Today on KSR: Graduation Day

Good morning, BBN! We are officially halfway through the month of May, and that means it’s graduation time for many of the hard-working student-athletes who have represented the blue and white so well over the last few years. The University of Kentucky held a staggered schedule of commencement ceremonies this year, beginning Friday and continuing through this afternoon. According to UK Athletics, 93 student-athletes are taking part in those ceremonies this spring, representing 17 different sports.

A few familiar names from the above source include UK basketball’s Olivier Sarr, Riley Welch and Zan Payne, plus Blair Green, KeKe McKinney, Tatyana Wyatt and Chastity Patterson from the women’s team. They are joined by a foursome of National Champions from the volleyball team, as Gabby Curry, Madison Lilley, Kendyl Paris and Avery Skinner are all being honored for their academic accomplishments as well.

From the football team, 13 players are listed as earning degrees this spring: Abule Abadi-Fitzgerald, Josh Ali, Marquez Bembry, Yusuf Corker, Jamin Davis, Max Duffy, Luke Fortner, Colin Goodfellow, Alex King, Tyler Markray, Matt Ruffolo, Josh Paschal and Clevan Thomas. Davis, who signed a $13.8 million dollar deal with the Washington Football Team on Friday after being drafted in the first round of the NFL draft two weeks ago, tweeted excitedly earlier this week when he finished his final assignment for his degree:

Just turned in my last assignment 👨🏿‍🎓😎

— Jamin Davis (@jamindavis25) May 11, 2021

Congrats to all of the newest graduates, whose names can be seen sorted by sport at this link. It’s an exciting time for everyone, and as a fresh graduate myself, I can’t wait to see where all these accomplished ‘Cats go from here. Now, on to the news of the day…

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Jaden Hardy makes G-League deal official

Once considered as good a bet as any to end up in Kentucky blue, the top remaining uncommitted player in the class of 2021 confirmed the worst-kept secret in the recruiting world by announcing his plans to forgo college entirely, signing with Team Ignite of the NBA G-League instead. The official announcement came late Saturday night via Hardy’s Instagram live, though the scoop was broken several hours earlier by The Athletic’s Shams Charania.

Hardy was a consensus top-three recruit in the nation, with Rivals and ESPN listing him as the no. 2 player overall behind Gonzaga-bound Chet Holmgren. According to ESPN’s Paul Biancardi, Kentucky remained one of his top options till the end, had he chosen to go the college route.

The no.2 player in the ESPN 100
Jaden Hardy is @nbagleague bound.

He tells ESPN.

“ If I could have made visits, I would have visited Kentucky, UCLA, Michigan, Oregon and Arizona.” @JadenHardy1 makes tough shots look easy. @WhosNextHS pic.twitter.com/ZwYF3PyDth

— Paul Biancardi (@PaulBiancardi) May 16, 2021

The news was hardly surprising, as the G-League has been seen as Hardy’s preferred route for much of the past year. Still, there were some who hoped that the decommitment of Nolan Hickman was a sign that John Calipari, Orlando Antigua & co. might swoop in at the last moment and steal the talented guard from the pros. Oh well, it was a nice thought.

Speaking of Hickman, the former Kentucky commit announced on Saturday via Twitter that he would be staying home to play for last year’s national championship runner-up, the Gonzaga Bulldogs. Not a bad backup plan, kid. At least it’s not Duke?

Rombauer takes the Preakness, Medina Spirit finishes third

With Bob Baffert watching from home, disgraced Kentucky Derby champion Medina Spirit finished third in Saturday’s Preakness Stakes behind Rombauer, who won the race in an upset. Midnight Bourbon, who was one of the favorites along with Medina Spirit, placed second.

The loss dashed any chance at a historic third Triple Crown for Baffert, who opted not to attend the Preakness after recently being banned from Churchill Downs for Medina Spirit’s failed drug test. The horse was deemed eligible for yesterday’s contest after three negative drug tests. He led for much of the race before being passed down the stretch by Midnight Bourbon and then Rombauer.

You can watch the full race here if you missed it:

ROMBAUER HAS WON THE @PreaknessStakes!

Rombauer passed Medina Spirit and Midnight Bourbon in the stretch at @PimlicoRC! pic.twitter.com/sfQmuO1Qjc

— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) May 15, 2021

UK Baseball drops two to South Carolina, loses final home series

With just seven games left in the season, UK baseball badly needed a winning performance this weekend in their final home series against no. 20 South Carolina. So far, that has not happened. The Bat ‘Cats dropped Friday’s game 12-6, then followed it up with an even more disappointing 9-0 shutout loss to the Gamecocks on Saturday. With the mid-week matchup against Morehead State being canceled, Kentucky is now on a four-game losing streak going back to last weekend.

In yesterday’s game, UK starter Sean Harney kept things within reach at 1-0 through four innings before allowing several men to reach in the fifth. He was replaced, and by the end of the sixth inning, USC had built up a 6-0 lead. It went downhill from there.

Things are starting to look grim for the ‘Cats at-large NCAA tournament hopes, but there is still baseball left to play. It starts with a final matchup against the Gamecocks this afternoon, with first pitch coming at 1:00 p.m. as they attempt to avoid a sweep. If you haven’t made it out to Kentucky Proud Park for a game this year — and I’d highly recommend it — this week is your last chance!

After today’s game, Kentucky has one more home game vs. Tennessee Tech on Tuesday before they close out the regular season at no. 2 Vandy next weekend.

NBA regular season wraps up today

For the NBA buffs out there, the final day of the regular season is upon us! And for once, thanks to the new play-in format, there’s actually a lot at stake for playoff teams today. Here’s a rundown of which games to keep an eye on today, plus what’s on the line:

• 1:00 (ESPN): Celtics @ Knicks – A win for Julius Randle, Nerlens Noel & co. would wrap up the four-seed in the East, giving the Knicks home-court advantage vs. the Hawks. If they lose, they could wind up in sixth, facing either Milwaukee or Brooklyn.
• 1:00: Hornets at Wizards – Winner gets the eight-seed in the East, which means a margin for error in the play-in tournament (the loser of the eight/seven game gets one more chance vs. the nine/ten winner). Would be big for P.J. Washington and Malik Monk.
• 2:00: Suns @ Spurs – D-Book’s Suns beat the Spurs by 37 points yesterday. If they can do it again, and the Jazz lose, they get the no. 1 seed in the West (and a better chance at avoiding the Lakers).
• 3:30 (ESPN): Grizzlies @ Warriors – Winner gets the eight-seed in the West. Same scenario as above. Mychal Mulder plays for the Warriors, and he has been awesome lately.
• 8:00: Heat @ Pistons – Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro and the Heat are in the same seeding bubble as the Knicks. If they win this one and New York loses, they get the five-seed. Any other result and they’re stuck in sixth.
• 9:00 (NBA TV): Lakers @ Pelicans – Eric Bledsoe and the Pels have already been eliminated, but AD and the Lakers have a lot to play for still. They’re currently in seventh. If they win and the Trail Blazers lose, they move up to sixth and thus avoid the play-in entirely.
• 9:00: Nuggets @ Trail Blazers – If the Blazers win, Enes Kanter & co. avoid the play-in. The Nuggets are currently third, but if they lose and drop below the Clippers, then they don’t have to worry about facing the Lakers. So it should be interesting, even with Jamal Murray out.

Whatever happens, we’ll know soon. The play-in games are set to begin on Tuesday and run through Friday, with the regular first-round games starting next week. It should be a fun month.