KSR Today: Kentucky Softball postseason action; close-out Game 6s

ZGeogheganKSR

On3 image — Photo by Sarah Caputi | UK Athletics

Good morning, folks! Admittedly, the basketball news content is drying up considerably as the offseason continues to toil along. But there is still plenty out there to discuss! We’ve got postseason softball action on the way and plenty of hype surrounding the football team to at least get us through the next couple of weeks.

Let’s dive right into today’s action.

Kentucky Softball begins SEC Tournament run

The No. 15 ranked Kentucky Softball ‘Cats (35-16 overall, 13-11 SEC) return to action on Thursday as postseason action gets underway. To get us going, UK is down in Gainesville for the 2022 SEC Tournament where they’ll first take on the host team Florida (41-14-1 overall, 13-11 SEC) at 5:00 p.m. EST on the SEC Network.

Kentucky enters the tourney as the four-seed with a double-bye while Florida checked in as a five-seed and needed to beat Texas A&M on Wednesday to advance. This will be the first meeting of the season between the two squads. If UK were to win, the semifinal round would begin on Friday at 5:30 p.m. EST.

The postseason has arrived. #LetsDance

⏰ 5pm ET
🆚 Florida
📺 SEC Network pic.twitter.com/NUwuUIr9X7
— Kentucky Softball (@UKsoftball) May 12, 2022

KSR’s Kassidy Stumbo will have a full preview of tonight’s game up on the site later this morning.

Rhyne Howard shines again in WNBA

Rhyne Howard is quickly taking over the WNBA.

Following a stellar professional debut on Sunday, the former Kentucky Wildcat turned No. 1 overall draft pick performed even better on Wednesday night. Howard went for a game-high 21 points on five made 3-pointers to go along with eight rebounds, one assist, one steal, and one block in a game-high 34 minutes played. She finished 7-18 overall from the floor and 5-10 from distance while turning the ball over just once.

And oh yeah, Howard’s Atlanta Dream squad secured the win, 77-75 over the Los Angeles Sparks, and is now 2-0 on the young season.

The GOAT is on a mission.

Suns, Heat look to close out series

Both the Phoenix Suns and Miami Heat could advance to their respective Conference Finals with wins later tonight. Devin Booker’s Suns team will travel to Dallas with a 3-2 lead in hand while Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro’s Heat squad do the same with a trip to Philadelphia. Although both Game 7s would travel back home, closing out the series now would be ideal for both sides to snag an extra day or two of rest before the next round.

Booker, especially, should be in a good mindset. He finished fourth overall in this season’s NBA MVP voting, which was announced on Wednesday.

7:00 ESPN: (1) Heat @ (4) 76ers | MIA leads 3-2

9:30 ESPN: (1) Suns @ (4) Mavericks | PHX leads 3-2

Abby Steiner is really good

Kentucky track star Abby Steiner has more hardware to add to her trophy case. She was named SEC Women’s Outdoor Track & Field Scholar-Athlete of the Year Wednesday afternoon. She won the same award for the indoor track & field season. The honor is given to the league’s most successful student-athlete both in the classroom and on the track.

.@abbysteiner1 does it again! 👏

Steiner officially sweeps the @SEC Women's Track & Field Scholar-Athlete of the Year award for the 2022 indoor and outdoor seasons!

📃 https://t.co/eAHp5scAEB #UKTF x #SteinerSpeed pic.twitter.com/isaSQMCHaG
— UK Track & Field (@KentuckyTrack) May 11, 2022

This weekend at the SEC Outdoor Championships at Ole Miss, Steiner will run the 100m, the 200m, and the 4x100m relay. She didn’t participate in last year’s SEC Outdoor Championships due to an Achilles injury; in 2020, the event was canceled because of the pandemic; and as a freshman in 2019, she didn’t win any of her events. Finally healthy and riding an incredible wave of momentum, Steiner is primed for a big run (pun intended) in Oxford.

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You can watch Steiner run all weekend on SEC Network+. The 200m prelims are later tonight (7:10 PM), the 100m prelims Friday (8:10 PM), and the finals of both events (100m 6:25 PM, 200m 7:25 PM) and the 4x100m relay (5:05 PM) on Saturday.

NCAA changes coming?

The NCAA Division I Transformation Committee is discussing several major changes in both college football and basketball in the coming months. Among them? The removal of team scholarship limits and giving schools the ability to hire an unlimited number of full-time assistants.

The Athletic’s Nicole Auerbach spoke with several members of the committee, who shed light on some of the ongoing discussions in its meetings. With pressure coming from government officials and member schools to progress, the Division I Transformation Committee is making it clear it is capable of making changes — drastic ones, at that.

“Making progress on some of this stuff is important for people who think we can’t manage ourselves,” one high-level administrator told The Athletic.

We shall see…

NFL will drop 2022 schedule

The NFL is making an entire night out of the schedule release for the upcoming season. Starting at 8:00 p.m. EST on the NFL Network, with additional coverage on ESPN2, the league will unveil the entire 17-game slate for all 32 franchises. Starting at 6:00 p.m. EST, teams will begin to announce their first home opponent.

That’s all the news and notes I have for you this morning. We’ve got Matt Jones and the crew coming to the airwaves live in an hour. We’ll see you then!