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Chuck Martin on the giving nature of this Kentucky team

Chuck Martin on the giving nature of this Kentucky team

Released Wednesday, 13th December 2023
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Chuck Martin on the giving nature of this Kentucky team

Chuck Martin on the giving nature of this Kentucky team

Chuck Martin on the giving nature of this Kentucky team

Chuck Martin on the giving nature of this Kentucky team

Wednesday, 13th December 2023
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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

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