KSR Today: Happy Mardi Gras & Kentucky Baseball home opening day!
Good morning, BBN. Happy Mardi Gras to all that celebrate. There is king cake by the coffee maker and BTI will be by to throw beads in just a bit. Don’t worry, you don’t have to do anything for them. It’s just our gift to you for being an excellent KSReader. Laissez les bons temps rouler.
We’ve got another reason to celebrate today. Kentucky Baseball’s home opener vs. Evansville is this afternoon. That’s where we’ll start our rundown of things you need to know.
Kentucky Baseball hosts Evansville
The Kentucky Baseball team rebounded from its season-opening loss to Elon on Friday by winning the next two games to take the series. The Cats are the only SEC team to win a true road series on opening weekend. This afternoon, they’ll host an Evansville team that was swept by Troy over the weekend. There’s a familiar name on the Purple Aces’ roster: former Wildcat and Lexington native Brendan Hord. He leads Evansville in RBI with six.
First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m. ET at Kentucky Proud Park. A quick check of the weather suggests Mother Nature will cooperate, with highs in the upper 50s and sunny skies. If you missed the big news on Friday, beer and seltzer WILL be available for purchase as UK Athletics tests out alcohol sales at baseball and softball games this season. So, be on your best behavior if you do imbibe. Here are the rules:
- Alcohol beverage sales will include beer and seltzer products, sold in cans or cups
- Sales will have a limit of two per transaction.
- Identification check will take place at each transaction.
- Alcohol sales at baseball will conclude at the completion of the top of the seventh inning (i.e., middle of the seventh).
- Alcohol sales at softball will conclude at the completion of the top of the fifth inning (i.e., middle of the fifth).
Tickets are still available so get on down there for what should be a beautiful day at the ballpark. If you see Drew Franklin and Steven Peake, say hello. They’ll be making the rounds to cover the action for the KSR YouTube Channel. If you can’t make it in person, you can watch on SEC Network+ or listen on UK Sports Network.
Kentucky Softball plays Loyola-Marymount
In other diamond news, No. 15 Kentucky Softball plays Loyola-Marymount today at 3 p.m. ET/Noon PT in Los Angeles, a matchup you can see on the WCC Sports Network. Rachel Lawson’s squad is 6-1-1 on the season. On Monday, Stephanie Schoonover won SEC Pitcher of the Week after pitching two complete-game shutouts against McNeese and No. 22 North Texas, including a no-hitter and a school record 18 Ks in a single game. Schoonover also came in to record a save vs. Sam Houston State, where she struck out five batters in just 2.2 innings.
KT Turner previews Florida
This afternoon, the Kentucky Basketball team heads south for tomorrow’s game vs. Florida. Before boarding the plane to Gainesville, assistant coach KT Turner will meet with the media to discuss the matchup and the Cats’ state of mind following back-to-back wins over Mississippi State and Tennessee. Check the site after lunch for the conversation and recap.
Still no update on Sahvir Wheeler, CJ Fredrick’s return
It sounds like Kentucky could still be shorthanded tomorrow at Florida. On his radio show last night, John Calipari said CJ Fredrick (rib) and Sahvir Wheeler (ankle) are still trying to come back from their injuries, giving no timetable for return.
“Both of those two are really working hard to come back. They want to play for this team. They want to play for the fans. But, they got to be healthy,” said Calipari. “All the doctors, trainers, everybody says they’re both really working hard to come back, but you know, you just trust the kids. They only know their pain. No one else does.”
In other Calipari radio show news, he praised Chris Livingston’s recent breakthrough, which earned Livingston SEC Freshman of the Week, and talked about what a wild hippie Rick Barnes used to be. Fun stuff.
Florida doing a Stripe Out for Wednesday’s game
There was a brief moment this season when it felt like Kentucky wasn’t everybody’s Super Bowl anymore, but rest assured, they will be tomorrow night. Florida is Striping Out the O-Dome for Wednesday’s game, giving fans free orange and blue t-shirts in corresponding sections. If you’d like to ruin that plan, there are still tickets available.
