KSR Today: 'Cats going to Paris and Mark Pope is out recruiting again

Good morning, folks! And a Happy Saturday to you all. Any big plans for the weekend? It’s going to be another scorcher. But I won’t spend much more time talking about the weather. I’ll reserve that for the phone call with my dad later today. I’m suddenly all about how many clouds are outside once he gets on the line. We all need those weekly weather updates to keep us honest.

The dog days of summer have quickly crept up on us. The slow sports season is essentially here at this point. But that doesn’t mean we still don’t have plenty to talk about. Recruiting (for all sports) literally never seemed to stop and the Paris Olympics are only a few weeks away. Let’s start today’s morning post by talking about the latter. After all, Kentucky’s presence will be felt over in France come July and August.

Another ticket punched to Paris

Kentucky Track & Field should once again be well-represented at the 2024 Olympics. Last night, Daniel Roberts (’19) punched his ticket to Paris at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Eugene, Oregon. Roberts will suit up for Team USA after winning bronze in the men’s 110-meter hurdles with a personal best time of 12.96, clinching the final automatic bid.

This will be Roberts’ second Olympics and he’s also made every US team since 2019. He joins Alexis Holmes (’22) and Devynne Charlton (volunteer coach) as the third Wildcat to lock up a spot in Paris. Holmes also won bronze in the 400 meters to make her first-ever Olympics while Charlton won the 100-meter hurdles.

Meanwhile, fellow UK alumnae Masai Russell (’23) and Keni Harrison (’15) advanced in the women’s 100-meter hurdles while Abby Steiner (’22) made it to the women’s 200-meter final set for this evening. Day seven of eight at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials begins today and will also feature Andrew Evans (’14) in the discus throw final.

More ‘Cats could be headed to Paris by the end of the day. Every single event will be streamed live on Peacock.

The Moreno brothers went on KSR

Michael and Malachi Moreno, two incredibly talented basketball players from nearby Georgetown, KY, made a guest appearance on KSR during Friday morning’s show.

For those unfamiliar, Michael was named First-Team All-State three times while suiting up for Scott County High School, scoring over 2,300 points for the Cardinals from 2015-19. He enjoyed a five-year college career at EKU and is now working to play overseas. His younger brother, Malachi, is a four-star center from the class of 2025 (ranked No. 32 overall by the On3 Industry Ranking) and a primary target for Mark Pope and the new Kentucky staff.

During their talks with Ryan Lemond and Drew Franklin, we learned a couple of important notes.

1. Malachi, who visited campus earlier this week, is being recruited to UK by a couple of in-state prospects who are now freshmen for the Wildcats — Travis Perry and Trent Noah.
2. Michael turned down opportunities to play basketball out of state so he could stay close to his brother.

New Sources Say just dropped

The Sources Say duo of Jack Pilgrim and Shawn Smith went live last night to bring you some Kentucky men’s basketball info. Week two of practice is now in the books, and the guys have some insight into what’s been going down inside the Joe Craft Center so far.

They also dive into Rick Pitino’s (bizarre) appearance on KSR from earlier this week and recap the 2024 NBA Draft where Reed Sheppard and Rob Dillingham (you know, the bench players) went No. 3 and No. 8, respectively, in the draft. You can watch it all below.

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Former Cats are getting paid in the NBA

NBA front office executives have been cutting some checks throughout the week. Since Wednesday, it’s been reported that a trio of former Kentucky players are on the verge of signing huge deals with their respective franchises. These deals can’t be made official until July 6 at 12:01 p.m. EST, per NBA rules, but once the big boy reporters say it’s done, then it’s done.

• Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo (three-year, $166 million extension)
• Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray (four-year, $209 million extension)
• Toronto Raptors guard Immanuel Quickley (five-year, $175 million contract)

For those counting at home, that’s $550 million between the trio. Arkansas’ social media team will find a way to make it about the Razorbacks though, I’m sure.

Mark Pope is out recruiting again

Remember earlier this week when Mark Pope held his summer press conference? And right when it was over, we mentioned that he said he had to go hop on a phone call? And that phone call turned out to be to four-star center Eric Reibe, who Pope offered a scholarship to?

Yeah, us too.

Well, Pope sure does seem to like what he sees in Reibe, a 7-foot big man out of Maryland ranked No. 38 overall in the 2025 class. Pope, along with associate head coach Alvin Brooks, were spotted at DMV Live last night to check out Reibe and five-star wing Nate Ament — another top recruiting target for the Wildcats. Ament, ranked No. 13 overall in 2025, also holds a UK offer.

Darius Miller is all-in on the Mark Pope era

A big ole handful of some of the biggest names of the last 15 years to play basketball at Kentucky are getting the band back together this summer for The Basketball Tournament. Rupp Arena is hosting the Lexington Regional from July 19-23 where La Familia (UK’s alumni team) will ultimately look to take home the winner-takes-all $1 million grand prize.

Among the former ‘Cats returning to Rupp will be Kentucky native Darius Miller, who is serving as the team’s Director of Player Personnel. While Miller’s playing days at that level are likely behind him now, that doesn’t mean he won’t remain around basketball, especially when it comes to Kentucky.

He’s ready to give new head coach Mark Pope all the support he needs moving forward.

“I’ve briefly gotten to chat with him and I’m excited. I’m giving him my full support for sure,” Miller said of Pope during The Basketball Tournament’s bracket at the Joe Craft Center reveal earlier this week. “Especially him being one of the guys, former player, won a championship. I know he knows the expectations and what’s expected in this program. So I’m just trying to be there to support him in any way that I can.“

These are the things we love to hear.

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