4-Point Play: Reed Sheppard Fantasy Experience comes to Rupp Arena

You guys remember the annual John Calipari Fantasy Experience, now making the move to Fayetteville with Coach Cal. In its place? Laurel County’s Reed Sheppard is returning to Rupp Arena for his own camp — and he’s bringing special guests with him.

The Houston Rockets rookie is coming back for the Reed Sheppard FANtasy Experience, a two-day event in Lexington on August 22 and 23. There, Big Blue Nation will get the chance to interact with Reed and the entire Sheppard family while also mingling with current and former Kentucky players at Rupp Arena. The event features paid, free and win-your-way-in options with all proceeds benefitting The Sheppard Family Foundation, which is being established to create basketball opportunities for Kentuckians in Reed’s home state.

Reed Sheppard Fantasy Experience details

What does Sheppard’s return to Lexington entail? It’s got a little bit of everything, ranging from basketball to golf to a Faith Day.

Event Schedule:

• Thursday, August 22^nd:
  • Business Summit hosted at Rupp Arena
  • Golf Gathering hosted at Keene Trace
  • Fantasy Basketball Camp hosted at Rupp Arena
  • Tip-off Reception at WinStar Farm
• Friday, August 23^rd
  • Fantasy Basketball Camp tournament play
  • Faith Day

The Business Summit will be headlined by keynote speakers Jon Gordon, Jonathan Roche, and David Nurse while the Golf Gathering will include a round of golf, foursome photos with Reed and access to the Tip-Off Dinner at WinStar Farm and the Business Summit.

Elsewhere, the Fantasy Basketball Camp — a five-on-five tournament at Rupp Arena — will feature special guest coaches Tubby Smith, Seth Greenberg and Jack “Goose” Givens with additional guests added soon. Participants will receive an exclusive gear package and a chance to cut down the nets on Kentucky’s home floor.

From there, Faith Day will be a free event for families at Rupp Arena geared toward bringing the community together. Oscar Tshiebwe will be a headline guest speaker with messages of faith from Reed and a service component — plus Rupp Arena ice cream and pizza.

KSR will be in attendance for all of it. You should be too, and you can by registering at ReedSheppardExperience.com.

Summer practice rolls on at the Joe Craft Center

Six weeks down, two more to go for Mark Pope and the Wildcats in their first summer together at Kentucky. Starting June 17, the team is working through eight weeks of workouts allowed by the NCAA, four hours per week. They got to practice with La Familia last week, but did so mostly without Lamont Butler and Koby Brea. Now, the coaches have a full squad at their disposal.

Both players can be seen in recent highlights shared by the program, Brea splashing a few jumpers alongside the likes of Kerr Kriisa and Jaxson Robinson.

It’s a beautiful sight, to say the least.

Summer work to build toward our goals. pic.twitter.com/a2agJogeQd

— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) July 24, 2024

Mark Pope, Koby Brea and Collin Chandler spend day at Special Olympics Camp

When the Cats weren’t practicing on Wednesday, they were hanging out with Special Olympics athletes at WinStar Farm.

An annual camp organized by Elisabeth Jensen each summer, Mark Pope stopped by to make an appearance alongside Koby Brea and Collin Chandler. The Wildcat trio interacted with campers and shared a few words of wisdom ahead of their big championship game later in the week.

“We get to work with a lot of kids, a lot of young people, a lot of young adults,” Pope told attendees. “I don’t know if we’ve ever been with a group that has listened better than you guys do. You guys are amazing listeners, so thank you for doing that. And this group was terrific with a ton of joy. You guys had a lot of joy, yes? I feel like you guys have a lot of love for each other. You take care of each other.

“When you have good listeners and a ton of joy with a lot of love, you know what that makes? It makes a great team.”

Doesn’t get much cooler than that.

Shoutout to @CoachMarkPope @collinchand13r @kobybrea @KentuckyMBB for stopping by spending time with the @sokentucky athletes at @WinStarFarm and to @JensenElis for her countless hours organizing this wonderful annual basketball camp. pic.twitter.com/jiE6YzSq7L

— Marc A. Guilfoil (@marc_guilfoil) July 24, 2024

Tounde Yessofou cuts list to ten, includes Kentucky

Pope and the Wildcats remain in the running for one of Kentucky’s top targets in 2025.

Tounde Yessoufou, one of the top small forwards in the rising senior class, has narrowed his list of schools to ten: Arizona, Arizona State, Baylor, Kansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, UCLA, UConn, USC, and Washington.

The 6-5 wing out of St. Joseph High School (CA) has taken officials to Arizona, USC and Washington with trips to Baylor and Kentucky scheduled for August. Rated as On3’s No. 13 overall prospect in the 2025 class, he announced an offer from the Wildcats on Tuesday.

“They’ve been on me pretty hard,” Yessoufou said of Kentucky in an interview with KSR. “We had some Zoom meetings to keep building that relationship.”

One to watch, folks.