KSR Today: NBA Draft round two and Kentucky football's recruiting hot streak

Good morning, folks! For the first time since 2009, the Kentucky men’s basketball program did not produce a first-round NBA Draft pick. After 30 picks came and went on Wednesday night at the Barclays Center, the Wildcats’ draft hopefuls were left without a new team. Don’t fret, though — a couple of them can begin their professional dreams later tonight.

Koby Brea and Amari Williams are both projected as second-rounders. Second round coverage of the draft will be held tonight back at the Barclays Center at 8:00 p.m. ET on ESPN. The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie released a round two mock this morning, calling for Brea to go 41st overall to the Warriors and Williams to go 55th overall to the Lakers. But don’t be surprised if both go even higher than expected.

For those who missed the first round, I’m sure you had the TV broadcast on mute just as I did. Having to decide between listening to Kendrick Perkins or Stephen A. Smith is like picking between poison and louder poison. Cooper Flagg went first overall to the bailed-out Mavericks, as expected. The first real surprise came at No. 5 when the Jazz scooped up Ace Bailey, who reportedly does not want to play in Utah. The biggest surprise of the night was the Trail Blazers drafting 7-foot-1 Chinese center Yang Hansen at No. 16, a guy who most did not have mocked as a first-rounder.

Mark Pope has yet to coach an NBA Draft pick. He could add two to his resume tonight. On that note, John Calipari went without a first-round draft pick for the first time since 2007. Former Kentucky wing Adou Thiero is expected to go early in the second round tonight. There is a good chance Pope produces more draft picks this year than Calipari — not a sentence I thought I’d type in 2025.

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Kentucky football lands another commit

They just keep on coming in the month of June. A few days after wrapping up his official visit to Kentucky, Ben Duncum announced his commitment to the Wildcats. A 6-foot-5, 250-pound EDGE out of Lake Travis (TX), he chose UK over offers from the likes of Kansas State, Oklahoma State, and Wisconsin. Duncum becomes the third recruit from Texas to pick Kentucky this cycle. He’s the Wildcats’ 11th total commit in 2026, all of them coming this month.

Player	Position	High School	Ranking
Messiah Tilson	S (6-2, 165)	Rockford (Ill.) Guilford	4-star (No. 343 overall)
Jordan Crutchfield	CB (6-2, 195)	Vero Beach (Fla.) High	High 3-star (No. 418 overall)
Dallas Dickerson	WR (6-1, 180)	Bogart (Ga.) North Oconee	High 3-star (No. 461 overall)
Lincoln Watkins	TE (6-4, 225)	North Port Huron (MI)	High 3-Star (No. 592 overall)
Prince Jean	WR (6-0, 170)	Valdosta (Ga.) High	3-star (No. 717 overall)
Davis McCray	WR (6-2, 190)	San Antonio (Texas) Cornerstone Christian	3-star (No. 1,063 overall)
Max Mohring	LB (6-3, 215)	Malvern (Pa.) Prep	3-star (No. 1,262 overall)
Delvecchio “Deuce” Alston II	RB (6-0, 200)	Hewitt-Trussville (Ala.)	3-star (No. 1,291 overall)
Cameron Miller	T (6-5, 310)	Hammond (Ind.) Morton	3-star (No. 1,349 overall)
Ben Duncum	DL (6-5, 250)	Austin (TX) Lake Travis	Unranked
Isaiah McMillian	CB (6-0, 170)	Katy (TX) High	Unranked

‘Cats trending for a 4-star QB

And the recruiting hot streak might not be slowing down any time soon. Kentucky is in great position with four-star quarterback Matt Ponatoski out of Moeller (OH). With some of his top schools landing other QB targets in recent days/weeks, it’s put Mark Stoops in the driver’s seat to land the blue-chip signal caller. KSR’s Adam Luckett logged a prediction for Ponatoski to choose UK last week. Yesterday, On3’s Steve Wiltfong did the same.

Ponatoski was Ohio’s Gatorade Player of the Year in both football and baseball as a junior. If he does end up choosing the ‘Cats, he’ll also suit up to play for Nick Mingione’s program over at Kentucky Proud Park. Ponatoski ranks as the 100th-best overall 2026 prospect by On3.

On3’s @SWiltfong_ has logged an expert prediction for Kentucky to land 4-star QB Matt Ponatoski😼

Ponatoski is the No. 9 QB in the 2026 On300.

Read: https://t.co/FMrfjVjdzT pic.twitter.com/C3Ou17uwFv

— On3 Recruits (@On3Recruits) June 25, 2025

Tay Kinney rocking Kentucky blue

Bluegrass native Tay Kinney finished up his official visit with Kentucky yesterday. Ranked No. 16 overall and No. 3 among point guards by On3 in the class of 2026, this was his third official visit thus far, having already stopped at Purdue and Louisville. He plans to check out Oregon in September before making a decision ahead of the season.

The Cardinals appeared to have the slight edge going into this visit — was Pope able to gain enough ground this week to level the playing field?

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More changes by the NCAA on the way

NCAA Tournament expansion is coming, whether we want it to or not. The rumblings are only getting louder. This week, ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported that we will know “in the next few weeks” if the NCAA elects to expand the men’s and women’s college basketball tournaments for the 2026 season from its current 68-team bracket. As of right now, an increase to a 76-team field seems more likely than jumping to 72.

That’s not all, though. Mark Pope‘s voice is apparently being heard. He wants a 40-game regular season for college basketball. It’s not quite 40 games, but the NCAA is closing in on adding one game to the regular season beginning with the 2026-27 season, going from 31 contests to 32. More games are good for the sport.

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Sign up for the KSR golf scramble!

Sign-ups are now open for KSR’s Louisville Golf Scramble, coming up later in the summer. The 2025 edition of the tournament will take place on Monday, August 18, at KSR’s traditional home course in Louisville at GlenOaks Country Club.

Registration opened today, and spots are limited, so hurry over to the KSR Louisville Golf Scramble’s event website to get your four-person team signed up. Once you do, you’re invited to GlenOaks on Monday, August 18, for a live broadcast of KSR from 10 to noon, lunch, and 18 holes of competitive golf in a scramble format.