KSR Today, presented by Eckrich: Kentucky MBB at SEC Media Days

Good morning, folks! Hello from beautiful (or something like that) Birmingham, AL, where I’ll be covering this week’s Southeastern Conference basketball Media Days today and tomorrow. Later this afternoon, we’ll hear from Kentucky men’s basketball head coach John Calipari and the two Wildcats he brought down with him, fifth-year veterans Antonio Reeves and Tre Mitchell.

Kentucky’s trio will be the sixth team to take the stage today, starting at approximately 12:55 p.m. EST on the SEC Network for press conference interviews. Less than an hour later at approximately 1:45 p.m. EST, the same three will participate in interviews with the SEC Network crew. Wednesday is being dedicated to the men’s teams while the women’s side is set to do the same throughout Thursday.

Speaking of, Kentucky WBB head coach Kyra Elzy and seniors Maddie Scherr and Ajae Petty will represent the Wildcats on Thursday at approximately 2:45 p.m. EST for their SEC Network interview and then at approximately 4:05 p.m. EST for press conference interviews. Just like the men’s side, all interviews will air live on the SEC Network. It’s going to be a busy couple of days talking hoops.

As you might have guessed, we’ll have plenty of immediate coverage of everything these Wildcats have to say over the next two days. KSBoard is going to be buzzing (new members can join for one whole American dollar). Kentucky football is facing a bye week (although we’ll still hear from head coach Mark Stoops during this afternoon’s SEC teleconference), so it’s time for a basketball takeover. Now let’s dive into the rest of today’s news and notes, but first, a quick word from our sponsor…

Eckrich is proud to present the $1 Million Challenge for Teachers! This 2023 college football season Eckrich, in partnership with Extra Yard for Teachers and Kroger, will invite a local teacher (and true hero) onto the field at the Kentucky vs. Alabama game on November 11^th. 

The selected teacher, randomly selected from a list of nominations, will have a chance to throw a football through a target to win up to $1 million dollars in donations to fund local classroom projects and resources in their school and community. Nominate a teacher here for a chance to throw! Make sure to nominate your teacher by October 26^th. 

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Preseason All-SEC honors

Ahead of today’s festivities, the SEC released Preseason All-SEC teams and this season’s predicted order of finish, as voted on by the media, on Tuesday afternoon. To no surprise, Kentucky men’s basketball had a couple of familiar faces crack the All-SEC Teams. Five-star freshman Justin Edwards was named to the First Team while Antonio Reeves was tabbed to the Second Team. Texas A&M’s Wade Taylor IV was voted Preseason SEC Player of the Year.

As a team, the Wildcats are projected to finish fourth in the SEC behind Tennessee, Texas A&M, and Arkansas, respectively. Earlier this week, Kentucky debuted at No. 16 overall in the preseason AP Poll — the lowest preseason ranking of the Calipari era.

SEC Men’s Basketball Preseason Media Poll

1. Tennessee
2. Texas A&M
3. Arkansas
4. Kentucky
5. Alabama
6. Auburn
7. Mississippi State
8. Florida
9. Missouri
10. Ole Miss
11. Vanderbilt
12. Georgia
13. LSU
14. South Carolina

Preseason All-SEC First Team

• Grant Nelson, Alabama
• Trevon Brazile, Arkansas
• Johni Broome, Auburn
• Justin Edwards, Kentucky
• Tolu Smith, Mississippi State
• Santiago Vescovi, Tennessee
• Wade Taylor IV, Texas A&M

Preseason All-SEC Second Team

• Mark Sears, Alabama
• Davonte Davis, Arkansas
• Riley Kugel, Florida
• Antonio Reeves, Kentucky
• Zakai Zeigler, Tennessee

Preseason SEC Player of the Year: Wade Taylor IV, Texas A&M

As for Kentucky WBB, Elzy’s group is projected to finish 13th — second-to-last — in the SEC this season and did not have any Preseason All-SEC members. Personally, I fully expected to see Scherr make an All-SEC team, but when LSU (the defending national champions that will start the season ranked No. 1) accounts for over one-third of the players recognized between both teams, I probably should have known better.

New Sources Say is here

To help get us ready for today’s basketball talk, the Sources Say crew of KSR’s Jack Pilgrim and Go Big Blue Country’s Shawn Smith sat down last night for a new edition of everyone’s favorite hoops podcast. Jack and Shawn covered everything that’s happened for Kentucky basketball over the last week, touching on Pro Day, Big Blue Madness, the AP Poll ranking, and the arrival of Zvonimir “Big Z” Ivisic, while also providing a preview of Saturday’s Blue-White Game.

(For those wondering, the football podcasts are still on schedule despite the bye week. Stay tuned to the KSR YouTube channel later tonight for a fresh episode of 11 Personnel with Nick Roush and Adam Luckett. They’ll go live at 8:00 p.m. EST.)

Subscribe to the KSR YouTube Channel for press conferences, interviews, original shows, fan features, and exclusive content.

Shane Beamer just can’t help himself

South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer just makes it too easy sometimes. The Gamecocks completely melted down over the weekend against Florida, resulting in a 41-39 home loss to the Gators. But Beamer’s coaching performance wasn’t the worst thing that happened over the weekend. It was him breaking his foot during an apparent postgame tantrum, which he revealed to reporters on Tuesday.

“I broke my foot on Saturday, so I’d rather just get it out there and say it. And not have y’all speculating and then after the game on Saturday at Missouri you ask,” Shane Beamer said. “I called coach [Ray] Tanner, told him, made sure he was OK with it and he died laughing when I told him. So I guess there’s not a lot of empathy from him. It was after the game, and certainly that was a gut-wrenching, emotional loss, and I was frustrated and kicked something that I shouldn’t have kicked.

He added, “I thought I was OK, but the adrenaline of the game wore off, and before anybody starts the narrative like, ‘The head football coach is frustrated and lost his poise,’ and all that. No, I care. I care about these kids, and I was really upset on Saturday night because I didn’t do enough to help them get over the hump and win the football game.”

Never change, Shane. Please.

Jayden Quaintance moves back Kentucky OV

Five-star class of 2024 center Jayden Quaintance was expected to take his official visit to Kentucky this weekend, but with the team traveling to Northern Kentucky University for the annual Blue-White Game, Quaintance has elected to push that back one week. KSR’s Jack Pilgrim reports that the 6-foot-10 big man will instead come to Lexington next weekend (Oct. 27-29) in order to receive the full official visit experience.

This move allows Quaintance to attend Kentucky’s exhibition game against Georgetown College on Friday, Oct. 27 at Rupp Arena. Since he didn’t turn 16 years old until July, he’ll have to spend at least two years in college. Come on down, Jayden.

Men’s Soccer hosting Georgia State

This evening at The Bell in Lexington, Kentucky men’s soccer (3-6-3) will host Georgia State as the Wildcats look to end a three-game draw streak. In fact, UK will look to win its first match since a 3-2 victory over Lipscomb back on Sept. 8 — seven matches ago.

Meanwhile, Georgia State (5-4-4) will look to build a two-game winning streak after taking down Georgia Southern 1-0 on Friday. Georgia State and Kentucky have only met twice in history (2013, 2022), both results favoring the Wildcats. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. EST on ESPN+.

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