KSR Today: Mark Pope, Josh Irving's decision day, and football injuries

Good morning, folks! We’re one day out from the start of a busy weekend in Lexington. Not only is this the final stretch of Keeneland’s Fall Meet, but both Rupp Arena and Kroger Field will be filled for big-time matchups. Top-ranked Purdue men’s basketball comes to town for an exhibition on Friday night, followed by a visit from No. 17 Tennessee football on Saturday night.

We’ll quickly hit on the hoops side, as Kentucky head coach Mark Pope is set to talk with reporters this afternoon. You can probably guess what the first question will be — everyone wants to know the status of Jaland Lowe‘s shoulder. But we’ll also hear what Pope has to say about the Boilermakers, among other basketball-related topics. Stay close to KSR or KSBoard for immediate updates.

Moving on to football, the first pre-Tennessee Availabilty Report was published by the SEC last night. Bad news: the Wildcats are banged up. After being mostly healthy throughout the season, we now have starting running back Seth McGowan listed as questionable against the Vols. He’s not the only ‘Cat dealing with an injury, either. Below is Wednesday’s report — we’ll have another one tonight, hopefully with better news.

• WR Troy Stellato: Out
• RB Jamarion Wilcox: Out
• OLB Jacob Smith: Out
• LB Devin Smith: Out
• DL Nic Smith: Out
• WR David Washington Jr.: Out
• TE Elijah Brown: Out
• CB DJ Waller Jr.: Doubtful
• RB Seth McGowan: Questionable
• WR Fred Farrier II: Questionable
• OL Aba Selm: Questionable
• TE Wille Rodriguez: Probable
• TE Josh Kattus: Probable
• DL Kahlil Saunders: Probable

Kentucky will certainly need all the help it can get against Tennessee’s high-powered offense. Defensive coordinator Brad White and members of the UK defense discussed how they’ll slow the Vols down following yesterday’s practice. Listen to everything they had to say in the video below before diving into the rest of this morning’s news and notes.

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Decision Day for 4-star center Josh Irving

Around noon, four-star center Josh Irving will announce his college decision, choosing between a trio of finalists that includes Kentucky, Louisville, and Texas A&M. The 6-foot-10 big man out of California, who is ranked No. 40 in the 2026 class by Rivals, took an official visit to UK earlier this month. But going into his commitment, it’s another SEC team trending to land his services.

Texas A&M has emerged as the frontrunner for Irving. Three different reporters, including On3’s Joe Tipton, logged RPM picks on Wednesday in favor of Irving landing with the Aggies. New head coach Bucky McMillan appears to be on the verge of landing his first big-time high school commit.

Some preseason love for Strack, Key

On Wednesday, the league office announced its preseason All-SEC Teams as voted on by the conference’s 16 coaches. Kentucky women’s basketball forwards Clara Strack and Teonni Key were both tabbed to the All-SEC Second Team. UK was also picked to finish seventh in the standings, with Texas the favorite to win the league.

This marks the second preseason honor for Strack, who was also named to the All-SEC Second Team earlier this month by the media. In that same poll, Kentucky was picked to finish eighth in the standings.

Another No. 9 ranking for Mark Pope’s crew

The No. 9 trend continued on Wednesday as the Preseason USA Today Coaches Poll listed Kentucky at ninth in the country — the same ranking the Wildcats received in the Preseason AP Poll. Also of note, UK is above Louisville in both polls. And of course, Purdue — Kentucky’s exhibition opponent this Friday — checked in at No. 1.

In other preseason news on the men’s basketball front, ESPN’s Jay Bilas named Otega Oweh to his preseason All-American Second Team while tabbing Mo Dioubate to his All-Defensive Team. Purdue’s Braden Smith (First Team) and Trey Kaufman-Renn (Third Team) also made the list.

Fresh episode of Zoom Action!

The Zoom Action crew is BACK just in time for the start of basketball season. After doing player breakdown videos throughout the offseason, now it’s time to talk about Kentucky as a team. Brandon Ramsey and I delved into the film from last Friday’s Blue-White Game to analyze the positives and negatives. Dive in below to get your Xs and Os fix.

Terry Rozier is in big trouble

A couple of NBA bombshells broke this morning when ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier (a former Louisville Cardinal) has been arrested in connection with an FBI sports betting probe. Even wilder, Trail Blazers’ head coach Chauncey Billups was also arrested in a separate, but related, illegal gambling case. FBI director Kash Patel will hold a news conference at 10 a.m. ET this morning to discuss the arrests.

This is going to be a MASSIVE story in the sports world — and likely the first snowball being pushed down a giant hill.

KSR Happy Hour goes LIVE at 4

It’s Friday Jr. already, which means it’s time for another weekly edition of KSR’s Happy Hour. We’ll be going live on the KSR YouTube channel right around 4:00 p.m. ET. So fire up your preferred screen, crack open a Country Boy, and listen to the KSR crew yap for an hour to close out your work day.

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