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
Deadspin | No. 5 Kentucky aims to continue winning ways against Colgate
Dec 7, 2024; Seattle, Washington, USA; Kentucky Wildcats guard Jaxson Robinson (2) dribbles the ball against Gonzaga Bulldogs guard Dusty Stromer (4) during the overtime at Climate Pledge Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Brashear-Imagn Images
No. 5 Kentucky, after splitting games on a tough two-game trip last week, returns home to face Colgate on Wednesday in Lexington, Ky.
The Wildcats (8-1) took their first loss under new coach Mark Pope at Clemson on Dec. 3, then pulled out a come-from-behind overtime victory over Gonzaga on Saturday in Seattle.
In the 90-89 triumph over the Bulldogs, Kentucky tied the school record for the largest halftime deficit overcome en route to a win. The Wildcats trailed at intermission 50-34 but rallied to tie the game in the final minute before jumping to a seven-point overtime lead and then hanging on for their second top-10 win of the season.
Kentucky previously beat then-No. 6 Duke 77-72 on Nov. 12 in Atlanta.
On Saturday, the Wildcats got a team-high 19 points from Wake Forest transfer Andrew Carr. Four other Kentucky players reached double digits, including Jaxson Robinson, who not only scored 18 points but ended up having to play point guard down the game’s final stretch.
Kentucky’s starter at that position, Lamont Butler, missed the entire game with a minor ankle injury sustained against Clemson. Point guard Kerr Kriisa left the game in the middle of the second half against Gonzaga with a broken foot that will require surgical repair.
On Monday, Pope said of Butler, “It’s day-to-day right now, we’ll see. I’m hoping to see him on the court some (Tuesday), we’ll kind of see how that goes. He got some work done today away from the team. He was at practice kind of — his voice was there, but wasn’t doing anything active with us. We’re going to see how he responds (Tuesday) morning.”
Kentucky’s transfer-heavy squad is leading the nation in scoring, at 92.6 points per game. The Wildcats are averaging a plus-7.7 rebounding margin over opponents but have been tested on the backboard in their top recent road games. “We’re learning,” Pope said. “The process we’re in right now is we’re going to grow, we’re going to keep getting better and better and better. We had a couple really productive days in practice where we’re starting to understand how to be us against the best defenses in the country.”
The Wildcats’ next foe, Colgate, is offensively challenged.
The Raiders (2-8) are averaging just 67.1 points per game, around the 10th percentile mark of Division I offenses. Colgate is shooting only 43.7 percent as a team and is being outrebounded by 4.5 boards per game on average, also one of the worst marks in the nation.
Colgate has been without 6-foot-11 senior Jeff Woodward for the past three weeks, which leaves the Raiders with only one player seeing significant minutes who is taller than 6-foot-6.
The Raiders come to Rupp Arena off a 78-75 loss at Northeastern on Sunday. While five Raiders reached double-figure scoring totals, led by Brady Cummings with 15 points, Colgate was outrebounded 37-21. The Raiders did manage a season-high 14 steals in the contest. Coach Matt Langel, in his 14th season at Colgate, said after the defeat, “Winning on the road is extremely hard to do in college basketball. Our schedule has been challenging with the circumstances we’ve faced. Our guys stepped up and fought hard together to make some plays, but … ultimately we came up short.”
Langel has taken Colgate to the NCAA Tournament in each of the past four seasons and the Raiders have posted a 60-6 Patriot League record during that span.
–Field Level Media
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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