HookEm

Which of these players do you want Weaver to start over? Jordan Pope - 17.6 PTS, 3.4 AST, 2.6 TRB, 50.4 FG%, 37.1 3P%, 87.9 FT% - 6'2, 165 Tramon Mark - 16.2 PTS, 1.8 AST, 4.3 TRB, 48.0 FG%, 36.4 3P%, 80.4 FT% - 6'5, 180 Julian Larry - 11.0 PTS, 4.8 AST, 2.8 TRB, 52.5 FG%, 46.2 3P%, 78.0 FT% - 6'3, 185 - 3rd team MVC, 2x All Defense Tre Johnson - 11.1 PTS, 2.6 AST,2.9 TRB, 43.3 FG%, 35.7 3P%, 94.1 FT% (FIBA U19 Stats) - 6'6, 190 - #6 National Recruit ---------------------------------------- Chendall Weaver - 6.2 PTS, 0.6 AST, 3.0 TRB, 49.0 FG%, 23.7 3P%, 74.0 FT% - 6'3, 164 I'll be surprised if we start any group of guards other than Pope, Mark and Johnson. Larry and Weaver will be great off the bench.

Terrible uninformed take. Last year we finished #25 in KenPom and won a tournament game. That is better than any season Shaka Smart put together and he lasted six years. And you have to go back to 2011 to find a Rick Barnes season that was better. That isn't even counting the credit that the administration will give him for righting the ship after the Beard shit show and the ultimate Elite 8 run. RT would have to have single digit wins to get fired next year, and that isn't happening with this squad playing in the SEC. If he misses the tourney then his seat will be hot and the bar will be very high for an extension.

Kaluma would be a great add and would round out this team nicely. He brings a lot of the things Dillon Mitchell provided but is a much better offensive player. 6’2 Pope + 6’5 Mark + 6’6 Johnson + 6’7 Kaluma + 6’8 Kent is enough size, skill and defense to give anyone problems if coached properly. Beard would have killed it with a team like that. My guess is that if we sign Kaluma, we would bring Kent off the bench and start the above team plus Shedrick. Then we could have Larry and Kent, who are very used to playing together, leading the 2nd unit. Weaver will also get a lot of minutes off the bench. It will be interesting to see if anyone else steps up. Devon Pryor, Malik Presley and Nic Codie all have the talent to contribute if they develop.

On Tuesday, we made the fairly long trip back to Nashville. We had a late flight, so it gave us a chance to stop at Mammoth Cave National Park. We took the "Domes and Dripstones" tour, which takes you down a sinkhole into the cave system. Unfortunately, the "Historic Tour" was sold out already by the time we booked on Monday. If you go, you are able to do a "self guided" tour of the first 3 rooms via the original entrance. By the time we figured that out, we had to leave to go to the airport and missed out. Mammoth Cave isn't a national park that I would set as a destination, but it is definitely worth spending a couple of hours if you are in the area. Plus it is ~55 degrees down in the caves and makes for a nice escape from the summer heat. The trip overall was great. I actually liked that we flew into Nashville since it was a cheap direct flight and you have to drive to get to the distilleries anyway. I don't know that I would stay in Lexington again, unless UT was playing UK in basketball or something. It also might be fun to go back to Keeneland for the races in October/November. But Lexington itself was kinda sketchy in places and was pretty underwhelming as a college town. I think you are better off staying in Bardstown or one of the other small towns in an Inn or AirBnB.

On Monday, we got up early and went to Keeneland for a tour of the track and to watch the horses training. The area is beautiful and it is really awesome to watch the horses train. You can get some coffee and just go in and watch them for free from like 6-10 AM. It is a great way to spend an hour in the morning. From there we took the incredibly scenic route up Old Frankfort Pike (HW 1681) to Frankfort. Along the way, we stopped at Wallace Station (which has been on Diners and Dives) for a fantastic grilled pimento cheese sandwich. Highly recommend. From there we went to Buffalo Trace. We didn't have a reservation for a tour, but it was no problem on a Monday afternoon. First, the scale of the place and history puts all the other distilleries we visited to shame. The tour was awesome and really focused on the process from Barreling all the way to bottling. We got to see them breaking open some Weller 12 bottles and also bottling some Blantons and it smelled like we were inside a whisky glass. Just awesome. Every day they rotate between allocated bottles available for purchase and Blanton's was on sale during our visit - but you are limited to one bottle. From there we drove over to Woodford Reserve, which is a beautiful property. Castle and Key is on the way and also a really beautiful place, but it was closed on Mondays. That night we ate at OBC Kitchen, which was really good and had probably the most extensive bourbon collection I have ever seen.

