Onions! Bill Raftery watches Kentucky Basketball practice

The Joe Craft Center is celebrity central these days. On Friday, Karl-Anthony Towns stopped by Kentucky’s practice ahead of his UK Athletics Hall of Fame induction. On Saturday, it was SportsCenter anchor Michael Eaves, who was inducted into the UK Hall of Distinguished Alumni, and 1978 national champion Dwane Casey. On Monday, legendary college basketball broadcaster Bill Raftery was in the house to get his first glimpse of Mark Pope’s squad.

Kentucky posted some pictures of Raftery’s visit on social media, which show the CBS Sports and FOX Sports analyst shaking hands with Andrija Jelavic and Denzel Aberdeen, hugging assistant coach Mark Fox, and taking in practice from the sidelines. Hopefully, the Cats look better than the last time he watched Kentucky, the loss to Ohio State in the CBS Sports Classic last December.

A college basketball legend was in the house for practice yesterday.

Thanks for stopping by, Bill Raftery 👏🧅 pic.twitter.com/jmUl1Kea1d

— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) September 16, 2025

Raftery has been in broadcasting for 45 years, putting down the whistle and picking up the mic in 1980 after 11 years as Seton Hall’s coach. He started as a co-host of ESPN’s College Hoops Tonight and began calling New Jersey Nets games in 1982. The next year, Raftery joined CBS Sports’ college basketball coverage, and we’ve been treated to his famous lines ever since.

“Onions!”
“With a kiss!”
“Big fella!”
“Get those puppies organized!”
“Send it in, Jerome!”

One of my favorites came after Tayshaun Prince’s fifth three vs. North Carolina in 2001.

“Tayshaun is not a prince, he’s a king!”

Oh, to be in the seat next to Raftery yesterday. I wonder who impressed him the most?

The Field of 68 going live from Kentucky’s practice today

You’ll get a chance to peek into Kentucky’s practice today, or at least hear from the Cats. The Field of 68 is watching practice as we speak and will go live from Rupp Arena at 3:30 p.m. ET as part of their road trip series. Jeff Goodman and Rob Dauster stopped by KSBar and Grille this morning to share their thoughts on Mark Pope’s second Kentucky team and their new partnership with On3 | Rivals. I encourage you to pull it up on podcast if you missed it live. Goodman even cussed!

After practice is over, they’ll record a segment with Jack Pilgrim and Shawn Smith on Sources Say, which will air at 8 p.m. ET on the KSR YouTube Channel. Basketball content in September; how lucky are we?

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