KSR Today: It's BASKETBALL time in the Bluegrass (but in the Bahamas)!

GET UP! It’s an enormous day for Big Blue Nation because in 11 short hours, your University of Kentucky Wildcats will play a basketball game for the first time with the new 2022-23 team.

On Monday, Kentucky Basketball flew down to the Bahamas to begin a week of fun in the sun with four preseason exhibition basketball games to test those legs for the upcoming season and for a much-needed reset for The Greatest Tradition In College Basketball. At 7 PM tonight, the ‘Cats will give us the first of four mid-August preseason games on SEC Network, beginning with the Dominican Republic National Select Team.

John Calipari told his Kentucky team last night that the four assistant coaches will rotate head coaching duties each game as he watches on as a spectator, as is tradition on these Bahamas trips. Orlando Antigua will coach tonight’s game.

Calipari also noted that he plans to play his players equal playing time throughout the week with two exceptions in CJ Fredrick and Adiou Thiero, who are both being cautious with their recovering bodies.

As for the opponent, I have BREAKING NEWS (WAH-NEE-NAH-NAH!) right now. Late last night, like at midnight late, I received the official roster for the Dominican team and it is going on the internet for the very first time.

Meet Kentucky’s first opponent:

#	Name	Height	Weight	Latest College / Club
2	Anyeuris Castillo	6′ 7″	205 lbs	University South Carolina Aiken
7	Brayan Martinez	6′ 8″	195 lbs	Cañeros Del Este LNB
11	Adonys De La Rosa	7’1″	258 lbs	University of Illinois / Titanes LNB
30	Jassel Perez	6′ 5″	185 lbs	Titanes Distrito LNB
13	Jose Familia	6′ 8″	232 lbs	Soles Santo Domingo / LNB
12	Justin Minaya	6′ 6″	215 lbs	Providence Friars/Charlotte Hornets / Summer League
5	Raimer Mercedes	5’11”	185 lbs	Cañeros Del Este LNB
17	Andres Feliz	6’1″	205 lbs	University of Illinois / Joventut Badalona / Spain
35	Yaxel Okari Lendeborg	6’8″	210 lbs	Arizona Western College / NJCAA
3	Yeison Colome	6′ 3″	183 lbs	Cañeros Del Este LNB
44	Yerri Flores	6′ 2″	175 lbs	Reales La Vega  LNB

I hope they lose by 50, respectfully.

Bahamas Check-In with Jack Pilgrim

Last night, I checked in with Jack Pilgrim on KSR’s new YouTube channel to hear all about the team’s open practice. Jack is one of the few media members who made the trip to cover Kentucky Basketball in Nassau, and he arrived just in time to take in the team’s entire Tuesday open practice.

Tune in for 10 minutes of conversation about what Jack saw and what is ahead.

Kentucky’s Open Practice Highlights

Even better than Jack Pilgrim’s analysis of what he saw at the open practice, here is his raw iPhone footage so you can see it all for yourself.

As you will find, the 3-point shooting (though uncontested) is more than exciting for UK fans who dig the long ball. Keep a close eye on Cason Wallace and Chris Livingston on the opposite side of the shooters you’re probably watching in the clips, too. Lights out.

Dr. Mike also made the trip to take lots of photos for you

By my unofficial count, there are four media members in the Bahamas this week and Kentucky Sports Radio sent two of them. Dr. Michael Huang is our other pair of flip-flops on the ground and he was busy shooting yesterday’s basketball at Baha Mar for your enjoyment.

Dr. Mike will have photo galleries all week so keep a close eye on KSR’s Instagram and Facebook pages because he is literally the only photographer on the scene outside of the team’s employees.

We really have this week surrounded and the content will be unmatched.

Join us for KSBar’s ‘Bahamas At The Bar’ watch party

Couldn’t make it to the Bahamas? I couldn’t either. Too much to do back here. BUT, if you’re in the Lexington area, we can meet up at KSBar and Grille for all four games this week to pretend we are in the Bahamas.

I’ll be there for each game with Matt Jones to enjoy some stress-free basketball at KSBar with beachy drink specials for those Bahamas vibes. Get in there. We’ll be giving away $500 CASH from my good pal Dr. Abell at Abell Eyes to one lucky winner at each game watch party.

Brad White after Kentucky Football practice

Switching gears to Kentucky Football, the team is practicing early this morning as we speak, and soon I’ll head over to the facility to chat with defensive coordinator Brad White and some of his players on the defense’s day for post-practice conversations. It’s the first time we’ll hear from the D since that unit shined at Saturday’s Fan Day, so it’ll be interesting to hear how White and those guys responded to winning the public practice.

For what it’s worth, yesterday Rich Scangarello said his offense bounced back in Monday and Tuesday’s practices.

A couple of fun quotes from yesterday

You can spend a whole morning listening to yesterday’s interviews with the offense, but if you don’t have that kind of time on a Wednesday morning, here are two fun responses that jumped out to me.

First, Brenden Bates said this camp is the most competitive he has seen. “It’s brutal,” the veteran tight said of his fourth preseason in Lexington.

Brenden Bates, confirmed Football Guy. @BatesBrenden

"Camp." 🩸 pic.twitter.com/sIxyICVPjF

— Drew Franklin (@DrewFranklinKSR) August 9, 2022

Bates’ position coach, Vince Marrow, was also a lot of fun to chat with after Tuesday’s practice. I really like how he described the difference between Liam Coen and Rich Scangarello (plus he and I did some bachelor party planning that I might share some other time.)

The Big Dog used school teacher analogies to describe Liam Coen and Rich Scangarello. pic.twitter.com/ClpwnhdJfc

— Drew Franklin (@DrewFranklinKSR) August 9, 2022

KSR ticket offer for Lou City FC match!

FILL THE FAM on August 13 when LouCity FC takes on Tampa Bay Rowdies at 7:30pm. Fans are encouraged to wear black and blackout Lynn Family Stadium for this important matchup featuring post-game fireworks, a t-shirt and fan clapper giveaway and $2 beers until 7pm.

[Buy Tickets Here]

Kentucky Little League dropped a game in the regional

The home team from Indiana defeated Kentucky’s North Laurel All-Stars, 3-1, in the winner’s bracket of the Great Lakes regional on Tuesday. Now, Kentucky needs to beat Ohio for a second time this week to escape elimination and get another shot at the Hoosiers for a spot in the Little League World Series.

In case you missed it, Kentucky beat Ohio on Sunday, 7-6, with help from 12-year-old Cooper Parman’s bat flip.

Kentucky and Ohio play at 5 PM on ESPN, a nice little warm-up for Kentucky Basketball.

Alright, I have to get over to football practice and then over to KSBar and Grille to set up the show. No Ryan Lemond the rest of this week, but Matt and I are excited to talk basketball this morning.

See ya then.