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KSR Today: NBA Draft, Antonio Reeves, and more football commits

Zack Geogheganby: Zack Geoghegan06/22/23ZGeogheganKSR
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Photo by Stacy Revere | Getty Images

Good morning, folks! Wednesday was certainly a big one for University of Kentucky Athletics. From the return of an important basketball player to the addition of two recruits on the gridiron, there truly never is an “offseason” when it comes to UK sports. Here at KSR headquarters, we certainly love to see it.

But before we dive straight into all that, tonight is the 2023 NBA Draft, where a handful of former Wildcats will hope to hear their names called by Commissioner Adam Silver to begin their professional careers. Cason Wallace is the lone first-round hopeful of the bunch, with high potential to wind up as a lottery pick. Mock drafts vary on where the 6-foot-4 guard will ultimately land, but the consensus is somewhere in the first round.

As of Thursday morning, Wallace is projected to go No. 18 to the Miami Heat by ESPN, No. 14 to the New Orleans Pelicans by The Athletic, No. 16 to the Utah Jazz by The Ringer, and No. 15 to the Atlanta Hawks by Yahoo! Sports. Bovada has Wallace’s draft position set at 13.5 — right on the line of the lottery. We’ll find out where his new home is later tonight.

But Wallace isn’t the only draft hopeful from Kentucky. Chris Livingston, Oscar Tshiebwe, and Jacob Toppin will also be in the mix. Mock drafts seem to believe that Livingston is going somewhere in the second round with Tshiebwe just missing out on being one of the 58 draft picks. Unfortunately, Toppin’s name is nowhere to be found in any mock drafts.

The Draft is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. EST on ESPN/ABC live from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY.

Antonio Reeves is BACK

The Kentucky men’s basketball roster received a massive boost for the 2023-24 season on Wednesday when the biggest question mark of the offseason was finally answered. Antonio Reeves is officially returning to UK for his final season of college basketball after endless rumors of his potential departure over the last couple of months.

The fifth-year senior had previously enrolled at Illinois State for summer classes to work toward graduation status. That also could have potentially opened the door for a portal entry as a grad transfer, with other schools lurking as interested suitors in the SEC Sixth Man of the Year. But now, UK has confirmed that Reeves is back on campus and preparing for another season in the blue and white.

The 6-foot-4 scoring machine averaged 14.4 points per game last season while shooting 41.6 percent from the floor, 39.8 percent from distance, and 78.3 percent from the free-throw line. Considering how much youth John Calipari’s team is going to have to deal with this season, Reeves’ return is a welcome sight for the Big Blue Nation. KSR’s Jack Pilgrim explained the impact in-depth here.

Speaking of Mr. Pilgrim, he and Go Big Blue Country’s Shawn Smith busted out an episode of Sources Say yesterday afternoon to break down Reeves’ return, the addition of Joey Hart, what to make of Aaron Bradshaw‘s foot injury, and much more.

It was an especially jam-packed edition that you’ll want to check out sooner rather than later (there’s also some NBA Draft talk at the end with yours truly).

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#Yahtzee X2!!

The dice were hot on Wednesday as Kentucky football picked up two commitments throughout the day. To kick things off, three-star class of 2024 running back Tovani Mizell made his pledge to the Wildcats live on Kentucky Sports Radio. A former Georgia commit, the 6-foot-1, 195-pound back chose UK over the likes of North Carolina and Oklahoma — a significant recruiting win for head coach Mark Stoops and company.

Mizell formed immediate relationships with new running backs coach Jay Boulware and offensive coordinator Liam Coen. The Fort Lauderdale (FL) Western product was on campus this past weekend for an official visit to UK, where he quickly learned that this was his new “home away from home”.

“I would say the main reason why was the relationship I’ve got with Coach (Jay) Boulware and Coach (Liam) Coen,” Mizell said during Wednesday morning’s edition of KSR. “I have a really strong relationship with them. While I was on the trip I got to build my relationship even stronger with Coach (Mark) Stoops and Coach (Vince) Marrow, so I think that was pretty cool. When I was there on campus it just felt like family. All the coaches were very cool and easy to talk to.”

Make sure to check out Adam Luckett’s Film Room breakdown of Mizell here.

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Later in the day, to the surprise of us all, another commitment was added to Stoops’ 2024 recruiting class. Three-star ATH Jiquavious Marshall announced that he has also committed to the Wildcats.

Marshall is the No. 539 ranked prospect in the 2024 On3 Industry Ranking. The Macon (GA) Westside rising senior visited Kentucky last week and was scheduled to take an official visit to Georgia Tech (June 23-25). Florida State previously hosted the 6-foot-4 defensive back for an official visit. Florida, Michigan, and Nebraska were also involved in this recruitment, but defensive backs coach Chris Collins dipped into the state of Georgia for a big recruiting win for the ‘Cats.

After a slow start to Kentucky’s 2024 recruiting class, the momentum is picking up and even more commitments are expected in the very near future. UK now has eight commits locked in with four of them coming in the last three days. Keep those dice rolling…

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2025-09-14