Kentucky
A trio of Kentucky Wildcats named to All-NBA teams
NEW YORK – After leading the nation with total players on NBA opening-day rosters, players appearing in the 2023 NBA Playoffs and the most NBA All-Stars of any collegiate program in the country for the 2022-23 season, it should be of no surprise that three former Kentucky men’s basketball players headlined the All-NBA Teams released on Wednesday. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was a first-team honoree, while De’Aaron Fox and Julius Randle were third-team picks.
Since 2015, Kentucky has had eight players earn 14 All-NBA honors. The number of individual players and the number of selections lead all other programs during that time frame. Gilgeous-Alexander and Fox earned the first honors of their careers, while Randle was selected for the second time in his career. All three players were also NBA All-Stars this season.
Gilgeous-Alexander finished the regular season as the league’s fourth leading scorer, averaging a career-high 31.4 points per game. Gilgeous-Alexander also contributed 5.5 assists and 4.8 rebounds per game for the youthful Oklahoma City Thunder. He tallied 44 games with 30 or more points this season and led the league in that category. He led the Thunder to the play-in tournament and won a game over the Pelicans. Minnesota outlasted the Thunder to earn the No. 8 overall seed, despite Gilgeous-Alexander averaging 27.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists in two postseason games.
Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 14.4 points per game and 5.1 assists for the Wildcats during the 2017-18 season as he helped the Wildcats to a Southeastern Conference Tournament crown and was MVP. Additionally, he was an All-SEC Second Team and All-SEC Freshman Team honoree. In postseason action, Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 20.7 points, 6.3 assists, 5.7 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game in the SEC and NCAA Tournaments combined. He was then drafted 11th overall by the Hornets before his draft rights were traded to the Clippers.
Fox started all 73 regular-season games in which he appeared for the Sacramento Kings who advanced to the playoffs for the first time since 2006. He averaged 25.0 points, 6.1 assists, 4.2 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game in his sixth NBA season. Fox was tabbed to the 2023 NBA All-Star Game roster, the first selection of his career and was voted as the league’s inaugural winner of the Clutch Player of the Year honor. The Houston native led all NBA players in clutch scoring with 180 points and shot 54.8% in clutch moments during the regular season. The Kings were 21-13 in the clutch with Fox leading the charge. He finished at the rim with a 78.0% field-goal clip, the highest mark of any guard in the league.
Fox was a part of the Wildcats for a march to the Elite Eight and a 2017 SEC Tournament title. He was an All-SEC First Team selection and was the SEC Tournament MVP. Fox scored a UK freshman-record 39 points in a Sweet 16 matchup against UCLA and was one of just three players in program history to record a triple-double. Fox averaged 16.7 points and 4.6 assists per game for the Wildcats before being selected fifth overall by the Kings in 2017.
Randle has the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference Semifinals for the first time since 2013. During the regular-season he averaged a career-high 25.1 points per game, while also contributing 10.0 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game. He produced 40 double-doubles in 77 total games. Randle had four 40-plus point efforts, including producing the first 40-point, 15-rebound game for the Knicks since Patrick Ewing in 1996. Despite fighting an ankle injury for much of the playoffs, Randle is logging 15.9 points and 8.4 rebounds per game.
One of just three players under John Calipari to average a double-double, Randle was the leader of the UK squad that made its memorable NCAA Tournament run to the championship game in 2014. He averaged 15.0 points and 10.4 rebounds per game, while setting UK single-season freshman records in rebounds (417), double-doubles (24) and made free throws (204). He was a Final Four All-Tournament Team honoree, a Midwest Region All-Tournament Team selection, a third-team All-American, an All-SEC First Team pick and the SEC Freshman of the Year. Randle was drafted seventh overall by the Lakers following his one season in Kentucky in 2014.
Copyright 2023 WKYT. All rights reserved.
Kentucky
Nebraska lands Kentucky WR transfer Dane Key
Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on Rivals.com, the leader in college football and basketball recruiting coverage. Be the first to know and follow your teams by signing up here.
Matt Rhule sewed up a strong piece to the offensive puzzle for next season, landing former Kentucky wide receiver Dane Key. The 6-foot-3, 210-pounder will have one year of eligibility remaining.
Key picked the Cornhuskers over Ole Miss, Georgia and others.
Rhule snagged Key at the perfect time, he’s coming off his best season with the Wildcats, securing a career-high 47 receptions and receiving yards in 715 yards.
Key’s consistency will make him an instant impact player for Nebraska next season. He’s been a starter since his true freshman season and accumulated 1,870 yards on 126 receptions and scored 14 touchdowns.
Key checked in at No. 13 overall in the Rivals Portal rankings.
Stay locked in on the Rivals Transfer Tracker to keep up with the latest transfer news, portal entries, commitments, and rankings. For a deep-dive into the transfer portal, make sure you visit the Rivals Transfer Search page.
