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
KSR Gameday: What fun awaits us in Kentucky's exhibition vs. Minnesota State?
Last week, we got our first glimpse of Mark Pope’s first Kentucky team, and I’m still thinking about how fun it was. The Cats pummeled Kentucky Wesleyan 123-52, hitting 21 threes and dishing 32 assists to just five turnovers. They shot 63% from the floor, 50% from three, and had five runs in which they hit at least four shots in a row. It was a thrilling start to the Mark Pope Era.
Tonight, the competition steps up slightly. The Minnesota State-Mankato Mavericks are the defending NCAA Division II national champions. Picked first to finish in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC), the Mavericks return two All-NSIC selections in Kyreese Willingham and Justin Eagins. They’re led by Matt Margenthaler, who has a 488-211 record over his 23 seasons as Minnesota State’s head coach.
Like Kentucky, Minnesota State likes to shoot, averaging 9.2 threes per game last season on 24.2 attempts, both single-season highs. Willingham is their leading scorer, with 14.5 points per game and 5.3 rebounds per game, followed by Eagins (12.6 PPG), who made 86 threes last season. This will be the first-ever meeting between the Cats and the Mavericks, whose famous alum include Minnesota governor and vice presidential candidate Tim Walz and Myron Medcalf, a friend of the site and Matt Jones’ ESPN radio cohost.
On Monday, Lamont Butler and Andrew Carr previewed the matchup. In listening to the interviews, it sounds like the Cats even watched some tape of the Mavericks, who present a different look than Kentucky Wesleyan.
“Minnesota State is a really good team,” Butler said. “They won the national championship for Division II. I think they have three or four returners from last year’s team. We’re just trying to play hard, try to stop their actions, things like that.”
“They’re bringing back some good, talented players and a little bit different style than Kentucky Wesleyan as well,” Carr said. “They’re a little less reliant on their actions in their offense and have some really talented players who might be able to take you off the bounce a little more, just a different kind of style for them. For us, it’s great. We’ll be able to play against two different teams, play defense a little differently in both games.”
Kentucky’s 71-point win over Kentucky Wesleyan was the largest margin of victory in any game going back to the start of the 2016-17 season. Even though the Mavericks may be a more formidable foe, don’t expect the Cats to shift into cruise control even if the game is well in hand.
“For us to continue to not play to the competition but to play to our standards is going to be huge,” Butler said.
How To Watch, Listen
Like Kentucky’s first exhibition (and several early season games), this one is “on the computer,” meaning it will be streamed exclusively on SEC Network+. The KSR Pregame Show will start at 4:30 p.m. at KSBar and Grille.
- Time: 7 p.m. ET
- Streaming: SEC Network+ (Darren Headrick, Cameron Mills)
- Home Radio: UK Sports Network – 630 WLAP, iHeart Radio (Tom Leach, Goose Givens)
- Online Radio: iHeart
- Live Stats: StatBroadcast
You can also follow the game via our new LIVE FEED on the website, which will begin 30-45 minutes before tipoff, or join the conversation on KSBoard, where we’ll be sharing updates while also answering questions and providing real-time analysis. Right now, new members can get KSR+ for seven days for just $1 and 50% off the annual price.
Will Kerr Kriisa play?
Kerr Kriisa missed Kentucky’s first exhibition and the Blue/White game with a tweaked hamstring. The injury is minor, to the point Kriisa was shooting around with the team before the Kentucky Wesleyan game last week, but don’t be surprised if he sits out again tonight as a precaution to be fully ready to roll vs. Wright State in the season opener on Monday.
Updates from Bush Hamdan and the offense
On the football front, we’ll hear from Bush Hamdan this evening after practice. On Monday, Hamdan did not say which quarterback will start vs. Tennessee, Brock Vandagriff or Gavin Wimsatt, but he did say that the staff is “evaluating everything” at the position ahead of the Tennessee game. I doubt we’ll hear if any conclusions were made on Monday, but check the site this evening for remarks from Hamdan and other members of the offense.
Mark Stoops was in Youngstown on Monday to attend his mother’s funeral, so Hamdan and Brad White handled his weekly press conference and Vince Marrow handled his call-in show. Marrow pleaded with fans to stick with the team even through this hard stretch, pointing to brighter days ahead with recruiting.
“Just keep supporting and believing. I’m very disappointed in some of these losses. When people criticize us — I’m like Stoops. Where we’re from? We’re big boys, we can take the criticism. I really feel bad for our fans. And I’m telling you this, we will get this thing going. I think you’ll see some good things coming down the line. Just keep supporting and you’ll start seeing a team that you love playing hard and physical and playing for this state. I can say this wholeheartedly: We feel the fans, we hear them. I love these fans, they’re the best in the country. Just keep supporting us and see what happens.”
“Again, I would say to the people of this state, we always going to play hard for them and we’re going to keep knocking down walls but do not get panicky or nervous,” he added to close out the show. “We’ve got a couple of top-10, top-20 classes come in here and guys are excited to come play for the University of Kentucky.”
If you’re in the mood for more football talk, don’t miss the latest episode of the KSR Football Podcast. Nick Roush can’t wait to go to Knoxville.
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Game Four of the World Series
Are the Dodgers about to sweep the Yankees to win their eighth World Series? Los Angeles won Game Three last night 4-2 to take a commanding 3-0 lead in the series thanks to yet another home run by Freddie Freeman and an impressive performance on the mound by Lexington native Walker Buehler. Game Four is tonight (8:08 p.m., FOX). Freeman has now homered in five straight World Series games.
The only team in MLB history to come back from a 3-0 deficit in a best-of-seven postseason series? The Boston Red Sox, who rallied to stun the Yankees in the 2004 American League Championship Series. We’ll see if the Yankees have some magic up their sleeves tonight (in between timeouts of the Kentucky game, of course).
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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