Indiana Pacers – Mathurin, Nembhard, Nesmith young & coming! Caitlin Clark SMART! Colts are due!!

Indiana Pacers – Mathurin, Nembhard, Nesmith young & coming! Caitlin Clark SMART! Colts are due!!

What a wonderful Optimism Wednesday show we have for you. It’s Optimism Wednesday. Like I said, that means nothing but positives about the Indiana Pacers, the Indianapolis Colts, IU football, the Indiana Fever. Nothing but positives. And there are a lot of positives to report. And some of the positives about the Colts, to tell you the truth, are kind of couched in negatives, as in the Colts haven’t been to the playoffs in a long time. They haven’t won their division in the longest span span of time ever in their franchise history. And uh that just means that they’re due. All right. So that kind of thing. But first, we’re going to talk about the Pacers and their youth because these guys are going to get better from within. It it’s not that the Pacers have to go outside their own team to improve. They’re going to get better from within. They are shed of the guy who is kind of a declining asset and they are also uh unfortunately without the guy who had the greatest room to improve and that was Tyrese Hallebertton. But others other than Pascal Seakum and TJ uh McConnell, they’re in ascension. And so that means four starters this year are going to be in ascension for the Pacers. and they’re going to figure out how to play better and win at a higher level. Uh, Fever, Caitlyn Clark’s really, really smart, right? I mean, it doesn’t take a genius to draft your own into your all-star game. Caitlyn Clark, one of the captains, and she selected first she selected Leah Boston, and then she selected Kelsey Mitchell because what are you going to do? Of course, you’re going to express your loyalty for teammates with those draft picks. Good for her. We’re going to talk about IU football. IU football’s ready to roll. I If IU football can stay healthy, this is going to be a better football team than they were last year. Last year they were 11 and two. Indiana had never in its program’s history won more than nine games. Last year they were plus two toward that record. They cruised right by 10, right? But winning the 11th against Purdue 66 nothing by the way. Hate to bring that up for the Boiler Maker fans who who would like a lot a little bit of optimism. also, but that’s not forthcoming. We’re going to talk about that. This is Breakfast with Ken for an optimism Wednesday. It is July. Check me on this. I think it’s July 9th. I believe it’s Wednesday, July 9th, 2025. Brought to you by the great people at Today’s Dentistry. You got dental problems? They got dental solutions. Call them. For those of you who have urgent need for dental care, 317-8492933. I got to tell you the truth, uh, our ads have been so successful, they don’t have any cleaning appointments until February of next year. So, like you get them cleaned every six months. I don’t know what the people in August are going to do when they have their cleaning and they say, “I need my six-month cleaning.” They booked them out like forever. But they do still have holes for those of you who have holes in your teeth. You got holes in your teeth, they got holes in their schedule. Let’s go fix them teeth. 3178492933. Uh, make sure and subscribe because when you subscribe, you become eligible for prizes like this. This is a Bears helmet autograph by Mike Brown. Here is a Rams jersey autographed by the great Jack Young Bloodood, Pro Football Hall of Famer. and rightly so. And of course, we’ve got the 8×10 slick autographed personally by the great Pton Manning. You want to win a prize, you got to be a subscriber. That’s how you gain eligibility. And the uh Wise Men’s Wise Guys, the phrase that pays as of right now. We’ll change that when I feel like it. Thank you very much. Make sure and hit the thumbs up. That’s the like button. That’s what polite people do. And if you want to make a donation, go ahead. Randy Smith has already made a donation this morning and uh do as Ry’s done and include with your donation a comment or a question that elevates the level of discourse on the channel. Randy Smith says, “I simulated IU football on this year’s college football game for the season. Had him going six and six.” That will not be the case. I promise you that won’t be the case. Now, I I don’t know whether they’re going to beat Oregon or Penn State at their places, but this got to be a really good football team and they’re going to win games and and we’re going to talk about that. But Kurt Signetti is the reason why Kurt Signetti recruits to a standard, asserts a standard, and disciplines to a standard. And when you have a coach who does that, you’re going to win given a certain amount of talent. And Indiana has that amount of talent. Mendoza is a better quarterback than Ror was principally because Ror had a torn ACL last year and Mendoza does not. He’s going to be able to move. You’ve got Serat back. You You’ve got uh Fiser, you’ve got Kamar, you’ve got Ponds, you have all these guys back. You have Hebby in as a running back. You have a really good offensive line. This is a solid solid football team led by a top 10 coach according to rankings and the rankings of Pro Football Focus. The rankings of CBS puts Signetti 21st. How the hell can you do that? If you’re a coach, I sure Kirby Smart wins at Georgia, right? Ryan Day wins at Ohio State. Come win at Indiana and show me something. If you can win at Indiana like signettes won in Indiana, you know what? Go to Vanderbilt and take Vanderbilt to the College Football Playoff, you know what I mean? Go to Duke and take Duke to the College Football Playoff and and still you haven’t gotten to Indiana. Indiana’s level of dormcancy for the last 50 years for God’s sake and closing in on 60 years. Signetti did that. Signetti