KSR Today: Tre Mitchell is a Cat, LSU wins CWS
It was a very busy Monday around the KSR Compound(s) as the basketball team added another player, we got more details on the 2023-24 schedule, and yours truly turned another year older (but not quite 40!). Before we focus on your University of Kentucky Wildcats, let’s congratulate another SEC school, the LSU Tigers.
Last night, LSU beat Florida 18-4 in Game Three to win the College World Series for the seventh time in program history, the first since 2009. The victory came just 24 hours after the Tigers gave up the most runs ever in a Men’s College World Series game in an embarrassing 24-4 loss to the Gators. On Monday, the Tigers rebounded in resounding fashion, totaling 18 runs and 24 hits, the most ever in an MCWS game.
“We got punched in the mouth yesterday,” Tigers star Dylan Crews said. “That’s the beauty of baseball. You wake up in the morning and do it all over again. We woke up today and you could see on everybody’s faces that we were ready to go. Nobody in the country was going to beat us today.”
With two SEC teams in the finals, It Was Just Going To Mean More either way, but what a year for LSU, now the first Division I school to win a baseball and basketball (men’s or women’s) national championship in the same year. For Kentucky Baseball, at least the Cats were knocked out of the postseason by the eventual national champs. No shame in that.
So, congrats to LSU and its bevy of future major leaguers. I’m sure it was quite a scene in Omaha and Baton Rouge. As you might expect, Tiger fans dominated the CWS Jello Shot Challenge with almost 65,000 $5 Jello shots sold. After Saturday’s loss, LSU fan and Baton Rouge lawyer Gordon McKernan bought nearly 9,000 Jello shots for $44,444 as part of the rally effort.
Some hangovers are just worth it, right? Here’s what we’re focusing on closer to home.
We’re still celebrating the addition of Tre Mitchell
It’s been a roller coaster offseason for the Kentucky Basketball team but on Monday, the program got its second piece of good news in a week when West Virginia transfer Tre Mitchell joined the fold. The 6’9″ power forward signed with the Wildcats as a grad transfer, bringing some much-needed experience to a roster that includes seven freshmen. Just a few weeks ago, it looked like Kentucky might be sending a bunch of freshmen up to Toronto for the GLOBL Jam. Now, the Cats have some veterans too in Mitchell and Antonio Reeves, who rejoined the team last week.
Mitchell has played for three schools during his college career — UMass, Texas, and West Virginia — amassing 1,398 points and 597 rebounds in 102 career games, 92 of those starts. Last season at West Virginia, he averaged 11.7 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 1.8 assists in 30.0 minutes per game, shooting 47.0 percent overall, 36.4 percent from beyond the arc, and 78.9 percent from the free-throw line. Following Bob Huggins’ resignation following a DUI arrest, Mitchell entered the transfer portal, and thanks to his numerous ties to John Calipari and the opportunity at Kentucky, becoming a Wildcat just made sense.
“Kentucky basketball and its fan base speaks for itself,” Mitchell said in a press release from the program. “An opportunity to be a part of something like this doesn’t come around very often. Coach Cal is a Hall of Fame coach who understands the game and the players he wants to play for him, but it’s the lifelong relationships with his players that stood out to me the most. That only happens when you know someone cares about their players.
“My team and personal goals this year are one and the same, grow and win as much as possible,” Mitchell said. “With a young core, growth is on the horizon and it won’t hurt for these guys to have someone with experience in college basketball to lean on when they need it.”
“Tre is from Pittsburgh and I’ve known him for years,” John Calipari said. “This was a unique situation but as soon as he put his name in the portal, he was a player I knew we needed to pursue. He brings leadership, experience, size, and versatility and is a great fit for what we want to do. I know this is a win for us and I believe this will be a win for him, too. We are excited to have him as a part of our program.”
Tre Mitchell Commitment Link Dump!
- Tre Mitchell commits to Kentucky
- Comments from John Calipari, Tre Mitchell
- Film Room
- Impact
- Ties to Calipari (Pre-Commitment)
Jack Pilgrim and Shawn Smith hopped on the mics to break down Mitchell’s commitment on an emergency edition of the Sources Say Podcast:
Top 10
- 1Breaking
Phil Longo Fired
Wisconsin announces firing of OC
- 2
AP Poll Shakeup
New Top 25 shows big fallout from Saturday
- 3
JuJu Lewis
Elite QB decommits from USC
- 4New
5-star QB flip
Texas A&M commit Husan Longstreet flips to USC
- 5
Coaches Poll
Big changes to updated Top 25
Kentucky Basketball’s SEC home/away opponents revealed
That wasn’t the only basketball news we got yesterday. The SEC revealed the home and away opponents for the upcoming season, with dates and times to be announced. In addition to the Cats’ permanent home-and-away opponents Florida, Tennessee, and Vanderbilt, Kentucky will play Arkansas and Mississippi State twice. The Cats’ home-only opponents are Alabama, Georgia, Ole Miss, and Missouri, while the road-only foes are Auburn, LSU, South Carolina, and Texas A&M.
| 2023-24 SEC Home Games | 2023-24 SEC Away Games |
| Arkansas | Arkansas |
| Florida | Florida |
| Mississippi State | Mississippi State |
| Tennessee | Tennessee |
| Vanderbilt | Vanderbilt |
| Alabama | Auburn |
| Georgia | LSU |
| Ole Miss | South Carolina |
| Missouri | Texas A&M |
I’ll have more on Kentucky’s SEC schedule on the website later this morning.
Get a football fix with 11 Personnel
Too much basketball talk? Get your football fix with Nick Roush and Adam Luckett on 11 Personnel. With vacations upcoming, the two taped this week’s episode a little early, breaking down Kentucky’s recent additions to the 2024 recruiting class.
Yesterday morning, Luckett, Drew Franklin, and Freddie Maggard hosted a very special football edition of KSR featuring special guests Ryan Lemond and Cole Cubelic, so catch up on podcast for even more football talk.
An update on the KSR Tornado Relief Fund
KSR and the Kentucky Chamber Foundation partnered to raise almost $1.7 million for those impacted by the December 2021 tornadoes in Western Kentucky. Almost a million of that went to Habitat for Humanity. Yesterday, the homes built using the KSR Tornado Relief funds were dedicated, a very cool moment for those families, the community, and everyone who donated.
It’s Rob Dauster and John Fanta Day on KSR
Matt Jones is on vacation for the next few weeks, which means you’ll hear some different voices on the airwaves from 10 a.m. to noon. As mentioned, Drew Franklin, Freddie Maggard, and Adam Luckett kicked things off with a football-heavy show on Monday. Today, we’ll transition to hoops as Field of 68’s Rob Dauster and John Fanta step in.
Here’s the schedule for the rest of Matt’s vacation:
Monday, June 26: KSR Football PodcastTuesday, June 27: Field of 68 w/ Rob Dauster and John Fanta
Wednesday, June 28: Kyle Tucker and Kyle Mann
Thursday, June 29: Peter Burns
Friday, June 30: Lee Cruse and Hayley Harmon
Monday, July 3: Off
Tuesday, July 4: Off
Wednesday, July 5: Matthew Mitchell and Ryan Lemond
Thursday, July 6: Sources Say w/ Jack Pilgrim
Friday, July 7: Myron Medcalf and Billy Rutledge
Monday, July 10: Laura Rutledge
Tuesday, July 11: Brandon Walker
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