My Farewell to KSR

Well, as many of you know, this is the last time I will be posting on KSR as the UK Hoops beat writer. When I first started writing for the site at the wee age of 18, I had no idea how much of an impact it would make on my life. Matt Jones scared me within the first hour I met him, saying I had “serial killer eyes” and told me that my name was the greatest he had ever heard. I got placed on the women’s basketball coverage team with a fiery redheaded girl named Hayley Minogue. From the second I placed “KSR” at the end of my name on Twitter, I knew this was about to be something special…

It was clear from the start Hayley and I had struck gold with this assignment. We had the perfect combination of funny banter and serious news to make the readers truly CARE about women’s basketball (at least I hope so a little), which was something many people had never done before. It felt good to be able to publicize a team I truly began to fall in love with. We all know and admire the men’s basketball team here at UK, but the women’s team will always have a special place in my heart. Memorial Coliseum has become a second home for me, and getting to know the players and staff over the past four seasons has been utterly amazing. We’ve traveled near (Nashville, Knoxville) and far (Georgia and Connecticut) to cover this team, and I’ve enjoyed every second of it. Well, maybe not the last two hours of that 12-hour road trip to Bridgeport for the Sweet 16 in 2013…

Fast forward 3 calendar years and I can’t imagine my life without KSR. I’ve spent the past semester living with Hayley, documented heavily via Snapchat…she has become one of my best friends and it’s crazy to think it all started from awkwardly sitting on press row together being called “snorting pigs” by all of our friends in the media.

I want to thank Matt and Drew, because without you all well…I wouldn’t be writing this post right now. The original KSR College crew of Hayley, Ally Tucker, Tara Bilby, Nick Roush, Kristen Geil , John Wilmhoff and David Mulloy. Most importantly, I want to thank the women’s basketball program at the University of Kentucky. Watching you in person week in and week out has been the best part of my life in college, and I have learned so much from working with the staff at UK Athletics and Coach Mitchell himself that I am truly forever grateful for the opportunities I have had until now.

Thank you KSR. Thank you everyone who read. Thank you UK Hoops. Thank you friends and family for letting me constantly berate you with random women’s basketball facts. Thank you.

As I move on to the next chapter of my life in New York City, I promise to do so the only way I know how: in the most ridiculous manner possible. Until next time…

@WilderTreadKSR