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
The Ville vs La Familia score updates: Kentucky vs Louisville TBT game at Freedom Hall
The biggest game in the history of The Basketball Tournament is here.
Former Louisville Cardinals and Kentucky Wildcats are at Freedom Hall and will face off at 9 p.m. for an opportunity to advance to TBT’s Final Four in Philadelphia. The winner of the tournament will claim its $1 million grand prize.
With bragging rights also on the line, the teams representing the Cards (The Ville) and Cats (La Familia) will play in front of a record-breaking TBT crowd of 11,000-plus at the Fairgrounds.
Courier Journal journalists C.L. Brown, Brooks Holton, Ryan Black and Clare Grant are at Freedom Hall and will have updates — here and on X, formerly Twitter — throughout the action and complete coverage after. You can follow them at @clbrownhoops, @brooksHolton, @RyanABlack and @ClareGPhotos.
The Ville went on a 15-6 run to close out the first half and cut La Familia’s lead to three.
Eric Bledsoe and Willie Cauley-Stein have a combined 17 points.
The Ville’s Chinanu Onuaku has eight points and 13 rebounds.
The announced attendance for tonight’s game between The Ville and La Familia at Freedom Hall was 13,506.
The previous TBT attendance record was 7,202.
Twelve-time NBA All-Star Chris Paul will be in the crowd for The Ville vs. La Familia tonight.
Paul is a co-owner of TBE Enterprises; which puts on TBT and The Soccer Tournament.
Paul, 39, is heading into his 20th season in the NBA. He recently signed to play for the San Antonio Spurs.
As of 7:45 p.m. Monday, La Familia was a five-point favorite (-115) over The Ville on DraftKings, which set an over-under line of 149.5 points (-115).
The money-line odds were La Familia (-215), The Ville (+165).
C.L. Brown: Louisville-Kentucky rivalry is unmatched. The Ville vs. La Familia latest example
Cards vs. Cats: Our mock draft using Louisville and Kentucky’s TBT rosters
‘Hungry to win’: Former U of L star Reece Gaines embracing opportunity to lead The Ville
Rivalry showdown set: The Ville wins Louisville regional championship
Column: The Ville is preview of energy Pat Kelsey will bring back to Louisville basketball
Wildcats win: La Familia claims Lexington regional title at Rupp Arena
La Familia vs. The Ville will air on FS1.
The La Familia/The Ville game will be livestreamed on the official TBT website, which can be accessed here.
You also can stream FS1 on Fubo, which offers a free trial here.
- Dillon Avare, a Lexington native who played at Louisville from 2014-16, then transferred to Eastern Kentucky for his final two seasons of eligibility. Avare logged five minutes during last year’s TBT.
- Chane Behanan, a physical forward from Cincinnati whose time with the Cards (2011-13) came to an abrupt end when he was dismissed from the program due to a failed drug test. Behanan finished second on The Ville in points (13.3) and rebounds (seven) per game last summer.
- Chris Dowe, a Louisville native who starred at Eastern High School before playing at Bellarmine from 2009-13. The 6-foot-2 guard played for The Ville last summer and averaged 7.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game.
- Montrezl Harrell, an eight-year NBA vet who was a freshman during U of L’s national championship run in 2013. Harrell missed the 2023-24 season while recovering from surgery to repair a torn ACL and a meniscus tear in his right knee.
- David Johnson, a Louisville native whom the Toronto Raptors selected 47th overall in the 2021 NBA Draft after his sophomore year with the Cards. The Trinity High School grad spent the 2023-24 season playing for the Memphis Hustle, the Grizzlies’ G League affiliate.
- Chris Jones, who played for the Cards from 2013-15 and torched The Ville for 25 points last summer as a member of the Jackson TN Underdawgs. In May, Jones helped the London Lightning of Ontario win a third consecutive Basketball Super League title and received its Most Valuable Player award.
- Nick Mayo, a four-year starter at EKU from 2015-19 and a four-time member of the All-Ohio Valley Conference first team. The 6-9 forward played for The Ville last summer and won fans over with a thunderous, one-handed dunk worthy of a poster in the team’s first-round victory.
- Chinanu Onuaku, a 6-10 center who left U of L for the NBA after the 2015-16 season; during which he was named to the ACC’s All-Defensive team as a sophomore. Onuaku spent two years with the Houston Rockets and returns to The Ville after another stint with Santeros de Aguada in Puerto Rico.
- Omar Prewitt, a Mount Sterling native who played at William & Mary from 2013-17 and left as a top-five scorer in program history. The 6-7 wing had 13 points in 16 minutes during The Ville’s second-round win last summer.
- Peyton Siva, the point guard who led the Cards to a national title in 2013. This spring, Siva was named to new Louisville head coach Pat Kelsey’s staff as director of player development and alumni relations. A year ago, he amassed 19 points, 12 assists and six steals during TBT.
- Russ Smith, a star of the 2013 national championship team whose No. 2 is hanging in the KFC Yum! Center rafters. The former All-American has been playing in Italy and created limited-edition bottles of his Mr. & Mrs. Bourbon for TBT. He was The Ville’s top scorer in two of its three games last summer.
- Derrick Walker, a 6-9 forward who played for Tennessee (2017-19) and Nebraska (2019-23) and as a senior was a second-team All-Big Ten selection. For his collegiate career, Walker averaged 6.2 points and 4.1 rebounds across 139 appearances. He has been playing professionally in Spain.
Reece Gaines, a U of L Athletics Hall of Famer who ranks fourth among the top scorers in program history, has replaced Mark Lieberman as The Ville’s head coach. Gaines returned to his alma mater in 2021 as Chris Mack’s director of player development and alumni relations, then shifted into a video operations role under Kenny Payne.
Members of Gaines’ staff include Luke Hancock, the Most Outstanding Player of the 2013 Final Four; Keith Oddo, who played for the Cards as a walk-on graduate transfer during the 2019-20 season; Mike Stone, an assistant at Transylvania University; and Terrence Commodore, whose coaching resume includes stints at EKU and Evansville.
Former Kentucky star Tyler Ulis is La Familia’s head coach.
Two more former Wildcats, Jon Hood and Sean Woods, are assistant coaches. Jazz Ferguson, a Louisville native who starred at Moore High, also serves as an assistant.
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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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