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Kentucky was going to have wins over both teams in the national championship — then Duke collapsed

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Kentucky was going to have wins over both teams in the national championship — then Duke collapsed


This was going to be a post talking about how Kentucky beat both teams in the national championship game, starting with Florida to open the night, followed by Duke to close things out. The Gators certainly took care of business, beating Auburn 79-73 to advance to the title game on Monday. Walter Clayton Jr. made history, scoring 34 points with five made 3-pointers to make him the first player since Larry Bird to score 30-plus in back-to-back games this deep in the NCAA Tournament.

Bird did it in the Elite Eight and Final Four with Indiana State in 1979. Now, Clayton has matched that mark, doing it on 11-18 shooting in 35 minutes. His historic performance ended Johni Broome’s career after the fifth-year senior earned SEC Player of the Year honors, going for 15 points and seven rebounds in the loss.

Kentucky defeated Florida to open SEC play on January 4 by a final score of 106-100 — an instant classic inside of Rupp Arena, one of the most memorable performances of Mark Pope’s debut season in Lexington.

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Duke was right there to continue that trend, taking a 14-point lead with 8:17 to go while staying up nine with 3:03 on the clock. Cooper Flagg seemed to be writing his storybook finish, sinking two free throws with 1:26 left to go back up seven and push his total up to 27 points with seven rebounds, four assists, three blocks and two steals in what was a dominant all-around effort.

Then Houston would close out the game on a 9-0 run in the final 33 seconds to pull off the 70-67 win and advance to the national championship to face Florida. The Cougars finished on a 15-3 run in the final 2:05 while the Blue Devils scored just one field goal in the final 10:30 — an epic collapse for Jon Scheyer’s group, ending with a missed Flagg go-ahead jumper to win with eight seconds left. That would wrap up the all-time comeback for Kelvin Sampson’s squad.

The Coogs have never won a title. Now, they’ll get that opportunity to bring home the trophy on Monday while Duke goes home very, very sad.

Florida vs. Houston for all of the marbles, folks. Who you got?

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Until then, let me leave you with extended highlights of Cooper Flagg’s clutch moments from his time at Duke:

Anthony Davis remains the only freshman in college basketball history to earn National Player of the Year honors while winning a national championship. Sorry, Cooper.





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Kentucky

Man arrested after pound of meth found in Kentucky home during search warrant

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Man arrested after pound of meth found in Kentucky home during search warrant


BURKESVILLE, Ky. (WSMV) – A man was arrested Friday after a search warrant was executed at a Kentucky home, according to the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office.

The search warrant comes after a weeks-long joint investigation between the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office and Kentucky State Police.

CCSO said a search warrant was executed at a home at 4426 Glasgow Road about 1 p.m. Friday.

During the search, deputies found about one pound of methamphetamine inside the home.

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Stephen Eaves, of Cumberland County, was arrested following the search, CCSO said.

“The Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office will continue to work with all first responding agencies to keep our community as safe as possible,” CCSO said.



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Kentucky bill would change how alcohol, cannabis beverages are taxed

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Kentucky bill would change how alcohol, cannabis beverages are taxed


LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) – A bill that would change how alcohol and cannabis-infused beverages are taxed is under consideration in Frankfort.

House Bill 9 would impose a 4% state retail regulatory license fee on all sales of alcoholic beverages and cannabis-infused beverages to consumers by retailers.

The bill would also establish state wholesale regulatory license fees on those same products and, for the first time, bring kratom, hemp-derived, and cannabinoid products into the formal tax structure.

How the tax would be calculated

Annie Rouse, CEO and founder of CannaBuzz, said the tax itself is not the problem, but how it is calculated could be.

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“Right now it kind of seems like nickel and diming at every part of the supply chain,” Rouse said.

Rouse said the introduction of House Bill 9 means retailers may not be able to absorb the cost of supply chain and retail taxes, eventually passing those costs on to customers. She said the tax would be applied per milligram of THC in a product, rather than on the product’s value — a structure she said mirrors a similar shift happening in the alcohol industry.

“That is also happening with alcohol — they’re moving away from the value tax and moving it to a by-alcohol-volume tax,” Rouse said.

“So kind of taxed on multiple levels. There’s still some work that needs to be done to kind of maybe move some of those taxes around so it’s just one tax,” Rouse said.

Rouse said she is working with legislators to help them understand the best way for the state to earn tax revenue from the products without harming the industries.

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“We need to find that sweet spot so that people aren’t going out of state and instead they’re staying here, they’re buying it here and then we’re continuing to support the economy,” Rouse said.

What customers say

Until the bill is passed, it is unclear how much of a financial impact the tax would have on customers. Customers told WKYT that because cannabis-infused drinks and alcohol are entertainment purchases, those products would be among the first cut from their budgets.

“It’s already an expensive product and, you know, I don’t want to spend an extra four dollars on my sleep gummies or my beer,” said Will Partain, a customer who buys products in both industries.

Partain said a price increase would stop him from shopping local. He said if local companies raise their prices, he would shift to major brands and buy less overall.

What else is in the bill

Beyond the new fee structure, House Bill 9 would repeal Kentucky’s existing excise and wholesale taxes on alcoholic and cannabis-infused beverages on July 1, 2027, replacing them with the new regulatory license fee system.

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The bill would also direct 0.5% of collected state retail regulatory license fees to the Alcohol Wellness and Responsibility Education Fund and create new public health laboratory and testing standards for cannabis-infused beverages, kratom, hemp, and cannabinoid products.

