Kentucky
Bass fishing titles on the line for 5 Northern Kentucky teams at state
In these days of cell phones, social media and hundreds of TV channels, teenagers have a lot of distractions.
To be good in fishing, you have to set all of that aside and be locked in to what you’re doing for eight or more hours.
Ten Northern Kentucky high schoolers will take on that challenge this weekend at the Kentucky High School Athletic Association state bass fishing tournament. The event is a two-day competition, May 8-9, at the Kentucky Dam Marina in Gilbertsville, western Kentucky.
Anglers can catch a maximum of five fish per day. Teams win by accumulating the highest total weight of fish.
“I’m pretty excited,” said Covington Catholic junior Drew Berling, one of the competitors. “Fishing up in Northern Kentucky doesn’t get a lot of recognition and hopefully we can do pretty well.”
Berling and teammate Eli Scroggins are one of five two-person teams that will have a boat in the competition after qualifying from the Region 2 tournament in Jamestown. They finished 14th in the regional.
Grant County has two boats. Hunter Lilly and Kyle Lilly finished third in the regional, Brian Hamm and Raymond Hamm finished 27th. Bishop Brossart’s Cooper Lackey and Paxton Litmer finished sixth. Ryle’s Tanner Norman and Owen Miller placed 28th.
Berling and Scroggins finished 49th in the state meet last year. Scroggins is competing at state for the third straight season.
Northern Kentucky has never won a bass fishing state title. CovCath has a strong recent history of success, with three top-10 finishes in the past five seasons, including second place by Brandon Smith and Phoenix Parks in 2024.
Grant’s Hunter Lilly finished 14th last year with a different partner. Dixie Heights had a fourth-place showing in 2015.
Berling, who has been fishing since seventh grade, said constant communication is a key between the partners.
“I like being out in the water and hanging out with my buddies,” he said. “Being out in the water is fun.”
While it’s fun, you have to be laser focused on what’s going on in the water. Patience is key.
“You can’t just be screwing around in the boat,” Berling said. “You got to really lock in and focus on the goal, which is to win the tournament. If you’re not focused, you’ll lose fish. You might pass over something that potentially holds the tournament-winning fish.”
The closest competition water to Northern Kentucky is Williamstown Lake, where Berling and others compete once or twice a week.
Berling said like any other sport the ability to stay in the present after a mistake is also important.
“If you’re angry and frustrated it’s pretty easy to lose your focus,” he said. “You just have to move past it.”
Yesterday, Kentucky announced a few more of its non-conference games, and some folks are not happy about the quality of opponents that will come to Rupp Arena. The seven teams added to the schedule were Manhattan (November 3rd), James Madison (November 6th), Northern Arizona (November 13th), Grambling State (November 16th), Bryant (December 8th), Sacred Heart (December 22nd), and Gardner-Webb (December 28th).
One of those who voiced his displeasure was Dick Vitale. The college basketball legend took to X to say, “The Kentucky basketball schedule has many cupcakes on their pre-conference schedule & 5 legit challenges – BBN -Cats fans & players deserve a more challenging schedule in getting ready for the SEC – especially having a TEAM with over 21 MILLION in NIL dollars.”
I see where Dickie V is coming from here, but the reality is that every college basketball team is going to play these cupcake games. If Vitale is frustrated with the NET Rankings of these teams, I understand, but all of college basketball plays games like this.
I can see the frustration for BBN knowing the only really exciting home game coming to Rupp Arena this non-conference season is the matchup with rival Louisville. I have a feeling another big-time game could be coming to the schedule, knowing the Gonzaga matchup is no more. Hopefully, if a new marquee game is scheduled, it will be in Rupp Arena, but this is still to be seen.
The reality is the Wildcats have a top ten strength of schedule right now, and they do have games against Kansas, Indiana, Louisville, North Carolina, and Virginia scheduled in non-conference play. During Mark Pope’s tenure, the Wildcats have played a very tough schedule each season, and that is not going to change this year.
Fans would like to see some more exciting games come to Rupp Arena, but the SEC will once again be very good, which will bring a lot of top 25 matchups to Lexington this year. I believe the five marquee games scheduled for non-conference play will have the Wildcats ready for SEC play, especially knowing they will play a true road game against Virginia.
If the Wildcats do add one more marquee game to the non-conference schedule, this should have Vitale bought into the schedule and how it will get Pope’s team ready for the gauntlet that is SEC play.
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Kentucky basketball’s Mark Pope doesn’t like ‘yes men’ in his program
Kentucky Wildcats basketball coach Mark Pope doesn’t like “yes men” in his program because he wants to help his players grow by challenging them.
ROCK HILL, S.C. — Kentucky basketball coach Mark Pope sat with legs crossed in the foldout chairs overlooking two basketball courts at the NBPA Top 100 basketball camp last week.
His posture and newly grown beard gave off a relaxed and confident vibe that suggested he was in full summer mode, a look that belied all of the chaos that seemed to engulf his position not too long ago.
Pope has grown comfortable with it all. The highs from winning big games. The crushing feeling from failing to meet UK’s standard. The criticisms. The pats on the back.
However Pope’s tenure as Kentucky’s coach plays out, he’s not trying to satisfy popular opinion of how people think he should be operating.
Pope’s going to do things at his pace. He has no time to be scared of being on the hot seat because, the way he sees it, his job performance has been dissected since he took the job in 2024.
“It’s probably hard to understand from the outside, but, Kentucky is the hot seat,” Pope said.
If it’s not the most-dissected, most-watched, most-critiqued position in college basketball, it would have to be tied for first, because it certainly isn’t No. 2.
