KSR Today: Field of 68 gives us a Kentucky Basketball fix
Tuesdays in September are usually reserved for updates from Bush Hamdan and members of Kentucky’s offense after practice, and catching up on whatever Mark Stoops said on Monday. Since it’s the bye week, our schedule is a little different. While the football team gets a breather, we’re switching gears to basketball with a little help from our friends — and new coworkers — at The Field of 68.
On Monday, the news broke that The Field of 68, the popular college basketball media network founded by Jeff Goodman and Rob Dauster, is partnering with On3 | Rivals. The Field of 68’s YouTube shows and podcasts will remain independent, but Goodman and Dauster will return to their roots as writers to provide written content for On3 and launch the network’s new college basketball message board. That’s huge news for us here at KSR, as we’ve been itching for some more college hoops talk around the On3 water cooler. Goodman, Dauster, and new Field of 68 writer Sam Lance will be familiar faces on KSBoard and our network of shows — starting today.
Goodman and Dauster are in Lexington to watch Kentucky practice as part of Field of 68’s road trip series, which also included stops at Indiana, Purdue, and Louisville. While at practice, they’ll interview Mark Pope and players, providing an onslaught of content for fans thirsty for it. Yesterday’s live stream at Louisville lasted almost two and a half hours, while the trips to Purdue and Indiana were just under two hours long, so we’re in for a treat this afternoon. The live stream starts at 3:30 p.m. ET.
KSR is getting the party started early. Before making their way to Rupp Arena to watch the Cats, Goodman and Dauster will come to KSBar and Grille to talk to Ryan Lemond and Jack Pilgrim about the new partnership and their expectations for Mark Pope’s new squad. Yesterday, they ranked Kentucky No. 7 in their preseason Top 25 — right behind Louisville. I expect Ryan and Jack to press them hard about that and maybe ask about Pat Kelsey’s claim that Louisville is “Point Guard U.”
Will Goodman and Dauster keep the Cards ahead of the Cats after seeing both teams in person? After going live from Kentucky’s practice on their YouTube Channel, they will sit down with Jack and Shawn Smith on Sources Say. Tune in tonight to hear their takeaways from practice and how Kentucky and Louisville stack up just 56 days before the showdown at the Yum Center. Make sure you’re subscribed to the KSR YouTube Channel so you don’t miss any of today’s content.
Basketball will be in the spotlight today, but there are other things happening in the world of UK sports.
Bush Hamdan talks Cutter, offense on Stoops’ radio show
It being the bye week, there was no Mark Stoops press conference on Monday. Stoops also passed his call-in show duties over to Bush Hamdan, Ty Bryant, and Josh Kattus. As you might expect, Hamdan didn’t make any headlines by naming a starting quarterback, but he did have plenty of praise for Cutter Boley.
“I think he was extremely decisive,” Hamdan said of Boley vs. Eastern Michigan. “From a decision-making standpoint, sometimes when you have a guy that hasn’t started a ton of games, they can tend to overthink things, if you will. We really tried to keep it not necessarily a simpler game plan for him, but just in his mind, of allowing him to play fast. Certainly, he made a lot of really nice throws, but I liked when things were not there, some of the running ability, the scrambles to make plays, I think that’s something we have to build on.”
Boley especially found a flow with the tight ends, who accounted for five of his 12 completions. Kattus attributed some of the tight ends’ success through three games to new tight ends coach Derek Shay, whose passion has helped bring the unit together. We’ll bring you those comments a little later this morning.
One other piece of football news: the South Carolina game will kick off at 7:45 p.m. ET on September 27 on the SEC Network. It feels like that game lives in that time slot, so get ready for Cats vs. Gamecocks under the lights at Williams-Brice Stadium, with “Sandstorm” blaring.
Reminder: We’ll hear from Stoops twice on Wednesday
You won’t have to wait too much longer to hear from Mark Stoops. We’ll hear from him twice on Wednesday, first during the SEC Coaches Teleconference around lunch and then again after Kentucky’s practice in the evening.
If you’re ready to talk some football, the KSR Football Podcast has you covered — kinda. In classic KSR Football Podcast form, the show got off the rails quickly with stories from Bourbon and Beyond and Fourth Street Live, but they eventually got to Kentucky’s win over Eastern Michigan.
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- 1Hot
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- 2Trending
Practice Updates
Field of 68 live from UK's practice
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- 4New
Bill Raftery
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Bye Week Blues
Mark Stoops struggles after off weeks.
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New basketball offers going out
Mark Pope and his staff have been making the rounds to check on prospects since the recruiting period began on September 3. Now, they’re handing out offers. On Monday, two 2027 recruits announced offers from Kentucky: top-ranked point guard Nasir Anderson and four-star shooting guard Beckham Black.
Kentucky’s staff visited Anderson and his Prolific Prep teammates, 2026 five-star guard Caleb Holt and 2027 No. 1-ranked prospect Bruce Branch, last week. The No. 7 overall prospect told KSR at the 3SSB Championships that they’ve been in contact daily. Now, he’s got an offer to show for it, as does Black, the No. 4 shooting guard and No. 16 overall prospect in the Rivals Industry Ranking. Black is the younger brother of Anthony Black, who played for Eric Musselman at Arkansas and is now in the NBA. He told Jacob Polacheck that Pope came to his school in Florida on Tuesday to extend the offer and visit with him and his teammates, Obinna Ekezie Jr. and C.J. Rosser, who already have offers from Kentucky.
“It was a really cool experience,” Black said. “He really just said he’s been watching us, likes what we’re doing, thinks we have a pretty good team at the school, and he believes in us.”
You can read more of that interview with Black over on KSR+.
Tyran Stokes is playing…football?
In other recruiting news, Tyran Stokes, the No. 1 overall player in the 2026 class, is putting on the pads this fall. Stokes participated in his first practice for Notre Dame Sherman Oaks on Monday. He’ll play wide receiver. Stokes is considered Kentucky’s top target, and while I applaud him for playing two sports while he can, we don’t need him getting hurt. Extra pads for him.
Vote for Aidan Laros for Ray Guy Punter of the Week
Aidan Laros’ impressive work this season is not going unnoticed. Kentucky’s senior punter was named one of “Ray’s 8” Ray Guy Award punters of the week on Monday for his performance vs. Eastern Michigan. Laros punted three times in the 48-23 win for an average of 50.7 yards. That brings his season average up to 44.71 yards, which ranks fourth in the Southeastern Conference and 23rd nationally.
We’re biased, but we believe Laros is better than the seven other punters honored. If you agree, you can help him win the fan vote here. Laros is also on the watch list for the Ray Guy Award, which will be handed out in December. We hope he wins that one, too.
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone is doing it again
The 2025 World Athletics Championships are underway in Tokyo, and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone is already breaking records. McLaughlin-Levrone, who has done everything there is to do in the 400m hurdles, is running the 400m flat at Worlds this year and just set an American record — in the semifinals. This morning, Sydney advanced to the finals with a time of 48.29, which shatters the 19-year-old American record of 48.70 set by Sanya Richards-Ross in 2006.
The 400m finals are on Thursday; will she break the world record of 47.60, set in 1985? That seems insane, but I wouldn’t bet against her. Go Syd, Go!
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