should be by default seen as the finest coach in the history of college football because of what he did at Indiana last year. All right, let’s talk about the Indiana Pacers and the youth of the Indiana Pacers and why they’re a reason for real optimism. When you’ve got Aaron Nesmith who’s 25, you’ve got Andrew Neheart who’s 25. You’ve got Benedict Mathan at the age of 23. You have Jerus Walker at 21. You have Johnny Fury at 20. James Weisman at 24. Tyresese Hallebertton who’s not going to play next year at 25. Sure. Seakum’s 3031 and McConnell is in his 30s. Those guys, you know what you got in those guys. Seakum hasn’t started to slide yet and he probably won’t. McConnell age ain’t going to affect what McConnell does great. What McConnell does great is play with his brain. The brain continues to evolve positively as time goes on. And that’s going to continue to happen for McConnell. Physically, he is who he is, right? He just clever. And that’s that means that he is not going to degrade in the way over the last two years Miles Turner did slightly but enough. 18 points a game two years ago. Then into the 16s into the 15s this past year. Rebounds came down a little bit too. So that’s a declining asset that the Pacers refused to overpay for. The Bucks welcomed him after dispatching Damen Lillard and setting up a scenario where they’re going to have more than $20 million of cap space allocated to a player who’s not going to be with them. Tell me who got the better of that deal, please. All right. And don’t tell me that it was the Bucks because the Pacers are going to be fine in the pivot. The guy they’re going to miss is Hallebertton. But Nehart shifting as it stands now and and Matine being that too that goes get gets you buckets. This gonna be a good team. This going to be a fun team to watch and I’m looking forward to it. That’s the positive part of the Pacers. The negative part of the Pacers on this optimism Wednesday. Again, it’s a Tyrese Hallebertton who who’s the guy with a significant amount of ceiling room toward his potential. He’s on the shelf for the next year. So, uh, are they going to make the NBA finals again? Likely not. But they are going to be a playoff team and they should have their sights set on that. They should absolutely understand that that’s where they’re headed. Randy Smith says KP said Turner’s agent didn’t allow them to match. That’s the story. I believe Kevin Pritchard when he says that and good. You’re better off. what you don’t want like this next year, uh Miles Turner could play some legitimate basketball, but four years from now, three years from now, likely not. He’s going to continue to devolve athletically as we’ve seen him do. Oh, he wasn’t a great athlete to begin with. He’s getting clunky, isn’t he? And as a clunky player, clunky players don’t get less clunky as they move into their 30s. This is going to look in two years like the greatest non-signing in the history of basketball for the Indiana Pacers. Let’s talk about Caitlyn Clark, how smart she was yesterday. Caitlyn Clark, who will be playing today, according to her, she plans on playing today at noon against the Golden State Valkyries at Cambridge Fieldhouse. That game, like I said, at noon. And I’m telling you, if you’re going to the game, this used to be the game. I I would go to this game, this daytime matinea, and all you have are school kids who are screaming because like teachers would bring summer schools and camps in, and you had kids, 12-year-old girls who were screaming their lungs out for the entirety of this game, including halftime. It was unbelievable. It was like a Chinese uh hearing torture for God’s sake. Now, because Caitlyn Clark, they they’re not giving away tickets to this thing, and I would expect the crowd will be a little bit more civil than the 12year-olds who are intent upon turning me deaf. She chose Aaliyah Boston and Kelsey Mitchell as her teammates in the All-Star game. And good for her. I think it’s awesome. She said they’re going to have a fun team. Everything’s going to be fun. It took Asia Wilson. I think Sabrina Inescu also that All-Star game is coming uh in about 10 days. Should be a fantastic escapade of fun in the city of Indianapolis. Looking forward to that. Uh Fever 9 and N. So they got 26 games left in this season. They need to go on a bit of a heater and they’re three and a half games out of second right now. They need to get to second place to have a good shot in the playoffs of doing some damage. Um, but Clark’s status, you know what, it was iffy throughout and and she got to get help healthy and I hope that she is, but can’t have any more injuries. Have to have her there to have this offense run correctly. The defense has kind of sorted itself out. They, like I said, need to go on a long winning streak. Let’s hope that they do. IU football is ready to uh ball again. Seven weeks from Saturday is the opener. You’ve got uh Mendozi, you’ve got Serret, you’ve got uh Fiser, Hembi, Pans, Kamara, Signetti, Ready. I I don’t understand all this. Like people people keep saying that Indiana last year it was an anomaly. It wasn’t an anomaly. The people who say that Indiana football last year was an anomaly don’t know how football works and they don’t know how leadership works in in prompting really good football. I can’t believe it’s this hard to find good coaches because good coaches look like Kurt Signetti and they sound like Kurt Signetti. You want to be a good coach? Do that. Recruit to a standard. Set the standard. enforce the standard and and make sure that the standard is high enough to cause winning. Kurt Signetti didn’t come here didn’t come to Bloomington for a haircut. He came here to win football games because he wins. Google him. And he did win immediately. Took a team that hadn’t won. What did they What were they 12 and 37? I