On Sunday we got up and went downtown. We had breakfast at Pat's Place, which was a solid main street diner with typical eggs and hash browns type breakfast. Since it was a Sunday (and Father's Day), we didn't have a chance to get to Heaven's Hill (which opened late) or Lux Row (which was closed on Sundays). We took a scenic route up HW 62 and got to Four Roses right as it was opening. Four Roses has built a beautiful new visitors center. We stopped in and got a couple of drinks and also bought a bottle of Single Barrel and had it engraved for Father's Day. It is a short drive from Four Roses to Wild Turkey, where we went next. Wild Turkey has probably the prettiest visitors center with the best view of all the places we went. It is really a stunning place. The pictures don't do justice to the views. When we were there, Jimmy Russell (60+ year master distiller for Wild Turkey) was there talking to people and signing stuff at the entry. In retrospect, I should have bought a Russel's Reserve Single Barrel Select or something and had him sign it. It was a short, beautiful drive from there to Lexington. We stayed at the Hyatt Regency, mainly because it was only 8K Hyatt Points. It is right next to Rupp Arena and the area is pretty meh. That night, we ate dinner at Carson's Food and Drink and it was tremendous. We got out of there for ~$120 including a few cocktails, which were fantastic. It was so good, we almost ate there again on Monday night. Highly recommend.

Just got back from the Kentucky trip. It was a great time. I'll try to document what we did here... Saturday - Got an early flight from Austin direct to Nashville. We landed at 8:30 AM and drove up to Bardstown (~2 hour easy drive). We stopped at Lincoln's birthplace, which is worth the 10 minute detour, but not much more than that. Just stayed long enough to stretch our legs. It was around lunchtime, so the first stop was Bardstown Bourbon Company. We got a spot on the patio and had lunch and a cocktail. Unfortunately we didn't have time for much more than that. The place is modern and beautiful. If I did it again, I would do a tour there and then one of the older places like Buffalo Trace to see the difference between old and new. The main dining room was huge, open and beautiful. I would make reservations, especially on a Saturday. From there, we went to Willett and took a tour. They were generous with the tastings and we were feeling good by the end. They mainly focused on the distilling end of the operation. After the tour we went upstairs to the Willett bar and had a couple of cocktails and apps. Got the Egg Salad sandwich of course. Luckily, in Bardstown they were having their ~20th annual street fair. They had blocked off downtown and had a big stage with some very solid bands. It was a great way to spend the evening. Bardstown downtown has a few nice bars that would have been a good choice otherwise. If we ever go back, we will probably just stay the whole time at Bardstown and take day trips to the distilleries. Dinner was a couple of charcoal cooked hot dogs and cold beers at the street fair. Nothing says "America" quite like a small town street festival.

Speaking of Four Roses:

I LOVE Flamingo Beach. Perfect waves and water temperature. It is honestly one of my favorite beaches anywhere all things considered. Early one morning, I went for a run and just took my shoes off and ran into the water when I was done. I was the only one on the whole mile long beach for quite a while. I also second the Coco Loco rec. I also really like Playa Conchal - one of the more unique "beaches" anywhere. It isn't a sandy beach, but made up of millions of tiny smooth shells, that are almost the same as sand but more colorful and interesting. The waves sound awesome as they crash and filter through the tiny shells. And the water is clear because you don't have sand and silt ruining the clarity - so you can snorkel.

Of the list I posted a few weeks ago, 7 of the 12 are now off the board. It sounds like Duncan Powell has heard from Texas, but not sure about any of the others. He would be a good final addition. I still think DJ Burns is also someone we should reach out to. Hawkins seems like a bad fit for the team's needs and is also likely too expensive. Power Forwards: Coleman Hawkins, Illinois - 6'10, 230 - #24 - 12.7 PTS, 6.7 TRB Trevon Brazile, Arkansas - 6'10, 220 - #41 - 8.6 PTS, 5.9 TRB - Staying at Arkansas DJ Burns, Youngstown St - 6'7, 220 - #154 - 13.1 PTS, 11.0 TRB - 2nd team Horizon, All Defense Matt Bewley, Chicago St - 6'9, 225 - #189 - Signed with Overtime Elite (pro league) Mowot Mag, Rutgers - 6'7, 215 - #207 - 9.1 PTS, 3.8 TRB - Signed with BYU Ryan Bewley, Chicago St - 6'9, 210 - #240 - Signed with Overtime Elite (pro league) Centers: Baba Miller, Florida St - 6'11, 204 - #131 - 7.9 PTS, 4.9 TRB - Signed with BYU Ugonna Onyenso, Kentucku - 7'0, 233 - #180 - 3.6 PTS, 4.8 TRB - Signed with K-State Max Allen, Marist - 6'9, 255 - #338 - 11.4 PTS, 3.8 TRB - 2nd Team MAAC Duncan Powell, Sac St - 6'8, 220 - #411 - 12.1 PTS, 7.0 TRB - Texas visit Emmanuel Okorafor, Louisville - 6'9, 220 - #444 - 2.4 PTS, 2.2 TRB Enoch Boakye, Fresno St - 6'11, 250 - #471 - 7.5 PTS, 7.7 TRB - Signed with Villanova

Devon Pryor is really the same age as all the true freshman that are starting college this year since he reclassified last summer to start a year early. So his #21 in Texas ranking / #209 National ranking in 2023 is really a little misleading since he was a year younger than everyone else in his class.... AND he has been competing with grown men for the last year. I bet he will play more like a national top-50 freshman.

