it was nice. What what do you and you

5:46

and maybe the entry you gave before, but what do you what do you?

5:49

How do you explain that? What was the reason you think that you

5:53

got you got notified or noticed or acknowledged for that? To me, I

5:57

think it's twenty five years body of I don't. I don't think it was

6:00

anything I did last year or anything I did the year before. I think

6:05

it's twenty five years of commitment and really super fortunate to be around talented people,

6:13

being able to collaborate with talented people, whether it's coach cal and some

6:15

of these other guys I've worked with. You mentioned in your Wikipedia page.

6:20

I don't know if you knew you've had it with me. Now you do.

6:24

Yeah, one of the one of the things mentioned is that, and

6:27

it's it's an odd sentence. Obviously you didn't write this, somebody else did.

6:30

But it's talking about your here, it is talking about your coach,

6:34

Raymond Dalmua. Yeah, he's one of the coaches out in Puerto Rico.

6:39

Okay, so it says it says he was coached by Raymond dalmu Am.

6:43

I saying that correct, from whom he learned to be honest with his players.

6:47

What does that mean? I mean, I can guess what it means.

6:51

What where does that sentence come from? You think, well, I'll

6:54

I'll give a context. Raymond dal Mao is one of the best players ever

6:57

played Puerto Rico. Born in New York, Puerto Rican descent and played for

7:01

the Puerto Rican national team. Has been silver medal. I think may have

7:06

won like a gold medal. He's recognized and Fever as one of the best

7:11

players. So he's an icon on Island. So I was a young guy

7:15

playing in that league. I was like eighteen years old. This is the

7:19

Balancesto Superior in SCNA, correct, right, So at that point, at

7:23

that time, that league was like the third fourth best league in the world.

7:27

Really NBA to see what ye are we talking. This is like nineteen

7:30

eighty nine, ninety and so it was the NBA, CBA Puerto Rico or

7:36

Italy Italy. Yeah, I remember. So you would have NBA guys,

7:42

you know, coach and play in that league. And I was a kid,

7:44

I was seventeen and eighteen, and Raymond was the coach, and he

7:48

was honest with me, you know about what like like you think today that

7:54

just sounds like a coach. He would, you know, he would.

7:57

I would go in there and I thought, I was, you know,

8:00

hot, young little guard out of New York City and you're awful. It

8:03

says you can't play in this league. This is a man's league, says

8:07

you turned the ball over. You're embarrassed. I mean, he got after

8:09

me, and uh and it just hit me for the first time honesty,

8:13

and then he just basically said like, look, you want to play at

8:16

this level, you better get better, you better get stronger, you better

8:20

have a competitive spirit and uh. And that never that always stuck with me

8:26

is honesty. It's funny, and I didn't like it at the time,

8:30

but it was. It's it's it served me well. I hated I hated

8:33

my coaches when I played for him. Yeah, adore them now absolutely.

8:37

And I think that's the way because so basically what you're saying is you learn

8:41

how to be coached by this guy. That's exactly right. So how do

8:45

you convince because I've been to a couple of practices I played for a man

8:48

who's known for his yelling. Yeah, coach cal doesn't yells. But they

8:52

get compared all the time. Patino and Calperio. To me, they couldn't

8:56

be more different. But ye, at the same time, yeall are still

9:00

coaches. You're correcting these guys, these guys with big egos who've been told

9:03

their entire life fair, unfair. You're the best player in the country,

9:07

you know. I mean they've got their boys because we had have a boys

9:11

around. It's basically talking us up and the wise amongst us, and I

9:15

had to learn this from some of my senior captains, is you tune them out, especially when the season starts. Specifically, you have a bubble and

9:22

no one enters that bubble. Your family doesn't. You've got thirteen fifteen guys

9:24

on that team and your coaches. That is your bubble. So how do

9:28

you convince these guys when you're getting on them, when you're coaching them,

9:31

how do you convince them? It's not personal? Well, for me personally,

9:35

I view myself as a teacher. I was a school teacher for seven

9:39

years before I became a college coach, So I see the world that way.

9:43

Yeah, And I think when I address them or interact with them,

9:46

I come from a place of teaching, and I think that becomes a little

9:50

bit more acceptable. And I just view I viewed the court and film and

9:56

my interaction as my classroom. And so that's been good for me how much

10:01

though, because I get the sense and again going back to who my teacher

10:05

was, which was W Smith for one year and Rick Patino for three,

10:09

I get the sense that the way they used to coach, particularly coach Patino,

10:13

yeah, you can't coach that way anymore. And for whatever reason,

10:16

you can tell all the kids are softer. They you know, they listen as much. Do you see that? I mean, you've been coaching over

10:20

twenty years now, it's it's I think there are certain guys that still coach

10:26

that way. Yeah, and I think I know there are Yeah, And I think you got to be careful because things have changed. I think the

10:33

biggest thing that's changed to social media. Where where years ago, if you

10:37

coach a certain way or you had a culture, that culture was really insulated

10:43

and no one really understood what was going on. It could speculate a wall,

10:46

there was a wall. Well, today everything's on social media, and

10:50

I think that's caused the issue one of the issues. Yeah. And then

10:54

you know, if you hear a coach speak a certain way or act a

10:58

certain way, it's on Twitter, and now it becomes a distract. They

11:01

get in trouble, They get in trouble. So so I think the biggest

11:05

impact, and in that case is is social media. Yeah. Yeah,

11:09

you you coach for one of my favorite coaches of all time. And I

11:13

love my coaches. I love coaching cal but I love Frank Martin. Yeah,

11:18

I love Frank Martin there's something. And I've never coached for him. I don't know him. He's one of my teammates, is his assistant coaching,

11:24

Alan Edwards. But I don't know coach Martin. I just I just see what I see on on in the media, and I'm like, I

11:28

would die for this man. Frank's great. What what makes him so great?

