KSR Today: Lil' Wayne at Rupp, Weekend Recap, and More

It was 500 Degreez in Rupp Last night as John Calipari’s close friend Lil’ Wayne turned Lexington into Lilweezyana with a Sunday stop on his Welcome To Tha Carter tour. Ladies and gentlemen, pimps and players, half-ass rappers and true rhyme sayers filled Rupp Arena for Wayne in their brain, young Carter. The Cash Money Army turnout was reportedly a sold-out crowd for the self-proclaimed Best Rapper Alive (since the best rapper retired*) who wore two different UK shirts throughout the show. Remember when he taunted Duke players while cheering for Kentucky at the Champions Classic? He’s one of us.

But enough about Weezy, we have lots to address from the wide world of sports as we move on from a busy weekend into a week of unknowns. Let’s recap the latest news and preview what’s to come with a new edition of the Monday morning rundown…

Kentucky Football in the 2023 NFL Draft.

If you like football and have a television or Twitter account, you’re probably aware of the 2023 NFL Draft and several of its biggest storylines over the three-day event. For Kentucky Football‘s purposes, three former Wildcats were selected beginning with QB1’s very public slide from Thursday to Friday, then two more in Saturday’s marathon of rounds four through seven:

Round 2, Pick 33: Will Levis, Tennessee Titans (via Arizona Cardinals)
Round 6, Pick 193: Chris Rodriguez, Washington Commanders
Round 7, Pick 232: Carrington Valentine, Green Bay Packers

Since the draft ended, other former ‘Cats signed and continue to sign undrafted free agent deals to pursue their NFL dreams:

UDFA Signing: DeAndre Square, Los Angeles Rams
UDFA Signing: Keidron Smith, Miami Dolphins
UDFA Signing: Tashawn Manning, Baltimore Ravens

Watch Will Levis get the call from the Titans.

New Titans GM Ran Carthon, owner Amy Adams Strunk, and head coach Mike Vrabel called Levis early into Friday’s second-round festivities to welcome him to Tennessee with the No. 33 overall pick in the draft.

Here’s how the conversation looked from within the Levis home, where Will and his family had just gotten in from a long day of travel from a disappointing night in Kansas City.

.@will_levis' reaction after he was drafted is incredible. 💙

(via @Titans) pic.twitter.com/IL45GSLl5B

— NFL (@NFL) April 29, 2023

There will be plenty more Will Levis/Tennessee Titans coverage once I clean up all of this champagne from KSR HQ.

Titan Up.

Kentucky Baseball swept in Nashville.

Nashville will soon welcome Levis to town as a Davidson County resident and member of America’s fastest-growing community, but the city wasn’t too welcoming to Kentucky Baseball over the weekend. On Sunday, the Wildcats dropped a third game in as many days at Vanderbilt’s Hawkins Field, thus the first sweep of fifteenth-ranked Kentucky this season and now four straight losses, including last Tuesday’s home loss to Louisville.

As for Sunday’s loss to Vanderbilt, Kentucky led 2-1 in the bottom of the ninth until Vanderbilt scored two runs to flip the script and win 3-2. Vandy’s Alan Espinal hit the walk-off single to left center to score the game-winning run from third base.

Moving forward, Kentucky looks to get back on track in its return to Kentucky Proud Park to host South Carolina in a three-game series next weekend.

Kentucky Softball got swept, too.

Nick Mingione’s club wasn’t the only Kentucky program to strike out over the weekend. Down in Starkville, Kentucky Softball lost all three of its games at Mississippi State. Adding to the disappointment, Kentucky grabbed the early lead in all three losses.

In Sunday’s defeat, No. 22 Kentucky hoped to dodge the brooms with a win in the final game of the series, but Mississippi State’s bats stayed hot, scoring another seven runs on top of the 19 scored in the first two games to win 7-4.

The loss is Kentucky’s fourth in a row, its six in the last seven games, and the tenth in the last thirteen.

The ‘Cats will return home to host Florida on Senior Weekend in Lexington before the SEC Tournament begins next week.

Rising 2024 shooting guard prospect eyeing Kentucky and a July commitment.

Camden, New Jersey’s Billy Richmond was one of the stars through the first two sessions of the Nike EYBL’s new season, with nearly seventeen points per game in eight appearances against his Nike-wearing peers. A former AAU teammate of soon-to-be Kentucky freshmen DJ Wagner and Aaron Bradshaw, Richmond will almost certainly see a big jump in the recruiting rankings when updated. Currently, he is barely in the top 100. He’s had a Kentucky offer since January.

Richmond may accept that offer in July because he told KSR he plans to commit around this summer’s Peach Jam, and Kentucky is high on his list of suitors. “I just fit, I just fit there,” he told Jack Pilgrim. “(Calipari) said they are always in attack mode. He said when I get there, if I can’t get by my defender, then you’re not gonna play.”

Richmond’s dad, Billy Richmond II, played for Calipari at Memphis.

Future ‘Cats stole the show at the Iverson Classic.

Before their impending moves to Lexington, DJ Wagner and Justin Edwards shined at the Iverson Classic All-American Game in New Jersey this past weekend. Wagner scored nineteen points with six assists in an MVP effort for Team Loyalty, while Edwards dropped twenty in his MVP performance for Team Honor.

CO-MVPS 🤩

DJ Wagner and Justin Edwards bring home MVP honors at the @iversonclassic! pic.twitter.com/CIqwHYrYK7

— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) April 30, 2023

Not to be forgotten, the third Wildcat in the game, Rob Dillingham, won the game’s Crossover Award while sharing Team Loyalty’s point guard responsibilities with Wagner.

The beam was not lit in Sacramento.

Sunday marked the end of the road for the Sacramento Kings and all of the fun we had watching them in the first-round series versus the defending champ Golden State Warriors. Yesterday, Fox and Mox ran into Steph Curry in Game 7 in Sacramento, where Curry’s 50-piece broke the beam and won the series with a 120-100 outcome. It was the first time in NBA history that someone scored fifty in a Game 7.

In the other Sunday playoff game, the Miami Heat stole Game 1 against the New York Knicks. Julius Randle did not play due to a sprained ankle. Miami was without Tyler Herro.

Tonight, Tyrese Maxey’s Sixers head to Boston for the first game of the Sixers-Celtics series before Jamal Murray and Devin Booker collide in Game 2 of the Nuggets-Suns series. Those games are back-to-back beginning at 7:30 p.m. on TNT.

Backup offensive lineman leaves Kentucky for the transfer portal.

The Big Blue Wall has a new opening at its second level as backup offensive lineman David Wohlabaugh entered the transfer portal, the sophomore from Ohio announced yesterday.

“I want to thank the coaches and my teammates at the University of Kentucky for the past two years, I value the friendships and relationships I have developed,” Wohlabaugh said. “I’m entering the transfer portal with 3 years of eligibility remaining and looking forward to the next chapter in my life.”

Wohlabaugh played in eight games with one starting assignment last season after he emerged out of fall camp as a potential starter at tackle. He departed a weekend after Kentucky added offensive tackle Courtland Ford out of USC from the portal.

Tune in to KSR at 10 a.m.

Coming up, all four KSR radio personalities are on this morning’s show as Matt Jones hosts Monday’s program from Los Angeles with Ryan Lemond and me in Lexington and Shannon The Dude in Louisville.

What could go wrong?