When Mark Pope announced that he would be taking questions directly from BBN, we all knew things could get interesting. But honestly, it turned out pretty good; you had some honest questions and some good answers. Sure, there were sarcastic questions that just were never going to be answered, but Pope did address the GM situation. While it wasn’t the answer a lot of people hoped for, at least there is now a clear hierarchy within the basketball front office. Let’s break it down.
Kentucky
KSR Today: Kentucky Keeps Rolling with a Big Win over Lipscomb
If you thought there might be a hangover from the Duke win, think again. Mark Pope’s Kentucky Wildcats were buzzing like a bee in a 97-68 victory over Lipscomb at Rupp Arena.
The Cats shot 54.8% from the field and sank a dozen three-pointers, becoming the first team in Kentucky basketball history to make 10+ three-pointers in the first four games of a season. Not too shabby.
Four Wildcats scored in double-figures. Lamont Butler and Koby Brea were each 3-3 from three-point land. Brea has only missed four of his 19 attempts this season, shooting a blistering 78.9% from behind the arc. Neither of those players was the biggest story of the game.
Jaxson Robinson Bounces Back
As great as the Duke win was, you couldn’t say that about Jaxson Robinson‘s performance. The only Kentucky Wildcat to earn preseason All-SEC honors did not make a field goal in Atlanta. He made quite a few against Lipscomb, knocking down three trey-balls and making 6-10 from the field to finish with a team-high 20 points for his highest-scoring game as a Wildcat.
“The Duke win was great,” Robinson said on the SECN+ broadcast after the win. “I felt like for me personally, I let my team down with my body language last game, so I felt like tonight, I just wanted to make sure I was aggressive and a great teammate and let everything else take care of itself.”
The Kentucky Defense was On Point
This probably won’t be the last you see from Lipscomb. They are potentially an NCAA Tournament team as one of the best in the ASUN and they love to shoot the long ball. Kentucky made it a point to give them nothing easy from behind the three-point line and executed that plan to perfection.
The Bisons were just 5-29 from three, eliminating any chance of pulling off an upset at Rupp Arena. Mark Pope had his eyes on another number. Kentucky’s goal is to hold opponents below 39% from the field and the Cats hit that mark with Lipscomb sinking 38.8% of their shots.
Links from the Kentucky Win
10 Things We Learned from the Kentucky Win
Kentucky off to historic start from three-point line, but Mark Pope wants more
Duke hangover? Pope doesn’t believe in trap games
Lamont Butler is an “elite-level” shooter
Robinson Bounced Back
Lipscomb coach blown away by Kentucky offense
PRESS CONFERENCES: Mark Pope, Koby Brea, Jaxson Robinson, Lamont Butler
RECAP: Jaxson Robinson goes for 20 as Kentucky Cruises
HIGHLIGHTS: You gotta see Collin Chandler’s swipe and dish
BOX SCORE: Robinson Fills It Up
Intro and Starting Lineups at Rupp Arena
She Said Yes!
It was a fun night at Rupp Arena. It was extra special for two Kentucky fans. During the under-12 media timeout in the first half, the Hunt Brothers Pizza “Hunk Cam” panned to Ryan, who got down on one knee and asked Adrianne, “Will you marry me?” After a pause, she said yes, sending Rupp Arena into an ovation for the happy couple.
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Trivia with Matt Jones at KSBar and Grille
Don’t have plans for your Hump Day? Join Matt Jones for a challenging night of trivia at KSBar and Grille. Not only will you give your brain some exercise, but you’ll also get to enjoy $1 traditional wings and .70 boneless for Wingsday. The action starts at 7 pm EST.
In addition to the trivia and wings, we’ll have all of the sports at KSBar and Grille, which means MACtion. Toledo is a 2-point favorite over Ohio and Eastern Michigan is a 1-point favorite at The Factory against Buffalo.
Q&A with a Texas Reporter
Three members of the KSR crew will be departing for Austin on Thursday. If you’re a part of the traveling caravan to watch Kentucky vs. Texas and have any questions, Joe Cook has the answers for you. The veteran Longhorns’ reporter from Inside Texas will be answering BBN’s questions on KSBoard starting around 11 am EST.
Not a KSR+ member? Now is the perfect time to give it a try. Join the chat while we’re having fun watching Mark Pope’s Cats and stay locked in with all of the impending football roster moves this December.
We’re back at it again with another big night on the KSR YouTube Channel. We’re talking Kentucky football, women’s, and men’s basketball with three LIVE shows, starting at 6 pm EST. Come join the fun.
Subscribe to the KSR YouTube Channel for press conferences, interviews, original shows, fan features, and exclusive content.
New CFB Playoff Rankings
If you enjoy getting involved in the most chaotic discourse in sports, then Tuesday nights are a blast online. The final games of the regular season will filter out most of the spiciest takes, but don’t let that get in the way of a little fun. Georgia fans are mad for not climbing higher and others can’t believe Boise State is seeded above BYU. It’s good old-fashioned fun.
Warm and humid weather for Preakness Stakes this weekend
The second race of the Triple Crown is May 16 in Laurel, Maryland. Conditions at Preakness Stakes are expected to be warmer with humidity. There could be a spotty thunderstorm after the race.
Golden Tempo won the Kentucky Derby. He won’t be at the Preakness. And that’s becoming a familiar story.