11:33

Was? What was it like coaching for him or being an assistant coacher?

11:35

He was awesome. I learned a lot. Yea. Yeah, I

11:37

spent five years in my career with him at South Carolina. He seems rough,

11:41

he's hard, you know what he is. He's honest. Yeah, he's a teacher. Yeah, he's gonna hold your accountable. Yeah, he's

11:46

incredibly competitive. But it's an amazing thing when the game's over and and practice

11:54

is over, he has this incredible, uncanny ability to turn it off.

11:58

I don't know how he does it. And I remember asking him my second

12:01

year there, I said, how do you do that? We had a

12:05

tough loss and the kid screwed up a defensive signment. Yeah, and I

12:09

mean I was fired up, and he was like, game's over, Like

12:11

we got to move on. Like he just let it go and I was impressed by that, Yeah, because I don't think people see that side of

12:18

him. No, well, you know what I feel like, because I

12:20

feel like most of my interaction with him, it's not interaction, it's me listening to him and was Game Price conference. Yeah, and the things he

12:26

says is just seeming like, my gosh, I love this guy. He's

12:30

great. He seems old school, but new school enough that he's like,

12:33

you know, honestly, in some way the way Calipari is. Cal Parry

12:37

doesn't yell at the guys as much as my coaches did. Now to me,

12:39

it makes me uncomfortable because I'm like, it's too loud in practice.

12:43

I mean we would literally there was no talking in all, right, right,

12:46

Yeah, and Cal's runs a little bit of looser practice, but at

12:50

the same time he gets on these guys. Yeah, he holds you accountable.

12:54

And I think he also has a unique skill set that very few people

12:58

possess. He can he can be loose, he can create this fun atmosphere,

13:03

which he's done an unbelievable job, but he holds you accountable and when

13:07

he wants to get his point across, he certainly knows how to do it.

13:09

It seems like in practice he kind of has a mix of both.

13:13

Yeah, which you know, there is something to be said of you know,

13:16

Tubby Smith was like this in practice, it was all business. Yeah.

13:18

The moment we stepped off, he became like dad. Yeah, became

13:22

father figure. You know, he became teacher. Yeah he wasn't he was teaching on the court. But there's a lot of healing in intensity as well.

13:28

Coach Cole seems to have this ability to have both in the mill of

13:31

practice, where it'll be it's light hearted. It's not that you're not working

13:35

hard, because that's when he'll turn, but he keeps it light hearted.

13:39

He'll tell some jokes, but then it's not so much yelling and cussing.

13:41

It's more teaching. Yeah, I think he he holds you accountable. But

13:46

the kids noted that that he cares. And I think in today's day and

13:50

age, we talked about social media a few minutes ago, these kids are

13:54

under so much pressure, so much scrutiny. I think Coach cow does an

13:58

incredible job of wrapping his arms around these guys before and after the game.

14:05

No one's watching exactly, and I think those guys really feel his energy and

14:09

understand how much he cares for him. Yeah, and that's why he can

14:13

coach in the way he does. When you are since you're head of recruiting,

14:16

what is Because I've asked this question before, not of Cal, but

14:18

I've asked the coaching players he's recruited. Sure, what his pitch is?

14:22

Yeah, So if you're head of recruiting, presumably you're echoing some of his

14:26

pitch right until you bring him in to meet the kid. Sure, but

14:31

what is your pitch? How do I mean you but you're not even been here for a year yet, what do you pitch to a kid about why

14:35

he should want to come play at Kentucky? Well, first and foremost,

14:39

I work with coach Cal in two thousand and eight at Memphis, So yeah,

14:41

and I want to get to that. Yeah, there's a relationship there.

14:45

So there's a history between coach Cal and I and I know how good

14:48

he is and obviously how good he's been over the last twenty thirty years.

14:52

You want to play for an elite coach, someone who's going to challenge you,

14:56

hold you accountable on the biggest stage, with the most history. Eight

15:01

national championships all Americans. I mean, this is the place to be.

15:05

Now that being said, this is not for everyone, right, because it's

15:09

such a unique I grew up in the Bronx three blocks away from Yankee Stadium,

15:13

and to everybody, it's not for everyone. And the Yankees are awesome.

15:18

I love the Yankees, but not everyone can play there. And I

15:20

kind of view Kentucky that way. It's like it's it's an unbelievable place,

15:26

and there's some really good players around the world. Not everyone could play.

