KSR Today: UK Athletics takes over the SEC Network

Good morning, folks! It’s SEC Network “Takeover” Day for the University of Kentucky. Which means if you haven’t already, you need to fire up the ole ESPN app ASAP.

By the time you’re reading this, you’ll have already missed a few of Kentucky’s best wins from the 2024-25 season, but there are plenty of good ones still on the docket between now and midnight. Kentucky’s win in the Champions Classic over Duke begins at 10:00 a.m. ET this morning — that’s appointment TV in this household.

• 12:00 a.m. ET: [WBB] #12 Kentucky at #13 Oklahoma
• 2:00 a.m. ET: [MBB] #5 Tennessee at #15 Kentucky
• 4:00 a.m. ET: [BSB] #17 Oklahoma at Kentucky
• 6:30 a.m. ET: [WSC] Kentucky vs. West Virginia (NCAA Tournament)
• 8:30 a.m. ET: [GYM] #16 Arkansas at #9 Kentucky
• 10:00 a.m. ET: [MBB] #6 Duke vs. #19 Kentucky (Champions Classic)
• 12:00 p.m. ET: [VB] #12 Kentucky at #24 Missouri
• 2:00 p.m. ET: [BSB] Kentucky at #4 Tennessee
• 5:00 p.m. ET: [SB] #20 Ole Miss at Kentucky
• 7:00 p.m. ET: [MBB] #6 Florida at #10 Kentucky
• 9:00 p.m. ET: [FB] Kentucky at #6 Ole Miss

Especially with it being a holiday weekend, it’s only right that you get the party started early with some of the Wildcats’ biggest wins from the past season. After you’re done putting that on in the background, dive into the rest of this morning’s news and notes.

Jasper Johnson, Team USA cruise to quarterfinals

The Americans are a clean 4-0 so far at the 2025 FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup over in Switzerland. After sweeping through group play, Team USA entered the tournament portion of the event on Wednesday with a first-round matchup against Jordan. The United States won handily, 140-67, in a game where everyone got in on the action. Kentucky freshman guard Jasper Johnson went for eight points, two rebounds, one assist, and one block in his 15 minutes.

Up next for Team USA is Friday’s quarterfinal showdown with Canada. Tipoff on Independence Day is set for 11:15 a.m. ET and will be streamed live on FIBA’s YouTube channel. Another gold medal is only three wins away.

Justin Rowland joined the 11 Personnel crew

Worlds have collided with On3’s acquisition of Rivals, giving us at KSR the opportunity to join forces with other brilliant sports minds.

Nick Roush and Adam Luckett did just that, bringing on Justin Rowland of Cats Illustrated for this week’s episode of 11 Personnel. Not many in this industry have covered the Kentucky football program longer than Justin — he knows his stuff. They all sat down to talk about four-star WR Denairius Gray flipping from Auburn to UK, L’Damian Washington’s recruiting chops, what’s up with four-star QB Matt Ponatoski, and much more.

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Fresh MBB practice highlights!

Another week at the Joe Craft Center is flying by. Summer practice is fully underway for Mark Pope and his Kentucky men’s basketball team. But while the guys are hard at work behind the scenes, we’re on the outside, desperate for a single crumb of practice footage. UK obliged and gave us some yesterday from the lens of an old-school camcorder.

It’s only about 35 seconds of actual highlights, but it includes plenty of dunks, a creative move on the fastbreak by Denzel Aberdeen, and a beautiful Kam Williams jumpshot. It’s just enough to satisfy our basketball needs — at least until next week.

Midweek practice check in from the camcorder 📹 pic.twitter.com/VbMOiVOUgO

— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) July 2, 2025

Gabriel Diallo falls in five sets to world’s No. 5

After picking up his first-ever win at Wimbledon earlier this week, former Kentucky tennis star Gabriel Diallo went for the upset yesterday. An All-American during his time in Lexington, Diallo faced off against the No. 5 player in the world, Taylor Fritz, taking him to five sets. Diallo ended up losing (6-3, 3-6, 6-7, 6-4, 3-6), but the 23-year-old Canadian gained some new fans along the way.

Diallo falls just short of major upset

Gabriel Diallo 🇨🇦 left it all on the court, pushing 5th seed Taylor Fritz 🇺🇸 to five sets in a thrilling Wimbledon second-round battle 🌱

Read more 👉 https://t.co/dMfDy0LU6C pic.twitter.com/JhGcSdns4S

— Tennis Canada (@TennisCanada) July 2, 2025

This week didn’t go as planned, but big things are in store for Diallo.

Chris Livingston waived by Bucks

After two seasons, Milwaukee is moving on from Chris Livingston. The Bucks waived him yesterday, making him an unrestricted free agent.

The 21-year-old out of Akron had a non-guaranteed $2.22 million salary for the 2025-26 season that was scheduled to trigger on July 15 had he remained on the roster. Once the 58th pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, Livingston averaged 1.2 points and 1.0 rebounds in 4.3 minutes per contest as a rookie in 2023-24, followed by 1.4 points and 1.7 rebounds in 5.0 minutes per game in 2024-25.

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NCAA launches summer walk-on transfer portal

The NCAA has essentially created a walk-on waiver.

In the wake of the House v. NCAA settlement that was passed on June 6, Judge Claudia Wilken wanted walk-ons or any other player on a roster to have their spot saved for the duration of their college eligibility. That meant that this collection of players was to be grandfathered in for this new era. Now, NCAA member institutions must classify what players on their roster are a part of this group.

Schools now must tag the players receiving this waiver. Those who become a “Designated Student-Athlete (DSA)” would have been cut from the roster if the roster limits immediately went into play. Once on the DSA list, those student-athletes are eligible to transfer this summer without conditions, and “must be released from their contract prohibition(s)” with their current school. That transfer portal window opens on July 7 and will close on August 5.