KSR Today: Weekend recap, NBA news, Matt's return, and more

There were two big winners in the sports world over the weekend: Kentucky Football’s offense in the Blue-White Game and Scottie Scheffler at Augusta National Golf Club. One responded to Saturday morning snow flurries in Lexington with a promising performance in the annual intrasquad spring scrimmage. The other ruined a promising Sunday on the couch by ridding the Masters of any excitement with a runaway win that was never really in doubt. The new No. 1 player in the world four-putted the 18th to win his fourth tournament in 57 days and his first major tournament by three strokes.

Second-place finisher Rory McIlroy gave it his Sunday best with a 64, but Scheffler’s lead was too much to overcome.

What a way to finish. McIlroy holes out on No. 18 to put pressure on the leader. #themasters pic.twitter.com/L5fWWbR9cj

— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 10, 2022

Now for more Kentucky Football talk and other things to know on this Monday morning…

Blue-White Spring Game Reactions

If you didn’t digest enough spring game content from Saturday and Sunday, here’s a link dump from the weekend to warm you up for more to come throughout the day. It’s still football time in the Bluegrass.

Kentucky Offense Shines Bright During Cold 2022 Spring Football Game
Will Levis hype will not slow down after a strong spring showing
Buzz is building at Kentucky for safety Jordan Lovett
Tayvion Robinson provides short area playmaking for Kentucky passing game
Kentucky Offense Shows Promise in 2022 Spring Game
Simplicity Led to Mixed Results from Kentucky Defense on Saturday
Rich Scangarello, new offense has Kentucky Football “excited”
LOOK: 2022 Kentucky Football Spring Game Photo Gallery

Mark Stoops’ Saturday Press Conference

Highlights From The Game

Spring practice resumes this week

In years past, Kentucky’s Blue-White scrimmage marked the end of its 15-practice spring schedule. This year, however, the Wildcats left room for another week of practice after their spring game and they will return to the training facility for more spring practices in the days ahead. They’re off today to regroup from a busy weekend, both on the field and off, and tomorrow Kentucky will practice to clean up anything the tape showed from Saturday.

We’ll hear from more players and coaches tomorrow as spring ball wraps up.

Will Levis and John Young attended the Masters

In case Will Levis and John Young didn’t have enough fun in the spring game, they flew to Georgia on Sunday to attend their first Masters.

I flew today with 2 INCREDIBLY talented college football players today who were going to their 1st @TheMasters @UKFootball is in GREAT HANDS this year! @the_johnyoung and @will_levis I can't WAIT to see you play!! What a DAY!! #beforeandafterphotos pic.twitter.com/3goomMRefN

— Shawn Parr (@DJ_Shawn_Parr) April 11, 2022

Rough life for Will Levis these days.

Kentucky Basketball Roster Watch

Add four-star center Aaron Bradshaw and Louisana Tech transfer Kenneth Lofton Jr. to the list of names on Kentucky’s board for the future. Bradshaw still has another year of high school basketball to play at Camden, where he is a teammate of super-recruit DJ Wagner Jr and could really help lock down Calipari’s most important recruit, while bringing his own 7-foot game to Lexington. Bradshaw officially earned his Kentucky offer over the weekend with Kentucky in attendance for his big weekend on the Nike EYBL circuit.

Lofton is a potential target for next season’s roster. The Louisiana Tech big man is considering turning pro but will also listen to other programs around college basketball for this future. It’s a long list and Kentucky is on it. The 6-foot-7, 275-pound forward averaged 16.5 points and 10.5 rebounds for La Tech in his sophomore year.

Remember, you can keep up with the chaos that is Kentucky’s offseason in KSR’s Kentucky Basketball 2022-23 Roster Tracker.

Immanuel Quickley messed around and got a triple-double

From the NBA, former Kentucky guard Immanuel Quickley played the best game of his young career in the final game of his sophomore year. With the Knicks out of the playoffs, Quickley saved his best stuff for the regular-season finale where he scored a career-high 34 points with a career-high 12 assists and 10 rebounds in a win over Toronto in the Garden.

Frank Vogel fired in Los Angeles, per ESPN report

Also from the NBA, University of Kentucky alum Frank Vogel is out as head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers. Vogel coached the Lakers for three seasons until he took the fall for the disappointing season in Hollywood. Vogel signed an extension back in August, but missing the playoffs was too much to overcome.

After the Lakers’ Sunday overtime win to end the season with a 33-49 record, Vogel told reporters, “I haven’t been told s— and I’m going to enjoy tonight’s game, celebrate what these young guys did in terms of scratching and clawing and getting back in this game and getting a W, and we’ll deal with tomorrow, tomorrow.” ESPN and others say he’s gone.

Unfortunately, Vogel’s firing will open the door for more conversations about John Calipari’s candidacy to replace him on the Lakers’ sideline. I personally can’t imagine that happening, but brace yourselves for those rumors because it’s an offseason tradition around here.

Ryan Lemond and I are in for Shannon and Billy on the KSR Preshow

Shannon The Dude and Billy R Sports took a vacation at the same time (although, not together, I don’t think) so Ryan Lemond and I will step in to host the KSR Preshow this morning. Tune in at 9 a.m. to hear our thoughts on Kentucky’s spring game and the weekend. We’ll be joined by Freddie Maggard for the second half-hour for his Blue-White takes and opinions.

Then on the KSR show…

Matt Jones returns to the radio from vacation

Matt is back at the KSR microphone following a week’s vacation last week. He’ll have plenty to say about everything that occurred while he was away, including more on these tweets he fired off late last week. Tune in at 10 AM!

What has become clear is that while Calipari still does a great job with top 20 talent, he is better off getting transfer portal players than guys ranked 20-50. Those dudes almost never work here as Frosh and don’t stay after

Top 20 guys and older transfers are best for Cal

— Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) April 7, 2022

I still will never understand why Bryce Hopkins had his breakout game against LSU and then Calipari says “I have to play him more now.”

He then plays a combined 7 minutes in the final 6 games of the year…6 games where Kentucky never really looked good again

— Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) April 7, 2022

Calipari is a great dude and a terrific coach. Fans want to love him. But the reality is that he has made that difficult the last two years

He can fix that if he wants. But he has to make changes and show it’s a priority to win them over. It is up to him to want to do it

— Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) April 7, 2022