KSR Today: Kicking off a very busy week in Kentucky sports

Good morning to you, Blue Blue Nation, and the happiest of Happy Birthdays to TyTy Washington and Karl-Anthony Towns. Washington turns 19 today, Towns is 26, and my calendar tells me it is national Clean Your Refrigerator Day.

I won’t be doing any cleaning today but KSR does have a full refrigerator of topics to discuss on this Monday morning of a busy day for fans of Kentucky sports (you).

Let’s get right to it so we don’t fall too far behind.

Mark Stoops Monday

Fresh off his new contract extension, Mark Stoops will hold his weekly press conference at noon to preview Kentucky Football’s week ahead. On this particular Monday, Stoops has a win to discuss after the Wildcats snapped a three-game skid to seal up second place in the SEC East with a victory in Nashville.

Stoops will talk about what he saw in the film at Vanderbilt and what’s next in non-conference opponent New Mexico State ahead of the home finale in Kroger Field this coming Saturday.

We’ll have all of his comments here on KentuckySportsRadio.com.

Kentucky Football unranked at 7-3

With the win over Vandy, the Wildcats locked up a runner-up finish in the East and the program’s second winning record in league play since 1977. However, it wasn’t enough to get back among the top 25 teams in college football as both the Associated Press and the Coaches’ polls left Kentucky out of their rankings for a second straight week.

In the AP, Kentucky fell nine spots out of the top 25 (so, 34th in the country); while the coaches were closer to ranking the Wildcats again, voting them up to 26th in a close vote.

See both sets of Week 12 college football rankings.

Kentucky laying 36 to New Mexico State

According to the trusted VegasInsider.com, Kentucky Football opened as a 36-point favorite in its upcoming home game against New Mexico State. The Aggies come to town having lost at Alabama by 56 points in a game they were 50-point underdogs. On the home side, Kentucky hasn’t covered the spread in three weeks after a 6-1 start ATS to open the season.

The total on Cats-Aggies is 59.5. You can drive to Tennessee, Indiana, Illinois, or West Virginia where it is perfectly legal to do your sports gambling.

New KSR Football Podcast drops tonight

We’re getting the KSR Football Podcast band back together to recap the Wildcats’ win at Vanderbilt and what it means for the season with two games to go. Nick Roush, Freddie Maggard, Charles Walker, and I plan to meet at KSBar and Grille around 5 p.m. this evening to hop in the booth and record the new episode for a dinnertime release. I encourage gathering your family around the table for a bountiful meal and a listen.

Kentucky Basketball players to preview Mount St. Mary’s

Kentucky Basketball returns to the court tomorrow night against Mount St. Mary’s (the Maryland one) in Rupp Arena’s second game of the 2021-22 season. But first, two players to be named later will be sent out for a Monday morning press conference to preview the game.

A busy morning for press conferences, KSR will have reporters on the scene for both the Kentucky Basketball and Mark Stoops conversations occurring around the same time on campus.

“The Journey” debuted

Chapter 1 of Kentucky Basketball’s “The Journey” video series debuted Sunday with a recap of Kentucky’s win over Robert Morris. I guess we’re pretending the Duke game never happened, which I assume we are all completely OK with.

Enjoy.

UK Soccer won the conference on a Golden Goal

Kentucky Men’s Soccer won the Conference USA championship in dramatic fashion Sunday afternoon with Eythor Bjorgolfsson’s golden goal in overtime. The fourth-seeded Wildcats lifted the C-USA trophy for only the second time in school history with the tie-breaking goal early into extra time against Florida Atlantic. Bjorgolfsson was named the tournament’s Offensive Most Valuable Player.

Golden Goal to win the conference for @UKMensSoccer pic.twitter.com/5qjcl6zK1h

— Drew Franklin (@DrewFranklinKSR) November 14, 2021

Kentucky Soccer will learn its NCAA Tournament spot later today on the NCAA Selection Show beginning at 1 p.m.

Kentucky WBB lost at Indiana by a lot

Now for a Sunday result we didn’t enjoy. Kyra Elzy’s Kentucky Women’s Basketball team traveled to Bloomington for a meeting between top-15 teams. Unfortunately, the ninth-ranked Hoosiers ran our 13th-ranked Kentucky out of Assembly Hall by winning the rivalry game, 88-67.

Rhyne Howard got her 23 points and freshman Jada Walker added another 16 to lead the Wildcats in defeat. It wasn’t enough though as Indiana out-shot (54.2%-41.5%) and out-rebounded (40-30) Kentucky throughout the game, a game Indiana led from the first quarter until the final whistle.

The Cats return to action this Sunday at home against Winthrop. Up next for Indiana is ordering the popcorn boxes.

Tune in to KSR in an hour

Matt Jones, Ryan Lemond, and Shannon The Dude take over the airwaves from 10 a.m. to noon to recap the weekend and preview what’s ahead.

Tune in and Go Cats.