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KSR Today: Preparing for Ohio, leftovers from Mark Pope on KSR

Jack PIlgrimby:Jack Pilgrim•about 8 hours

Of all of the Thursdays we’ve had in recent months, that was certainly one of them. The news came early and often, starting with Mark Pope during his morning appearance on KSR and wrapping up with Mark Stoops during his final pregame press conference ahead of Kentucky football’s matchup vs. Ohio on Saturday.

On the basketball side of things, the focus was on the big-time preseason events, Pope releasing details on Big Blue Madness and Club Blue’s Blue-White Preseason Event — tickets go on sale for the latter this morning at 10 AM ET, mind you. He also gave quite the roster breakdown as fall practices ramp back up with the season right around the corner. Can you believe we’re now exactly three weeks away from Madness, four from Blue/White and 33 days away from Kentucky’s first exhibition game vs. Kentucky Wesleyan?

As for football, Stoops was focused on the team’s mindset going into Ohio, hoping to expand on what worked against Georgia rather than reverting back to the travesty that was South Carolina. He wants consistent development week by week, not a rollercoaster of high highs and low lows. Overall, he’s confident the Wildcats have positioned themselves well to take care of business against the Bobcats as they hope to get back to .500 at 2-2.

Let’s run through the highlights this morning as you get settled in for the day, shall we?

Blue/White tickets on sale at 10 AM ET

Ready for basketball season? You can buy your first set of tickets starting this morning as Blue-White Preseason Event sales are live at 10 AM ET. Presented by Club Blue, the official NIL partner of UK Athletics, proceeds will benefit student-athletes in the annual intrasquad scrimmage that features both the men’s and women’s teams, this time inside Historic Memorial Coliseum.

It will be an event unlike any other, says Coach Pope.

“I’ve never seen anything done like it before, and it’s the way Kentucky should be,” he said. “We should be doing things that have never been done before, and this is certainly be one of them. So I’m incredibly excited it.”

Tickets will be available exclusively through Ticketmaster featuring a new pricing model set by Club Blue, starting from $100 for reserved bench seating to $1,250 for courtside VIP seating — and everything between. Club Blue members will receive 20 percent off on ticket sales.

And again, proceeds go to UK Athletics’ NIL efforts, meaning you’re impacting future recruiting classes for Pope by attending. What more could you want?

Big plans for Big Blue Madness

We know about Blue-White, but what about Big Blue Madness, scheduled a week earlier on Oct. 11? Details are few and far between at this point, but Pope did spill the beans on his vision for the unofficial tipoff to basketball season inside Rupp Arena.

“Listen, this is all I can say. On Friday, October 11 with Big Blue Madness, we have some things in the works that have never been seen in college basketball before. I kid you not,” he said. “Like, it’s going to be awesome. Big Blue Madness is always awesome, but we’re trying to go next level.”

What does next level look like in Pope’s eyes? And what has never been seen in college basketball before? We’ll find out in exactly three weeks.

Mark Pope chops it up with KSR

What about the rest of Pope’s conversation on KSR? That included talk of his team’s servant leadership, potential leading scorers, best shooters, a minor setback for a major comeback with one of Kentucky’s incoming freshmen, Andrew Carr failing to miss a single shot in five straight practices this summer, Lamont Butler being a lockdown defender in the SEC and much, much, much more.

Maybe the best part? He said coaching at Kentucky was “the greatest job in the world.”

Drew Franklin had a great recap of Pope’s second sitdown interview with KSR on the website last night, which you can read here. From there, you can listen to the conversation yourself on KSR’s YouTube channel below:

UK Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2024 to be inducted

It’s also a big night on campus for several former Wildcat superstars — namely a couple of Olympians — set to be inducted into the UK Athletics Hall of Fame on Friday.

The Class of 2024 features Jasmine Camacho-Quinn (track and field), John Cropp (administrator/coach), Henrik Larsen (rifle), Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (track and field), Jodie Meeks (men’s basketball) and Corey Peters (football) with the induction dinner and ceremony scheduled for this evening at Central Bank Center.

Some all-timers will be honored, timely for McLaughlin-Levrone and Camacho-Quinn following their medal-winning performances in Paris this summer.

Mark Stoops previews Ohio

We’ll wrap up this morning with some closing thoughts from Coach Stoops about the team’s preparation going into Ohio, kickoff scheduled for 12:45 PM ET on Saturday. How are things looking over at the Joe Craft Football Practice Facilities?

“What can I say? Another Thursday, they seem to be going quick. It seems like just yesterday I was speaking with you before the last game. The days are long, but the years go fast, and right now, one day is running into another,” Stoops said. “I feel good about the preparation, I feel like the guys are ready. I just talked to them, just challenged them, asked what the difference was between weeks one, two and three, what our approach has to be and the commitment that we have.

“We seem to be very much in good spirits and dialed in. We just need to go play well and continue to get better.”

How To Watch/Listen To Kentucky Vs. Ohio

We’ll see you at Kroger Field, BBN.

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2024-09-20