don’t want to misstate the uh the mediocrity of Indiana football the previous three years under Tom Allen, but I think they won three total Big 10 games. And here comes Kurt Signetti and he said, “That’s not good enough. We’re going to fix this thing and we’re going to fix it right now.” And he did. And you don’t take him at his word in year two. What’s the matter with you? Indiana is going to be really, really good. Again, you’ll see. I I can’t wait to watch them play. So, the three non-conference games, those are wins. If you’ve got a simulator that said six and six, you’re goofy. Your your simulator is goofy. They’re going to beat Maryland. They’re going to beat UCLA. I think they got a really good chance to beat Illinois. Iowa on the road, bit of a different animal. Uh Wisconsin in Bloomington, bit of a different animal, but I think they’re going to beat Wisconsin. They’re going to be Purdue. So, what’s that? 8 N. Right out right out the gate, you’re up to nine. Winning again at Penn State and Oregon. Little bit of a tough uh e even on a an optimism Wednesday. Those are tough slogs. you’re going to have a tough time getting that done, especially at Oregon because Oregon’s got speed and and speed is very very difficult to deal with because you can’t prepare for for it at a reasonable level because you can’t simulate it. Uh Colts, last time, here’s the good news about the Colts, they’re due to win. Uh the last time they failed to go to the playoffs for five straight years, that was 1994. Uh Toby Northern says, “Are you good enough for Big 10 title run on an optimism Wednesday?” I’ll say yes. They need some breaks. All right. They need to beat either uh Oregon or Penn State at their place. If they could do that, they can win the Big 10. They can be one of the top two teams in the Big 10. That’s going to take a lot. We’ll see. I I would not put it beyond Curt Signetti. Although, he didn’t say the Penn State and Oregon suck, do they? I’d like to hear that from him. Um, they have never failed, the Colts have never failed to win their division for 11 straight seasons. They are at a streak of 10, which is already the longest ever. Eight of those under Chris Ballard. What do we They haven’t finished last. They finished second or third for all these years for for going back to 2024. That’s 10 straight years of not winning the division. And the Colts have never allowed 400 or more points in four straight seasons. They’re on a three-year streak of doing just that, the longest in their franchise’s history. And it bears mention that for a long time, uh, the NFL had a four a 12game schedule, then a 14ame schedule, then a 16ame schedule, now playing 17. So, you’ve got more opportunities to allow points to an opponent. But this is the longest run of mediocrity for the Indianapolis or Baltimore Colts going back to their founding in 1953. They got to be better this year. They can’t continue to be terrible. Historic shirt today. This is the uranium 2 an original uranium 235 shirt. Uh our uh we had a uh we had two shows both sold out packed houses people screaming like we were the Beatles. This that is me. Your great John Dohy, Steve Mix, the great Louis Stevens and uh Chris Puit. There you go. We were energetic as a band. That’s for sure. These are one of very few that exists today. How about that? It’s uh historic shirt week, by the way. How about birthdays? Let’s celebrate some birthdays. Scott Wannerh celebrating a birthday. Hey, wait. No, that’s Tuesday. All right. Joe Kirk, happy birthday. Uh Todd Miners, happy birthday. Trish Foco Wagner, who is front and center for those shows of two uranium 235. Happy birthday to Trish. Awesome human being. Nancy Capsis, happy birthday. The great Tyler Houston, former cub. Uh, Scott Swan from WTR13. Awesome anchor, awesome human being. Uh, who is that? Oh, Scott Bayard. Scott Bay. I’m sorry, my handwriting is terrible. Of course. Of course. Scott Bayard. Uh, Russ Mo, Lola Stinson, St. Swinford, happy birthday. Al Canal, happy birthday. Julius Green, Lawrence Colbert, and Richard Greenfield, happy birthday. If today’s your birthday, you celebrate like hell. If it’s not your birthday, you celebrate somebody else. That’s best done with an honest and specific compliment. Lift each other up. Don’t pull each other down. Hey, look here. Let Let me see if I Can I find it? Why would I not be able to find it? Remember this prize? The Mike Tomzac autographed mini helmet. We gave it away this week to a fellow. He’s in Canada. He’s actually a monk. They monks are coming here and listening to me uh belly ache about sports. is awesome. He said, you know what, he does not need material things and he knows that others would appreciate the Mike Tomzac autographed mini helmet more. So, he has put this back in the hopper. We will give this away along with the other five, but we will give away the Mike Tomzac. Yeah, we’ll just keep it rolling. We’ll we’ll put that back in a box and on Monday we’ll do we’ll spin the wheel again and we and we’ll roll the uh the incredible prize die which is there it is the incredible prize die. One of six prizes to be given away and and we’ll see what we pull out. There you go. Have a great day. I got a radio show to do. I don’t have my watch on. I got a radio show to do in about six minutes. Listen to it. Uh, just download the Bloomington’s Voice app and you can listen to the radio show on WGCL unless you’re in Bloomington already. And then just tune your radio to 98.7 FM or 1370

Pacers core is YOUNG and IMPROVING! Nesmith, Nembhard, Mathurin, Haliburton all 25 or younger!
Caitlin Clark drafts teammates first because of course you do!
IU Football ready to roll into year two of relevance under Curt Cignetti!
Colts have not won in very long time – and defense has sucked for too long!

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