KSR Today: Kentucky baseball in the SEC Baseball Tournament
Good morning, folks! It’s time to cheer on the Bat Cats.
Despite splitting the SEC regular season title with Tennessee, Kentucky checks in as the 3-seed in the 2024 SEC Baseball Tournament, which began on Tuesday in Hoover, AL. Tennessee tied with UK in the standings in the SEC East while Arkansas led the SEC West, dropping the ‘Cats down to the 3-seed. But if Nick Mingione (the SEC Coach of the Year, by the way) and his group are as good as they’ve played all season long, the seeding shouldn’t matter.
Up first for the Bat Cats is the 11-seed LSU Tigers. First pitch is coming up quickly — 10:30 a.m. EST on the SEC Network — so make sure you’re in position later this morning. Don’t get tripped up by the new “double first base” rule, either.
Kentucky’s road to the SEC Championship and then the College World Series begins in less than two hours. KSR’s Daniel Hager will be at the Hoover Met Stadium throughout the entirety of the Bat Cats’ run, so we’re all hoping he stays away from Lexington for the next few days. He’ll have plenty of updates on social media and on KSBoard. A preview for today’s matchup can be found here.
Don’t miss a second of the action. This team is special. Time to stack some wins.
New Sources Say in your feed
In this new era of Kentucky men’s basketball, there is no offseason. That’s especially true right now, as the coaching staff spent all weekend evaluating high school prospects across the country and then hosted a pair of visitors earlier in the week. Can’t keep up with it all? That’s what the Sources Say podcast is for.
KSR’s Jack Pilgrim and Shawn Smith dove into the Chaz Lanier and Jaxson Robinson situation, what the deal is with Vanderbilt decommit Jamie Vinson, and everything Jack saw during his weekend in Indianapolis while following the coaching staff. Sources Say breaks down the latest in episode 336 of the show.
Another June official visitor
The month of June will be a busy one for the Kentucky football staff with dozens of official visitors arriving in Lexington for weekend trips. We can add another name to the already extensive list.
Naples (FL) Community School tackle Taren Hedrick caught up with Gators Online on Tuesday. The high three-star prospect has locked in five official visits set to begin next weekend. Ole Miss (May 31-June 2), Florida (June 7-9), Texas A&M (June 14-16), Purdue (June 21-23), and Kentucky (June 28-30) will each get an official visit from the rising senior.
Hedrick is ranked No. 568 overall in the class of 2025 by the On3 Industry Ranking. He clocks in at 6-foot-5, 305 pounds.
Nike EYBL (Indy) recap
The third Nike EYBL session of the season wrapped up in Indianapolis over the weekend. KSR has been hard at work to pump out as much content as possible from the event. With more still on the way, here’s a quick rundown of everything we’ve talked about from Indy up to his point.
- Hudson Greer hears from Kentucky, intrigued by blue-blood status — and the work that comes with it
- 4-star Shelton Henderson in regular talks with Kentucky assistant Alvin Brooks
- KSR’s takeaways from day one of the Indianapolis Nike EYBL session
- Everyone Mark Pope watched on day one of EYBL Session III in Indianapolis
- 5-star Will Riley talks Kentucky after dropping 42 points in Indianapolis
- Kentucky re-offers No. 1 recruit AJ Dybantsa under Mark Pope
- 5-star Darryn Peterson says ‘Kentucky is still Kentucky’, expects to visit again
- KSR’s takeaways from day two of the Indianapolis Nike EYBL session
- Mark Pope and Jason Hart fly to Texas to watch recruits at 3SSB
- 5-star CG Trey McKenney calls it a ‘blessing’ to be recruited by Kentucky
- Who Kentucky coaches watched over a busy AAU weekend
- 4-star SG Davion Hannah hoping for Kentucky offer, learning from Tyler Herro
- 5-star SF Will Riley reportedly planning to visit Kentucky in June
- 5-star PF Caleb Wilson ‘would like to hear’ from new Kentucky staff
- ’26 No. 1 recruit Brandon McCoy had Kentucky written on his wall as a kid, wants to hear from Mark Pope
AD, Bam named All-Defensive First Team
On Tuesday afternoon, the NBA announced the 2023-24 All-Defensive First and Second Teams. Making the First Team were Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo and Los Angeles Lakers center Anthony Davis.
The one-time Kentucky players were joined on the First Team by Defensive Player of the Year winner Rudy Gobert (Timberwolves), rookie Victor Wembanyama (Spurs), and Herb Jones (Pelicans). Of note, Wembanyama is the first rookie to make All-Defensive First Team since the league introduced the honor in the 1968-69 season.
For Adebayo, this is his debut on the All-Defensive First Team after being named to the Second Team the last four seasons. Earlier this month, he finished third in Defensive Player of the Year voting behind Gobert and Wembanyama. Meanwhile, Davis, who has made the All-Defensive Second Team two times throughout his career, cracked the All-Defensive First Team for the third time.
Tonight at 8:00 p.m. EST on TNT, the league will announce the 2023-24 All-NBA Teams. Expect a few former Wildcats to make the cut.
WBB transfer visitor?
KSR’s Phoenix Stevens has some intel over on KSBoard about a surprise visitor this week for Kenny Brooks and Kentucky women’s basketball. Brooks is only a piece or two away from completing his debut roster for the 2024-25 season.
Who does he have on campus right now? Click the link here to find out.
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