KSR Today: Martels Carter Day

Kentucky added a top-200 prospect to its 2025 recruiting class when Cleveland (Ohio) Heights tailback Marquise Davis committed to the Wildcats on May 1. Now the program could end the month by landing another.

Paducah (Ky.) Tilghman safety Martels Carter will make his college decision on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. ET. It appears to be an Auburn and Kentucky battle for the top-200 safety. The Wildcats have all of the late buzz and enter the decision as the leader.

Martels Carter will be the first defensive recruit for Kentucky in the 2025 cycle and will be a big one. Carter would give the program the state’s highest-ranked played for the fourth time in five recruiting cycles and would keep the home turf recruiting momentum rolling after the Wildcats signed the top-five prospects in the state last year. A commitment could help Kentucky build some more recruiting momentum in-state. Javeon Campbell and Isaac “Spike” Sowells Jr. are both scheduled to take their official visits to Kentucky on the weekend of June 7-9. The latter just released his top-five and Kentucky made the cut. Each is a priority target. Getting Carter in the fold could help bolster Kentucky’s in-state recruiting efforts.

KSR will provide live coverage of the commitment this afternoon as Kentucky looks to add commitment No. 7 in the class of 2025.

Chaz Lanier picks Tennessee

The long wait came to an end on Friday afternoon. North Florida transfer Chaz Lanier finally made a decision. Tennessee was ultimately the winner in this three-team battle between BYU and Kentucky.

Lanier committed to the Vols on Saturday and will be returning to his home state. The transfer with one year of eligibility averaged 19.7 points and 4.1 rebounds in 33.4 minutes per game on .510/.440/.880 shooting splits. Lanier was one of the top shooters in the transfer portal after shooting a high percentage with a very high volume (7.5 attempts per game).

All attention now turns to Jaxson Robinson and Wooga Poplar as Kentucky has two scholarships remaining. The latter has locked in a visit with Kentucky.

Kentucky baseball bows out of the SEC Tournament

Kentucky’s run ended at three games at the SEC Tournament with a 1-2 final record after the Bat Cats fell 6-5 to South Carolina in a one-run loss. Inefficient pitching was the story of the game. Mason Moore (4.2 IP), Cameron O’Brien (1.1 IP), and Ben Cleaver (2.0 IP) combined to give 10 free passes with eight walks and two hit-by-pitches.

Two of South Carolina’s six runs came via walks with the bases loaded as Nick Mingione’s club bowed out one game short of the SEC Tournament semifinals. On offense, Kentucky generated just five hits with the top three in the lineup combining to go 0-for-11 with three strikeouts.

Now Kentucky will play the waiting game to see who will be coming to Lexington. The Wildcats are still in contention for the No. 1 overall seed heading into Selection Sunday.

The Hoover Four. ⚾️

🐅 11 @LSUbaseball
🐔 10 @GamecockBasebll
🟠 1 @Vol_Baseball
⚓️ 8 @VandyBoys #SECBSB x #SECTourney pic.twitter.com/5XECDGLV60

— Southeastern Conference (@SEC) May 25, 2024

The SEC Tournament will continue on Saturday afternoon with South Carolina facing LSU at 1:00 p.m. ET and Tennessee taking on Vanderbilt in the late afternoon game. The winners will face each other in the SEC Championship on Sunday at 3:00 p.m. ET.

KSR has more from Hoover

KSR’s Daniel Hager was on the scene at the Hoover Met to provide coverage this week. After the loss to South Carolina, there was plenty to talk about. A Rapid Reaction and the Kentucky press conference are now live on KSR’s YouTube Channel.

Smash that play button.

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Luka Doncic is a Game 2 hero

The Minnesota Timberwolves entered the Western Conference Finals with a mediocre 3-2 home record in the postseason. That has only gotten worse through the first two games against the Dallas Mavericks. Mark Cuban’s team will be returning home for Game 3 with a 2-0 series lead thanks to some heroics from their 25-year-old Slovenian superstar.

‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️ pic.twitter.com/mWIllHmfl1

— Dallas Mavericks (@dallasmavs) May 25, 2024

The first-team All-NBA selection for the fifth year in a row to begin his professional career capped off an 18-point comeback by Dallas by nailing a step-back three-point jumper over Rudy Gobert with under five seconds left to give the Mavericks a 109-108 victory in Game 2. Doncic finished the game with 32 points, 10 rebounds, and 13 assists. Dallas returns home needing just two wins to advance to the franchise’s first NBA Finals since 2011.

The playoffs will switch to the Eastern Conference Finals on Saturday with the No. 6 seed Indiana Pacers hosting the No. 1 seed Boston Celtics. The Celtics hold a 2-0 series lead, and All-NBA guard Tyrese Haliburton is questionable with a hamstring injury. Tipoff is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. ET at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.