Good morning, KSR readers. It’s supposed to be another brutally hot day across the Bluegrass, with heat advisories in effect throughout the state and heat indexes expected to top triple digits this afternoon. If you have any plans to go outside, do it now. Luckily, we’ve got plenty of content to keep you entertained in the comfort of your air-conditioned home or office.
Summer workouts roll on at the basketball and football practice facilities. A big-time recruit will be making the rounds on campus and at the Joe Craft Center/Memorial Coliseum, where we’ll also catch up with Kenny Brooks, members of the women’s basketball team, and La Familia, Kentucky’s alumni team in The Basketball Tournament (TBT). The football staff is also looking to keep the dice hot on the recruiting trail. So much to cover. Let’s start with basketball recruiting, the reason many of you are probably refreshing the site right now.
A very important visitor is on campus right now. Four-star point guard Tay Kinney started his official visit last night and will be in Lexington until Wednesday morning. The Newport, KY native is one of Mark Pope and the staff’s top targets in the 2026 class and has already taken official visits to Purdue (January) and Louisville (June), and has one planned for Oregon in September.
This won’t be his first trip to UK’s campus, but it will be the most important. Last week, Pope was with Kinney at the USA Basketball U19 Training Camp in Colorado Springs. Although Kinney recently signed a partnership deal with Adidas, which some think means he’s headed to Louisville, Pope is putting on the full-court press. Last season at Overtime Elite, Kinney averaged 20.1 points, 5.0 assists, 4.0 rebounds, and 2.3 steals per game on 55.6% shooting from the field and 33.3% from three-point range.
Where will Pope take Kinney today? Hopefully somewhere with excellent air conditioning. We’ve got our ears to the ground for the latest. Jack Pilgrim and Shawn Smith will share what they’re hearing on a new episode of Sources Say tonight at 8 p.m. ET on the KSR YouTube Channel.
While you wait, check out all the awesome content on the channel, including yesterday’s interviews with Denzel Aberdeen and Mo Dioubate and a new KSR Happy Hour, in which we previewed Kinney’s visit and talked about the NBA Finals and where Kentucky’s guys could go in the NBA Draft, which starts tomorrow, believe it or not.
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Soon, we will know La Familia’s path in The Basketball Tournament (TBT). At 10 a.m., the bracket will be revealed for the Lexington Regional, which will take place at Memorial Coliseum July 18-22. Afterward, La Familia general manager Twany Beckham and head coach Sean Woods will meet with reporters to talk about the Kentucky alumni team’s draw. So far, eight former Cats have signed on for this year’s event. Archie Goodwin and Kahlil Whitney are the most recent additions.
We’ll be at Memorial to cover it all. Believe it or not, TBT is less than a month away.
How about some Kentucky Women’s Basketball updates? After the La Familia presser, Kenny Brooks, junior center Clara Strack, and senior forward Teonni Key will meet with reporters to talk about the start of summer practice.
In his first season in Lexington, Brooks took Kentucky WBB to its first NCAA Tournament since 2022. The Cats lost to Kansas State in the second round in heartbreaking fashion, but the future is bright. This season’s roster is stacked, and the staff is rolling on the recruiting trail, picking up a commitment from five-star wing Savvy Swords, who joins fellow top 10 prospect Maddyn Greenway in Kentucky’s 2026 class. The additions won’t become official until the signing period in November, so Brooks can’t comment on them yet, but I’m sure he’ll have a little extra pep in his step this morning.
Phoenix Stevens will be at Memorial to bring you all you need to know about Kentucky WBB going into Year Two of the Brooks era.
Kentucky Football is on a roll on the recruiting trail, racking up nine commitments this month, eight in the last two weeks. Now that the dead period is upon us, the visits are over, prompting some players to go ahead and make their decisions.
Who will be the next recruit to join the fold? Last night, Nick Roush previewed what could be a huge week for the program, which finally has some momentum going. Three-star wide receiver Dallas Dickerson is expected to make his decision today and is down to Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Georgia Tech. Defensive lineman Ben Duncum could become the third Texas native to join Kentucky’s 2026 class. He announces his decision tomorrow at 2 p.m. ET. Four-star quarterback Matt Ponatoski took his official visit to Oregon this past weekend and will mull his decision this week.
News could break at any minute, so stay tuned to the site and KSBoard for the latest rumblings.
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Clips from basketball practice keep trickling out. Yesterday, UK shared this one of Trent Noah dishing a sweet no-look pass to Denzel Aberdeen, who gave it back to Noah for a dunk. You love to see it.
We also got a glimpse of football practice. UK released a slide deck of photos with the caption #MondayMotivation. The second one is of a slimmed-down Mark Stoops striding across the field. This isn’t the first time UK has used this hashtag on social media, but given the surging popularity of the Motivated Mark Stoops meme, it can’t be a coincidence, right?
One of Kentucky’s other favorite sons is celebrating a milestone birthday today. Reed Sheppard is now 21 years old. Knowing Reed, he’s the type of kid who would totally wait until he was of legal age to enjoy an adult beverage — and when he does, he’ll do it responsibly. Enjoy your day, Reed, and your new teammate Kevin Durant.
