KSR Today, presented by Justice Dental: The SEC Tournament begins

Bring on the Madness! Follow along with the KSR crew throughout the postseason as we bring you behind-the-scenes coverage in the most ridiculous manner possible. Welcome to our Justice Dental March Game Day Central! 

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Good morning, friends, and welcome to the most wonderful time of the year. Conference tournaments have been going on all week, but now, it’s time to catch the fever. Tonight in Tampa, the 2022 SEC Tournament begins, the culmination of a fun and intense conference season.

No. 13 Ole Miss vs. No. 12 Missouri tip things off at 6 p.m. ET on the SEC Network, followed by No. 14 Georgia vs. No. 11 Vanderbilt. The winner of Georgia vs. Vanderbilt will advance to play Alabama tomorrow, and potentially Kentucky on Friday night. Does Tom Crean have a little magic left in him or is tonight his final game as the Bulldogs’ head coach? We’ll soon find out.

Here’s the tournament bracket. Our pal Tom Hart will be on the call for both games tonight alongside Daymeon Fishback and Alyssa Lang.

Kentucky heads to Tampa

Matt Jones and Drew Franklin are en route to Tampa as we speak. Tonight, Ryan Lemond and Shannon the Dude will join them, and tomorrow, Jack Pilgrim and I will make our way to Amalie Arena to bring you all the behind-the-scenes coverage. After getting in one final practice in Lexington, the Kentucky Basketball team will depart for Tampa late this afternoon. Yesterday, TyTy Washington, Sahvir Wheeler, and Oscar Tshiebwe met with the media on Zoom to preview the tournament and talk about their new SEC awards. All three said the Cats are in a great mindset heading into the postseason.

“It’s really life or death, really,” Washington said. “We’re taking every game one at a time. We know we lose, we’re going back home and we want to stay out in Tampa as long as we can. So the goal is just to stay together, stay connected, buy into what coaches are saying, and ultimately just get wins.”

“You take it one game,” Wheeler said. “We’re trying to win it, obviously, but we’re also trying to make sure we do what we’re doing to get ready for the NCAA Tournament, you know, playing for seeding making sure we can be the highest seed that we can, making sure we’re continuing to get better as a team.”

“For me, I’m going to go exactly with the same mindset to go out there and just keep dominating,” Oscar said. “Keep dominating. Because now, we’re done with the regular season. Now it’s dogfights. If you don’t fight, you know you’re going back home. I don’t think I’ll be ready to go home soon. I’ve got to keep fighting. I think I’m going to get my teammates the same Mamba Mentality and just fighting.”

TyTy Washington

Sahvir Wheeler

Oscar Tshiebwe

TyTy invites Tom Brady to Friday’s game

After yesterday’s practice, TyTy Washington decided to shoot his shot, inviting the greatest quarterback of all time to Kentucky’s game Friday night.

A special message from @tytywashington3 for @TomBrady.

We’ve got your seats saved 😼 pic.twitter.com/qS2J7PlTJP

— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) March 8, 2022

Kellan Grady: World’s Best Granddad

Elsewhere on social media, Kellan Grady showed off his new shoes, a nod to TyTy’s nickname for him.

Tampa forecast looks soggy

If you’re also headed to Tampa, pack a raincoat. The forecast looks soggy, with temperatures all over the place.

At least we’ll be avoiding the snow that’s supposed to hit the Kentucky and Tennessee area on Friday night, right?

Girls’ Sweet 16 begins

Back home in Lexington, the Girls’ Sweet 16 tips off today at Rupp Arena. Boyd County and Meade County are first up at 11 a.m. followed by Bullitt East vs. Bethlehem. In the night session, McCracken County plays Southwestern at 6 p.m. and Henderson County plays Franklin County around 8:30 p.m. KSR will be in the house to bring you all the coverage. If you missed it bright and early this morning, Zack Geoghegan posted a preview. Here’s the bracket:

The Boys’ Sweet 16 Bracket is set

Last night, ten more teams punched their tickets to the Boys’ Sweet 16: Muhlenberg County, Warren Central, John Hardin, Jeffersontown, North Oldham, Covington Catholic, George Rogers Clark, Lincoln County, Perry County Central, and Ashland Blazer. The bracket for next week’s event is now set:

Champ Week continues

Last night, Bellarmine beat Jacksonville to win the ASUN Championship, but unfortunately, the Knights aren’t headed to the Big Dance because they are still in the four-year transition period to becoming a full Division I member. Instead of Bellarmine or Jacksonville, Jacksonville State will get the ASUN’s automatic bid because they won the regular-season title. As KSR’s Wynn McDonald explained, it is a very dumb situation.

Five more teams won their conference tournaments last night to advance to the NCAA Tournament: Gonzaga (WCC) South Dakota State (Summit League), Wright State (Horizon League), Delaware (CAA), and Bryant (Northeast). A fight broke out toward the end of the NEC Championship between Wagner and Bryant:

Today’s college basketball schedule is loaded, with all of the major conference tournaments joining the fun.