15:28

And it's not just based on talent, correct, It is a you have

15:31

to have a mental attitude and a mental toughness. That's exactly because you come

15:35

here and you're going to be put under the microscope more so than just about

15:39

anywhere else. That's exactly right. But that in and of itself, because

15:43

he talks about this all the time. I will prepare you for the next

15:46

level, whether you get there or not, I will prepare you. What

15:50

does that mean? How are you? And And I feel like I know part of the answer, but I want your perspective on this. Yeah,

15:54

you know, the media coverage to scrutiny. You just mentioned being able to

16:00

go up against thirteen other really really good players. You know, Iron sharpens

16:03

iron. There's so many things here that are to your advantage if you're willing

16:08

to take advantage of it. They're at your disposal. The way we travel,

16:15

the way we eat, the side. There's the worst places. My

16:21

brother played in AI and he would tell the stories about a fifteen passager of

16:23

Van McDonald's. Yeah, you're like, what, that's not college basket,

16:27

You can't relate to that. But no, this is just a special place.

16:32

It really is. And I followed Kentucky, you know, when I

16:36

was a kid in New York and then throughout my career. It's one of those places where you dream of. Man, I wonder if one day I

16:41

can coach at Kentucky and I've gone twenty four years and then twenty fifth year

16:49

coach Cal calls and here I am. But you were with him at one

16:53

of his heights maybe his non biased I would say his height is since he's

16:57

been here. Yeah, he had what at least two very good years at

17:02

Memphis and you were there with him. Yeah, what made those two teams special? And how has he changed from that coach Cal to the coach Cal

17:08

today? Uh? You know that group was connected like that group was unbelievably

17:15

connected, and they were unbelievably unselfish, and they were tough. They were

17:22

all about winning. And I remember we had a guard named Willie Kemp,

17:27

and the year before Dereck Rose got to us, we went to the Elite

17:32

eight with Willy Kemp as the point guard. When Derek Rose came in,

17:37

the riding was on the wall, a little bit like, Willie, you're

17:40

probably gonna come off the bench, and Willy was incredibly competitive, but he

17:44

got it. And I just remember Willy interacting with Derek kind of teaching him

17:49

early on, knowing that he's going to take his minute. And I knew

17:52

right there. I said, we're gonna be good, man, We're gonna

17:55

be good, all right. So that least to this question, then, because when I interviewed all the players before the Sea and started just I said,

18:00

down with them, just like I'm sitting down with you. The thing

18:03

that was overwhelming to me is they all talk this amazing game about how close

18:07

they are. Now, that's not new. What is new is when I

18:11

talk to Aaron Bradshaw. Aaron Bradshaw is an eighteen year old who hadn't even

18:15

barely practiced yet, right, But he was on the team. He knew

18:18

he was gonna be one of I mean, he was recruited one of the best players in the country. He sits down and he's talking about and he

18:23

mentions this when we lose, and I'm like, who whoa, whoa,

18:26

whoa wa what he said? Well, we're gonna lose because he's talking about

18:30

how close they are. He says, but when we lose, the key

18:33

is can we still be close or are we going to turn on each other?

18:36

And I'm like, I feel like I'm talking to a fifty five year old with all this experience. So how close is this team compared to those

18:44

Memphis teams? I mean, you see it closer than just about anybody, right, So, and be honest, if they're not, they're not.

18:49

But how close are they? What do you see that in this team that

18:52

is similar to that to those Memphis TEMs. Well, I'll say that.

18:55

So when we went up to Toronto in July, I was really shocked at

18:59

how unself wish we were. But I just chalked that up to it's the

19:03

summer newness, excitement. It's not as formal as the regular season, so

19:10

we just having fun. Then we got back on campus, and then we

19:12

started practice and the unselfishness was still. It was there, like these guys

19:18

would shared the ball and then all right, you know what, We'll see

19:22

what happens when minutes are exactly attributed, when an adversity hits, adversity hits

19:26

and the meg a lost. Story short, we're averaging twenty assists a game

19:32

and with a whole bunch of guards. But yeah, very easily could be

19:34

at each other's throat, no question. So this team reminds me in some

19:38

ways of that Memphis team because they're unselfish, they're tough, they want to

19:44

win, their competitive and this team is probably a little bit better in terms

19:48

of distributing the ball. Do you think, because I watched this team and

19:52

I've made this comment before, they're almost too unselfish sometimes It's like the way

19:56

I put it is, we want them to be unselfish, but not chair

20:00

don't. Don't we work so hard to get an open shot, don't pass

20:03

it up to get just as open as shot. Yeah, is that something

20:07

you all have to work on it? Because here coach cal say, do

20:11

not pass up an open shot. Sure, I don't care who you are. He's talking to Aaron. He's talking to z when he is able to

20:15

practice, he's talking to everybody whether you can shoot outside or not. His

20:19

thing is you mess up an open shot, you're coming to sit with me.

20:22

Is that something you'all still having to work with. It's like, look,

20:25

stop being so unselfish. Yeah, you know, it's a great point. He says it a number of times during practice. He's like, look,

20:30

if you're open, let the ball go, shoot it. Yeah.

