New Louisville head coach Pat Kelsey gave a speech at Rupp Arena today

In a fun turn of events, two (soon to be?) rival basketball coaches spent Thursday in each other’s city. Kentucky’s Mark Pope was in Louisville for the Kentucky State Fair while Louisville’s Pat Kelsey was in Rupp Arena for the Reed Sheppard Fantasy Experience.

We already talked today about Pope’s trip to the annual State Fair, where he and his wife, Lee Anne, attended the 60th annual Kentucky Farm Bureau Country Ham Breakfast and Charity Auction. The Popes didn’t end up leaving with the prized country ham — that would be Joe and Kelly Craft, who forked over a mere $10.5 million for the pig meat — but it sure looked like they were enjoying themselves.

After all, when you get to hang around Vince Marrow while Oscar Tshiebwe is holding up the expensive ham like a WWE title belt, how could you not have fun?

But in a turn of events that’s arguably even more interesting to the Big Blue Nation, Kelsey made an appearance in Rupp Arena. He did more than just soak in the location of where his Cardinals will lose a basketball game in a few months, too. Kelsey gave a speech during the business summit portion of the Reed Sheppard Fantasy Experience, joking on social media that “the apocalypse may be upon us”.

Spoke this morning at the business part of the Reed Sheppard Experience at an arena in downtown Lexington 🤷‍♂️. Mark Pope was at an event in Louisville. This week’s sign that the apocalypse may be upon us 😜. Carry on and have a great rest of your day. #Faith #Basketball #Business pic.twitter.com/qm8kryssCm

— Pat Kelsey (@patkelsey) August 22, 2024

Pat Kelsey cracking jokes and getting claps in Rupp Arena in the month of August. Sometimes the truth is crazier than a lie.

PK has taken 5+ pages of notes. I kinda like him… damn it.

“I’ll run back to campus to apply what I’ve learned today.” pic.twitter.com/qIC52BfGQK

— Big Blue Drew (@BigBlueDrew33) August 22, 2024

It pains me to say that Kelsey seems like a fun guy, but it helps that Kentucky and Louisville haven’t played each other yet under the new coaching staffs. Also, since he’s familiar with the arena now, Kelsey should know exactly where to go once the final buzzer sounds in December after Kentucky’s 25-point win.

The Reed Sheppard Fantasy Experience is about more than just Pat Kelsey using big words in a business meeting though. KSR’s own Jack Pilgrim is participating in the Basketball Fantasy Camp part of this event, where he’s dropping nuggets of info and intel over on KSBoard all day long.

Take advantage of our KSR+ HOMEGROWN Special to get bonus coverage of the Cats, including game threads, in-depth scouting reports, and the latest recruiting and roster intel. Use promo code HOMEGROWN for 50% off the annual price.