Game	Conference	TIME ET	TV
Sacramento State vs. Idaho	Big Sky First Round	11:30 am	ESPN+
Florida State vs. Syracuse	ACC Second Round	12:00 pm	ESPN
La Salle vs. Saint Joseph’s	Atlantic 10 First Round	1:00 pm	ESPN+
New Mexico vs. Nevada	Mountain West First Round	2:00 pm	MWN
Portland State vs. Idaho State	Big Sky First Round	2:00 pm	ESPN+
Wake Forest vs. Boston College	ACC Second Round	2:30 pm	ESPN
Arizona State vs. Stanford	Pac-12 First Round	3:00 pm	PAC12N
Texas Southern vs. Jackson State	SWAC Quarterfinal	3:00 pm	ESPN+
Rhode Island vs. Duquesne	Atlantic 10 First Round	3:30 pm	ESPN+
Xavier vs. Butler	Big East First Round	4:30 pm	FS1
Eastern Washington vs. Northern Arizona	Big Sky First Round	4:30 pm	ESPN+
Air Force vs. Utah State	Mountain West First Round	4:30 pm	MWN
Oregon vs. Oregon State	Pac-12 First Round	5:30 pm	PAC12N
Ole Miss vs. Missouri	SEC First Round	6:00 pm	SECN
Northwestern vs. Nebraska	Big Ten First Round	6:00 pm	BTN
Norfolk State vs. Delaware State	MEAC Quarterfinal	6:00 pm	ESPN+
Houston Baptist vs. UIW	Southland First Round	6:00 pm	ESPN+
Charlotte vs. Rice	Conference USA Second Round	6:30 pm	ESPN+
Fresno State vs. San Jose State	Mountain West First Round	7:00 pm	MWN
St. John’s vs. DePaul	Big East First Round	7:00 pm	FS1
Virginia Tech vs. Clemson	ACC Second Round	7:00 pm	ESPN2
Kansas State vs. West Virginia	Big 12 First Round	7:00 pm	ESPN2/U
Louisiana Tech vs. Marshall	Conference USA Second Round	7:00 pm	ESPN2+
Iona vs. Rider	MAAC Quarterfinal	7:00 pm	ESPN2+
Navy vs. Colgate	Patriot League Championship	7:30 pm	CBSSN
Howard vs. Coppin State	MEAC Quarterfinal	8:00 pm	ESPN+
Penn State vs. Minnesota	Big Ten First Round	8:30 pm	BTN
Vanderbilt vs. Georgia	SEC First Round	8:30 pm	SECN
UTEP vs. Old Dominion	Conference USA Second Round	8:30 pm	ESPN+
Washington State vs. California	Pac-12 First Round	9:00 pm	PAC12N
Sam Houston vs. California Baptist	WAC Second Round	9:00 pm	ESPN+
Northwestern State vs. McNeese	Southland First Round	9:00 pm	ESPN+
Seton Hall vs. Georgetown	Big East First Round	9:30 pm	FS1
Virginia vs. Louisville	ACC Second Round	9:30 pm	ESPN2
Florida Atlantic vs. Southern Miss	Conference USA Second Round	9:30 pm	ESPN+
Alcorn State vs. Prairie View A&M	SWAC Quarterfinal	9:30 pm	ESPN+
Saint Peter’s vs. Fairfield	MAAC Quarterfinal	9:30 pm	ESPN+
Washington vs. Utah	Pac-12 First Round	11:30 pm	PAC12N
Abilene Christian vs. Utah Valley	WAC Second Round	11:30 pm	ESPN+

Kentucky Baseball hosts Ohio

Yesterday, the Kentucky Baseball team moved to 11-2 on the season with a 9-1 win over Murray State. Today, the Bat Cats host Ohio at Kentucky Proud Park. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m. You can also watch on SEC Network+.

Behind-the-scenes on Kentucky WBB’s game-winning play

Kentucky WBB’s thrilling run in the SEC Tournament got the SEC Inside treatment last night. This clip of Kyra Elzy drawing up the game-winning play and her players executing it to perfection is priceless.

.@UKCoachLZ draws up the game-winning play for @KentuckyWBB 🏆

SEC Inside: SEC WBB Tournament | 7 PM ET pic.twitter.com/rlay6rX6rH

— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) March 8, 2022

If you missed the 30-minute behind-the-scenes special, it will replay at 12 and 2:30 p.m. ET today on SEC Network or you can stream it anytime on SEC Network+. The entire Kentucky WBB vs. No. 1 South Carolina game will be on SEC Network at 12:30 p.m.

Jackie Moon makes an appearance at the Warriors game

Will Ferrell is ready for some basketball. The actor resurrected his character from Semi-Pro, Jackie Moon, at last night’s Golden State Warriors/LA Clippers game:

Jackie Moon, meet Jackie Moon pic.twitter.com/WtRSFzmc0B

— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) March 9, 2022

Just going to throw a Jackie Moon half-court shot onto your feeds for some extra halftime entertainment 👏 pic.twitter.com/BoeQHBtfjk

— Chase Center (@ChaseCenter) March 9, 2022

That’ll do it. With Matt and Drew in the air, Shannon the Dude, Billy Rutledge, and Ryan Lemond are in control of the show today, which is bound to lead to chaos. The fun starts now on the KSR Preshow on 630 WLAP and iHeart Radio.