UK Fans Of The Day Want Notes To Help Get Us To Tipoff

Is there anything crueler than a 9 p.m. midweek tipoff? My excitement for this Kentucky Basketball team is back near its all-time high, but the long wait for tonight’s game vs. a bad Vanderbilt team is the worst. Hopefully, you’re doing a better job of passing the time than I am. Instead of taking yet another lap around the house, I’m going to occupy my mind with some old-fashioned (late) afternoon notes.

One last home game with a very fun group

It’s Senior Night, but we all know it will be the final game in Rupp Arena for more than just Antonio Reeves, Tre Mitchell, Kareem Watkins, and Brennan Canada. With several players projected to be drafted and the transfer portal an option for those in search of a fresh start, next year’s team will look wildly different. We’ve got a whole offseason to worry about that, so I’ll narrow my focus to tonight, the last time we’ll see this group at Rupp Arena — barring a national championship banner-raising ceremony, of course.

It’s been a fun, albeit exhausting, season. The highs of six 100+ point games were met by the lows of the January-February slump in which the Cats lost four of six, including three straight at Rupp. Thankfully, Kentucky seems to be on the right track, but even then, I don’t 100% trust the Cats as a 17.5-point favorite against a team they beat by 32 points. Vanderbilt is bad, but the Commodores ruined Kentucky’s Senior Night one year ago, and this group of Cats, while better than last year’s team, is wildly unpredictable.

For my own sanity, I’m not entertaining the worst-case scenario of Jerry Stackhouse leaving Rupp with another win. Not only would it be a huge hit to the Cats’ NCAA Tournament resume (Quad 4 losses are resume busters), it would be a terrible sendoff for a team that’s shaping up to be one of the most fun in the Calipari era. We’re still in the parody song/Reed and Rob Donatos commercial phase of this journey. Don’t harsh our March buzz!

So, as Kentucky is cruising to a 110-70 win, keep Calipari’s words from Monday’s call-in show in mind: “Enjoy these young people because, at the end of the year, they’ll be gone.”

One week until the SEC Tournament

In one week, we’ll know the outcome of tonight’s game and Saturday’s regular-season finale at Tennessee. We’ll also be preparing for the start of the opening session of the SEC Tournament at Bridgestone Arena. KSR will have more boots on the ground than ever in Nashville, with Zack Geoghegan getting his first taste of Golden Flake alongside myself, Drew Franklin, Jack Pilgrim, Steven Peake, and Dr. Mike. (Don’t worry, we’re workshopping creative forms of initiation.)

What seed will Kentucky be in Nashville? Right now, the No. 5, No. 4, and No. 2 seeds are all in play. If the Cats take care of business tonight and upset Tennessee on Saturday, the No. 2 seed is most likely thanks to Florida’s win over Alabama. Win tonight and lose to the Vols in Knoxville and Kentucky will likely end up the No. 5 seed, playing in the second game on Thursday afternoon. Arkansas and Georgia can also provide some help. If Kentucky beats Vanderbilt and loses at Tennessee and either the Razorbacks upset Alabama or Georgia beats Auburn, Kentucky would wind up as the No. 4 seed.

We’ll know for sure on Saturday night.

Kentucky WBB still alive in the SEC Tournament

Down in Greenville, South Carolina, Kyra Elzy’s squad is doing Kyra Elzy things by staying alive in the SEC Tournament. No. 12-seed Kentucky beat No. 13-seed Georgia 64-50 to advance to play No. 5-seed Tennessee tomorrow afternoon. The fact that the Cats were able to beat the Bulldogs without senior Maddie Scherr, who was unavailable due to concussion protocol, is impressive. Hopefully, they can keep that run — and Kyra Elzy’s tenure in Lexington — rolling.

Our Kentucky WBB beat writers Phoenix Stevens and Katie Hutchison have all you need to know:

The UK women took down Georgia 64-50 to open the SEC Tournament.

I apologize to Brooklynn Miles, @WildcatsTongue gets a shoutout, and more on this edition of our @KSRonX Rapid Reaction.

On to Tennessee tomorrow afternoon. pic.twitter.com/TiYbNhUCeH

— Phoenix Stevens (@PStevensKSR) March 6, 2024

KSRonX (our Twitter account) is almost to 10K followers

Speaking of Phoenix, he will be manning the controls of KSRonX, our company Twitter account, during tonight’s game vs. Vanderbilt. It’s been about seven months since we launched “Ron” to help promote our content and give our followers on Twitter one account to follow for all their UK sports news in the most ridiculous manner possible. The last time I checked, we’re about 80 followers away from 10,000. Help us hit that mark (and enjoy Phoenix and Daniel Hager’s wonderful MBB live tweeting), why don’t ya?

Even better, tag KSRonX (Twitter) or KSR_IG (Instagram) in your UK Fan of the Day photos and we’ll use them on the site and social media.

Follow @KSRonX, KSR’s official Twitter/X account, for all the latest Kentucky Wildcats news, videos, and content.