KSR Today: BBN United, Mark Pope, Jelavic and the State Fair

Rise and shine, folks. It’s Friday and the dog days of summer are just about over. High school football starts next week, plus week zero of the college football slate. From there, your Kentucky Wildcats take the field against Toledo on August 30, then NFL the week after. Before you know it, we’ll have Big Blue Madness and the start of basketball season in October.

We’re counting down the days, but not wishing them away, because we’ve still got plenty of good stuff to hit on coming down the home stretch. Catch up and stay with us today on KSR.

BBN United is LIVE

Do you want to join the official fan club of UK Athletics? BBN United has opened its virtual doors, with membership sign-ups now LIVE — tiers ranging from $9.99 per month (for students) to $249.99 per month or $99.99 to $2599.99 annually.

Perks include behind-the-scenes content, merchandise boxes, open practice day invites, virtual facility tours, member voting on things like game-day uniforms and ticket sweepstakes for the lowest tiers while the upper tiers feature Blue-White Game tickets, home event tickets, virtual meet-and-greets, personalized thank-yous from players, UK Team Shop discount codes and more.

Pricing can be found below:

Sign up here.

Pope chats with CBS Sports

He’s supposed to be resting before his full roster returns and the fall semester begins next week, but Mark Pope took an hour of his time off chatting with Matt Norlander of CBS Sports to recap summer workouts and preview the upcoming season, among other topics.

The major highlights include:

• He wants Kentucky to play the country’s toughest schedule every season
• Jayden Quaintance is making “great progress” coming back from knee surgery with a November return seen as “maybe-ish” — a ballpark fans will certainly be comfortable with. He did fail his driver’s test, unfortunately.
• What were the Wildcats’ best wins in Pope’s debut season? What was the worst loss? BBN likely agrees with both.

Pope also broke down every player on the roster, explained scheduling logistics with the UK vs. UL game, pushing for a 40-game schedule, a week in the life of the Kentucky head coach, and more.

Tune in below:

Andrija Jelavic is on his way

After months of rowing across the Atlantic, Kentucky’s next Croatian sensation has nearly made it to shore. Andrija Jelavic, who committed in April and signed in May before missing all eight weeks of summer workouts in June and July, will be in Lexington this weekend.

His agent, Misko Raznatovic, told KSR that the 6-11 forward was on his way to Kentucky — followed by Pope himself confirming the news with Norlander.

“We’re hoping to get him on campus by the end of this week,” Pope said. “We have high, high hopes for him.”

Full 2025-26 NBA schedule release

With nearly 30 former Wildcats either on official rosters or fighting for spots, it’d take forever to list complete schedules for essentially every team in the NBA — but there are plenty of takeaways to keep in mind ahead of the 2025-26 season, which starts in October.

For starters, league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and his defending world champion Oklahoma City Thunder — alongside Cason Wallace — lead the NBA with 34 nationally televised appearances. They’ll start the year against Reed Sheppard and the new-look Houston Rockets on Oct. 21 on NBC/Peacock.

Elsewhere, a dozen former Cats will suit up on Christmas, spread across all five game slots — Karl-Anthony Towns (Knicks), De’Aaron Fox and Keldon Johnson (Spurs), Gilgeous-Alexander and Wallace (Thunder), Anthony Davis and PJ Washington (Mavericks), Sheppard (Rockets), Jarred Vanderbilt (Lakers), Rob Dillingham and Julius Randle (Timberwolves) and Jamal Murray (Nuggets).

Eight Wildcats will take the floor on MLK Day, too, while two play in the NBA’s 34th game in Mexico in November.

There is a lot to take in, but KSR’s Zack Geoghegan has you covered with everything you need to know.

Two NFL Preseason games tonight

• Tennessee Titans at Atlanta Falcons (7 PM ET, NFL Network)
  • Bryce Oliver (TEN)
  • Will Levis (TEN) — OUT
• Kansas City Chiefs at Seattle Seahawks (10 PM ET, NFL Network)
  • Mike Edwards (KC)
  • D’Eryk Jackson (SEA)
  • Quinton Bohanna (SEA)

NCAA to announce Michigan’s sign-stealing penalties

Chaos could unfold in the college football world with the NCAA set to announce its findings in Michigan’s sign-stealing case with former staffer Connor Stalions, leading to 11 violations — including six Level I charges, the most serious.

Stalions is alleged to have filmed at least 13 future opponents on at least 58 occasions from 2021 to 2023.

Michigan coach Sherrone Moore self-imposed a two-game suspension for deleting texts, but additional penalties could come, too. Former staff suspensions, show-cause penalties and significant fines are also on the table.

Expect those details to take up the afternoon ESPN hits.

KSR is live at the State Fair

The Kentucky State Fair opened Thursday in Louisville and is live through August 24. Like every year, the KSR gang will be in attendance doing the show LIVE this morning — maybe Ryan Lemond can get his hands on a donut burger or two in a redemption opportunity?

Other Friday festivities at the fair include a dairy goat show, Miller’s Border Collies, a live milking demonstration, a motorcycle stunt show, The Groovy Guy Show, Circus of Magic & Adventure, BMX Pros Stunt Show, Lady Houdini and Sister Sledge Ft. Sledgendary with special guest C+C Music Factory in the Texas Roadhouse Concert Series to close out the night.

We’ll see you at the fairgrounds this morning, BBN. Enjoy your Friday!