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KSR Today: Kentucky moves on from Donnie Freeman as the Transfer Portal closes

Tyler-Thompsonby: Tyler Thompson04/21/26MrsTylerKSR

It was a rough Monday in Big Blue Nation, with Donnie Freeman committing to St. John’s over Kentucky, just 24 hours after the Cats were considered the frontrunners. Rick Pitino’s heel turn of taking a starting forward from Mark Pope is proof that the transfer portal is ruthless, even when it comes to coaches and their former players.

With Freeman and Sebastian Rancik, who got tired of waiting for Kentucky to wait for Freeman, off the board, Kentucky will look elsewhere to fill out its frontcourt. Unfortunately, as of right now, pickings are slim. James Madison forward Justin McBride will visit on Wednesday, but was considered a depth piece before Freeman’s decision. There are a few Hail Marys in the portal in Allen Graves (Santa Clara) and Milan Mimcilovic (Iowa State), but both are also testing the NBA Draft waters and will be expensive. Kentucky has serious ground to make up with its other big-name frontcourt targets, Saint Mary’s Paulius Murauskas and Iowa’s Alvaro Folgueiras.

The transfer portal closes at 11:59 p.m. ET tonight, so a new wave of players may enter before the deadline. Compliance offices have 48 hours to process the paperwork, so some new names could pop up even after the deadline. Players currently in the portal have as long as they like to make their decision, but by the end of today, we will know for certain the group of talent Mark Pope and his staff have to choose from. We’ll also know whether or not Braydon Hawthorne will be back next season or explore his options elsewhere. Given Freeman’s decision, Hawthorne could be more important to next year’s roster than we realized.

Over 2,500 players have entered the transfer portal so far, just under last year’s total of 2,700. It could top that number by midnight. As of this morning, here is where we stand with Kentucky’s roster:

Mo Dioubate committed to LSU last night, but not before sending this goodbye message to BBN:

Go be great, Mo. We’ll miss you.

Visits set for later this week

A new name joined Kentucky’s big board on Monday. Washington State transfer guard Jerone Morton will visit Kentucky on Friday. The Winchester native led George Rogers Clark to the state title in 2022 and a runner-up finish in 2023. He spent his first two years of college at Morehead State before transferring to Washington State. Now, he’s entertaining the idea of joining Kentucky’s roster as a depth piece.

Tomorrow, Kentucky will host two visitors, USC center Gabe Dynes, another Kentucky native, and, as mentioned, James Madison forward Justin McBride. With Freeman headed elsewhere, the staff will be working the phones in an effort to get more forwards on campus.

What keeps happening once players get to campus? The staff has gone silent, but the trickle of intel we do get is bad, like this report from Trilly Donovan. Again, Kentucky had Freeman as close to the finish line as you could before things fell apart. Now, we may know why it did.

There is other news happening today, including a very big rivalry game. That’s where we’ll head next, after a word from today’s sponsor.

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Kentucky Baseball goes for a sweep at Louisville

Two weeks ago, Kentucky bounced back from a series loss to Missouri with a 4-2 win over Louisville at Kentucky Proud Park. Tonight, the Bat Cats will look to do the same at Jim Patterson Stadium (7 p.m. ET, ACC Network), the first of four road games this week.

Both teams are coming off series losses, Kentucky’s to Vanderbilt at home and Louisville on the road at Cal. Kentucky has dropped five straight SEC series, all coming down to the final game, and is now 26-12, 8-10 in SEC play. Louisville is 22-18, 7-11 in ACC games. This weekend, Kentucky travels to South Carolina, one of just four SEC series remaining this season.

It’s been tough sledding lately for Nick Mingione’s group, which is dealing with illness, injuries, and pitching woes, but tonight, they can get back in the win column and complete the sweep of their archrival. Our Ls will be extra down tonight.

You can meet Will Stein at Kroger on Wednesday

Want to meet Will Stein? You’ll get your chance on Wednesday. He’ll be at the Newtown Springs Kroger in Lexington tomorrow afternoon from 1 to 3 p.m. Everyone who attends will get a free poster, and the first 200 people in line will get Stein’s autograph. While he’s there, maybe we’ll get a video of him sharing his favorite Kroger items? I wonder if hummus is on the list.

NBA Playoffs roll on

There were plenty of blowouts over the weekend in the NBA Playoffs, but for the most part, last night’s games were close. Cleveland beat Toronto 115-105 to take a 2-0 lead in the series, while Atlanta evened its series vs. New York, beating the Knicks 107-106 in Madison Square Garden. The Knicks blew a 12-point lead in the fourth quarter, tying a franchise record in a bad way.

Out in Denver, the Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Denver Nuggets 119-114 to take that series to 1-1. Jamal Murray had 30 points in the defeat, while Julius Randle finished with 24 points, 9 rebounds, and 6 assists for the victorious Timberwolves. The series heads back to Minnesota later this week.

Tonight, we’ll get Game Twos of three more series, with Tyrese Maxey (76ers), Justin Edwards (76ers), Amari Williams (Celtics), De’Aaron Fox (Spurs), Keldon Johnson (Spurs), Jarred Vanderbilt (Lakers), and Reed Sheppard (Rockets) all in action.

Time (ET)MatchupSeries RecordTV / Streaming
7:00 PMPhiladelphia 76ers @ Boston CelticsBOS leads 1-0Peacock, NBCSN
8:00 PMPortland Trail Blazers @ San Antonio SpursSA leads 1-0NBC, Peacock
10:30 PMHouston Rockets @ Los Angeles LakersLAL leads 1-0NBC, Peacock

Nashville’s getting a Super Bowl

Let’s end with some good news. Nashville is getting a Super Bowl! According to Dan Patrick, the Big Game is coming to Music City in 2030. The new Nissan Stadium was planned with events like the Super Bowl in mind and will be completed in 2027. Hopefully, by 2030, the Titans will be good enough to be in the conversation. That’s probably a pipe dream, but I’ll go ahead and start taking offers to rent out my house.

If you haven’t driven through Nashville lately, the stadium is really coming along. Yesterday, Titans quarterback Cam Ward got an up-close look at his new home.

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2026-05-13