KSR Today: Moving On From A Fun Orlando Weekend

Big Blue Nation is riding high on this first Monday of 2022 after one of the better weekends the fan base has had in a long time. On Friday, Kentucky Basketball raised Tubby Smith’s jersey to the rafters in a special homecoming game for the former head coach and ’98 national champ. Adding to the excitement that day, Kentucky won the game by 44 points, a fourth straight win by 27 or more.

Then on Saturday, Kentucky Football made an improbable comeback to beat Iowa in the final moments of the Citrus Bowl. You know how it went down: Will Levis found Wan’Dale Robinson, who folded Riley “Kentucky hasn’t made a bowl game in how long” Moss like a cheap card table, to set up Chris Rodriguez’s game-winning score. Rumor has it Moss is still sitting there cross-legged today.

Let’s begin the week with another rewatch of those Citrus Bowl highlights and then get to some things you should know for Monday or might’ve missed on Sunday.

To catch up on all of the weekend fun, just scroll through Kentucky-Sports-Radio-dot-com because there are like a million posts.

Finished a 10-win season for the second time in the last four years.

Fourth time in @universityofky history that we won at least 10, along with 2018 (10-3), 1950 (11-1) and 1977 (10-1). pic.twitter.com/0GMOAtwN8O

— Kentucky Football (@UKFootball) January 2, 2022

Chris Oats’ family message

After Kentucky won its second Citrus Bowl in four years, the brother of Kentucky linebacker Chris Oats wrote a lengthy Facebook message to thank the Kentucky program for its compassion and care for Oats. Oats’ career was cut short following a stroke in May 2020, but he has attended several Kentucky games since and was on the sideline in Orlando this past Saturday.

Keilan Sosa wrote, “I’m glad his brothers was there to carry and celebrate with him, this why Kentucky means so much to our family life beyond football.”

Man to be in arm reach of your life goals and to have them took away is hard and rough Chris was fingertips length from making his dream NFL linebacker and had those dreams took away, Kentucky coaching staff never missed a beat checking in, visiting as much as if Chris was still in the locker room. That Kentucky coaching staff is looking for the best interest for those kids off the field jus as much as on, super proud my brother had coaches that’s life long Chris class won 4 straight Bowl games for Kentucky my brother broke down yesterday and I’m glad his brothers was there to carry and celebrate with him, this why Kentucky means so much to our family life beyond football

Keilan Sosa Woods, Facebook

Read more on Oats’ story and the significance of the Citrus Bowl.

Jon Sumrall thanked the fans

Another heartwarming message was written to Big Blue Nation after the Citrus Bowl when former assistant Jon Sumrall said goodbye to the Kentucky program. Sumrall is the new head coach at Troy but wanted to “coach De’Andre Square one more time” in Orlando. (That worked out, huh?)

Sunday morning, he wrote, “I will always be a Kentucky Wildcat.”

pic.twitter.com/ggvmrqpWJ4

— Jon Sumrall (@CoachJonSumrall) January 2, 2022

Will Levis stuck around for more Orlando fun

Levis didn’t win the Most Valuable Player award, but he still shouted “I’m going to Disney World,” probably. Levis was spotted around the Orlando tourist hot spots and even shared a photo of his new face paint on Instagram.

College Basketball Poll Watch

Later today, Kentucky Basketball is likely to make a move up the college basketball rankings. The Associated Press and USA Today Coaches’ Polls will be updated around lunchtime and Kentucky stands to rise from No. 18 and 17 on those lists. The blowout wins over Missouri and then High Point should help.

Teams in front of Kentucky that lost since last week’s Top 25 release: AP No. 14) Tennesee, 15) Seton Hall (x2), and 16) LSU.

Kentucky flies to LSU later today to play the Tigers tomorrow night. It’s a big one.

TyTy Washington in the running for a third SEC F.O.T.W. award

As we wait for Kentucky Basketball’s new placement in the AP poll, we will also keep a close eye on the league offices where TyTy Washington is a candidate for this week’s SEC Freshman of the Week award.

Washington scored 15 with nine assists and only one turnover in last Friday’s win over High Point. Before that, he gave Missouri 14 points, six rebounds, and two assists in the league-opener, again with only a single turnover.

Best I can tell, Washington’s only competition for the award is Auburn forward Jabari Smith and his 16 points and four rebounds in the Tigers’ win over LSU.

We’ll see if the committee puts more weight in two big games or one big game against a ranked opponent. For Washington, he is seeking his third SEC Freshman of the Week award and his second in a row.

We’ll hear from Chin Coleman and two unnamed players today

Before Kentucky takes off for Baton Rouge, assistant Chin Coleman and two players to be named later will address the media. Coleman and friends will preview the LSU game in an 11 a.m. press conference and KSR will be there to cover it for you. So don’t go anywhere.

Bengals, Titans are Division Champs, Playoff-bound

Many of us are dealing with a champagne hangover this morning after the two reasonably local NFL teams punched their postseason tickets on Sunday.

First, the Tennessee Titans (Titan Up) won the AFC South for a second straight year with a win over the Miami Dolphins in Nashville. However, the Titans needed more than a win to really enjoy the day. If the Cincinnati Bengals could somehow beat the first-place Kansas City Chiefs, Tennessee would take over the driver’s seat in the AFC Playoff picture.

The Bengals did their part, upsetting Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs in Paul Brown Stadium (Who Dey!) as four-point dogs. Kansas City led by 14 points in the first quarter, but Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase brought the Bengals back to win with a perfectly-timed, incredibly-lucky, somewhat-idiotic, game-winning drive.

The young stars made history in the process with multiple passing and receiving records. A few examples, Burrow already has more passing yards than any Cincinnati QB in any season ever (4,611), while Chase took the record for most receiving yards in a rookie season in NFL history (1,429). Chase accounted for 211 of Burrow’s 446 yards against the Chiefs.

The new AFC North trophy is Cincinnati’s first since 2015.

Ryan Lemond returns to KSR at 10 a.m.

Big news for Kentucky Sports Radio the radio show, Ryan Lemond will make his return to the airwaves Monday morning following more than a week away with COVID. Lemond recovered from his ill-timed run-in with the virus and will be back on air to chat with Matt Jones about the huge weekend in Kentucky sports. Tune in from 10 a.m. to noon today.

Go Cats.