KSR Today: Championship Sunday

adamluckettksr

lions-fans-furious-after-controversial-call-vs-rams — (© Kirthmon F. Dozier / USA TODAY NETWORK)

Happy Sunday, Big Blue Nation. We’ve reached the end of the final weekend in January. I hope you are ready to close the book on football season. Today will be the final day until August with multiple college football and/or NFL games on.

This is not a goodbye and rather a see you later.

The party will get started in Baltimore before ending in the Bay Area. Get locked in before the NFL takes next weekend off before the Super Bowl heads out to Las Vegas.

AFC Championship: Kansas City Chiefs (13-6) at Baltimore Ravens (14-4) | 3:00 p.m ET | CBS
NFC Championship: Detroit Lions (14-5) at San Francisco 49ers (13-5) | 6:30 p.m. ET | FOX

The Ravens are a 4.5 point favorite with a total of 44.5. Patrick Mahomes is 9-1-1 against the spread (ATS) as a dog with eight outright wins. In games with Lamar Jackson, Baltimore is 7-16 ATS when favored by more than three points. Those are not good trends for the best team in football.

The 49ers are 7-point favorite with a total of 51.5. Detroit is 36-17 ATS under Dan Campbell. The most popular football coach in America oversees the most profitable NFL team against the number over the last three seasons. At home in the postseason under Kyle Shanahan, the 49ers are 4-1 ATS as a favorite with the first loss coming last week against Green Bay.

As you can likely tell, I’m excited for the games to start. Gets those drinks on ice and those dips ready to rock. But first, we need to take a look back at a Quad 2 win for Kentucky that feels somewhat significant.

Take the win back to Lex. pic.twitter.com/0a2V1ZLk1m
— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) January 28, 2024

Antonio Reeves might own Arkansas

Antonio Reeves poured in a career-high 37 points in Kentucky’s last trip to Bud Walton Arena. On Saturday evening, Kentucky’s super senior guard had another strong performance in the 63-57 win. The former Illinois State transfer was the best player on the floor for most of the night.

Reeves scored a game-high 24 points on 20 field goal attempts, but gave Kentucky four much-needed three-point field goals. A strong season will roll into February for the veteran.

Reeves is putting together an All-American campaign in 2023-24. The guard is averaging 19.5 points on .502/.431/.873 shooting splits along with 4.4 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 30.9 minutes per night. Reeves has gone for 20-plus points in four of the last five games and has quickly emerged as this team’s No. 1 option on offense.

Get the On3 Top 10 to your inbox every morning

By clicking "Subscribe to Newsletter", I agree to On3's Privacy Notice, Terms, and use of my personal information described therein.

Kentucky might have another All-American under John Calipari.

KSR recaps Kentucky’s win over Arkansas

Need some morning reading on this wet Sunday in the Bluegrass? KSR has your covered after our basketball team was hard at work producing content from Saturday’s win in Fayetteville.

Smash those links.

The Reed Sheppard dunk took us back in time

Antonio Reeves continues to put up robust scoring numbers, but Reed Sheppard might have been the reason that Kentucky won the game. The true freshman took over at point guard in the second half and finished the game with 14 points, five assists, four rebounds, and four steals.

Specifically, a breakaway dunk reminded many of his father. Jeff Sheppard had a similar dunk at Bud Walton Arena in his Kentucky career. With throwback jerseys on, the Big Blue Nation got to take a fun walk down nostalgia lane.

Now we need Arkansas to bring back the slobbering hog logo.

https://t.co/DkvhuWb9fo pic.twitter.com/JQAFj3WPtk
— KSR (@KSRonX) January 28, 2024

That was fun. Winning on the road was great. Now a big week at home begins on Wednesday when Kentucky hosts a high-octane Florida offense that has won three SEC games in a row.