The Rivals Transfer Portal X account is a must-follow for any college football fan.
The winter college football transfer portal window is scheduled to open on December 9th, 2024 for 20 days. Additionally, players have a 30-day window to transfer when their head coach leaves. There is also a five-day window for players to transfer after their team has finished postseason play. A 10-day transfer window will open on April 16th as well.
Kentucky
Lowlife dad who owes over $100K in child support arrested getting off cruise ship in Miami: officials
A Kentucky dad who has racked up more than $100,000 in unpaid child support was arrested as he got off a cruise trip in Florida after several years on the lam, according to officials.
Dominic Weaver’s vacation ended with him in handcuffs after he was taken into custody by local cops exiting the cruise ship in Miami sometime last week and brought back to Bluegrass State, Jefferson County Attorney Mike O’Connell told a local Louisville news station.
The 47-year-old owes somewhere between $114,000 and $120,000 in child support, according to O’Connell.
Weaver was previously sentenced to five years of probation for flagrant non-support in 2019, according to Law and Crime.
“I don’t know when he left, but he fled the jurisdiction, and from the date of his sentence until today, and even today, he’s not paid one cent of child support,” the Kentucky county official told WDRB.
O’Connell said Weaver has four cases with the child support division.
“This is one of the most egregious events that brings something to light that I think I’ve ever seen,” O’Connell told the news station.
The official plans to ask the court to revoke his original sentence and instead get him behind bars for as long as four years.
The father’s lack of support for his kids is so poor he appeared on a 2021 list of parents that owe large sums of money for their children’s care. At the time, he owed nearly $100,000, according to county records.
Weaver’s arraignment is set for Jan. 6.
Kentucky
South Carolina lands talented player out of transfer portal following LaNorris Seller news
Former Western Kentucky offensive lineman Rodney Newsom will transfer to play for South Carolina this upcoming season, On3’s Pete Nakos reported. Newsom spent just one season with the Hilltoppers and will have two years of eligibility remaining.
The 6-foot-3 offensive lineman played in all 14 games at WKU this past season. He joined the team in the offseason after spending one year at Itawamba Community College in Mississippi.
Newsom played high school football at Briarcrest Christian (TN), where he was a three-star recruit in the 2020 class. He ranked as the No. 2,256 overall player and No. 158 interior offensive lineman in the cycle according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.
Newsom began his college career at Memphis and played two seasons with the Tigers prior to going to Itawamba. As a transfer, he ranks as the No. 119 overall player and No. 11 interior offensive lineman according to On3’s Transfer Portal Player Rankings.
Rodney Newsom is the seventh commitment in the Gamecocks’ transfer portal class, joining EDGE Jaylen Brown (Missouri), interior offensive lineman Nick Sharpe (Wake Forest), tight end Jordan Dingle (Kentucky), defensive tackle Gabriel Brownlow-Dindy (Texas A&M), LB Shawn Murphy, and QB Air Noland (OSU).
The portal officially opened on Monday, Dec. 9, 2024. More than 2,800 FBS scholarship players entered their names into the NCAA’s transfer database during the 2023-24 school year. Removing those who withdrew or went pro, the final total sat at 2,707 transfers.
So far this cycle, 2,160 players have entered the transfer portal with 676 of those already having committed to new schools.
To keep up with the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal wire.
The On3 Transfer Portal Instagram account and Twitter account are excellent resources to stay up to date with the latest moves.
LaNorris Sellers signs new NIL deal with South Carolina for 2025 return
South Carolina star quarterback LaNorris Sellers has inked a new NIL deal with the Gamecocks’ NIL collective Garnet Trust, securing his return to Columbia for the 2025 season. Sellers holds an On3 NIL Valuation of $2.7 million.
His new deal now secures his return for 2025. Sellers put together an impressive 2024 season after taking over as South Carolina’s starting quarterback. He threw for 2,274 yards and 17 touchdowns in the air while adding 655 rushing yards and seven touchdowns on the ground.
Those numbers helped lead the Gamecocks to a 9-3 record, including a six-game win streak to end the year to just miss out on the College Football Playoff.
South Carolina had to hold off suitors for Sellers, as multiple schools made efforts in recent weeks for the quarterback to jump in the transfer portal. Garnet Trust declined to give specifics on the agreement but sources told On3 it’s on pace with other top quarterback deals in college football.
“Ever since the LSU game, he’s been having programs reach out to his people,” a Power 4 personnel staffer recently told On3 about the LaNorris Sellers situation. “Then as he kept balling out he’s only had more and more programs reach out. I mean he had playoff-caliber teams blowing up his phone like crazy before the Clemson game. After? That shit hasn’t stopped ringing.”
On3’s Pete Nakos contributed to this report.
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