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KSR Today: Caleb Wilson, Liam Coen, Vandy and a WBB shocker

Jack PIlgrimby:Jack Pilgrim•about 13 hours
Liam Coen is a Jag, Caleb Wilson is a Tar Heel and Mark Pope is Mark Pope
Photos: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images, UNC Athletics, KSR

Of all of the Thursdays we’ve experienced recently, that was certainly one of them. Mark Pope‘s pre-Vanderbilt press conference was like the sixth most newsworthy event of the day — Shaq’s nasty feet got more national publicity at one o’clock in the morning, if we’re being honest.

Hell, Pope’s top recruiting target committed to another blue blood on national television and what’s going to lead First Take is Kentucky‘s former offensive coordinator becoming a head freaking coach in the NFL a whopping 11 months after leaving Lexington. How about Kenny Brooks taking his first SEC loss as the head coach at UK in a stinker in College Station? That’s a conversation worth having, too.

There are a lot of conversations worth having, so let’s have ’em, shall we?

Caleb Wilson commits to North Carolina

We’ll start with this one because it happened just hours ago, the five-star forward joining NBA on TNT following the Los Angeles Lakers’ win over the Boston Celtics, a game that tipped off at 10 PM ET. That meant a 12:30 AM finished, followed by an hour of highlights from around the league before Wilson joined the set to make his commitment on national television right before 1:30 AM.

After 12 Shaqtin’ a Fool segments and way too many close-ups of feet, UNC legend Kenny Smith led the conversation with 30 of Wilson’s closest friends and family in attendance, leading to a quick prediction from Shaq favoring the powder blue. He would read the room quite well with the top-10 prospect choosing the Tar Heels over the Cats, a decision that became a consensus ahead of the big moment.

We saw the UNC mascot come out to celebrate as confetti fell to the floor and Charles Barkley gave a shoutout to Bill Belichick.

What does it mean for Coach Pope and the Cats? I gave it my best shot while attempting to keep my eyes open last night — or early this morning, rather.

Needless to say, we’re running on fumes over here.

Liam Coen shocks the NFL world

Wilson’s commitment wasn’t much of a surprise by the time he went public. Liam Coen’s commitment to literally anything continues to be a massive surprise, this example being the wildest yet.

Mr. Snip-Snap himself had just taken his name out of the running to be the next head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars, turning down an in-person interview to accept a deal as the NFL’s highest-paid coordinator in Tampa. That’s nuts in itself, right? Wrong. Coen would watch the Jags part ways with general manager Trent Baalke later that day, then reengage in conversations with the franchise before showing up in Jacksonville on Thursday afternoon.

As the Bucs tried to reach him, he was in deep discussions to take the head coaching job before accepting late Thursday evening.

“I’ve never seen anything like it in my life,” one source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

Sounds like they need to spend more time around Liam Coen — because that man is full of surprises. Now, 11 months removed from his time as Mark Stoops’ offensive coordinator in Lexington, he’s now the head coach of an NFL team.

What. A. Sport.

Mark Pope talks ‘Dores

Pope’s scouting report of the next opponent is usually a layup to get the Friday edition of KSR Today rolling. Not this time!

At long last, though, we will now catch up on the Kentucky head coach’s thoughts on the Vanderbilt Commodores ahead of the team’s trip to Nashville.

“Certainly Vandy has done an unbelievable job. You know what an unbelievable job that staff has done on constructing this team and putting together pieces that fit and having guys fully buy in,” Pope said Thursday. “They’re playing incredibly hard and and have some real joy and moxie and toughness in their game. As a full reconstruct, that’s really impressive along those lines.”

He also talked about his battles with Vandy as a player and past experiences at Memorial Gym, plus the latest on Kentucky’s health as a team — he was outspoken about the importance of getting back to full strength during the bye this past weekend.

Check it all out below:

What the hell happened in College Station?

Riding the hot streak of all hot streaks, the Kentucky women’s basketball team finally (and unfortunately) went cold, shooting just 1-18 from three with 11 straight misses from deep to open the game in what became a 61-55 loss at Texas A&M. Teonni Key tried her best with 20 points and nine rebounds, but she didn’t get much help elsewhere — Georgia Amoore added 15 points, but on 5-18 shooting and 0-8 from three.

That marks the Cats’ first loss of SEC play while moving to 16-2 (5-1) on the year. Hear Phoenix Stevens’ thoughts on the loss after the fact:

Kenny Brooks and the gang will look to get back on track in a home matchup vs. Arkansas at 12 p.m. ET on Sunday, Jan. 26.

SGA and KAT are ASG starters

How about some big-time honors for a pair of former Cats? Welcome to All-Star starter status, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Karl-Anthony Towns, the league announcement coming Thursday. SGA is one of five starters from the Western Conference while KAT is one of five in the East.

The news was announced on NBA on TNT ahead of Wilson’s commitment. No former Tar Heels included, for those keeping track at home.

SGA is considered the current frontrunner to win league MVP while KAT is having the best season of his career — the former averaging 32.0 points per contest, the latter 25.1 points and 13.9 rebounds per game.

Well done, Cats.

Is Lexington the best sports city in America? 

Cats fans are no doubt the most passionate in college sports, but how does Lexington stack up against the rest of the country?

SportsTown, a new travel sports show, is on a quest to find America’s best sports city.

Lexington is the first SportsTown featured and curates the perfect sports weekend including the must-do’s around town, a bourbon with Mark Stoops, and a must-win game inside Rupp Arena.

You can check out the trailer for SportsTown here and follow the show @sportstownshow on Instagram, Youtube, X, and TikTok.

What chaos will Friday bring? Keep your head on a swivel, BBN.

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2025-01-24