Our team last year would have been soooo much better with Ron Holland than with Ithiel Horton. I count six losses that likely would have been wins if he was on the team, which would have been enough to get us to a 3-4 seed and likely the Sweet 16 or beyond. And it wasn't just that he bailed, it was that he did it so late that it was hard to recover. F him. Hope he goes to Charlotte.

Yeah we are for sure renting a car. The only time I would use an Uber is within a town. We honestly love driving. I’m looking forward to hitting the road in Kentucky. I love being able to stop whenever and wherever I want.

Just checked. Looks like Uber from Fairfield Inn (where we are staying) to Willett is $12. And $10 from Willett to Bardstown Bourbon. Not terrible.

Oh shit. Good catch. I thought Kentucky was all Central. Cheaper than a DUI! Honestly thought I have no idea if Bardstown even has Ubers.

After looking at tour availability, I went ahead and booked a Willett tour for 3:00 on Saturday. We land in Nashville at 8:30 AM, so that gives us about four hours to kill on Saturday. Unfortunately Makers Mark is out of tour availability on Saturday, so we may skip it altogether and just stick with the distilleries in Bardstown. Bardstown Distillery apparently has a nice bar/dining room. Might just go straight there for lunch and a cocktail and then on to the Willett tour at 3:00. Willett also has a well regarded dining room / veranda where we could eat an early dinner. We could also Uber around to all these places and not worry about getting smashed.

I originally posted this in the Bourbon thread, but I think this topic deserves a dedicated thread. I'm headed to Kentucky with my wife in a couple of weeks to drive around and see some distilleries. We driving up from Nashville early on a Saturday morning and spending 3 nights overall. First night will be in Bardstown. We plan to hit Maker's Mark on the way and then probably Bardstown distilling. On Sunday, we will likely start the day at one of the Bardstown distilleries (probably Willett). Heaven Hill is another possibility. Then we will make our way up to Lexington, with a detour at either Four Roses or Wild Turkey. We are staying in downtown Lexington at the Hyatt Regency on Sunday and Monday nights. On Monday, the plan is to take a day trip to Frankfort to hit Buffalo Trace. We may also stop by Woodford Reserve on the way back if we are up for it. On Tuesday, we are driving back to Nashville for a late flight out. On the way there, we may stop by Abraham Lincoln's birthplace or Mammoth Caves National Park if we have enough time. Let me know if you have restaurant or distillery suggestions for Bardstown, Lexington or anywhere in between. I'll post pics after the trip.

I'm headed up to Kentucky in a couple of weeks with the wife. Staying in Bardstown for a night and then up in Lexington for two. Plan to hit up a bunch of distilleries. Any recommendations or tips? Wondering whether it is better to have a separate thread as it can get lost in these 410+ pages.

Vinson seems like a good late season add to round out the roster, but not someone we should expect to get more than 5 minutes a game. We still need a significant contributor at PF/C. I think we still have one roster spot open. Can anyone confirm?

Apparently Coleman Hawkins is wanting $2M. Maybe we refused to pay Toppin because we are going all in on Hawkins.

RT would have to completely and totally shit the bed to get fired after this year. If he wins at least say 12 games, I think he is coming back. If he gets to the 2nd weekend this year or next year, I assume he will get an extension. If not, he should be gone.

Hawkins would be a great addition. I haven't allowed myself to hope we get anybody that good after losing Toppin. Start big with: 6'3 Jordan Pope + 6'5 Tremon Mark + 6'6 Tre Johnson + 6'10 Coleman Hawkins + 6'11 Kaden Shedrick Bench: 6'3 Julian Larry + 6'3 Chendall Weaver + 6'7 Jayson Kent That would be our 8 man rotation with everybody else getting scrap minutes. A big power forward like Hawkins would give us a lot of options. I assume he would get a ton of minutes at center as well in a smaller lineup with Kent at PF.

I have been saying over and over that it is going to hurt to lose Dillon Mitchell... and that was when I thought we might get a solid big like Toppin to replace him. Now we lost the 2nd leading rebounder in the Big 12 for nothing. I guarantee the guy we get now isn't going to be as good as him. Mainly because there isn't a big that is as good as him left in the portal.