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KSR Today: NBA Draft, TBT bracket reveal, and Mark Pope's presser

Zack Geogheganby:Zack Geoghegan•06/26/24•

ZGeogheganKSR

Photo of Mark Pope at his summer press conference by Kentucky Sports Radio
Photo of Mark Pope at his summer press conference by Kentucky Sports Radio

Good morning, folks! It’s late June, typically a slow time for news around these parts, but this isn’t your typical offseason. We’ve got quite a packed day planned. For starters, tonight marks the first of two days for the 2024 NBA Draft, the first time in decades that the event will be held across multiple days. Tonight is the first round with round two set for Thursday afternoon. There are five draft-eligible former Wildcats among the pool of players that could hear their names called over the next 36-ish hours.

The longstanding expectation is that Sheppard (who threw out the pitch first to his mom last night at Citi Field on what was his 20th birthday) and Dillingham will go somewhere in the lottery. Sheppard, in particular, continues to trend as the projected No. 3 overall pick to the Houston Rockets. A wild trade in the NBA world last night could alter that (the Rockets are apparently looking to trade for Kevin Durant, which would almost assuredly include the No. 3 pick in any package deal). But for now, we’re expecting Sheppard to land in the Lone Star State.

Meanwhile, Reeves and Edwards could go anywhere from the late first round all the way to the late second round. Their projections are all over the place as we come down the home stretch. As for Mitchell, he’s not being listed on any mocks, but there is a chance he will quickly get picked up as an undrafted free agent following the conclusion of the draft tomorrow night.

Here is where ESPN’s Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo have the former ‘Cats landing as of their latest mock draft update from last night:

  • No. 3 | Reed Sheppard –> Houston Rockets (via BKN)
  • No. 10 | Rob Dillingham –> Utah Jazz
  • No. 41 | Justin Edwards –> Philadelphia 76ers (via CHI)
  • No. 48 | Antonio Reeves –> San Antonio Spurs (via LAL)

TV: ABC and ESPN
Time: 8:00 p.m. EST
Stream: Watch ESPN
Live Updates: Follow on KSBoard

TBT Bracket Reveal

Later this morning, The Basketball Tournament will unveil the bracket for this summer’s edition of the popular summer event. The Kentucky alumni team, La Familia, will bring one of the most talented rosters we’ve ever seen to this tournament, headlined by some fan-favorite Wildcats from the John Calipari era.

The squad will be coached by Tyler Ulis, who will be aided by former Wildcats Sean Woods and Jon Hood as assistants. Additionally, Darius Miller has been brought on board as the Director of Player Personnel while Sam Malone will serve as the Assistant to GM. That GM would be Twany Beckham, who has helped organize this entire roster for La Familia.

New Kentucky head coach Mark Pope even said that the current team will get to practice against the La Familia team. Below is the roster as it currently stands:

To follow along with the full bracket reveal, you can watch live on YouTube at 10:00 a.m. EST by clicking the link here.

TBT, which includes 64 teams in this year’s bracket and features the famous Elam Ending, will tip off the 11th annual edition of this event with eight regionals (eight teams each) next month, one of which will come to Rupp Arena in Lexington from July 19-23. The semifinals and championship will take place at Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA in early August.

Tickets for the Lexington Regional are now on sale at thetournament.com/tbt/tickets.

Mark Pope held his first summer press conference yesterday

For the first time since that glorious Sunday at Rupp Arena in mid-April, head coach Mark Pope sat down with the media yesterday afternoon to talk about the Wildcats. A lot has changed since our first interaction with the man in charge — 12 new roster pieces and a brand-new coaching staff chief among them.

Pope answered questions for about 25 minutes, alternating between being his goofy, light-hearted personality and the one who is dead set on becoming a successful and winning coach here in Lexington. He touched on a variety of topics, ranging from recruiting, roster/staff-building, team chemistry, early player standouts, and so much more. Mitch Barnhart even called him near the end of the questioning. Pope also brought us cookies as a bribe, and we happily accepted it.

We’ve already churned out plenty of content from yesterday’s press conference, which you can find below, along with KSR’s Rapid Reaction. It was fun to get the band back together, even if the Memorial Coliseum construction isn’t quite done interrupting us just yet.

Mark Pope summer press conference

KSR’s Rapid Reaction

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Pope offers a 4-star center

Near the very end of Pope’s press conference, he said there was a call waiting for him once he left the stage. As it turns out, it was an important one. Pope hopped on a Zoom with seven-foot, 225-pound center Eric Reibe and ultimately offered the four-star big man.

Considered the No. 38 overall recruit from the class of 2025 by the On3 Industry Ranking, Reibe is the second center in this cycle to receive a Kentucky scholarship, joining in-state four-star Malachi Moreno.

Pope, along with assistant coaches Jason Hart and Cody Fueger, traveled to the DMV Live event over the weekend where he saw Reibe play in person. That trio must’ve liked what they saw out of the native of Germany. By our count, Reibe is the 13th class of 2025 recruit to receive an offer from Pope and the new Kentucky staff.

Join KSR Plus! With a KSR Plus membership, you get access to bonus content and KSBoard, KSR’s message board, to chat with fellow Cats fans and get exclusive scoop.

Hear from the Kentucky Baseball Coach

Nick Mingione has not slowed down since Kentucky concluded its College World Series run. He took a brief break from recruiting and roster building to call into Kentucky Sports Radio and share just how much the BBN’s support meant to his baseball program on their road to Omaha.

“If they could just hear my voice, just a sincere appreciation for the time, the effort, the energy, the resources, that was not a cheap trip,” Minginone said. “And so I’m just — I don’t know all the money they spent. I don’t know all the sacrifices that had to make, but guys, we are so thankful that they did and hopefully, we gave them an experience and something to be proud of.”

Don’t worry coach, you made the entire BBN proud.

Texas A&M’s (old) baseball coach is kind of a loser

Texas A&M made it all the way to the final round of the College World Series, taking down the Bat Cats along the way. Unfortunately, they couldn’t get it done against Tennessee, handing the Volunteers the program’s first CWS title. But that’s not why the Aggies are in the news right now.

Nope, that would be because Texas A&M head coach Jim Schlossnagle accepted the head coaching job at Texas less than 24 hours after a press conference where he called a reporter “selfish” for asking if he would remain in Aggieland despite rumors of possibly leaving for the Longhorns.

Schlossnagle might be a winning baseball coach, but this is loser behavior (and just another reason why the actual athletes have every right to use the transfer portal to their advantage).

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2025-01-28