KSR Today: Mark Pope answers questions and Kenny Brooks continues to cook
Good morning, folks! And a Happy Friday Jr. to everyone in the Big Blue Nation. Let’s get the day rolling by talking about Mark Pope‘s Q&A session.
For those not dangerously tethered to social media like me, you might have missed it when Pope asked the fan base to ask him questions in the comments of a video he put out earlier this week. Of course, the BBN more than delivered. The post on Twitter/X has over 2,600 comments as of this morning. Pope answered a handful of them yesterday in a three-minute video — some were softballs, some were critical. To his credit, he still answered them.
Pope talked about the Kentucky brand, high school recruiting, what he likes about a couple of his incoming transfers, where he’s been traveling to lately, and plenty more. Pope gave good answers. I will admit my brain has been so destroyed by the internet that I initially thought this video was AI-generated, but that’s a credit to whatever fancy camera setup they’ve got over at the Joe Craft Center.
Malachi Moreno is going through the pre-draft process
We already knew this, but now he’s beginning to meet with teams. Moreno worked out for the New York Knicks earlier this week. He’ll likely do the same with more teams in the coming days/weeks. Don’t stress too much, though — the entire point of the pre-draft process is to meet with teams and NBA personnel to get feedback on what he needs to improve on. That’s why he put his name into the draft pool in the first place.
The odds of Moreno returning to Lexington next season are much higher than the odds of him going pro. Pope even addressed Moreno, who has until May 27 to pull his name out of the draft, during his video from yesterday. The NBA Draft Combine is next week (May 10-17) in Chicago. Moreno is currently projected as a second-round pick.
“This is the place where basketball dreams come true, and Malachi has two dreams,” Pope said. “He’s dreaming of hanging a banner at Kentucky, and he’s dreaming of playing in the NBA, and so we’re supporting him, chasing both of those.”
Will Stein already has Kentucky in bowl projections
He has yet to coach a game for Kentucky, but Will Stein continues the PR test with flying colors. He already has the Wildcats in the mix for a bowl game this winter. With a Top 10 schedule on the horizon, returning to the postseason would be a significant achievement in year one for Stein and Co. Brad Crawford of CBS Sports has UK taking on East Carolina in the Cure Bowl.
That immediately led KSR’s Nick Roush to look back on Kentucky’s 2008 Liberty Bowl win over East Carolina when Ventrell Jenkins saved the day. I think we’d all love to run that back in 2026.
Upgraded weight room incoming!
Speaking of Stein making his impact on the football program, renovations to the weight room at the Joe Craft Football Training Facility are underway. A $3 million upgrade is currently in the works for Kentucky football. Stein shared some pictures of the progress yesterday. The BBN stamps on the some of the equipment is a nice touch. If you want to compete in the SEC, you have to be able to compete off the field — and that includes having top-notch facilities.
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Kenny Brooks continues to crush it
Kentucky women’s basketball is looking to build off its first Sweet 16 in a decade. Kenny Brooks has a squad that can do it. UK announced the addition of 6-foot-4 Slovenian guard Ajša Sivka (Eye-Shah SEEV-kah) yesterday. Sivka was the No. 10 overall pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft by the Chicago Sky, but returned to Europe instead of playing in the United States.
The Sky still retains her draft rights, but she’s eligible to play collegiately and brings a long resume of international success to Lexington. For reference, All-American guard Georgia Amoore was taken four spots before Sivka in last year’s draft. This is a plug-and-play starter that Brooks just landed. Kentucky is now up to 11 filled roster spots for the 2026-27 season.
No Triple Crown for Golden Tempo
The Kentucky Derby winner will skip the Preakness and prepare for the Belmont instead, trainer Cherie DeVaux announced yesterday. Golden Tempo won the Derby as a 23-1 longshot to take home the $3.1 million prize, making DeVaux the first female trainer to win the race. But for the second year in a row, the bid for a Triple Crown is dead before the second leg could even arrive.
Bat Cats on right side of the bubble ahead of big weekend
Coming off a huge series win over Tennessee last weekend, Kentucky baseball is trending toward being in the NCAA Tournament. Baseball America has Kentucky as a No. 3 seed in the Lawrence regional. No. 7 overall seed Kansas would be the host. Oregon (No. 2) and Wright State (No. 4) are also in the pod. The Bat Cats (29-16; 11-3 SEC) currently sit at No. 34 in RPI.
Kentucky heads to Gainesville this weekend for an important series against No. 21 Florida. First pitch on Friday is set for 6:30 p.m. ET on the SEC Network+.
KSR Happy Hour is LIVE at 4!
Another Thursday means another fresh edition of KSR’s weekly Happr Hour show! The KSR Crew will go live on our YouTube channel around 4:00 p.m. ET today to talk about the latest happenings in the world of UK Athletics — and whatever else we feel like chatting about. If you haven’t been on our YouTube page in a while, head there now and check out yesterday’s new episodes of 11 Personnel, Zoom Action, and Pump It Up while you wait for Happy Hour. Let’s have a great day, BBN.
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