20:33

If if you don't shoot the ball, you're sitting down because it's not helping

20:37

the team. Yeah, it's not helping the team. And I think the U and see Wilmington game. You know, when I watched the film,

20:42

that was the most turnovers we had all it was, and they weren't like

20:47

one on one they were trying to make the ex home run play. They

20:49

wanted to make sports hitters stops, that's what they were. Yeah. So

20:52

to your point, I think, if you're open, let's share the ball,

20:56

let's move the ball. But if you're open, let it go,

20:59

because we've got some really good shooters on this team. But well, I

21:03

don't know. Listen, the only thing that makes me matter is when I

21:06

played, I had two records when I left here and Coach Call comes in

21:08

and it brings this guy named Doron Lamb who takes one of my records in

21:11

two years and I still haven't forgiven him what uh, just what I want

21:17

to do. I'm gonna go through. If you're okay with this, each player on the team, and I want you to tell me what they need

21:22

to improve on the most Ya okay, all right? So Rob Dillingham,

21:27

I think, uh, decision making, you know, shot selection at times,

21:32

he's so talented, you know, when you're as talented as he is,

21:37

he thinks he can make any shot, and there are moments where and

21:41

he almost does. Yeah, yeah, right, because it encourages that creator.

21:45

But I think, you know, if Rob can just kind of become

21:49

a little bit better in some of the shot selections because he's incredible. I

21:55

mean, he's one of the more dynamic players in the country, and sometimes

21:59

a guy like that, you just got to let him go a little bit meeting. Work himself out of it. Yeah, work himself out of it.

22:04

And I think Coach Cal's an unbelievable job of that. Justin Edwards,

22:08

I think Justin be a little bit more assertive driving the ball getting to the

22:12

basket. He's got good size. I'm not sure if people realize he's almost

22:18

six foot eight. He can go rebound the ball on the offensive glass.

22:21

So the Knights where maybe the jump shots not falling go to glass, go

22:25

rebound it. Aaron Bradshaw, You know Aaron. I just think he's got

22:30

to get in shape and focusing on having a motor, which I think he

22:33

does, and not put too much pressure on the offense. Just rebound the

22:37

ball, sprint the floor. I think if he does that, good things

22:41

will happen. Is it fair to say, because I've had this question a lot, is that when Aaron gets back, when the Bigs get back,

22:45

right, we hear that all the yeah, are we still going to be

22:48

running the way we are? And I feel like, and I tell people,

22:51

look, I can't speak for Ugana and I can speak for Z because I've only seen HI one highlight of Z and I remember gone from last year.

22:56

I feel like Aaron can run with this team though oh yeah, yeah.

23:00

He had a great possession in the pen game where he blocked the shot,

23:03

Reid got the rebound, he ran the link to the court, outran

23:06

everyone and got the layout to feed the big man. Yeah. The big

23:10

man runs the court. You feed the big man. Yeah, so a

23:12

do the eero. You know a lot like you. This is my first

23:17

year here, so I'm still trying to figure a due out. I think

23:19

if a dude just kind of takes a deep breath and says, I don't

23:23

have to prove that I can shoot the three because he's incredible at attacking the

23:29

paint. Yeah, And I'm still getting to know him a little bit better,

23:32

but that's kind of what I see from him because when he attacks the rim, can you imagine why don't know what he wastes two forty It looks

23:38

like imagine a guy that can get you out on the perimeter fake is three

23:42

Yeah, and then body to body you to the lane. Yeah, because

23:45

he didn't have to get past you. He just has to get a quarter

23:48

the way past you, and he's pushing you out of the way. Yeah.

23:51

I mean with that, with that strength, he's just he can drive and he's gotten better at it. Yeah, it really has. Well,

23:56

there's certainly a big difference in last year, and it may have been confidence

24:00

that that'll be the last question I ask you. I'll ask you about that in a minute. Trey Mitchell. Uh, he's he's an unbelievable facilitator.

24:07

He should be a little bit more selfish. So as the year goes on

24:11

on scout reports, they know he's a facilitator, So what people do is

24:15

they won't help off as much. So now that allows him to go one

24:18

on one. And I think he had a turnover in the not the Pen

24:22

game, Wilmington game, may have been the Wilmington game. There were a

24:27

lot of turn Yeah, there weren't a lot. There were a lot more

24:30

than we're you know what. It was the pen game. He was one

24:33

on one on the low blocks and he saw Aaron at the last second he

24:36

tried to dump it to him and it's like, no, you're in the

24:40

paint. Yeah, but that's uh, that's a good thing. I guess

24:42

he's unselfish, but if he had to work on one things like he's got

24:45

to be a little bit more selfish to command the double team a little.

24:49

It's like this team as a whole, it's like they're they're two unselfish.

