KSR Today: NCAA Track & Field Championships, Tom Hart Day

Good morning, friends, and congratulations on making it halfway through the week. Storms are back in the forecast for today, but the weekend is shaping up to be another gorgeous one, sunny and mild. Enjoy it now before the 90s creep in next week.

Now that we’ve covered the weather, let’s turn our attention to sports. We’ll start with the two biggest news items from yesterday.

Oscar Tshiebwe is back on campus

If you noticed the sun shining a little more brightly and the birds singing more joyfully yesterday, that’s because Oscar Tshiebwe, reigning National Player of the Year, arrived back on campus. Kentucky’s big man was visiting his family in the Democratic Republic of the Congo but is now back in Lexington to focus on the upcoming season. John Calipari shared a picture of Big O meeting with the squad on social media yesterday afternoon.

Oscar’s smile always steals the spotlight, but there are a few other items of note in this picture. First, the players are wearing new shorts. White, with a single blue stripe down the side and the Kentucky wordmark at the bottom. Not a checkerboard in sight. Hallelujah. Are they the new uniforms? The blue line on the side aligns with Drew Franklin’s previous report but the best bet is probably new warm-ups. Regardless, they’re a sight for sore eyes.

Secondly, Daimion Collins appears to have bulked up a bit. The Texas native arrived in Lexington a year ago as a 6’9″ 202 lbs. freshman, but even that must have been soaking wet. Adding muscle to Collins’ frame was a priority his freshman year, to the point he was eating 5,000 calories per day; finally, it looks like it’s sticking.

A promising update on Chris Rodriguez

A few hours after Oscar’s arrival, we got some more good news courtesy of Nick Roush. After speaking to folks at Kentucky Football’s Tuesday Camp, Roush shared that the feeling around the program is that Chris Rodriguez may not miss the entire 2022 football season as once feared. On top of his DUI arrest, Rodriguez has been dealing with an undisclosed issue that put his future at Kentucky in jeopardy. Thankfully, it appears that while Kentucky’s star running back will miss some time (Roush estimates four games), he still will be able to play this year. That is very, very good news.

While coaches scouted the next crop of talent at the Tuesday Camp, this year’s incoming freshmen arrived on campus, including the Wade Twins. Check out UK’s footage of move-in day:

Welcome to your new Kentucky home, gentlemen! #22OnMe x #ForTheTeam 😼🏈 pic.twitter.com/f0eBf1ouU3

— Kentucky Football (@UKFootball) June 8, 2022

Catch up on our Pangos All-American Camp coverage

The Pangos All-American Camp wrapped up last night in Vegas and shortly after, Jack Pilgrim and Zack Geoghegan caught the red-eye home to Kentucky. While they catch up on some much-deserved rest, you should catch up on their coverage:

• Day 1 Standouts
• Day 2 Standouts
• Day 3 Standouts
• It’s a battle of Tennessee vs. Kentucky for 5-star Justin Edwards
• Karter Knox likes Kenny Payne, Louisville; wants to hear from Kentucky
• Andrej Stojakovic says it was “surreal”, a “dream” to earn Kentucky offer
• Ian Jackson sees Kentucky as “dream school,” considering reclass
• Ugonna Kingsley: “I’ve been wanting to go to Kentucky all my life”

Last night, Baye Fall and Tru Washington — uncle of TyTy Washington (yes, really) — won Cream of the Crop MVP honors:

2022 Pangos All-American Camp Cream of the Crop MVPs: Baye Fall and Tru Washington pic.twitter.com/FhcRlPvTWp

— Jack Pilgrim (@JackPilgrimKSR) June 7, 2022

NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships begin in Eugene

Today marks the start of the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Nineteen Kentucky Wildcats will participate in the four-day meet in Eugene, Oregon, including Abby Steiner and Masai Russell. The men’s team will compete today and Friday while the women’s competition will be held Thursday and Saturday. The first two days of the meet are prelim days for most of the running events plus prelims and finals for some distance track and field events. 

The first Wildcats compete starting at 7:32 p.m. ET/4:32 p.m. PT tonight when the men’s 4x100m takes the track for prelims. Keaton Daniel, fresh off winning the pole vault at the SEC Championships, will look to take home NCAA gold at 8 p.m. ET. Day one wraps with the men’s 4x400m at 10:48 p.m. ET. Here’s the list of Kentucky’s qualifiers:

Men

• Keaton Daniel – pole vault 
• Brian Faust – 400m, 4x400m 
• Rodney Heath Jr. – 4x100m 
• Lance Lang – 200m, 4x100m, 4x400m 
• Kennedy Lightner – 200m, 4x400m 
• Jacob Smith – 4x100m, 4x400m (alternate) 
• Josh Sobota – shot put 
• Dwight St. Hillaire – 400m, 4x100m, 4x400m 
• Kenroy Williams – 400m hurdles 

Women

• Shadajah Ballard – 4x100m 
• Perri Bockrath – 3,000m steeplechase 
• Karimah Davis – 200m, 4x100m, 4x400m 
• Sophie Galloway – triple jump 
• Jade Gates – hammer throw 
• Alexis Holmes – 400m, 4x400m 
• Dajour Miles – 4x400m 
• Megan Moss – 400m, 4x400m (alternate) 
• Masai Russell – 100m hurdles, 400m hurdles, 4x400m (alternate) 
• Abby Steiner – 100m, 200m, 4x100m, 4x400m 

You can stream each event on ESPN3 or watch the primetime coverage starting at 7:30 p.m. on ESPNU. Click here for a complete schedule.

This is what we've been waiting for.

It's going down in Eugene starting 𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰. 💪#UKTF x #NCAATF pic.twitter.com/cJ1IFq2fBd

— UK Track & Field (@KentuckyTrack) June 8, 2022

Game Three of the NBA Finals

The NBA Finals is tied at 1-1, and tonight, the series moves to TD Garden in Boston for Game Three. Who ya got, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and the Celtics or Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and the Warriors? The fun begins at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.

It’s Tom Hart Day on KSR

KSR Guest Host Week has been a success so far, with Peter Burns shining in his KSR debut and PMT doing their thing yesterday. ICYMI, be sure to listen to their interview with Will Levis, who talked mayo, Louisville, and Kentucky’s goal of reaching Atlanta:

Today, we get a nice dose of familiar as Tom Hart takes over the mic. Tune in one hour from now to hear from the BBN’s favorite announcer. Or, tune in right now to hear from Billy Rutledge and Shannon the Dude on the KSR Preshow.

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