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
First Down Kentucky: Offense Prepares for Disruptive South Carolina Defense
If you haven’t turned the page to South Carolina, the time is now. The Gamecocks did not show a lot of pop offensively in week one, but the defense is going to pose some problems for the Kentucky offense. The Wildcats shared how they’re addressing those ahead of Saturday’s SEC opener.
Ball Security is Job Security
Let’s be candid for a moment. South Carolina would be 0-1 if their defense did not create four turnovers. The Gamecocks narrowly won 23-19 and two scoring drives started in the red zone thanks to those turnovers.
A big reason why South Carolina has won consecutive games against Kentucky is because of the turnover battle. The Gamecocks have an 8-2 advantage in turnover margin over the last three games in this series. Ball security is always a priority, but even a bigger point of emphasis this week.
“I think there’s a correlation to playing clean and being fundamentally sound with your technique and it how it correlates to taking care of the football,” Bush Hamdan said Tuesday evening.
“For us, it’s all on the tape from a week ago in situations where those two defensive edge rushers have one-on-ones and were able to get takeaways. I think it’s a mixture. It’s fundamentally, but it’s also schematically, putting our guys in a position where we’re not forced to hold onto the ball too long and have one-on-ones on the perimeter.”
Communication is Key for the Kentucky Offensive Line
Speaking of those edge rushers, Kyle Kennard and Dylan Stewart combined to force four fumbles. Kentucky QB Brock Vandagriff faced a little pressure in the season opener. It’s up to the Big Blue Wall to make sure those talented defensive linemen do not go unaccounted for this Saturday.
“They do a lot of shifts and movements,” said offensive tackle Marques Cox. “Just communicating up front is huge for us, and also communicating through our back is huge, making sure we’re on the same page. Once we’re on the same page, just executing at a high level.”
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Kentucky Preparing for Experienced South Carolina Secondary
It’s not just the edge rushers that will stress the Kentucky offense. The Gamecocks have a deep, experienced group of defensive backs who picked off a pair of passes against Old Dominion. They’ve been there so long, Hamdan remembers scouting some of them during his time at Missouri three years ago.
“I feel like some of these guys have been here for seven years now,” said Hamdan. “That whole DB is similar. They got great length. They got long speed, can turn and run. So I think there’s a ton of experience.”
Learning to Operate with the Helmet Radio Technology
Before the 2023 season ended, Mark Stoops called on his offense to improve its operation. In short — they had to get much more efficient at calling plays, getting lined up, and executing. A new offensive coordinator with shorter play-calls played a part in helping that, as well as implementing new technology that allows Hamdan to speak directly into the quarterback’s helmet. There is still a learning curve with the new helmet tech.
“Sometimes you come out here in practice and you feel like you got three minutes to talk to the quarterback and it’s not really cutting off. Then all of a sudden, you get in the game and you’re talking to him and it’s like somebody hung up on the other line. I think that just hit me. There’s something to be said about getting calls in fast and having some time to talk to him, but I can’t tell you how many times I asked, Are you hearing me? And it’s already past that 15 seconds,” Hamdan laughed.
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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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