KSR Today: SEC Tournament Begins; Register for the KSR & On3 Bracket Challenge

Before we get into a very busy Wednesday, let’s take care of some housekeeping. Register now for the KSR and On3 Bracket Challenge presented by our good friends at Justice Dental! Invite your family and friends to play. Win prizes including gift cards from Kentucky Branded! Join the challenge today.

1) OVERALL On3 LEADERBOARD

• 1st place: $150 gift card to the Outsider Shop and 1 year FREE subscription to On3 (includes KSR+)
• 2nd place: $75 gift card to the Outsider Shop and 6 months FREE subscription to On3 (includes KSR+)
• 3rd place: $25 gift card to the Outsider Shop and 6 months FREE subscription to On3 (includes KSR+)

2) KSR LEADERBOARD

• 1st place: $50 gift card to Kentucky Branded and 6 months FREE subscription to KSR+
• 2nd place: $25 gift card to Kentucky Branded and 3 months FREE subscription to KSR+

---

It’s been a long, weird road, but we finally made it. Today, the 2023 SEC Tournament begins at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, tipping off five days of basketball, Dr. Pepper, Sunkist, Golden Flake, and Broadway B-Roll.

Kentucky doesn’t play until Friday night, but that’s not going to stop us from enjoying every minute of the action, starting with No. 12 South Carolina vs. No. 13 Ole Miss at 6 p.m. CT/7 p.m. ET, followed by No. 11 Georgia vs. No. 14 LSU. The winner of Georgia/LSU advances to play No. 6 Vanderbilt tomorrow for the chance to face No. 3 Kentucky on Friday night. All of those games will air on SEC Network, so get ready for a lot of Tom Hart, Dane Bradshaw, Jimmy Dykes, Karl Ravech, and Marty Smith.

Also get ready for a lot of reports from Bridgestone Arena. Drew Franklin and Jack Pilgrim are on their way to Nashville and will join me at the arena this afternoon. Tomorrow, our photographer Dr. Michael Huang and videographer Steven Peake join the fold, giving us a small army of folks on the ground along with the radio crew. Starting today, we’ll be bringing you all the behind-the-scenes shenanigans on the site, KSBoard, YouTube, and social media (Facebook, Instagram). I have a feeling the Session Threads on KSBoard will get pretty silly, so take advantage of our launch special to check it out.

Let’s start our rundown with the tournament schedule and bracket, and move on to other happenings in the Bluegrass.

SEC Tournament Schedule

All times Eastern

Wednesday, March 8

• 12 South Carolina vs. 13 Ole Miss | SEC Network | 7:00 PM
• 11 Georgia vs. 14 LSU | SEC Network | 9:00 PM

Thursday, March 9

• 8 Florida vs. 9 Mississippi State | SEC Network | 1:00 PM
• 5 Tennessee vs. Game 1 winner | SEC Network | 3:00 PM
• 7 Auburn vs. 10 Arkansas | SEC Network | 7:00 PM
• 6 Vanderbilt vs. Game 2 winner | SEC Network | 9:00 PM

Friday, March 10

• 1 Alabama vs. Game 3 winner | ESPN | 1:00 PM
• 4 Missouri vs. Game 4 winner | ESPN | 3:00 PM
• 2 Texas A&M vs. Game 5 winner | SEC Network | 7:00 PM
• 3 Kentucky vs. Game 6 winner | SEC Network | 9:00 PM

Saturday, March 11

• SEC Tournament Semifinal | ESPN | 1:00 PM
• SEC Tournament Semifinal | ESPN | 3:00 PM

Sunday, March 12

• Championship Game | ESPN | 1:00 PM

SEC Tournament Bracket

Kentucky players preview postseason

The team also departs for Nashville today, but before leaving Lexington, a few of the players will meet with the media to talk about the team’s thrilling win over Arkansas and mindset entering postseason play.