This marks the second straight year and the third time in five years that the Derby winner has decided not to compete in the Preakness Stakes despite having a healthy horse. The reason is almost always the same: two weeks isn’t enough time.
Trainer Cherie DeVaux made the call quickly after Golden Tempo’s dramatic last-to-first Derby victory on May 2.
“Golden gave us the race of a lifetime,” DeVaux said in a statement. “We believe the best decision for him moving forward is to give him a little more time following such a tremendous effort.”
DeVaux and Golden Tempo are focused on the June 6 Belmont Stakes instead.
The pattern is pretty clear.
From 1997 to 2018, every Kentucky Derby winner ran the Preakness, keeping the Triple Crown path intact. That streak ended with Country House, who won the Derby on the disqualification of Maximum Security, was scratched from the Preakness. The sport has been wrestling with the question ever since. Maryland’s racing leaders have considered moving the Preakness one week later, from the third Saturday in May to the fourth, though no change has been made.
Of the 14 horses entered in the Preakness Stakes at Laurel Park on May 16, just three made the trip from Churchill Downs. None of them won the Derby. One nearly caused the biggest upset in recent memory.
Ocelli (Post 2, 6-1)
The most intriguing Derby returnee. Ocelli finished third at 70-1 odds on May 2, giving trainer Whit Beckman and jockey Tyler Gaffalione a surprise ticket to Laurel Park. He was the lone maiden in the Derby field and remains a maiden heading into Saturday. Nobody expected him to be here.
Incredibolt (post 12, 5-1)
The morning-line co-favorite among Derby runners. Incredibolt finished sixth at Churchill Downs and trainer Riley Mott moved quickly to point him to Laurel Park. Jockey Jaime Torres won the 2024 Preakness aboard Seize the Grey. The connections believe the 1 3/16-mile distance suits Incredibolt better than the Derby’s mile and a quarter.
Robusta (Post 4, 30-1)
The longest shot of the Derby trio is Robusta, who finished 14th of the 14 in the Derby. The question with any horse coming back this quickly after a tough Derby is how much the race took out of him. At 30-1, it seems the market has answered that question.
COVINGTON, Ky. (WKRC) – A Northern Kentucky man is in jail, accused of sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl who’d been reported missing.
Matthew Wade, 40, faces charges, including sexual abuse, unlawful transaction with a minor and assault.
Covington Police say they found the teen at Wade’s home on Highway Avenue on Monday. According to the police report, he was knowingly hiding her, knew she was missing and had cut her ankle monitor off.
Investigators say the teen was given alcohol, marijuana and magic mushrooms.
The girl told police wade slapped her and choked her.
Officers also say they found guns in the home.
Mark Pope has confirmed that no official GM position will exist for at least this season, and most likely won’t exist going forward. Why? Because he has the responsibilities spread out across 4 different people, and believes that is the best way forward.
“In this ever-changing college basketball dynamic, everybody is trying a different solution. For us, instead of hiring a singular GM, we’ve gone with a more comprehensive general management team approach. We have four members of the team. Keegan Brown is a data analysis and roster construction expert who’s worked in both college and the NBA. Nick Robinson is our salary cap strategy and management specialist. Kevin Sergent is our compliance officer, and he deals with all of our contracts and legal language. Kim Shelton is our JMI liaison, and she does all of our NIL contracts that deal with corporate sponsorships. That’s our four-person general management team.”
But who is each one of these people, and what makes them qualified?
Who’s doing what in the Kentucky basketball front office?
Well, Keegan Brown has been a video coordinator in the G-League. That essentially means he would go and watch all the videos on league opponents and potential prospects, and come up with data-backed scouting reports for the coaching and front office teams. Pope has worked with Brown at BYU, so there is some familiarity there.
Nick Robinson also worked with Mark Pope in Provo, being an assistant coach from 2019 to 2024 and following Pope to Lexington. He has been on staff all 3 seasons now, and is being tasked with handing out Kentucky’s money and setting a budget for each player.
Kevin Sergent is not new to Kentucky; he has been in Lexington since 2020. But this is his first time handling compliance on his own; his official title is Senior Associate AD for Athletic Compliance. He handles all the rules, applying for waivers, basically making sure the entire staff is doing everything the right way.
Kim Shelton is a UK alum who was more known for soccer than anything else. She was part of the very first Kentucky women’s soccer team and is a former CEO of Lexington Sporting Club. She worked for Kentucky when Commonwealth was renamed as Kroger Field, and played a role in setting up naming rights for Kentucky Proud Park. Right now, she is kind of the bridge between Kentucky and JMI, specifically handling BBNIL Suite.
If you don’t remember what BBNIL suite is, it’s essentially the opt-in program where student athletes agree to only work with deals through JMI. They find offers, broker deals, and help athletes make money. It is, of course, optional, but if players decline, they will not be able to use the University of Kentucky logos in their NIL marketing.
Trent Noah is probably the most successful NIL athlete who opted out. The Kentucky native is handling his own NIL, and by the amount of ads and cardboard cutouts I see littered around the state, he seems to be doing pretty well.
Seeing JMI integrated again into Kentucky Basketball is probably going to make some of you uneasy, and I get that. But everyone who has worked with them who has officially gone on the record says they are a pleasure to work with.
And that’s how Mark Pope wants it done. There is a theory out there that he wants a GM, but JMI won’t let him. Considering he has chosen 2 of the 4 people personally, I highly doubt that’s true.
What do you think of his explanation, and what do you think of how he is handling the GM role?
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