A month ago, things looked awfully bleak for Pope while he was still awaiting word on whether center Malachi Moreno would turn pro or return to school. He missed on 14 of the top 20 transfers he pursued, per 247Sports’ rankings, and the Wildcats’ incoming transfer class still had no sizzle to it.
Between the end of the Cats’ second-round loss in the NCAA Tournament up to the May 27 deadline to pull out of the NBA draft, there was growing anxiety on the moves, or lack thereof, Pope was making.
It was easy to connect the dots: With UK ushering in a new athletics director — J Batt was officially hired from Michigan State on Monday — Pope’s job status could be in trouble next year should they have a down season.
Since then, Pope turned all the dread into optimism.
Moreno returned.
Milan Momcilovic, an Iowa State transfer ranked by multiple outlets as the top free agent in the class, took his name out of the draft and signed with UK.
And just for good measure, 6-foot-6 forward Ryan Hampton, who is ranked No. 10 in the 247Sports Composite in the Class of 2027, committed to the Cats as well.
“There’s a good chance that I’m the happiest coach in the world,” Pope said. “Because I have a one-of-one job. I love every bit of it. I love the things that go great. I love the challenges.”
One of the biggest challenges, if not criticisms, for Pope through his two seasons at UK has been recruiting.
The Cats’ first high school signing in the Class of 2026, Mason Williams, didn’t come to fruition until the end of March. And Williams, the son of former NBA guard and newly hired UK assistant coach Mo Williams, wasn’t ranked in the top 100 of the 247Sports Composite rankings. Pope’s first full recruiting class in 2025 did include blue-chippers in Moreno and Jasper Johnson, but both of those players were Kentucky natives.
Hampton is a Texas native who currently plays at DME Academy in Florida. He’s also the highest-ranked recruit Pope has ever landed.
Pope is pursuing six of the remaining nine players ranked in the top 10 of the 2027 class, including power forward C.J. Rosser, the No. 1-ranked recruit. He’s not afraid to come up empty knowing the criticism that will follow.
“When you’re relevant and you’re great, you’re gonna have critics,” Pope said. “When you don’t have critics, that probably means you’re not very relevant or very great.”
Being the coach at UK will always keep Pope relevant, so the critics aren’t going anywhere. But, for now, he’s found a way to keep them silent for a summer.
Reach sports columnist C.L. Brown at clbrown1@gannett.com, follow him on X at @CLBrownHoops and subscribe to his newsletter at profile.courier-journal.com/newsletters/cl-browns-latest to make sure you never miss one of his columns.
When the contact period began at midnight on June 15, Erick Dampier Jr. wasn’t sure who was going to call. Kentucky had been at plenty of his games throughout the spring, and his father had his own battles on the court with Mark Pope back in the day.
“I was really excited. I didn’t really know what to expect,” Dampier told KSR on Monday. “At first, I thought I wasn’t going to get anything. Throughout the whole night, I didn’t get anything, but then I’ve been getting offers today.”
One of those offers was from Kentucky. It was head coach Mark Pope who made the call.
“When I found out it was Kentucky, I was like, yeah,” Dampier said. “I was excited.”
A History With Bigs
In Mark Pope’s two years at Kentucky so far, he’s shown that he can develop bigs. That’s been his pitch to Erick Dampier Jr. since the recruitment started.
“In the last three years, they’ve had three bigs to come out and go to the NBA before me,” Dampier said. “It’s Jayden Quaintance, Malachi Moreno, and Amari Williams. He said they were all passing bigs, and that I could be the next big here.”
During the Nike EYBL live period session in Memphis in May, Pope was at most of Dampier’s games. He got a good sense of who he is as a player.
“[Pope] said he liked my style of basketball, and he said I play relentlessly,” Dampier said. “He likes how I can pass the ball, play in transition, and dribble. That’s a really big thing for me. He says that could separate me and help me in the long run.”
A Busy Monday
Erick Dampier’s Monday got very busy with college coaches calling. He’s heard from the likes of USC, Florida State, and Louisville, among others.
“It’s exciting that all the work I’ve put in shows and is starting to pay off,” Dampier said. “It makes you feel good about yourself, and it makes you want to be better and work harder. It gives me motivation.”
Dampier said he’s looking for a program that wins. That’s his main focus.
“The main thing is a national championship. Everyone knows that. Everyone wants a national championship, but not everybody gets one,” Dampier said. “I want the best chance to get one. Every college has a good coach, so that’s irrelevant, but that too. Good chemistry. When I get there, I want it to be smooth. I don’t want to make a major change. I want it to feel like home.”
His dad has also provided advice throughout the process. Erick Dampier Sr. played at Mississippi State from 1993-96 before an NBA career spanning from 1996-2012.
“He’s told me just to be patient because this is the start of it,” Dampier said. “Basically, just keep going, be yourself, fight through adversity, and do the simple things. The simple things are what take you a long way.”
Erick Dampier Jr.’s Game
Madison-Ridgeland (Mississippi) Academy five-star center Erick Dampier Jr. is the nation’s No. 4 overall prospect according to the Rivals Industry Ranking, an equally weighted average that utilizes all three major recruiting services. Rivals ranks Dampier as the No. 2 center and the No. 4 overall player in the 2028 class.
“My greatest strengths are being able to play on both sides of the ball, offense and defense, being able to pass the ball, being a big defensive threat, and just being a threat on the court,” Dampier said.
Dampier doesn’t turn 17-years-old until October. He said he “probably won’t” reclass into 2027.
“A lot of people don’t know that I’m actually young for my class,” Dampier said. “A lot of people assume that if you’re good, you’re older because that’s what it usually is. I’m actually the right age. It’s probably that or the work I put in. I work a lot.”
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