KENTUCKY (WKYT) – Election day is about three weeks away, and millions of Americans will vote for their next president and even make choices about who will lead their local communities.
In our 2024 Campaign Topics and Issues Survey, one of Kentucky voters’ top concerns was election integrity.
We caught up with Secretary of State Michael Adams and asked him point blank: Have we in Kentucky ever had a breach of our system or compromised voter integrity?
“No, we’ve never had a breach of any of our systems, and I won’t sugarcoat it; other states have had breaches, but we have not,” Secretary Adams said. “We have a very hardened infrastructure. There has been no breach of our voter registration.”
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Adams says he is somewhat concerned with artificial intelligence and its power to spread misinformation, but in the Bluegrass, people can cast a ballot with confidence.
“This is very important; there is no way to breach the voting because the voting isn’t done through the internet,” Adams said. “There’s no way they can log on or hack in and get in to a piece of paper and pen. You can’t do it. All of these ballot scanners we use at the polls don’t connect to the internet. They don’t have modems. They don’t have any way to be hacked.
Over the summer, the Jefferson County Clerk’s Office says they experienced a ransomware attack that shut down several offices for a few days.
The incident is still under investigation, but Adams believes they have additional measures in place to provide peace of mind.
“We have other controls too, such as we’re going to do an audit after the election to make sure the machine count matches the hand count.,” said Adams.
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While the last presidential election cycle was heavily scrutinized, Secretary Adams was assured of the outcome.
“Even the states that were breached in 2016 by foreign rogue nations, nothing got changed,” said Adams. “The votes were not accessed. Registration records were accessed, but they weren’t changed. That was foreign nations showing off their ability to get in, but they didn’t actually impact the election.
You might also notice an increased presence of law enforcement at your precinct. That is to protect both the voter and the poll workers.
Not once, but twice did Mark Pope call out Cooper Flagg‘s spinning tendencies when looking to create scoring opportunities with the ball in his hands. And that’s just what we saw in The Journey, the Kentucky head coach first bringing up the star freshman’s habit at halftime, telling the Wildcats to attack those moments with two hands when they inevitably present themselves.
“If Cooper gets in there and starts spinning around, move your feet, move your feet, move your feet. And if you’re going for the ball, go in there with two hands,” Pope told the team down 46-37 at the half. “They’ll be less inclined to call a foul. Stick your nose in there. If you’re coming help defense, go in with two hands.”
He brought it up again down the stretch with Kentucky fighting to pull off the upset win, tied at 72-72 with just 26 seconds to go. Duke had the ball with a chance to throw a dagger, almost certainly putting it in the hands of Flagg to make it happen.
Pope’s response?
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“If I get Cooper on an iso, we’re coming and we’re rotating down. As he starts to spin, we’re coming,” he said once again. “This could either be a full-body or two hands — we are not paying him out with a foul. Go in with two hands and take the ball. If Cooper goes to work and spins, we should have a body there to take the ball. Yes? Let’s go boys.”
You know the rest of the story, Flagg falling right into Kentucky’s trap. The likely No. 1 pick drives on the left elbow, defended by Andrew Carr. He goes between the legs twice, then spins from left to right with Otega Oweh waiting for him with an outstretched hand. The junior guard makes contact with the ball and secures it with two, just as Pope requested, then takes it coast to coast for the foul and free throws on the other end.
It was the game-winning sequence, putting the Wildcats up two before forcing another Flagg turnover to go up three, then five to wrap up the upset victory.
How did it all happen? Kentucky saw it pop up on film going into the matchup, then saw the trend continue as things unfolded inside State Farm Arena. It was a real-time adjustment called by the head coach — one of many throughout the game, but inarguably the biggest.
“It was something he noticed in real time. He did it a couple of times during the game. We watched it a little bit on film, all of our fours were watching film on him,” Lamont Butler told KSR. “That’s just a smart guy, smart coach. He knew what was going to happen and it helped us out. Otega was able to make a big play and help us get the win.”
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“Going into the game, the scouting report, part of that is knowing players’ go-to moves and moves that counter very well,” Brandon Garrison added. “I feel like he was doing that all game, so we knew as players that he was going to make that spin and Otega would be right there to make the game-winning steal.”
Pope also stressed improved transition defense and ball screen coverage among the mid-game keys to a win, but it was his ability to call his shot with Flagg that has stolen the attention — and rightfully so. It’s like when Tony Romo first started calling NFL games for CBS and correctly predicted the plays before they happened. There’s an element of magic to it for the casual fan, but for those participating in the action, it’s about reading the situation and coming up with a response.
Fortunately for Kentucky, Pope is pretty darn good at it.
“It feels great. If you stick to the plan, stick to the scouting report, good things happen like that. We’re going to keep sticking with it,” Garrison said. “… Coach Pope is a great coach.”
“The way Coach Pope does it is very special. He really helped us at that point,” Butler added. “… That’s going to be great for us throughout the year.”
CINCINNATI — The Bearcats hit the road for the first time this season on Tuesday night at Northern Kentucky. Cincinnati lost in this exact scenario two years ago amidst a brutal offensive showing in the second half, but they are ready to avenge that performance with the best UC roster Wes Miller’s had.
UC enters with a 92.9% chance to win the game on ESPN’s Matchup Predictor. The Bearcats are ranked 11th on KenPom, while Northern Kentucky is 186th (highest-ranked UC opponent yet).
