KSR Today: Early Spring is coming, Liam Coen is gone
It’s Groundhog Day in more ways than one. The morning started with Punxsutawney Phil not seeing his shadow, meaning an early spring is coming — great news, right? It’s the first time he’s predicted it since 2020. Who cares about his 40 percent hit rate dating back 137 years when warm weather is on the table.
A half-hour later, our life as Bill Murray finally came to an end as Liam Coen got the hell out of town, clearly his goal all offseason. After floating his name out there for every job opening in America — wouldn’t shock me if he called Bryan Station about its OC job — he finally got what he was looking for: a play-calling job in the NFL, settling on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers under Todd Bowles.
Ian Rapoport and Mike Garafolo of NFL Network reported the news Friday morning, announcing the Bucs are working on a deal to hire Coen as their new offensive coordinator.
Coen came to Kentucky the first time around in 2021, then left the following offseason to take the OC job with the Los Angeles Rams in 2022. After a one-year stint there, he returned to Lexington in 2023, saying at the time he wanted to stick around for the long haul.
“I’m not in a rush to go anywhere,” he said. “I want to go try to make an impact and be around somewhere for a little while. … I just want to kind of go somewhere, make a real impact and plant some roots a little bit, be somewhere for a few years, at least, that you feel really good about.”
Those roots were about as strong as Charlie Brown’s Christmas tree, ripping them out of the ground and replanting them in Tampa.
At least “I Got You Babe” by Sonny & Cher can stop playing in my head now.
Cats prepare for Vols
Speaking of moving on, Kentucky’s got some moving on to do on the hardwood. The good thing about tough losses in SEC play is the turnaround forces you to hit reset quickly, especially for late-night Wednesday games. Kentucky falls in a heartbreaker to Florida, you get your 24 hours to sulk and get reactionary takes off before the focus moves to Tennessee. Can’t be feeling too sorry for yourself with the No. 5 team in college basketball coming to town.
KenPom currently projects an 80-78 loss for the Cats, giving the home team a 43 percent chance to pull off the win. Bart Torvik expects Tennessee to be favored ever-so-slightly — essentially a pick ’em — with a projected score of 80-79, Kentucky with a 48 percent chance to win. ESPN’s Matchup Predictor leans toward KenPom, giving the Cats a 42.3 percent shot at home.
Tipoff is scheduled for Saturday at 8:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.
Reed Sheppard, Adou Thiero preview matchup
How will Kentucky respond after the frustrating loss this week? Sheppard and Thiero will break down the team’s mindset ahead of the top-10 rivalry battle, meeting with the media on Friday at 1:15 p.m. ET.
KSR will have boots on the ground with coverage to follow.
Therapy session with Sources Say
Need some time to get over the Florida finish? We’ve got you covered there, too. A new episode of Sources Say dropped Thursday evening, talking through the loss and what it means in the long term.
I promise you’ll feel better about where things stand moving forward if you tune in. Cross my heart and hope to die.
Kentucky breaks All-Star record
Hey, how about some good basketball news? A record seven former Wildcats earned NBA All-Star accolades on Thursday, the most ever by a single school. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was already named a starter, and then six more were added to the list to close out the week.
BBNBA Eastern Conference All-Stars
- G Tyrese Maxey (PHI; 1-time All-Star) 25.7 PPG, 3.6 RPG, 6.6 APG, 1 SPG | 44.8/37.3/86.4
- FC Bam Adebayo (MIA; 3-time All-Star) 20.6 PPG, 10.6 RPG, 4.2 APG, 1 SPG, 1 BPG | 50.1/9.1/78.1
- FC Julius Randle (NYK; 3-time All-Star) 24 PPG, 9.2 RPG, 5 APG | 47.2/31.1/78.1
BBNBA Western Conference All-Stars
- G Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (OKC; 2-time All-Star) 31.3 PPG, 5.6 RPG, 6.4 APG, 2.2 SPG | 54.5/34.8/89.2
- FC Anthony Davis (LAL; 9-time All-Star) 24.9 PPG, 12.1 RPG, 3.7 APG, 1.2 SPG, 2.3 BPG | 55.4/31.5/80.5
- G Devin Booker (PHX; 4-time All-Star) 28.3 PPG, 4.9 RPG, 7.3 APG | 50.2/38.8/87.8
- G Karl-Anthony Towns (MIN; 4-time All-Star) 22.7 PPG, 8.7 RPG, 3.1 APG | 52.2/44.3/87.2
That won’t hurt with recruiting.
WBB Cats lose a heartbreaker
Make that three straight losses for Kyra Elzy and the women’s basketball program, this time a 77-74 overtime defeat against Mississippi State.
Maddie Scherr finished with 19 points on 7-17 (41.2%) shooting while adding eight rebounds and five assists. Senior forward Ajae Petty messed around and got a double-double with 11 points (4-11 FG) and 10 rebounds.
Kentucky will move on and face the other Bulldogs of the SEC, taking on Georgia in Athens on Sunday.
9-13 overall and 2-6 in conference play ain’t good, folks. Not good at all.
Has anyone checked on Ryan Lemond?
Darius Rucker is in some hot water following a misdemeanor arrest in Tennessee on Thursday. The country star was charged with three counts of simple drug possession and casual exchange and one count of violation of registration law in Tennessee, released on a $10,500 bond later that day.
Hope Ryan is doing OK this morning.
Minor setback for a major comeback.
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