Of course, the biggest question on everyone’s mind is the health of Cason Wallace (ankle) and CJ Fredrick (rib). On Monday night, John Calipari said that neither Wallace nor Fredrick went through the hour-long practice on Monday and their availability for the SEC Tournament will be determined by how much time they spend on the court this week. If we do hear from Calipari this week, it will be Thursday night after Kentucky’s opponent is decided, so we’ll keep our ears to the ground for updates elsewhere.

Take advantage of our KSR+ Launch Special and join the conversation on KSBoard, the KSR+ Message Board.

College Basketball on TV today

Championship Week rolls on. Yesterday, Louisville’s season ended with an 80-62 loss to Boston College. The Cards wrapped up the season 4-28, 2-18 in ACC play, arguably the worst season in school history. You hate to see it.

Elsewhere, Northern Kentucky punched its ticket to the Big Dance with a 63-61 win over Cleveland State in the Horizon League Championship. Charleston (Colonial), Oral Roberts (Summit), and Gonzaga (WCC) also won their conference finals, and therefore, berths to the NCAA Tournament.

Here’s the schedule of games today. North Carolina will be fighting for its postseason life starting at 7 p.m. vs. Boston College:

TIME (ET)	MATCHUP	TOURNAMENT	TV
11:30 AM	St. Bonaventure vs Davidson	Atlantic 10 Tournament 2nd Round	USA Network
12:00 PM	Wake Forest vs Syracuse	ACC Tournament 2nd Round	ESPN
2:00 PM	Fresno State vs Colorado State	Mountain West Tournament 1st Round	Mountain West Network
2:00 PM	Richmond vs George Mason	Atlantic 10 Tournament 2nd Round	USA Network
2:30 PM	Georgia Tech vs Pittsburgh	ACC Tournament 2nd Round	ESPN
3:00 PM	Bethune-Cookman vs Grambling	SWAC Tournament Quarterfinal	ESPN+
3:00 PM	Colorado vs Washington	Pac-12 Tournament 1st Round	Pac-12 Network
3:00 PM	Butler vs St. John’s	Big East Tournament 1st Round	FOX Sports 1
4:30 PM	Air Force vs UNLV	Mountain West Tournament 1st Round	Mountain West Network
5:00 PM	Northwestern State vs Texas A&M-Corpus Christi	Southland Tournament Championship	ESPN 2, ESPN+
5:00 PM	Saint Joseph’s vs George Washington	Atlantic 10 Tournament 2nd Round	USA Network
5:30 PM	California vs Washington State	Pac-12 Tournament 1st Round	Pac-12 Network
5:30 PM	DePaul vs Seton Hall	Big East Tournament 1st Round	FOX Sports 1
6:00 PM	South Carolina State vs Howard	MEAC Tournament Quarterfinal	ESPN+
6:30 PM	UTEP vs Western Kentucky	Conference USA 1st Round	ESPN+
6:30 PM	Ohio State vs Wisconsin	Big Ten Tournament 1st Round	Big Ten Network
7:00 PM	Ole Miss vs South Carolina	SEC Tournament 1st Round	SEC Network
7:00 PM	Wyoming vs New Mexico	Mountain West Tournament 1st Round	Mountain West Network
7:00 PM	Mount St. Mary’s vs Iona	MAAC Championship Quarterfinal	ESPN+
7:00 PM	Texas Tech vs West Virginia	Big 12 Championship 1st Round	ESPNU
7:00 PM	Boston College vs North Carolina	ACC Tournament 2nd Round	ESPN
7:30 PM	Lafayette at Colgate	Patriot League Championship Final	CBS Sports Network
7:30 PM	La Salle vs Duquesne	Atlantic 10 Tournament 2nd Round	USA Network
8:00 PM	Delaware State vs North Carolina Central	MEAC Tournament Quarterfinal	ESPN+
8:00 PM	Georgetown vs Villanova	Big East Tournament 1st Round	FOX Sports 1
9:00 PM	LSU vs Georgia	SEC Tournament 1st Round	SEC Network
9:00 PM	Louisiana Tech vs Florida International	Conference USA 1st Round	ESPN+
9:00 PM	Minnesota vs Nebraska	Big Ten Tournament 1st Round	Big Ten Network
9:00 PM	Stanford vs Utah	Pac-12 Tournament 1st Round	Pac-12 Network
9:30 PM	Texas Southern vs Alcorn State	SWAC Tournament Quarterfinal	ESPN+
9:30 PM	UTSA vs Rice	Conference USA 1st Round	ESPN+
9:30 PM	Saint Peter’s vs Rider	MAAC Championship Quarterfinal	ESPN+
9:30 PM	Oklahoma vs Oklahoma State	Big 12 Championship 1st Round	ESPNU
9:30 PM	Virginia Tech vs NC State	ACC Tournament 2nd Round	ESPN
11:30 PM	Northern Arizona vs Montana State	Big Sky Championship	ESPN2, ESPN+
11:30 PM	Oregon State vs Arizona State	Pac-12 Tournament 1st Round	Pac-12 Network