“I was pleased with the defensive effort to start the game,” Miller said about his team following Friday’s 86-49 win over Nicholls State. “I was pleased with the defensive effort to start the second half. And there was some good stuff going on.”
Cincinnati is 2-1 all-time against NKU ahead of the 7 p.m. ET Tuesday tip-off on ESPN+.
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Will Simas Lukošius keep shooting over 70% from three-point land? Probably not, but Cincinnati is going to be a firm national title contender if he does.
So far, he’s hit 10-14 triple tries to rank tied for third nationally at 71.4% overall. The stroke looks as clean as any shot I’ve seen in person, mixed with the best shape Lukošius has been in during his college career. History says he can’t shoot this well on this type of volume, but above 40% over the full season is very plausible at this rate.
“I don’t feel like he’s forcing the shot at all,” Miller said about his top shooter. “I can’t think of one time when he forced a shot. In fact, early in the game, as he was coming off the floor for the first media timeout, I told him to shoot more. I thought he passed a couple of shots up. He had one he passed up in the corner drove in and turned it over by trying to get a lob to Aziz [Bandaogo]. Those are the turnovers that I can live with because they are aggressive, but he is such a damn good shooter.
“He hasn’t been forcing them, and I think he’s taking the right shots. I believe you have to give credit to the other guys as well because the ball is popping around. You look down tonight and we have 18 assists. The ball is moving around, and there are a lot of other good players on the floor as well. Simas [Lukosius] is not going to shoot 80% this year, because nobody’s ever done that. I want him to do that but that won’t happen. He is going to have a great year, because he’s a really good player, and he continues to improve.”
Off the catch, dribble, and in transition, Lukošius is hitting every type of deep shot through three games, all while he and Jizzle James lead the offense with 5.3 assists per game each.
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He’s been the second-most efficient offensive player in the Big 12 so far, posting a whopping 40.3 Player Efficiency Rating and a scorching 92.9% effective field goal rate (fifth nationally). Now, he gets to test that shot outside the friendly confines of Fifth Third Arena. A place where UC shot 28.6% from deep two years ago.
The Lithuanian is showing the end of last season wasn’t just some hot streak—it’s who he can consistently be as a college player. We’ll see if the full-season cement can set on this trajectory.
Time will ultimately tell who takes over the top perimeter guarding role on this Bearcats roster, but Jizzle James has led the way so far.
John Newman III looks like he’s rubbed off on the stout young guard. He’s notched an 82.4 defensive rating this season (16th-best in the Big 12), a big improvement from his 104.6 freshman mark. That’s been showcased with strong footwork on defense and complete control of his on-ball physicality (zero fouls committed in three games).
NKU doesn’t boast any daunting guard matchups like Nicholls’ Rob Brown. The Norse’s leading scorers are both guards, but neither are shooting over 42% from the floor.
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“Jizzle James is really improved, and I think that’s so obvious guys,” Miller said on Friday. “He was really, really good on defense tonight. I mean, not only did he defeat ball screens, but I don’t think anybody hit him with the ball screen all night. I mean, he was special, so I was pleased with that, and I could keep going down the line, but I thought Jizzle had a really nice night.”
NKU is bottom-10 nationally in scoring average (57 PPG) and has KenPom’s 300th-ranked offense by efficiency. It should be a clamping field day for James and his teammates.
If healthy, Cincinnati has a few different avenues to hit a high ceiling this coming spring, and these early signs from James are great indicators they can keep climbing up the CBB hierarchy.
Bookmark Bearcats Talk for the latest news, exclusive interviews, and so much more. Check out our YouTube page as well, starting with the video below.
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The Jackson State Tigers (0-4) will try to stop a four-game road losing streak when they take on the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers (2-2) on Wednesday, November 20, 2024 at E. A. Diddle Arena. The game airs at 8:00 PM ET on ESPN+. In this article, we investigate the Western Kentucky vs. Jackson State odds and lines around this matchup.
No line is set yet for the Hilltoppers vs. Tigers game.
Western Kentucky won 19 games against the spread last season, while failing to cover 12 times. Jackson State compiled a 14-18-0 record against the spread last year.
To prepare for this college hoops matchup, here’s what you need to get ready for Wednesday’s action.
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Check out: USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll
Western Kentucky vs. Jackson State prediction
Western Kentucky 80, Jackson State 71
Against the spread
Western Kentucky covered 19 times in 31 chances against the spread last season.
Jackson State went 14-18-0 ATS last year.
Last year, the Hilltoppers put up 80.2 points per game, only 4.6 more points than the 75.6 the Tigers allowed.
Western Kentucky went 10-6 against the spread and 13-6 overall last season when scoring more than 75.6 points.
Jackson State went 11-10 against the spread and 14-7 overall last season when giving up fewer than 80.2 points.
The Tigers scored just 3.2 fewer points per game last year (71.2) than the Hilltoppers allowed their opponents to score (74.4).
When it scored more than 74.4 points last season, Jackson State went 10-3 against the spread and 9-4 overall.
Western Kentucky had an ATS record of 9-2 and an 11-1 record overall last season when its opponents scored fewer than 71.2 points.
The Hilltoppers outscored their opponents by a total of 197 points last season (5.8 points per game on average), and opponents of the Tigers outscored them by 139 more points on the year (4.4 per game).
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