KSR Today: It's Basketball Time In The Bluegrass (and Vanderbilt Week too)

The wait is over for Kentucky Basketball because tonight the Wildcats begin the 2022-23 college basketball season with a home opener in Lexington. At 6:30 PM in Rupp Arena, Kentucky will host Howard out of the MEAC in the first regular season game of the new chase for a ninth national championship. The SEC Network will televise the game for everyone unable to attend, narrated by our favorite play-by-play man, Tom Hart, alongside Jimmy Dykes on the broadcast.

Here are other things to know about the game and what’s ahead for the day, including the usual Monday schedule of events for Kentucky Football:

5 Fast Howard Basketball Facts

1. Howard was picked third in the MEAC’s preseason poll, behind Norfolk State and North Carolina Central.

2. Two Howard players were named Preseason All-MEAC: Eljiah Hawkins, a 5-foot-11, sophomore guard on the First Team; and Steve Settle III, a junior forward on the All-MEAC’s Preseason Second Team. Hawkins was named MEAC Rookie of the Year his freshman season for averaging 13 points and a league-high 5.6 assists per game. Settle is called “Silky Smooth.”

3. The Bison scored a combined 195 points in preseason exhibition game wins versus Bowie State (114-77) and Multnomah (81-68).

4. Fourth-year head coach Kenneth Blakeney is a former Duke Blue Devil with national championship rings from the 1991 and 1992 seasons, although, he did not play in the 1992 East Regional.

5. Howard went 16-13 a year ago with an early exit in the first round of the MEAC Tournament.

Kentucky will be without Oscar Tshiebwe, Daimion Collins, and maybe Sahvir Wheeler

Unfortunately, Kentucky will likely be without three of its star players in the first game of the season. Reigning National Player of the Year Oscar Tshiebwe is still out recovering from a preseason knee procedure and isn’t expected back until next week against Michigan State, at the earliest. Also absent in the frontcourt, Daimion Collins is still away from the team after the sudden passing of his father, Ben, last week in Lexington. Then there’s Sahvir Wheeler, Kentucky’s veteran point guard with a banged-up knee. Yesterday, Orlando Antigua said Wheeler will be a game-time decision for the opener. Wheeler did not play in last Thursday night’s exhibition.

Hear Orlando Antigua’s Sunday press conference

Kentucky opened as a 26.5-point favorite in the game

According to VegasInsider.com, Kentucky opened as a 26.5-point favorite over the Bison. It’s moved a half point to 27 in some places this morning with a total of 145.5 points.

Good luck.

The KSR Pregame Show begins at 4 PM

To get you ready for the game, the KSR Pregame Show will be live on the radio airwaves from 4-5 PM. Hear from Matt Jones, Ryan Lemond, and me as we preview the game from KSBar and Grille, right down the road from Rupp Arena. Listen live on 630 WLAP and 98.1 The Bull.

Every Top 25 team tips off tonight

If you’re looking for basketball beyond Lexington, there’s an entire slate of opening night games with all preseason ranked teams beginning their season tonight. Looking over the schedule, every top-25 game should be a blowout unless, of course, any top-25 teams are fraudulent.

See the entire schedule here.

Mark Stoops previews Vanderbilt Week

On to our usual Monday football talk. In the Week 11 edition of Mondays with Mark, we will hear from Mark Stoops regarding Kentucky’s return home to Kroger Field to host Vanderbilt on Saturday. The Wildcats got back in the win column over the weekend at Mizzou, but there is still plenty to clean up headed into the last quarter of the season. Special teams will be a popular topic when Stoops takes questions later today and you can hear it all here on Kentucky-Sports-Radio-dot-com.

Then later tonight, Stoops will speak to his UK Sports Network listeners on his weekly call-in radio show with Tom Leach.

New depth chart likely to show a new punter

Moments before Stoops steps before the live mic, Kentucky Football will release its new depth chart for Vanderbilt Week. The new two-deep rotation will likely show Wilson Berry as the team’s new starting punter, in for Colin Goodfellow who sacrificed himself for the win at Mizzou. We’ll let you know of any other shake-ups of note, too.

Kentucky unranked in the AP, still a Top 25 team in the Coaches Poll

The Associated Press voters didn’t see enough in the Wildcats’ win in Columbia to bump Kentucky back into the Top 25. Kentucky’s 61 votes were the 27th-most this week in the AP Poll, two places shy of a top-25 designation.

But in the Coaches Poll, Kentucky stayed put at No. 24 to keep top-25 status another week. Georgia is the obvious No. 1 yet again while Alabama dropped all the way to No. 10 and No. 11 following the Tide’s season-spoiling loss at LSU.

See the full AP Top 25.

Kentucky is a 17.5-point favorite over Vandy

For your parlay with Kentucky-Howard, the Wildcat football team is a 17.5-point favorite in Saturday’s game against Vandy in Kroger Field. The line hasn’t seen any movement in its first 24 hours on the board.

Over/under bettors will find the total at 50.5.

Kickoff time for the Georgia game to be announced today

Later today, the Southeastern Conference will announce its full schedule of games for Saturday, November 19. For Kentucky, that’s the Georgia game in Lexington, so we will soon know what time to plan for kickoff against the ‘Dawgs.

The 3:30 CBS time slot is in play.

The KSR Football Podcast will be another afternoon show this week

Today’s edition of the KSR Football Podcast will go live a little earlier than usual for a second week in a row. Last week trick-or-treating interfered with the show’s regular 7 PM broadcast and tonight Kentucky Basketball’s season opener has us going live in the daylight hours, around 2 PM, I believe. Tune in to hear thoughts on the win at Missouri from Nick Roush, Freddie Maggard, Adam Luckett, and me as we tie a bow on that one and get ready for Vandy.

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