KSR Today: Father's Day, Camp season, and the College World Series

Good morning, folks! And a Happy Father’s Day to all of the great dads across the Big Blue Nation. How did your old man like that multi-colored tie you got him? The design of tiny golf clubs was a nice addition this year. Now get that man in front of a TV with the US Open on — there’s a couch to be sat on this afternoon.

Not for Mark Pope, though. His Father’s Day celebration will have to wait just a bit longer. As of Saturday, he and a couple of his 2025-26 Wildcats — freshmen Jasper Johnson and Malachi Moreno — are in Colorado Springs for the 2025 USA Basketball Men’s U19 Training Camp. Held at the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Training Center, the camp runs from June 14 through June 22. Johnson and Moreno were two of 32 players invited, but only 12 can make the finalized roster. Pope is serving as one of the camp’s assistant coaches, where he’ll not only work with his current Kentucky players but also have a chance to develop relationships with the several top-ranked high school recruits who are also competing.

KSR’s Jack Pilgrim is on the scene and will be providing regular updates throughout the day and the rest of his stay in Colorado. He’ll be dropping plenty of nuggets over on KSBoard. Send Jack some Happy Father’s Day messages, too.

No room on the private jet, but you better believe we’re meeting the Cats in Colorado Springs

KSR’s top storylines to watch ahead of USA U19 Training Camp with Mark Pope, Jasper Johnson, Malachi Moreno and many, many more: https://t.co/72Bf1uZqya https://t.co/cOp6wkUs1K pic.twitter.com/5ztEYwBONY

— Jack Pilgrim (@JackPilgrimKSR) June 15, 2025

Now let’s dive into the rest of this morning’s top news and notes.

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College World Series updates

We’re all Murray State fans right now, but the Racers dropped their College World Series opener on Saturday, losing to UCLA 6-4 after going down 6-0 early on. The Racers made a last-ditch effort in the eighth inning in a comeback attempt, but the Big Ten champions held on late. Murray State (44-16) will play again on Monday afternoon in Omaha in the elimination game against a top-10 Arkansas squad. First pitch is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. ET on ESPN.

On the other side of the bracket, another Bluegrass team will take the field later today. Louisville looks to avoid elimination this afternoon at 2:00 p.m. ET (ESPN) against Arizona. The Cardinals dropped their CWS opener to Oregon State, 4-3, on Friday. We are not all Louisville fans right now.

Bat Cats building top portal class

Nick Mingione knows how to work the transfer portal. He’s on a heater right now as Kentucky baseball continues to reload ahead of the 2026 season. On Saturday, the Bat Cats added another high-level portal prospect, Elon catcher Alex Duffey. The redshirt junior (6-0, 210) slashed 349/.463/.479 in 2025 and earned All-CAA Second Team honors along the way.

Below is Kentucky’s current incoming portal class for 2026.

• C Alex Duffey (Elon)
• RHP Kaden Echeman (Northern Kentucky)
• RHP Burkley Bounds (Eastern Kentucky)
• RHP Jack Bennett (Western Kentucky)
• RHP Bryson Treichel (North Florida)
• RHP Ryan Mullan (Loyola Marymount)
• INF Tyler Cerny (Indiana)
• RHP Connor Mattison (Grand Canyon)

UK Football hosting Mega Camp

Riding some much-needed recruiting momentum (in spite of Vince Marrow‘s departure for Louisville), Kentucky football will get a first-hand look at a large group of offensive and defensive linemen this afternoon. UK is hosting the O-Line & D-Line Mega Camp from 1:30-5:00 p.m. today at Kroger Field. It’s a camp designed specifically for linemen in the high school ranks (with some college transfers potentially sprinkled in) looking to earn an offer, surprise the coaches, or simply get better at the game of football.

I’ll be making the trip over there later today to see if anyone stands out. Kentucky has found plenty of players at these camps over the years — will more emerge from this one?

Final round at the 2025 US Open

Could we have a first-time major championship winner crowned at Oakmont Country Club on Father’s Day evening in Western Pennsylvania? That certainly seems possible. 28-year-old Sam Burns fired a one-under 69 one day after a five-under 65 to claim a 54-hole lead at the U.S. Open. Three other players remained within three shots when closing day wrapped up on Saturday evening. Below is the top of the leaderboard ahead of Sunday morning’s tee times.

Place	Player	Score	Round Summary
1	Sam Burns	-4	72-65-69
T-2	Adam Scott	-3	70-70-67
T-2	J.J. Spaun	-3	66-72-69
4	Viktor Hovland	-1	71-68-70
5	Carlos Ortiz	E	71-72-67
T-6	Tyrrell Hatton	+1	73-70-68
T-6	Thriston Lawrence	+1	67-74-70
8	Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen	+2	69-74-69
T-9	Robert MacIntyre	+3	70-74-69
T-9	Cameron Young	+3	70-74-69

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