Under the bill, local governments in moist or wet cities and counties would gain new authority to impose their own local regulatory license fees. Existing local fees would be required to drop to 3% within four years; future fees would be capped at 1%.

The bill also includes a permanent prohibition on retail licensees using a premises where alcohol was sold to minors three or more times within 24 months.

Timeline

The bill includes an emergency clause, meaning most provisions could take effect immediately if signed into law. The full tax overhaul — including the sunset of existing excise and wholesale taxes and the full implementation of the new regulatory license fee system — would not take effect until July 1, 2027.

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Kentucky Basketball vs. Florida viewing info, what to watch for, and predictions

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Kentucky Basketball vs. Florida viewing info, what to watch for, and predictions


What an up-and-down season it has been for Kentucky Basketball, as shown by just the last two games: A dominating win over Vanderbilt, where the Wildcats led for 38+ minutes, followed by a double-digit loss to Texas A&M just 72 hours later, allowing a 27-3 run.

While locked in an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament, the Wildcats are playing for seeding, likely a 6-7 seed in the NCAA Tournament, and anywhere from a 4-10 seed in the SEC Tournament. The last game of the regular season to ultimately decide the latter is the SEC regular-season champion, the Florida Gators.

Already having played once this season, Kentucky trailed by as many as 17 points in the first 10 minutes, but fought back to make it a five-point game in the second half.

Can the Wildcats put together a full 40 minutes together, avoid a season sweep for the first time since 2018, and guarantee themselves a bye in the SEC Tournament?

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Here’s what to watch for in Kentucky vs. Florida, Part II.

While Florida has one of the best frontcourts in the country, one of the deciding factors in the first game was the backcourt play, as Xavian Lee and Urban Klavzar, who had two of their best performances of the season and combined for 41 points.

At this point of the season, the correlation of Kentucky’s success and the play of Otega Oweh, Collin Chandler, and Denzel Aberdeen is pretty clear. Coming off a game against Texas A&M, where they combined for 36 points, on 11-30 shooting, they need to outplay Florida’s backcourt for Kentucky to have a shot at the upset.

Given their elite frontcourt, Florida looks to give their big men plenty of touches around the basket and attack the basket for offensive rebounding opportunities. As a result, they draw fouls at one of the highest rates in the nation, nearly 20 a game.

In the first matchup, Kentucky had four players with four or more fouls, including Brandon Garrison, who fouled out. This limited Malachi Moreno to just 21 minutes, still having a team-high 11 rebounds. Backing him up, Garrison had as many fouls (5) as points, rebounds, and blocks combined.

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Kentucky will likely face foul trouble again, and with a limited frontcourt, Mark Pope has the option of playing Malachi Moreno through foul trouble or hoping for better production from the other bigs. Pope has shown that he would rather go with the latter. Fortunately, Mo Dioubate is coming off his best game of the season, and Garrison had one of his better performances, albeit against a smaller Texas A&M team. They will need to sustain some level of production to give Kentucky a chance against Florida.

Kentucky played well for the final 30 minutes of the first matchup, outscoring Florida 66-60 during that span. It was the first 10 minutes that were the issue, where they turned the ball over 9 times and put themselves into a 17-point deficit.

Whether it be slow starts, as in the Florida game, or tough mid-game stretches like against Texas A&M, too often Kentucky puts itself in a hole with turnovers. Mark Pope has said it, turnovers are a great indicator for this team. When keeping turnovers in the single digits, Kentucky is 11-2; when that number rises to 10 or more, it is just 3-9 against power opponent teams.

Thomas Haugh 6-9, 215 lbs

  • 17.1 PPG
  • 6.0 RPG
  • 17 points and 8 rebounds vs UK on 2/14/26

Reuben Chinyelu 6-10, 265 lbs

  • 11.7 PPG
  • 4.1 APG
  • 22 points, 4-7 3P vs UK on 2/14/26
  • Time: 4:00 PM ET on March 7th
  • Location: Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center in Lexington, KY
  • TV Channel: ESPN
  • Announcers: Karl Ravech, Jimmy Dykes, and Dick Vitale will call the action.
  • Online Stream: WatchESPN and the ESPN app.
  • Radio: Tom Leach and Jack Givens have the call on the UK Sports Radio Network.
  • Replay: WatchESPN and the ESPN network (check local listings)
  • Rosters: UK | UF
  • Stats to Know: UK | UF
  • KenPom: UK | UF
  • Team Sheet: UK | UF
  • Odds: FanDuel Sportsbook has yet to release the odds for this game, so please check back later for those. The analytics have Kentucky as the underdog, giving them anywhere between a 1-3 and 1-4 chance. ESPN is the most positive in Kentucky’s chances, at a 37.2% chance to win. EvanMiya (32.3%), KenPom (29%), and BartTorvik (27%) trail behind, all within five percent of each other.
  • Predictions: The analytics show the most favorable scenario is a five-point loss, with Haslametrics (80-75) and EvanMiya (81-76) projecting that. BartTorvik and KenPom are both in agreement with a seven-point loss, 81-74. Florida is playing like a title contender, riding a 10-game win streak, while Kentucky is struggling to string back-to-back wins. With Florida’s higher level of play, I am taking them to win 85-76.

Sound off in the comments section on how you think this matchup will go.



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