KSR Today: Arch Madness at SEC Media Days, Cats in the NBA Summer League

Monday was a busy one, especially for mid-July. SEC Media Days kicked off in Atlanta, La Familia held its media day ahead of The Basketball Tournament (TBT), and the NBA Summer League continued in Las Vegas. We even got a trailer for the new Netflix show about SEC football. We still have to wait until Thursday to hear from Mark Stoops and Kentucky’s representatives in Atlanta, but today, we’ll hear from four of the Cats’ 2025 opponents.

Let’s hop right in.

Arch Madness at SEC Media Days

SEC Media Days opened with a flurry of news from Greg Sankey, rumors about Nick Saban returning to coaching, and the Diego Pavia Show. Today, Arch Madness takes over Atlanta. Several big names are set to take the stage at the College Football Hall of Fame today, but none is bigger than Arch Manning. The Texas quarterback will make the rounds this afternoon, with every camera in the Peach State pointed in his direction.

The day starts with the other favorite to win the SEC, Georgia. Kirby Smart and a trio of Bulldogs will address reporters in the main room just after 10 a.m. Hugh Freeze and Auburn’s players will wrap up the morning session (we’ll see if Freeze responds to Lane Kiffin’s jokes about his golf game), and Tennessee’s Josh Heupel and the Volunteers will get things rolling after lunch. That all leads up to Texas coach Steve Sarkisian at 3:15 p.m. with superstar quarterback Arch Manning, linebacker Anthony Hill Jr., and defensive back Michael Taaffe talking to reporters shortly after. I’m sure Manning will find his way to the SEC Network set early in the day to get the buzz rolling.

Kentucky plays all four of the teams featured today this season, so we’ll be covering it all on the site, KSBoard, and YouTube.

SEC Media Days: Tuesday Schedule

• 8:30 AM: John McDaid, SEC Coordinator of Football Officials
• 10:05 AM: GEORGIA – Kirby Smart (CJ Allen, LB; Daylen Everette, DB; Gunner Stockton, QB)
• 12:15 PM: AUBURN – Hugh Freeze (Jackson Arnold, QB; Keldric Faulk, DL; Connor Lew, OL)
• 1:30 PM: TENNESSEE – Josh Heupel (Arion Carter, LB; Miles Kitselman, TE; Bryson Eason, DT)
• 3:15 PM: TEXAS – Steve Sarkisian (Anthony Hill Jr, LB; Arch Manning, QB; Michael Taaffe, DB)

Miss the headlines from Day 1? Let Nick Roush and Adam Luckett catch you up. Sankey’s comments made it sound like the league will stay at eight conference games, which is good news for the future of the Governor’s Cup.

Day 1 recap from the CFB HOF. Settlement, playoff, Diego Mania, and some more shenanigans.

Presented by @FriendsofCoalKY pic.twitter.com/re1oTspP8b

— Adam Luckett (@AdamLuckettKSR) July 14, 2025

Last night, Roush, Luckett, and Steven Peake attended a screening of the pilot of “Any Given Saturday,” Netflix’s new docuseries about SEC football. The show was filmed last season, with crews in Lexington for Kentucky’s losses to South Carolina and Louisville. Apparently, the former made the pilot, so the trio will tell you all about it at some point today. “Any Given Saturday” premieres on Netflix on August 5. Something to look forward to?

NEW 11 Personnel tonight

This week’s busy schedule has prompted some programming changes on the KSR YouTube Channel. 11 Personnel will go LIVE from Atlanta tonight to recap the first two days of SEC Media Days. Sources Say will move to Wednesday to preview the Peach Jam and La Familia’s run in The Basketball Tournament (TBT). While you wait, catch up on the latest episode of KSR Happy Hour, in which we talked SEC Media Days, TBT, basketball recruiting, NBA Summer League, shared AirBnBs, and the most surprising things in our TikTok/Instagram algorithms.

Subscribe to the KSR YouTube Channel for press conferences, interviews, original shows, fan features, and exclusive content.

ICYMI, Jesser will NOT play for La Familia in TBT

I hope you weren’t too attached to Jesser, the YouTube star with 31 million subscribers, because it turns out he’s NOT actually playing for La Familia, Kentucky’s alumni team in TBT. We found out yesterday that Jesser has a scheduling conflict and will not participate. Lexington native Marques Warrick, who played for Northern Kentucky and Missouri, will take Jesser’s spot, a significant upgrade when it comes to on-court skills.

That may have been the biggest piece of news to come out of TBT Media Day, but there were plenty of entertaining interviews. Ansley Almonor is happy to be back in Lexington after just a short time away, the first Cat of the Mark Pope era to join the team. Doron Lamb told KSR that if NIL were around during his playing days, he would have stayed at Kentucky for all four years and thrived, setting records and making millions. We’ll be rolling out content from interviews with the rest of the team as the day goes on, including some heartwarming comments from Kahlil Whitney about wanting to reconnect with Big Blue Nation after leaving Kentucky during the 2019-20 season.

While we write those stories up, enjoy 50 minutes’ worth of interviews below. La Familia begins its TBT run on Friday night vs. Stroh’s Squad at Memorial Coliseum (9 p.m. ET, FS1).

Another big night in the NBA Summer League

It was another big night for Jacob Toppin in the NBA Summer League. Toppin put up 12 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, and a steal in 15 minutes in the Hawks’ win over the Houston Rockets. His teammate Lamont Butler did not play as he deals with a minor injury. Amari Williams didn’t play in the Celtics’ game vs. the Heat either, getting a well-earned day of rest. Koby Brea started for Phoenix and scored just two points on 1-9 from the floor. Even Fuego can have an off night.

Before the games began, Kentucky’s guys met up to enjoy a meal, a scene captured by UK graduate assistant Austin Pope. Seeing Oscar Tshiebwe (and his cowboy hat) hanging out with the most recent alums makes my heart happy.

One of those Cats will be in action tonight. Andrew Carr and the Portland Trail Blazers take on the Memphis Grizzlies in the late game. Rob Dillingham and the Minnesota Timberwolves get the action started at 4:30 p.m. ET. Here is the complete schedule:

TIME (ET)	HOME	AWAY	TV/STREAMING
4:30 PM	Minnesota Timberwolves (Rob Dillingham)	Detroit Pistons	ESPN2, ESPN+
6:00 PM	Brooklyn Nets	New York Knicks (Lance Ware)	ESPN2, ESPN+
6:30 PM	OKC Thunder	Orlando Magic (Skal Labissiere)	NBATV, ESPN+
8:30 PM	Philadelphia 76ers (Justin Edwards)	Washington Wizards	NBATV, ESPN+
10:00 PM	Portland Trail Blazers (Andrew Carr)	Memphis Grizzlies	NBATV, ESPN+

Meet Trent Noah in Greensburg

Are you in or around Greensburg, Kentucky? Do you want to meet Trent Noah? Today is your lucky day. The Mountain Mamba is hosting a meet and greet at Forcht Bank in Greensburg from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m. Sounds like a great excuse to head to Green County on a Tuesday.

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Myron Medcalf takes over KSR

Who’s ready for a Merry Monday on a Tuesday? Myron Medcalf will join Ryan Lemond, Drew Franklin, and Shannon the Dude on today’s episode of KSR as Matt enjoys some vacation time. The fun starts in one hour on 630 WLAP and affiliates across the state, or right now on the KSR Preshow.