KSR Today: Louisville City FC, Weekend Recap, and Saying Goodbye To College Basketball

Pour a little coffee on the office carpet for 2022-23 this morning because it is the last day of the college basketball season. Later tonight, San Diego State and UConn will play in the national championship game–just like everyone predicted–and when it’s over, college basketball is over until next fall.

Sure, there are still player decisions to track around Kentucky’s locker room, the NBA Draft, and a trip to Canada after that, so it’s never truly over for fans of Kentucky’s basketball program.

But the book will be closed on a bizarre season for the sport and a disappointing one for its former gold standard in the Bluegrass. Either San Diego State or UConn will soon end it all with either the first title in school history for the Aztecs out of the Mountain West or a third for UConn since John Calipari has been at Kentucky.

Tip-off is at 9:20 p.m. with Jim Nantz on the CBS broadcast for a final time.

Now, other things to know on this Monday morning while we count down until tonight’s game, beginning with a message from our friends at Louisville City FC:

Louisville City FC is set to face neighboring Lexington SC at Lynn Family Stadium in Louisville on Wednesday, April 5 at 7pm in the second round of the US Open Cup! The second Round sees non-Major League Soccer professional teams enter the Open Cup. The history-filled tournament is open to all professional and amateur teams affiliated with U.S. Soccer. LouCity belongs to the USL Championship, America’s second division, and Lexington SC will open play this year in the third-division USL League One.

LouCity has advanced as far as the Open Cup’s Quarterfinals back in 2018 and last year, the boys in purple won three games in the tournament.

Don’t miss the new intrastate rivalry on the pitch this Wednesday and enjoy $2 beers in the Fan Zone leading up to the match! Call 502-LOU-CITY or visit LouCity.com/tickets to buy.

LSU won the women’s championship yesterday.

Before the men’s game determines its champion, the women’s tournament crowned LSU its national champion Sunday afternoon in Dallas. Kim Mulkey’s Tigers beat Caitlin Clark and Iowa, 102-85, to win LSU’s first-ever women’s basketball championship and the sixth for Mulkey, her fourth as a head coach after winning one as a player and another as an assistant coach, both at Louisiana Tech.

Clark had thirty in the losing effort, while LSU had three players score 20 or more–tournament M.O.P. Angel Reese not included.

It’s the last full week of spring football practice in Lexington.

With Saturday’s open practice behind them, Kentucky Football has one more full week of spring ball before the fifteenth practice marks the end of the spring season in Lexington, at least for NCAA-sanctioned team practices. Tomorrow, we will likely hear from offensive coordinator Liam Coen about the latest on his side of the ball, specifically, updates on Leary fitting in at QB, the offensive line rebuild, and the defense winning the weekend.

Defensive coordinator Brad White will likely speak about the defense on Thursday for the last time.

This past Saturday, Mark Stoops had plenty to say after the team welcomed the fan base inside its practice gates for an open practice session, a watered-down replacement for the traditional spring game in 2023. Kentucky cannot play a Blue-White spring game due to turf renovations in Kroger Field.

Stoops was a little happier than he was after the previous Saturday’s practice. Though bothered by the wind in Lexington, the team improved for its scrimmage in front of a crowd.

Hear all Stoops had to say once it was over:

Some of the players took questions after practice, too.

Watch highlights and KSR’s recap from Saturday’s open practice session.

For all Kentucky Football fans unable to attend Saturday’s open-door event, KSR’s own Steven Peake was there with his fancy camera equipment to capture some of the best moments from the afternoon. He also sat down with our resident expert, Adam Luckett, to review the day for a Rapid Reaction. Hit play on the video below to see the sights from the second-to-last Saturday of spring practice.

Kentucky Baseball swept Mizzou in a three-game series.

16th-ranked Kentucky Baseball is still on fire, and on Sunday, the Wildcats completed a sweep of No. 25 Missouri in Lexington. A little closer than the run-rule wins on Friday and Saturday, Kentucky earned its first-ever sweep of Missouri with a 3-1 win in Kentucky Proud Park, putting Kentucky in a tie with South Carolina for second in the SEC East at 8-1 in conference play and 25-3 overall.

Tomorrow, Kentucky hosts Dayton in Lexington at 6:30 p.m.

Kentucky Softball still in a three-game series at Georgia.

Tonight on SEC Network, you can watch the third game of Kentucky Softball‘s series at Georgia, where the Wildcats are playing to avoid a sweep in Athens after the Dawgs won Game 1 and Game 2–yesterday by one run.

After tonight’s game, the team will rest until returning to the road for a weekend series at Ole Miss.

Look away.

Shaedon Sharpe’s last 7 games:

27 Points – 6 Rebounds – 6 Assists
27 Points – 3 Rebounds – 5 Assists
30 Points – 7 Rebounds – 7 Assists
12 Points – 8 Rebounds – 1 Assist
29 Points – 5 Rebounds – 3 Assists
24 Points – 4 Rebounds – 2 Assists
24 Points – 9 Rebounds – 3 Assists pic.twitter.com/H6GcpSsoQn

— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) April 2, 2023

Did you sign up for KSR’s golf scramble?

On June 12, the 2023 Lexington edition of the KSR Golf Scramble will be at Boone’s Trace National Golf Club, which is in Richmond, not Lexington. We’ll do the show there from 10 a.m. to noon before teeing off around one o’clock for an 18-hole, four-person scramble. Each team will receive lunch, green fees, cart rentals, KSR branded apparel, and more.

Get signed up here.

Get signed up for KSR+.

A friendly reminder of the spring special for the new KSR+ website and accompanying message board. Right now through the end of the summer, you can sign up for one flat rate of $10 until the monthly subscription kicks in at the kickoff of the next college football season.

KSBoard is getting great reviews in addition to the recruiting and football stories from Jacob and Adam, the KSR+ writers.

Sign up for KSR+ here.

Kentucky Sports Radio’s morning show is on vacation this week.

The following five KSR shows will be replay episodes starting today as the crew takes a week off for vacation. To be clear, the show is taking the week off because Ryan and Shannon planned a vacation together without telling Matt or me, so their selfish actions forced all of us into a break.

Though disappointed, I will be OK because today I am driving to Augusta, Georgia, for a bucket list father-son trip to the Masters.

So thanks, Ryan and Shannon. My dad is pumped.

Go Cats.