24:52

But that's not a it's a problem to have, but boy, there could

24:56

be worse. Yeah, absolutely absolutely, U reefs man Antonio has been so

25:02

good. I think he's improved defensively based on some of the film I watched

25:06

last year. I think Antonio is one of those kids that you mentioned when

25:11

you're open, you've got your feet shoot the ball, because there are times

25:14

where he'll try to move it or try to drive it. No, you're

25:17

free shoot the ball. Especially Yeah, Uh Grant Darbyshire. Grant's been awesome

25:22

in practice. He really has what does that mean? Energy enthusiasm. The

25:26

other day he's on a scout team and Cal's got one team, Coach Chin

25:32

has the other team, the scout team, and then me where the black

25:36

pennies? Right? Right? Right? So, by the way, I love with the way Kareem where's his black penny? He put it on?

25:42

That's right. But uh, but you know what he does is when when

25:45

both teams broke, he had an energy to him. Yes, that grab

25:51

uh DJ's attention, like like, look, you better run the offense right.

25:55

If not, I'm gonna I'm gonna steal it. I'm gonna turn you over. Wait minute. So Grant came out of the h yeah and had

26:00

some such kind of energy that he kind of put you can see you can

26:03

see DJ and and justin like okay, like we better run this offense because

26:08

they got scared of the of the I wouldn't say scared, but they certainly

26:14

he grabbed their t woke them up. He woke them up like. I love that, and especially from a sophomore guard that doesn't play a lot in

26:19

practice for him to come out and say y'all better get ready, even if

26:22

he doesn't say it. His attitude, his attitude, his energy absolutely Brendan

26:26

Canada man, BC is awesome. You know, we have BC playing multiple

26:32

positions in practice, and early in the year we didn't have the bigs, so he would at times seven, at the five, at the four,

26:37

at the three, and you know you've played before. We changed the offense,

26:41

we tweak it, we tweak the defense, and he just has the

26:45

ability in the capacity to change along with us if he had to improve on

26:52

anything. I mean, BC's so good man, I don't I don't know,

26:56

you know, really yeah, he's he's good man. He's really good.

27:00

I love when I show up early for the pregame show. I love

27:03

the fact that he and Grant and uh Horne Walker Walker, thank you.

27:11

I think of his dad, Daron played high school ball. I played against

27:14

him here in Lexington, so I always think of Darren. But those three

27:18

guys are always seeming with coach Welch doing an individual instruction for the game.

27:22

And as a former walk on slash Bene Warmer right, for most of my

27:26

career, I'm like, love these guys. They're committed, but yeah,

27:30

they know they're not probably not going to get a run tonight, but it

27:33

doesn't matter. They're going to work as though they were. And not only

27:37

do I love that they're doing that, but I love that the coaches are like, you can be benchwamara all you want, You're still gonna work your

27:41

tail off. Oh that's right, so Reed Shepherd Man Reid's been unbelievable.

27:48

If there's one thing with Read is off off the ball defender. Yeah,

27:52

you know, at times he ball watches, helps too much, he helps

27:56

too much, and then he can't recover to his guy. And you know

28:00

he's if I'm not mistaken, he's at three steals or close to it.

28:03

And so oh average averaging, Yeah, he's close to leading the country.

28:07

Yeah, correct, right hands. Yeah, so I think in his mind

28:11

he always thinks I can get that one. You know, you know what's

28:14

funny about that is because you think in terms of, well, that's an

28:17

awfully unselfish player. He's worried about helping his teammates, when in reality it

28:22

might be that here's my chance and he's yeah, and he's really good at

28:26

it. But I think off off the ball. Joey Hart. Joey's been

28:30

unbelievable. He's improved so much from July. Confidence number one, ability to

28:37

make shots. I think early on he would take them, wouldn't necessarily make

28:41

them. In practice, he's starting to make them. If there's one thing

28:44

that he's got to improve on, I would say defensively gets lost at time.

28:48

But that being said, he's a young kid, but he's come a

28:52

long way. Can you talk real quick before we get the next break? Can you talk real quick about the adjustment these guys have to make from high

28:56

school AAU to not just D one, Yeah, Kentucky d high D one,

29:02

Chip D one. Like the adjustments and speed that mean mentally because it's

29:07

slow, as I might have been all right, because I'm slow, I've

29:10

got to learn geometry now, but then I also have to be thinking two

29:14

steps ahead. Yeah, you don't have to do that in college. Your

29:17

speed, as slow as you might be, your speed's good enough in high school, but it's not here. So what's the big And maybe these guys,

29:22

some of them, we can talk about some guys at our calendar, But what is the biggest adjustment they have to make as freshmen, because we've

29:27

got a bunch of them, as we always do. To me, the

29:30

biggest adjustments between the ears. It's all mental because as you mentioned, you

29:34

know, at this point in your career, you kind of you are who

29:37

you are. You're six' three, this is your vertical leap, this

29:40

is how fast you are. And then now you've got to process this is

29:45

who I am. Now, how can I take what seems to be my

29:48

disadvantage and turn it into my advantage? And I think too often young guys

29:52

have too much noise, too many voices. Yeah, and social media doesn't

29:57

Yeah, yeah, it doesn't help. So I think the biggest adjustment,

30:00

particularly at a place, not a place, but this particular place, it's

30:04

between the ears. It's all mental. It was even hard, and it's

30:07

nowhere near what it is difficult as today. But like we weren't allowed to

30:11

read the newspaper, weren't allowed to listen to the radio shows and we were allowed to watch Sports Center. That doesn't mean we didn't. That meant when

30:17

we did and the coach caught us, there were a consequence. And I

30:21

think of today, they can't get caught. I mean, they'd be smart

30:25

to turn off their you know, not to have social media account or maybe the post and never read. But that's hard to do. It's hard,

30:30

and today it's so hard to do, and there's so many people out there

30:32

that just want to be at their throats DJ Wagner. DJ's been awesome.

