KSR Today: Moving past Duke, looking toward Murray State

We could celebrate that night in Atlanta for a long, long time. Will we? Yeah, probably — it was a big one, Kentucky‘s first Champions Classic win since 2019 and the first win over Duke since 2015. Why wouldn’t we gloat and rub it in the faces of those who doubted this team’s chances, especially against the future No. 1 pick and the endless media obsession that came with it.

I mean, did you see Jay Williams’ weird rant last night about the Blue Devils and marketing directed toward Big Blue Nation? I’m still trying to figure out the purpose behind it beyond his status as the sorest loser in the history of losers.

Dear #BBN

Here is the reality about your win versus Duke & Cooper Flagg….

PS. You won’t like it. pic.twitter.com/1Ym1Zr1H2w

— Jay Williams (@RealJayWilliams) November 14, 2024

1.5 million people watched that old man yap at clouds talking about Cooper Flagg, butterscotch candy and getting off his lawn. Give me all of your tears, Jay. There will never be enough of them.

At least another Duke homer gave Kentucky the flowers this group deserved once things wrapped up at State Farm Arena.

“The difference in the game was age and experience,” Jay Bilas said. “Duke’s oldest player is younger than Kentucky’s youngest player. Kentucky has a lot of older guys, their youngest starter is 21 years old. They met the moment, and frankly, Duke didn’t.”

It was a battle throughout, but in the end, Kentucky’s experience prevailed over Duke’s youth… pic.twitter.com/qrEZVT9QUB

— Jay Bilas (@JayBilas) November 14, 2024

I’ll take all of the leftovers, please and thank you.

Where Kentucky stands in the national rankings

We won’t get official polls until the start of next week, but until then, some of the national outlets are starting to make their own updates following the Champions Classic — highlighted by massive jumps for Kentucky. Entering the season as a fringe top-25 team, the Wildcats are starting to get some top-10 and even top-five love from some of the popular names in the sport.

• ESPN: From No. 23 to No. 8
• CBS Sports: Unranked to No. 13
• KenPom: No. 31 to No. 20
• Jeff Goodman: “They’ve Got to Be Top 10”
• Jon Rothstein: “Well into the Top 10”
• Andy Katz: “After last night, top five.”

The praise is pretty substantial, but would you believe it if I told you this is the first 3-0 start for Kentucky since 2016? Hard not to be high on the Mark Pope and the Cats when they continue to ace every test thrown their way.

The Wildcats announce three new signings

Speaking of acing every test, how about the one regarding Pope’s ability to recruit? His highest-ranked recruit at BYU was Collin Chandler, who finished the 2022 cycle as the No. 35 overall prospect and No. 6 combo guard. Fast forward to 2025, the first-year coach’s first complete cycle at Kentucky, and he’s already officially signed three top-30 recruits to open the early signing period to give the program the No. 4 class nationally — with momentum trending toward a potential No. 1 group.

Pope broke down the games of Jasper Johnson, Malachi Moreno and Acaden Lewis shortly after the trio made it official with the Wildcats:

• Johnson — “Jasper Johnson is just danger, danger, danger, danger, right? He just is a dangerous gravity guy. He just demands that if you’re not going to pay attention to him with more than one body, anywhere he is on the court probably, he’s gonna hurt you, and he can really, really, really score the ball.”
• Moreno — “Malachi Moreno is probably the best center in all of high school basketball, and he fits us also. … He’s massive, and he’s an elite level passer.”
• Lewis — “Acaden Lewis is a floor general supreme. He’s a locker room leader. … He is a playmaking point guard. Every play he can make. His vision is elite. He’s wildly skilled. He can get wherever he wants to go on the floor.”

Not a bad start to 2025, if you ask me.

Mark Pope recaps Duke win, previews what’s ahead for UK

He didn’t just talk about the recruits in the 26 minutes he was at the podium. Pope also discussed his team’s emotional resilience, what he liked and didn’t like after watching the Duke film, and much, much more.

Take a look at the complete press conference below:

KSR had fun with Doron Lamb and Marquis Teague on Thursday

Were those rumors of Kentucky’s freshmen in the 2011-12 season beating the likes of LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden in a pick-up game at the Joe Craft Center true? Marquis Teague confirmed they took down the NBA superstars in a sit-down interview with KSR on Thursday.

“We won,” Teague said. “… Actually, they had LeBron James playing, KD, all those guys… We were big-time players in his high school, so in our minds, we could compete against anybody. Didn’t really matter to us.”

Teague and Lamb also added they were still “Big Blue Nation forever” despite Coach Cal’s move to Arkansas.

If you missed the interview, catch up on podcast — it’s certainly worth your time:

Also make sure to listen to “Backcourt Connection” with Teague and Lamb on YouTube, while you’re at it.

Brock Vandagriff is starting vs. Murray State

Hey, we’ve still got football to watch! Even though times are a bit tough right now, there is still an opportunity for a feel-good win against the Murray State Racers coming up on Saturday. It’s a computer game on SEC Network+ with kickoff scheduled for 1:30 p.m. ET — certainly not much glitz and glamour there — but you don’t need much when you’ve got a four-game losing streak to end.

All that matters is getting back in the win column. Mark Stoops will look to do that with none other than Brock Vandagriff back under center despite rumors of Cutter Boley getting his first start for the Cats. The longtime starter went down with an injury against Tennessee, but as KSR’s own Zack Geoghegan first reported this week, he’ll be back against the Racers.

Coach Stoops confirmed that report on Thursday.

“I expect him to be out there under center first offensive snaps. He was out there today practicing,” Stoops said. “It was a walkthrough but he was out there.”

Everything Mark Stoops said Thursday

What else did Stoops talk about ahead of the matchup vs. Murray State? There wasn’t much to say, clearly — he was only at the podium for four minutes.

You can (quickly) listen to it in its entirety below:

Time for a bounce-back win to get the final quarter of the schedule started on a high note. Still plenty of football left to be played.