KSR Today: Practice highlights, another football commit, and the NBA Finals

Good morning, folks! Today, we’re celebrating Juneteenth, the annual celebration of the end of slavery in the United States. Let’s get your day rolling with some basketball talk.

The 2025-26 Kentucky men’s basketball season is still months away, but we’re all searching for a little bit of catnip to give us our offseason fix. The UK video team decided to spread some of it on the ground yesterday in the form of a 60-second practice highlight video — and we all happily rolled in it.

“Every single day, every single minute, get better,” Mark Pope told his team. “This is how we get there. This is how you make something sacred. This is what real sacrifice is, it’s how you make something sacred. You just move on to the next hard thing.”

We see extended looks from the returning talent, namely Otega Oweh and Brandon Garrison, along with buckets from Mo Dioubate, Denzel Aberdeen, Reece Potter, Malachi Moreno, and Braydon Hawthorne. After you watch the video a dozen times, we’ll jump into the rest of this morning’s news and notes.

Hit the ground running 🏃😼 pic.twitter.com/3O71pUPSjy

— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) June 18, 2025

Kentucky MBB’s 2025-26 SEC Opponents Revealed

Yesterday, the SEC revealed opponents for the upcoming season. Kentucky will play Florida, Tennessee, and Vanderbilt twice in 2025-26. The ‘Cats will also host Georgia, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas. They will travel to Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, LSU, South Carolina, and Texas A&M, with no return games. Times, dates, and television information will be announced at a later date.

The schedule is slowly coming together…

Home and Away

• Florida
• Tennessee
• Vanderbilt

Home Only

• Georgia
• Ole Miss
• Mississippi State
• Missouri
• Oklahoma
• Texas

Away Only

• Alabama
• Arkansas
• Auburn
• LSU
• South Carolina
• Texas A&M

[Immediate reactions to Kentucky’s SEC basketball opponents in 2026]

RB Delvecchio “Deuce” Alston II Commits to Kentucky

For the third straight day, Kentucky scored a recruiting win. Delvecchio “Deuce” Alston II committed to the Wildcats on Wednesday. He’s the eighth 2026 pickup for UK so far.

A 6-foot, 200-pound running back, Alston plays for a top program in Alabama, Hewitt-Trussville. He announced the decision just a few days after taking an official visit to Lexington. He also made trips to Minnesota, Memphis, and USF. Unranked by On3, 247Sports tabs Alston as a three-star prospect and the No. 106 running back in the country. Running backs coach Jay Boulware took the lead for Kentucky in his recruitment.

Player	Position	High School	Ranking
Jarvis Strickland	T (6-4, 280)	Paducah (Ky.) Tilghman	4-star (No. 355 overall)
Jordan Crutchfield	CB (6-2, 195)	Vero Beach (Fla.) High	High 3-star (No. 416 overall)
Messiah Tilson	S (6-2, 165)	Rockford (Ill.) Guilford	High 3-star (No. 450 overall)
Prince Jean	WR (6-0, 170)	Valdosta (Ga.) High	3-star (No. 713 overall)
Davis McCray	WR (6-2, 190)	San Antonio (Texas) Cornerstone Christian	3-star (No. 1,053 overall)
Cameron Miller	T (6-5, 310)	Hammond (Ind.) Morton	3-star (No. 1,320 overall)
Max Mohring	LB (6-3, 215)	Malvern (Pa.) Prep	Unranked
Delvecchio “Deuce” Alston II	RB (6-0, 200)	Hewitt-Trussville (Ala.)	Unranked

Fresh episode of 11 Personnel in your feed

KSR’s Nick Roush and Adam Luckett recorded yesterday’s episode before Alston’s commitment, but they still had plenty of time to break down what the additions of Max Mohring and Messiah Tilson mean for the future of the program. They also dove into the recruitment of Cincinnati (OH) Moeller quarterback Matt Ponatoski, a four-star recruit trending toward the Wildcats. Ponatoski has been called the “most accurate Elite 11 Finalist” by On3 for his performance this week at the Elite 11 Finals.

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Game 6 of the NBA Finals

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Cason Wallace, and the Oklahoma City Thunder can wrap up the 2025 NBA Finals tonight in Indianapolis. Holding a 3-2 lead over the Indiana Pacers, OKC just needs to win one of the next two games in order to hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy. If Gilgeous-Alexander has another good game and the Thunder pull out the win, he’s likely to earn Finals MVP. Through five games in this series, the regular season MVP is averaging 32.4 points, five assists, 4.6 rebounds, 2.4 steals, and 1.8 blocks in 39.2 minutes per outing on shooting splits of 47.4/30/92.

Game 6 will tip off tonight at 8:30 p.m. ET on ABC. The Thunder is a 6.5-point favorite as of this morning, according to FanDuel.

Keep an eye on 5-star PF Miikka Muurinen

According to Jacob Polacheck of KSR+, 2026 recruit Miikka Muurinen is looking to visit Kentucky this fall. The 6-foot-10, 200-pound power forward from Compass Prep (KS) was originally set to check out Lexington last fall before the trip was postponed. Muurinen, ranked No. 10 overall in 2026, has already taken OVs to Michigan, Utah, and Arkansas.

An update on Jaxson Robinson

Due to his late-season wrist injury, Jaxson Robinson had been receiving little pre-draft buzz, but that’s beginning to change a week out from the 2025 NBA Draft. Robinson was cleared for contact last week and has quickly begun meeting with NBA teams. He has either met with or plans to meet the following franchises: the Kings, Warriors, Suns, Lakers, Cavaliers, and Celtics.

“I think Jaxson Robinson, because of his ability to shoot the ball and shoot it from deep, has a very good chance of getting drafted,” ESPN’s Jay Bilas told KSR on Wednesday.

Koby Brea and Amari Williams are being mentioned more and more as likely draft picks, but Robinson might just sneak into the second round, as well. The draft is set for June 25-26.

Vince Marrow tried to throw the Ls up

And it needs some work. This still looks very weird.

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