30:36

You know. I think we missed him big time. We saw that in

30:40

the UNC Wilmington game. I think he's one of those kids that he plays

30:45

with so much. He's an alpha male mode. I think at times,

30:51

if he just slows down a little bit, let the game, let the

30:55

court open up, he'll have some driving lanes to the basket because he's,

30:59

Oh, he's constantly in attack, which is a good thing. Yeah,

31:02

but the pressure that puts on defense is like it's ridiculous. Yeah yeah,

31:06

yeah. But I think as the year goes on, people start to scout

31:10

him and say, you know what, just just pack the lane in. So I think if it just slows down a notch, I think he'll be

31:14

pretty good. Walker one, Walker has been awesome. Uh, he's been.

31:18

He's another one of those guys. As you mentioned before the games, he's there working out with John Welch. I think I think Walker can make

31:25

open shots. He's got to get better off the bounce, yeah, And I think defensively on the ball, he's got to improve a little bit.

31:30

But that being said, he's another one. He's improved so much from September

31:36

to now, it's it's unbelievable. Why do you think there's been such an

31:40

improvement for so many players from September to now, or or from the beginning

31:42

of the season to now. I just think we don't view him as walkonks.

31:47

They're on the team. You know, they're on a team. We're gonna hold you accountable. We're gonna coach you hard. If you turn it

31:52

over, we'll let you know. If you got beat off the bounce, we're gonna let you know. And I think those guys feel like they're really

31:57

a part of it. Yeah, and they're like, these guys are holding

32:00

me accountable, and I'm gonna live up to the standard. When I went

32:04

on my official trip to Georgia. They were playing in the summer, well

32:07

an off season. They were playing pick up games and there were three walk

32:10

ons on the team and they were getting there. They were the scholship players

32:14

were getting the runs in and they'd run five games and they walk on just

32:17

sitting over there. And finally you got guys getting tired, and someone was

32:22

like, a so and so get in and the captain and this what bothered me. The captain said, no, no, no, they're walking they

32:27

don't and I'm sitting now now. At the time, I wasn't considering being

32:30

a walk on here. I was considering taking a scholarship to Georgia. But

32:32

even that bothered me. We got another assistant. There's another coach I won't

32:36

mention his name, but who in his pregame warm up has walked on separated

32:42

as they're not doing anything until they become pastors for warm up. And I'm

32:45

like, no, because you don't know when you're gonna you can't treat these

32:49

guys like that, so you don't have to know what they're going to turn

32:52

into or how you might need them this year. No, that's right,

32:54

And if they feel like they're on the team, you're gonna get more out

32:57

of them. That's exactly right. Jordan Burk's man, That dude's gonna be

33:00

so good. I think he's one of those kids we talked about two seconds

33:04

ago between the ears, like everything for him is mental because he's got the

33:08

skill set. He can make open threes, he can drive the ball,

33:12

he's a super athlete. He's a dynamic I think defender. Yeah, he's

33:16

gonna turn into a dynamic defender. So for him is like, don't listen

33:20

to the noise, take a deep breath. Everyone's journey is different, and

33:24

I think once he understands that he's gonna be really, really good. It's

33:28

been fun watching him during pre pre warm up and not the layup lines,

33:31

but what y'all do before the layuplines. Other than Aaron, those are the

33:36

two guys that come out even before Aaron was playing it so practicing. They

33:39

come out not only with smiles on their faces, but they'd be bouncing with

33:43

energy. Yeah. I mean Jordan comes down and he is like getting everybody hype as far as like let's go, and I'm looking at a guy like

33:49

you're gonna get six seven minutes to night and you're acting like you're gonna get

33:52

forty. And I love that. I love that attitude. It's got to be contagious. He's got a great spirit. I'll share a quick story last

33:59

night. He's a targe. And first of all, how do you know he's at Target? I was at Target. I was at Target. Read

34:05

was at Target, Rob Dillingham. That's the cool place to be at seven

34:09

o'clock at night. So anyhow, I'm at Target and uh, I see

34:14

these guys I'm shopping and I leave. Yeah, and you all aren't there

34:17

together. No, you just just kind of run into the chair. And

34:21

like forty minutes later, I get a picture of Jordan's Burk's with a with

34:24

a lady who I don't know who the lady is, it's just a fan.

34:29

And what he did was he he's online, ready to pay for his

34:34

groceries, and he pays for her groceries and the lady says, no,

34:38

I'm okay, I got enough. Jordan says, no, no, you

34:43

know I have more than enough. I like to share. So then she

34:46

then pays for two students behind. It's an amazing story to your point here,

34:52

Now, that's a story that you're sharing. Yeah, is that is

34:55

that a story that? Did Jordan share that at all? No, So

34:59

Jordan didn't share. So what happened was the lady took a picture. She

35:02

tweets it out and says, so it's known. Oh, it's out there.

