KSR Today: Monday of the last week of the regular season

Can you believe it? It’s the final week of college basketball’s regular season and your University of Kentucky Wildcats will finish the year with Senior Night versus Vanderbilt in a couple of days and then a trip to Arkansas for the 2022-23 finale before postseason play begins next week in Nashville. Today, we’ll get you ready for the last two-game stretch and all of the excitement around March Madness as we ride out these last couple of days in February into the best month in sports, hopefully, a long one for Kentucky this season.

Here’s what’s ahead today and what you need to know coming out of the weekend:

Hear from John Calipari on his call-in show

With Kentucky playing another Wednesday game this week, we won’t have a press conference until Tuesday when someone from John Calipari’s staff is likely selected to preview the Senior Night game against Vanderbilt. Today, John Calipari himself can be heard on his call-in radio show from Lexington at 6 p.m. when he sits down with Tom Leach to take Bob in Jamestown’s call.

We’ll have a recap of Calipari’s comments here on KSR for anyone unable to listen.

Kentucky back in the AP Top 25?

Kentucky’s run of eight straight weeks outside the AP Top 25 could be in jeopardy this week with the Cats knocking on the door to get back in. Last week, Kentucky received 12 voting points in the Associated Press poll for an unofficial No. 30 ranking. This week, several losses in the back of the Top 25 open a path for Kentucky to climb back in.

We’ll see at noon.

The Cats are Top 20 in the NET

In the updated NET Rankings after yesterday’s results, Kentucky stayed put at No. 20 as the SEC’s fourth team in the NCAA’s ranking system. Alabama and Tennessee are second and third followed by Kentucky’s upcoming opponent, Arkansas, at No. 14. The Wildcats head to Fayetteville on Saturday for the regular season finale.

Oscar Tshiebwe on SEC Player of the Week Watch

With 47 points on 20-of-23 shooting from the field in Kentucky’s last two games, Oscar Tshiebwe is in the conversation for this week’s SEC Player of the Week award. In the wins over Auburn and Florida, Tshiebwe also tallied 21 rebounds, blocked a couple of shots, stole three balls, and had three assists.

Alabama’s Brandon Miller will also be in consideration for his 65 points in Alabama’s two wins, but will the SEC award Miller right now?

Cason Wallace will be in the mix for SEC Freshman of the Week. Both awards will be announced later today.

The other Oscar was the biggest star in Rupp Arena

From Saturday’s beatdown of Auburn, Oscar Hernandez from “America’s Got Talent” stole the show with his surprise performance with the UK Dance Team.

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Kentucky Women’s Basketball lost by 20 on Senior Day

Maddie Scherr’s career-high 27 points weren’t enough to keep Kentucky Women’s Basketball in the fight against the Tennessee Lady Vols on Sunday. Kentucky lost by 20, 83-63, in the regular season home finale after celebrating seniors Adebola Adeyeye, Robyn Benton, and Blair Green in a pregame Senior Day ceremony. Benton had 17 in her last game in Memorial Coliseum.

With the loss, Kentucky completed its 2022-23 regular season with a 10-18 overall record and a 2-14 record in the SEC. The Wildcats are the No. 14 seed in the SEC Women’s Tournament with a first-round game against Florida this Wednesday night in Greenville, South Carolina.

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐄𝐓.#SECWBB x #SECTourney

🔗 https://t.co/pCz1wWgeHw pic.twitter.com/nD9nK5qv4F

— Southeastern Conference (@SEC) February 27, 2023

Kentucky Baseball won its home series against Wright State

Kentucky Baseball finished the job against Wright State on Sunday with a 15-0 win over the Raiders to win the series, 2-1. Sophomore catcher Devin Burkes drove in a career-high seven runs in the series-clinching win to bring his stats for the series up to 8-of-13 at the plate with seven doubles, a home run, five runs, 10 RBI, two stolen bases, and 18 total bases.

In addition to Burkes and Kentucky’s hot bats, pitcher Zack Lee threw six shutout innings yet again, his second six-inning shutout in two starts this season. Lee has allowed only five hits in two Sunday starts.

Kentucky Baseball (5-2) is back home on Tuesday to host Morehead State. In case you missed it, KSR was at Opening Day for the win over Evansville:

“Southern Hoops” will take us through the 1990s tonight

Tonight on SEC Network, the fifth episode of the “Southern Hoops” docuseries will take viewers through the 1990s, meaning one of the best eras of Kentucky Basketball is likely to be featured. You can expect to see clips from Rick Pitino pulling Kentucky from the mud and Kentucky’s two national championships, plus the heated rivalry with Arkansas and all of the amazing uniforms the Wildcats wore during that decade. Pat Summitt’s success with the Lady Vols will also be a talking point when “Part Five: From Country to City” debuts at 9 p.m.

The NFL Combine starts later this week

Beginning Thursday, KSR’s Nick Roush and Adam Luckett will be in Indianapolis to follow Kentucky’s NFL hopefuls around the NFL Combine. Will Levis, Chris Rodriguez, Carrington Valentine, and Tashawn Manning are among the participants to watch.

Ryan Lemond has the day off

Coming up on your morning KSR radio program, I got called in to work a Monday show because Ryan Lemond is out for the day. I’ll be with Matt Jones at KSBar and Grille to recap Kentucky’s win at Auburn and lots more.

Go Cats.