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KSR Today: Post-basketball season blues

Zack Geogheganby:Zack Geoghegan•03/20/22•

ZGeogheganKSR

Good morning, folks. Basketball season in the Bluegrass has come to an early end.

The Kentucky men’s team infamously fell to 15-seed Saint Peter’s in the opening round on Thursday, which has sparked a serious coaching debate among fans that will surely extend into the offseason (John Calipari has already attempted to jump in front of this, issuing an interestingly worded message to the fans on Saturday). The women’s side didn’t do much better despite coming into the postseason on a 10-game winning streak. 6-seed Kentucky WBB was dropped by 11-seed Princeton in the NCAA Tournament opener on Saturday afternoon up in Bloomington. But not only that, the 2022 UK Healthcare Boy’s Sweet 16 state champion was crowned on Saturday night — the George Rogers Clark Cardinals — marking the final high school contest of the season across the Commonwealth.

And just like that, basketball season is over. It’s a sad day for us hoop junkies. Watching the sights and thrills of March Madness unfold is a lot less interesting when Kentucky isn’t in the field. Do we really want to cheer for Saint Peter’s? Which took down Murray State on Saturday to advance to the Sweet 16? What about Princeton on the women’s side? Kansas is on the verge of passing UK in all-time wins while North Carolina could do the same in regards to all-time tournament wins. Duke is still alive, too.

I would ask if this can get any worse, but I’m not that naive to think it can’t.

Kentucky WBB leaves Bloomington early

The Princeton Tigers came into the tournament notoriously under-seeded as an 11, ranked No. 25 in the AP Poll. Kentucky’s reward for winning 10 in a row to end the season, highlighted by the program’s first SEC Tournament title in 40 years, was to play a team just as hot as them — Princeton came into Saturday’s bout on a Division I-best 17-game winning streak.

Led by Ivy League Player of the Year Abby Meyers, Princeton played spoiler from the opening tip.

The Tigers led for all but two minutes of the contest as Meyers unloaded for a career-high 29 points, slicing through the paint for layups or pulling up for tough mid-range jumpers. Kentucky shot just 36 percent from the field and 4-15 from beyond the arc compared to a 49.1 overall field goal percentage for Princeton. Three-time All-American and the school’s second all-time leading scorer, Rhyne Howard, closed her collegiate career with 17 points and eight rebounds on a 4-14 clip. Kentucky did not make a single field goal over the final four minutes of game time.

Another Kentucky basketball season comes to an untimely end.

Links

GRC wins first Sweet 16 since 1951

It’s been 72 years, but George Rogers Clark is once again the Kentucky state high school basketball champions.

The No. 1 ranked Cardinals won four games over four days, taking down the Warren Central Dragons 43-42 in a nail-biter to win the crown on Saturday night. GRC was led by junior guard Jerone Morton, who finished with 14 points on 6-12 shooting and was named Tournament MVP. Senior guard Tanner Walton added 13 points and five rebounds for the Cardinals in the title game.

It is the second championship in county history – Clark County High School defeated Cuba to win the 1951 state title. The Cardinals (36-1) only loss came to Dorman (SC) in the King of the Bluegrass tournament, making them the first undefeated state champion against Kentucky competition since Scott County in 2007.  

Opening Round: Day 1

Opening Round: Day 2

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Championship

Basketball targets to keep an eye on

While Kentucky Men’s Basketball is in a state of despair right now, that doesn’t mean the business comes to a halt. As we know, recruiting is a year-long job. Well, two potential options opened up as candidates for the 2022-23 roster.

2023 five-star guard Robert Dillingham, a former Kentucky target, decommitted from NC State on Saturday

Committing to the program back in December, the 6-foot-2, 165-pound guard previously chose the Wolfpack over Kansas, Kentucky, LSU and Memphis. Now after three-plus months with NC State, Dillingham is backing away from his pledge to consider his other options.

The five-star prospect was once considered a heavy Kentucky lean, with sources telling KSR that he was a silent commit during the fall. His recruitment, though, was a controversial back-and-forth affair, one that led to several other programs — LSU, Memphis and North Carolina, in particular — believing they were in position to land a commitment at one point or another. His highly-publicized transfer from Combine Academy (NC) to Kanye West’s Donda Academy (CA) also added some clear noise to the situation.

Additionally, Utah Valley star Fardaws Aimaq is a potential transfer to keep a close eye on, particularly if Oscar Tshiebwe leaves for the NBA Dratft.

According to Travis Branham of 247Sports, Aimaq has entered the portal, and Kentucky was among the first schools to express early interest. The WAC Player of the Year has heard from the Wildcats to go with Gonzaga, West Virginia, Texas, Texas Tech, Florida, Virginia Tech, Arkansas, Texas A&M, Washington State, Georgia Tech, Miami, Ole Miss, Oklahoma, Marquette and Iowa.

That’s all the news and notes I’ve got you this morning. My bracket is absolutely shot, but if you’d like to enjoy some March Madness action, you’ll have plenty of opportunities. Eight more teams on the men’s side will lock up a Sweet 16 bid while first-round action on the women’s side continues throughout the day.

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2024-06-01