35:06

So this lady says, I just ran into this young man last night who insisted on buying my groceries. And later on I find out, Oh,

35:13

she didn't know. She didn't know at the time. He's a freshman. It might be six eight sixty nine. He's a freshman. She didn't

35:19

know. So she, she says, found out that he's on Kentucky men's

35:23

basketball team. And he never he didn't say a word to me. I

35:27

just saw him like ten minutes ago. Yeah, and uh, the way

35:30

we found out was because she tweeted it out. It's a great story.

35:34

It's a lot about what I love about that story. And this is a

35:36

personal as an ex player here in a college basketball player at the University Kentucky.

35:39

Say I've got more than enough. Yeah. I mean, we can

35:43

say what we can about nil, but I'm sorry. And again this is

35:46

me. But NCAA had years to fix this. Yeah, and the state

35:50

legislator decided we'll fix it. We'll fix it. And to hear a college

35:53

player say, not only do I have enough, but I'm going to take

35:57

what I have and I'm going to give to a stranger because holiday season.

36:00

Yeah, sure, what we should. And then for him to not tweet

36:04

it. Yeah, no, he didn't. That's that's what I know.

36:07

He didn't tweet it. He didn't share it, like we were unaware of anything. And the lady was so taken back that she took a picture with

36:14

him and then she wound up paying for students behind her. Yeah, so

36:19

pretty cool story. That's awesome. Uh. Kareem Watkins, Kareem is so

36:23

good man as a teammate. He's got a great energy about him, a

36:27

great enthusiasm about him. You know, he's pretty good with the ball.

36:30

Yeah, so when we go in the half court pick and roll action,

36:34

Coach cal usually puts the ball in his hand to try to keep us honest.

36:37

Yeah, And he's quick enough and fast enough. I think, if

36:40

anything, he's got to become a better on ball defender. Yeah, you

36:44

know, he'll he'll guard and then if there's a screen, he kind of

36:47

gets stuck on ball screen action. But he's a great kid. We haven't

36:52

got to see him yet this year, but and I don't know how much you've got to see since he's been hurt. But Ghana on you know,

36:57

Ghana was really good yesterday. I mean he really was. Does he look

37:00

healthy, he looks healthy, looks strong? He looked he looked strong.

37:06

Yeah, he looked really good defensively pick and roll coverage, considering and done

37:09

anything. And yeah, three or four months and we were talking about Aaron

37:14

earlier, and it was something I meant to bring up. I think people should understand the difference between being in shape right, being in practice shape right,

37:21

meaning in game shape. Yeah, absolutely, you're playing less in games,

37:23

that's right. But because of the energy, the mental fatigue, the

37:27

emotion, the fact that you're playing in front of tweeny tw thousand people who

37:30

knows, I mean on TV, it takes a mental toll. So absolutely

37:32

that three or four minutes that you're supposed to be in there playing, they

37:37

we've got to build up to that. If you're Aaron, if you're Z when he gets if you're gone and right now, they're not there, No,

37:43

they're not there. That's why it's amazing that ab was able to get a double double, not have three blocks, and you know, when he

37:49

does that, the expectations go. But I'm glad you mentioned that because it's

37:53

not an easy thing to know. It's not and I wish people and more

37:57

people understood that because I remember Aaron's first back was the Bloomington game. Sure,

38:00

and he played. He didn't play bad, but he didn't play like

38:05

the way everyone expected Aaron Bradshaw. Of course, it took him a game

38:08

and then we got in Aaron Bradshaw and everyone's like, Okay, I see

38:10

it pretty good. Yeah, absolutely well, and this is this is this

38:15

is the last one. But this may be a tough one because again I don't know how much you've seen. I've seen highlight tapes on YouTube. But

38:21

z Vanimir he's uh, he's a unique talent. He's a unicorn, you

38:24

know, seven to two, can run, jump shoot. I think with

38:30

z I think he's got to become and I think he has since he's been

38:35

with us, just a little bit more discipline because he's so gifted and so

38:38

talented. He he thinks he can get away with almost making any any pass.

38:45

And there are moments where he'll make a pass in practice here, like,

38:49

that's an incredible pass. It doesn't help as far as like it builds

38:52

that back, it encourages correct it encourages the behavior. And you're like,

38:58

no, you can't make that pass and he he's like, sure, I

39:00

can't. Look, yeah, I just did. What do you mean? So I think he's got to become a little bit more disciplined. But he's

39:05

an incredible talent, and he's a he's a great kid. And and you

39:08

know, the most amazing thing about Zia is him and this team have connected.

39:15

I mean they've they've a different part of the world and and for what

39:20

maybe six weeks they've been together. Yeah, it's incredible how he gets along

39:22

with these guys and how they get along with him. What's incredible And this

39:25

would be my last, my last question or two. What's incredible is how

39:29

why? Why? Why did these guys get along? It's they've got egos.

39:31

They are fighting for playing time, they're fighting for draft picks. Event.