Girls’ Sweet 16 begins at Rupp Arena

Rupp Arena will be hopping today as the Girls’ Sweet 16 begins. Owensboro Catholic and Bowling Green tip things off at 11 a.m., the first of four games. We’ll have multiple reporters on the scene to capture the action. Here’s today’s schedule and the complete bracket:

• 11:00 AM: Owensboro Catholic vs. Bowling Green
• 1:30 PM: Sacred Heart vs. Lawrence County
• 6:00 PM: Mercer County vs. George Rogers Clark
• 8:30 PM: Frederick Douglass vs. North Laurel

The Boys’ Sweet 16 is set

Last night, ten more teams punched their tickets to next week’s Sweet 16 at Rupp. Warren Central beat Bowling Green 52-50 in overtime, while Male and Trinity went to double overtime, with Male winning by two.

Travis Perry scored 33 points to lead Lyon County to its second straight 2nd Region Championship. He’s now only 21 points away from breaking King Kelly Coleman’s all-time state scoring record. He’ll have that chance next Thursday, March 16, at 1:30 p.m. as Lyon County takes on Newport. A potential matchup vs. Reed Sheppard and North Laurel awaits in the second round.

Kentucky Softball’s home opener vs. Dayton

The No. 14 Kentucky Softball team has played 18 games this season, zero at home. That changes today. Rachel Lawson’s squad will open the 2023 home season vs. Dayton today at John Cropp Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m. and you can also watch live on SEC Network+.

Kentucky is 12-5-1 this year, coming off an 11-0 win over UIC in the 2023 Oklahoma Tournament in Norman. After today’s game, the Cats hit the road for a weekend series vs. Missouri.

Kentucky Baseball hosts Ohio

Another diamond on campus will be busy this afternoon as Kentucky Baseball hosts Ohio. The Bat Cats improved to 10-2 yesterday with a 5-2 win over Murray State. Émilien Pitre hit his first career home run to put Kentucky on the board, becoming the fifth Wildcat to hit a homer this season.

Left on left crime!!@emilien_pitre with his first career #BigBlueBomb to make it 2-0 in the first!

SECN+ pic.twitter.com/Ipp6Xj5Qet

— Kentucky Baseball (@UKBaseball) March 7, 2023

First pitch of today’s game is scheduled for 4 p.m. You can watch live on SEC Network+.

Help send Kentucky Hockey to the National Championships in Boston

The Kentucky Hockey team earned a spot in the ACHA National Championships March 17-21 in Boston, but they need the Big Blue Nation’s help to get there. Hockey is considered a club sport and therefore not supported by the University, so the team started a GoFundMe to pay for the very expensive trip. Currently, they’ve raised $60K of their $80K goal. You can help them out by donating or buying one of these awesome t-shirts from Shop Local KY. One hundred percent of the proceeds go to the team’s travel fund.

KSR is at 5 Broke Girls in Horse Cave

On the way to Nashville, the gang is stopping at 5 Broke Girls in Horse Cave to try out what is supposedly the best burger in Kentucky. The show is closed to the public, but the restaurant will open as the show is ending, so if you’re in the area, come on by to send the guys off and get some great grub.