Reminder: Florida’s star center Colin Castleton is out for the season with a broken hand. The Gators lost at Arkansas by 19 on Saturday.
New Bracketology drops
Kentucky worked its way off the NCAA Tournament bubble with wins over Mississippi State and Tennessee. Barring a collapse, the Cats are safely into the Big Dance, which means that now, we can talk about seeds. Yesterday, CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm had Kentucky as a 9-seed in his new bracket. Joe Lunardi’s latest Bracketology should drop this morning. When it does, we’ll bring it to you along with all the other NCAA Tournament projections on the internet.
College Basketball on TV today
Lots of Top 25 and SEC action tonight, including No. 11 Tennessee at No. 25 Texas A&M on ESPN at 7 p.m.
| TIME | AWAY | HOME | TV |
| 6:30 PM | Villanova | 16 Xavier | FS1 |
| 7:00 PM | Mississippi State | Missouri | SECN |
| 7:00 PM | 9 Baylor | 14 Kansas St. | ESPN2 |
| 7:00 PM | 11 Tennessee | 25 Texas A&M | ESPN |
| 7:00 PM | 13 Miami | Va. Tech | ESPU |
| 8:30 PM | 10 Marquette | 19 Creighton | FS1 |
| 9:00 PM | Georgia | Arkansas | SECN |
| 9:00 PM | 17 Indiana | Michigan St. | ESPN |
| 9:00 PM | 23 Iowa St. | 8 Texas | LHN |
| 11:00 PM | Colo. St. | 22 San Diego St | CBSSN |
If you missed last night’s action, Louisville lost to Duke 79-62. The Cards head back to the Commonwealth with their 24th loss of the season and Kamari Lands comes home as the victim of a bizarre Catfishing scheme by a creepy Duke student:
SEC Standings – Feb. 21
Heading into this week’s games, Kentucky and Tennessee are tied for third in the SEC standings at 9-5. Of course, Kentucky owns the tiebreaker after sweeping the Vols, a sentence that still brings me joy to type.
| TEAM | CONFERENCE | GAMES BACK | OVERALL |
| Alabama | 13-1 | – | 23-4 |
| Texas A&M | 12-2 | 1 | 20-7 |
| Tennessee | 9-5 | 4 | 20-7 |
| Kentucky | 9-5 | 4 | 18-9 |
| Auburn | 8-6 | 5 | 18-9 |
| Vanderbilt | 8-6 | 5 | 15-12 |
| Missouri | 7-7 | 6 | 19-8 |
| Arkansas | 7-7 | 6 | 18-9 |
| Florida | 7-7 | 6 | 14-13 |
| Mississippi State | 6-8 | 7 | 18-9 |
| Georgia | 6-8 | 7 | 16-11 |
| South Carolina | 3-11 | 10 | 10-17 |
| Ole Miss | 2-12 | 11 | 10-17 |
| LSU | 1-13 | 12 | 12-15 |
Kenneth Horsey challenges the BBN to learn CPR
CPR saved Damar Hamlin’s life after he suffered a cardiac arrest in the Bills’ game vs. the Bengals in Cincinnati last month. Now, Hamlin is using his experience to encourage others to learn CPR through the 3 for Heart Challenge. Kentucky offensive lineman Kenneth Horsey, a heart health advocate who underwent open heart surgery in 2018, extended that challenge to the BBN on Monday.
Have you checked out KSR+ yet?
We’re just over a week into the KSR+ Era and I’m happy to report things are going quite well over at our sister site. Jacob Polacheck and Adam Luckett are churning out premium recruiting and football content at an impressive clip. Yesterday, we unlocked Jacob’s feature on Olivier and Alex Sarr to give you a taste of what KSR+ is all about.
KSBoard, our new message board, has also been hopping as we talk about the Cats’ SEC and NCAA Tournament chances, “The Last of Us” on HBO, and weird UK memorabilia. Seriously, look at these Kentucky Football and Basketball nesting dolls:
If you want to dip your toe into the KSR+ pool, it’s only $10 from now until football season. We’ll make it worth your while, promise.
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