Good morning, BBN. I trust everyone is feeling much more well-rested than this time yesterday. Monday was spent reveling in Kentucky’s Super Regional victory and recovering from a late night. Last night, the Cats’ path in the College World Series was set with the result of NC State vs. Georgia. That’s where we’ll start today’s roundup, which also includes some football scheduling and basketball recruiting news.
The 2024 College World Series is set
It’s official: Kentucky will open College World Series play vs. the NC State Wolfpack. NC State knocked off Georgia 8-5 Monday night to win the Athens Super Regional and a spot in their fourth College World Series. The Cats vs. the Wolfpack will face off Saturday at 1 p.m. CT/2 p.m. ET in Omaha. You can watch live on ESPN.
The game will be a rematch of Kentucky’s first NCAA Tournament Regional victory back in 2017, Nick Mingione’s first season, when the Cats beat NC State 10-5. Kentucky is 3-4 all-time vs. the Wolfpack. This year’s College World Series is a showdown of the SEC (Tennessee, Kentucky, Texas A&M, Florida) vs. the ACC (North Carolina, Florida State, Virginia, NC State), with both conferences boasting four teams each.
To make it to the CWS finals (June 22-24), Kentucky will have to win Bracket Two, which consists of NC State, Texas A&M, and Florida. We’re back to the double-elimination format, with the winner of Saturday’s game playing on Monday night and the loser on Tuesday night. Wednesday’s game could determine who is in the finals, with the process stretching out to Thursday if need be.
Tickets for the College World Series are available on Ticketmaster. It’s time to show Omaha what Kentucky and BBN are made of, including Rocco’s.
New episode of “Bat Cat Beat”
Daniel Hager will discuss Kentucky’s incredible run in the Super Regional and the path ahead in the College World Series in a new episode of “Bat Cat Beat” later today on the KSR YouTube Channel. Get ready for lots of baseball content on the YouTube Channel this week as we prepare you for Kentucky and KSR’s first trip to Omaha. Daniel and Steven Peake hit the road Friday morning to cover the Cats’ historic run in the most ridiculous manner possible. Yes, that probably includes some Jello Shots at Rocco’s.
Make sure you’re subscribed to the KSR YouTube Channel to receive notifications when they go live. There, you’ll find the rest of our shows (11 Personnel, Sources Say, Lee & Hayley Overtime), press conferences, player breakdowns, and all of the great content Steven’s been working on this summer, including his retrospective of the Calipari Era. Our shows are also available in audio form wherever you get your podcasts.
SEC announces TV windows for 2024 football schedule
We already know the start times for Kentucky Football’s first three games of the season. Today, we’ll at least get an idea of the rest. Today at 2 p.m. ET, the SEC will reveal the television windows (i.e., Early – 12 to 1 p.m. ET start; Afternoon – 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. ET start; or Night, 6 to 8 p.m. ET start) for all remaining SEC-controlled games during a special on the SEC Network. Select games will be tagged as Flex games, meaning they could be either in the Afternoon or Night windows.
We’ll bring you Kentucky’s TV windows when they’re announced, but if you’d like to watch the SEC Network’s production, it will air live at 2 p.m. ET and again at 7 p.m. ET. Planning your fall just got a little easier.
Kentucky Football 2024 Schedule
- Aug. 31, 7:45 PM: vs. Southern Miss (SEC Network)
- Sep. 7, 3:30 PM: vs. South Carolina (ABC)
- Sep. 14, 7:30 PM: vs. Georgia (ABC)
- Sep. 21: vs. Ohio
- Sept. 28: at Ole Miss
- Oct. 12: vs. Vanderbilt
- Oct. 19: at Florida
- Oct. 26: vs. Auburn
- Nov. 2: at Tennessee
- Nov. 16: vs. Murray State
- Nov. 23: at Texas
- Nov. 30: vs. Louisville
NCAA Evaluation Period begins at NBPA Top 100 Camp
On Monday, Dan Hurley was the talk of the college basketball world as he turned down the Los Angeles Lakers’ 6-year, $70 million offer to stay at UConn to chase a third straight national title. Today, Hurley, Mark Pope, John Calipari, and all the top coaches in college basketball will be in Orlando, Florida for the NBPA Top 100 Camp, which features the top 100 high school basketball players in the country.
Today and tomorrow are marked as an evaluation period, meaning college coaches can be in the building to scout. That will give us a better idea of who Mark Pope and his staff are focusing on. There are several 2025 and 2026 targets in attendance at the camp, which started Sunday, including four-star small forward Tounde Yessoufou, four-star guard Davion Hannah, four-star center Malachi Moreno, and four-star shooting guard Kaden Magwood. Moreno and Magwood are both from Kentucky, but Magwood now plays at Oak Hill Academy in Virginia.
On3’s Jamie Shaw is in Orlando to cover the event and will share updates on who Pope and his staff are watching throughout the day. Stay tuned.
Catching up with Kellan Grady
Later this morning, former Kentucky guard Kellan Grady will hop on a Zoom call with local reporters to talk about joining La Familia, Kentucky’s alumni team that will host a TBT regional in Rupp Arena July 19-23. Grady is the seventh member of the squad, which also includes Eric Bledsoe, Doron Lamb, Daniel Orton, Marquis Teague, Reid Travis, and Willie Cauley-Stein. After his graduate season at Kentucky (2021-22), Grady spent his rookie season with the Grand Rapids Gold, the G League affiliate of the Denver Nuggets, and most recently played for Chorale Roanne Basket in France’s top division.
We’ll bring you the highlights of that conversation this afternoon. It’s hard to believe that it’s just over a month until the TBT tips off, with 64 teams vying for the winner-takes-all grand prize of $1 million. This summer is flying by.
KSR, live from a secret location
We started the week off with a Merry Monday with Myron Medcalf. Today, Ryan Lemond, Drew Franklin, Shannon the Dude, and Mario Maitland are taking the shot on the road to a secret location. There, they’ll discuss Kentucky’s path in the CWS, Dan Hurley’s decision to stay at UConn, and their top celebrity encounters? That should be interesting.
The fun starts one hour from now on 790 WKRD and affiliates across the state or right now on the KSR Preshow.
The post KSR Today: CWS Bracket, SEC Football TV Windows, NBPA Top 100 Camp appeared first on On3.