39:35

Yeah, why are they Why do they love each other so much? It's interesting. I don't I don't know, it's uh, you know,

39:40

about a month ago I started picking out photos from every game and practice and

39:47

they weren't of players making plays. It was of the bench, and I

39:52

was doing it for my for my own, for myself, and doing it

39:54

out of wisdom. Yeah, I'm looking, I know what you're doing.

39:58

Yeah, I'm looking at watching, And I see Aaron, who at the times not playing right, wrapping his arms around Dillingham. And then I see

40:05

Z high five and DJ and then I see Walker and Grant and the rest

40:10

of these guys in Jordan, and they're literally high five and are hugging,

40:15

and I'm like, we got a good group who who I think are really

40:19

connected. See. I love that you noticed that, because if I go

40:22

back to the ninety six, ninety seven, ninety eight teams that I was part of, which were in three final games, three final fours, and

40:28

two national championships, we made two documentaries out of those two seats, the

40:31

two seasons we won. And what I noticed in looking over thousands of photographs

40:36

was that what stood out to me the most were not the dunks, the

40:39

pictures of me and shooting whether I made the shot or not. Sure.

40:43

It was the hugs, yea. It was the embrace us embracing each other

40:47

and lost and when in celebration and sorrow. It was we were a team.

40:53

These guys are a team right now. But I'll end with this.

40:57

I'll go back to the last thing Aaron said. Do you think we've already

41:00

We've lost two games, but the first game against Kansas was kind of celebrated

41:04

because I don't think most people expected us to play that Well, you will

41:08

Meeton, it's a great team. They're supposed to make the NCAA tournament.

41:10

As in that large bit. Now, you and I both know this.

41:14

What difference doesn't make. It's December, no one knows who's gonna do what. But when this team hits adversity, which I'm going to guess there was

41:20

some adversity in the locker room and maybe we ought a week of practice,

41:22

which I'm sure Cal took full advantage of that loss. Do you think this

41:28

team and how do you think this team can overcome the adversity to keep this

41:32

sort of camaraderie going Because you know, and I know because you mentioned it

41:37

with the Memphis seasons of two thousand and six to eight, Yeah, six

41:40

to eight. You and I both know the importance of having a group of

41:44

guys that are If we're going to say it's Kentucky against the world. What

41:47

we mean by that is these fifteen guys right against the world. They have

41:52

to love each other and they have to stay together good and bad, win

41:55

or loss. They can't lose confidence in each other. How do they do

41:59

that over the next couple of months. I just think they've they've built up.

42:02

I think the trip to Toronto was really good because it gave us those

42:06

a lot of early yeah, those early days to spend time together. And

42:09

then it's not just the practices, it's the breakfast at lunches, the dinners,

42:14

the camaraderie that you that you established at that moment. I just think

42:17

this team is just a group that for some reason, they've connected. They

42:22

believe in one another, They're tough, and I think coach cal has done

42:29

this throughout his career career. He just knows, you know, he just

42:32

has a talent to galvanize. He I don't know how he does it.

42:37

He can get people to move in the right direction. But what I've seen

42:40

watching him in what fourteen fifteen years, is that he does it gets them

42:45

there by February. By February, they're now team before me. Yeah,

42:51

this team seems to be too much team before me. Yeah, in November

42:54

and December. Yeah, and I'm seeing there wondering what might that lead to

42:59

Kamemar when it matters. Yeah, you know, if here's here's here are

43:04

my thoughts. We we've played well at times. We we've struggled at times

43:08

you'in see Wilbington game. But we've done it without a full roster. Yes,

43:12

you have. When we get the full roster and and we can really

43:17

like be at full throttle. This team can be really, really good.

43:22

And I think they're because they are so unselfish, because they do like one

43:25

another, and they root for one another. They understand, you know,

43:30

one night it may be you, one night it's going to be me, but it's always about us. And the difficulty in scouting a team like that,

43:38

it's hard. How do you scout a team where all right, we're

43:40

going to focus on your Bradshaw to night. That's fine, Antoni is going

43:44

to GoF for thirty. Yeah, I mean it's it's not easy. No.

43:46

The Miami game is a great example of that. They had five guys

43:50

in double digits and uh, and they are really good and they average eighty

43:53

nine. But we had six guys in double digits and we average in the

43:57

nineties, so I think we got some fire. Well, coach, I

44:00

will take up any more time. Thanks for being here, Thanks for being

44:02

at the University of Kentucky. Thank thank you to this team, and obviously

44:06

we hope, I hope we're talking in April and celebrate, absolutely appreciate you

44:08

having thanks check, thank you, Thanks for listening everybody, and thanks to

44:13

Coach Martin for the time. Regardless of where you're listening this podcast. Not

44:15

only please subscribe, but please share it with everyone you can. And if

44:19

you'd like to see the video of the conversation I just had with Coach Martin,

44:22

please check out the UK Sports Network on Facebook. You shipped that ball

44:32

man, I did some research on YouTube. Oh yeah, you will reverse

44:37

it and we'll do all inview interview me. Yeah, a mistake, and

44:39

I think you shot like fort for us for a career forty three or forty

44:45

two, al those three and for a season fifty one. They got to

44:49

chase them up to three point and then