KSR Today: Bat Cats in SEC Tournament, Braydon Hawthorne's decision, and NBA Conference Finals

Good morning, folks! It’s postseason time for Kentucky baseball. Is another historic run to the College World Series in store for Nick Mingione’s crew this season? The path to get there will be tougher compared to last season, starting with today’s single-elimination SEC Tournament.

(13) Kentucky will open the tournament in Hoover, AL, against (12) Oklahoma, a team the Wildcats just swept at home earlier this month. At the time, the Sooners were ranked in the top 15 nationally. But UK comes into this week having recently blown three opportunities to beat a top 10 Vanderbilt squad on the road. Even still, Kentucky is expected to make the NCAA Tournament (currently projected as a three-seed), but a couple of insurance wins this week would go a long way toward locking in that status. Hell, a few wins could bump UK up to a two-seed.

Kentucky-Oklahoma will be the second game of the day. Game 1 begins at 10:30 a.m. ET, with the ‘Cats and Sooners scheduled to begin approximately 30 minutes after it ends (somewhere around 2:30 p.m. ET is a good guess). Led by freshly minted All-SEC Freshman performer Tyler Bell, UK could use a big win this afternoon. Make sure you’re following KSR’s Daniel Hager on social media and KSBoard for live updates from Hoover.

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Braydon Hawthorne Decision Day

Talented wing Braydon Hawthorne, one of the biggest stock risers of the spring, is set to make his college decision tonight at 7:00 p.m. ET. The 6-foot-8 native of West Virginia (and a former WVU commit) is down to five finalists: Kentucky, Duke, Pitt, West Virginia, and Virginia Tech. Hawthorne was in Lexington for an official visit in mid-April.

The Wildcats, which have 13 scholarship players on board (Otega Oweh included) for the 2025-26 roster, are fully in the mix as we enter Decision Day. Hawthorne would likely be a developmental piece if he were to choose UK. On3 ranks him as the 35th-best prospect from the 2025 recruiting class.

The NBA Conference Finals begin tonight

In total, six former Kentucky Wildcats will make up the four teams that made the NBA’s Conference Finals. One (Isaiah Jackson; IND) is out due to injury and another (rookie Rob Dillingham; MIN) is unlikely to see much playing time, but the other four will be prominently featured. Three of them will be in action tonight for Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals.

We’ll have the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder playing host in the first two games of the series against the 6-seed Minnesota Timberwolves. MVP frontrunner Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will be joined by second-year stud Cason Wallace in the Thunder backcourt, while Julius Randle will look to continue his excellent postseason run for the Timberwolves.

Tipoff in OKC is set for 8:30 p.m. ET on ESPN. Karl-Anthony Towns and his New York Knicks begin their Eastern Conference Finals journey on Wednesday night against the Indiana Pacers.

Reed and Pope in London, KY

Reed Sheppard was among the first people who made it out to southeastern Kentucky following the devastating tornadoes that tore through the area on Friday night and into Saturday morning. Come Sunday, Kentucky MBB head coach Mark Pope passed up on some recruiting to join him in recovery efforts. That provided us with this great group photo of the two Wildcats (along with a pair of Pope’s daughters and Sheppard’s dad, Jeff) and some of the folks also helping out.

If you would like to contribute to relief efforts, head over to http://teamkystormrelieffund.ky.gov. Or you can call The Red Cross at 1-800-RED-CROSS for more information.

Brock Vandagriff proposed to his now-fiancée with a deer antler

Brock Vandagriff, who recently retired from football after the 2024 season with Kentucky, is a true outdoorsman. On Monday, he posted pictures of his proposal to his longtime girlfriend Layton, but with help from some unusual props. Vandagriff got down on one knee and handed her a deer antler with “Will you marry me?” painted on it.

She said yes, and the pictures show a happy outdoor couple.

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A post shared by Brock Vandagriff (@brockvandagriff)

NBA Mock Draft updates on Brea, Oweh

Following the conclusion of Sunday’s NBA Draft Combine, a handful of new mocks were released to the viewing public. Kentucky’s Koby Brea was mentioned in all of them, while Otega Oweh’s name popped up only once. ESPN, Yahoo! Sports, Bleacher Report, and Sports Illustrated all updated their mock drafts. Oweh’s lone mention was by SI, which has him going 58th overall.

Here is where the four outlets mentioned above have Brea landing:

• ESPN: No. 54 | Indiana Pacers
• Yahoo! Sports: No. 34 | Charlotte Hornets
• Bleacher Report: No. 43 | Utah Jazz
• Sports Illustrated: No. 55 | Los Angeles Lakers

The NBA Draft is June 25-26. Oweh has until May 28 to pull his name from the draft pool or return to Kentucky for a senior season.

Kentucky is favored to beat Toledo

The Kentucky football season is just over 100 days away from opening kickoff. Up first on the schedule is Toledo at Kroger Field on August 30. And according to initial betting odds from DraftKings, Kentucky is a 12.5-point favorite to beat the Rockets. ESPN’s SP+ power rankings had that number a few points lower at Kentucky -10.5.

If you don’t want to handicap Kentucky vs. Toledo, but still want a little action on this year’s football team, the future wagers are open for business. Over at DraftKings, Kentucky has a win total of 5.5 (over +150, under -180). FanDuel has set the line at 4.5 (Over -130, Under +104).

More Kentucky News and Views on the KSR YouTube Channel

Kentucky Sports Radio has expanded its coverage of the Wildcats in the most ridiculous manner possible on our YouTube Channel. Here you will be able to find interviews with coaches and players, as well as commentary from the KSR crew. From Rapid Reactions following big events to our lengthy lineup of live shows, subscribe to the KSR YouTube Channel to stay up to date on everything happening around the Big Blue Nation.