Basketball season is creeping up fast, and Kentucky just spent Wednesday in Birmingham at SEC Media Days getting everybody ready for it. Mark Pope brought Zoom Diallo, Malachi Moreno, and Milan Momcilovic with him, while Kenny Brooks showed up with Clara Strack and Asia Boone, and all of those interviews are up on the KSR YouTube channel.
The early read on both programs is pretty simple: they believe they can really shoot it from deep. Pope also discussed his new assistant hires, where Kentucky is expected to land in the SEC, and what he likes about this year’s roster.
Brooks spent time on his three McDonald’s All-Americans, the way the roster is built, and his plan to keep pushing the program forward. Diallo may have provided the best non-basketball nugget of the bunch with his love for lamb.
There’s still more Media Day content coming before Friday night’s exhibition against Travis Ford’s Little Rock team, but the football side of the week already delivered its own developments.
The first SEC Availability Report of the week brought a new injury name for Kentucky: running back CJ Baxter is questionable against Oklahoma. It’s the first time all season he has shown up on the report.
Baxter has 87 carries for 484 yards and eight touchdowns through six games, and Kentucky could use him badly on Saturday against a strong Oklahoma defense. Alex Afari Jr. is also listed as questionable as he continues his eligibility fight in court, and there may be more clarity on that situation soon.
Another update is coming tonight.
On the football front, Will Stein also spent an hour with Tom Leach on the Will Stein Show to preview the road trip to Oklahoma. Stein talked about Oklahoma’s blue-blood status, Kenny Darby’s ability as a playmaker, and where the offense still needs to improve. His description of Darby’s overtime catch was especially telling.
“When you like still frame or like pause it. There’s like eight defenders around Kenny at like the 15-yard line.
He somehow got to the one,” Stein said. “So that’s a sign of a really good football player, especially at receiver, guys that can catch the ball and then turn it into positive gains with their feet.
A lot of young players catch it and go down with the first tackle. This guy, he makes people miss.”
Darby has clearly become a weapon, and Stein sounded like a coach who knows exactly what that means.
The bad news of the week hit in basketball, where former Wildcat Otega Oweh’s rookie NBA season is already done. The Oklahoma City Thunder confirmed that Oweh suffered an Achilles tear, an injury that happened during overtime of a preseason game.
He has already undergone surgery, the team said. Oweh, the 41st overall pick in this year’s draft, was set up for a chance to carve out minutes in 2026-27 as a defensive spark plug, but that road is now on hold.
An Achilles injury is a tough mountain to climb, and it could be a full 12 months before he’s back on the court.
For Kentucky fans, it’s another reminder that injuries can turn everything upside down in a hurry.
KSR Happy Hour is also back live at 4:00 p.m. ET on the KSR YouTube channel, with basketball and football both in the mix as crossover season rolls on.
In Other News...
Kentucky Is Suddenly In The Hunt For 3 Program-Changing Recruits
Kentucky footballs recruiting push under Will Stein is starting to show up in a different part of the calendar, with the staff already making serious noise in the 2028 class. Multiple recruiting analysts have pointed to the Wildcats as a program to watch for wide receiver Jordan Anderson, defensive lineman Kellan Hall and cornerback Grayden Reid, three highly regarded prospects whose early profiles suggest the kind of talent that can reshape a class if it sticks.
What stands out for Kentucky is not just the names, but the scope of the effort behind them. Joe Price, Jay Bateman and Allen Brown have all been involved in the pursuit, giving the Wildcats a presence on both sides of the ball as they try to build relationships early with nationally ranked talent. It is still very early, of course, but Kentuckys active positioning with this group has turned what could have been routine long-range tracking into a genuine storyline worth watching. [Read more 🡒]
Mark Popes First Kentucky Team Just Got An Early SEC Reality Check
Mark Popes first Kentucky team is only at the exhibition stage, with the Wildcats opening against Little Rock, but the preseason picture from SEC Media Days in Birmingham offered an early reminder of how crowded the league race could be. Kentucky was picked to finish seventh in the conference, even as two players earned spots on the preseason All-SEC teams, a sign that the roster has respect but still has ground to make up in a league that rarely gives anyone much margin.
The womens side drew a sturdier forecast, landing fifth in the SEC preseason poll, and Clara Strack was the Wildcats headliner after being named to the preseason All-SEC First Team. Between the mens and womens projections, Kentucky has enough recognition to suggest talent is in place, but the broader message out of Birmingham was clear: both teams will have to prove they belong higher once the games start counting. [Read more 🡒]
Kentucky Just Added A Familiar Face Big Blue Nation Will Love
Kentucky officially rounded out its mens basketball staff with a pair of additions that should feel familiar and reassuring in Lexington. Alfred Aboya joins as an assistant coach after working at NBA Academy Africa and with the Cameroon National Mens Basketball Team, while John Pelphrey is back in the program as Director of Player Development, bringing with him a long coaching rsum along with the cachet of being a former Kentucky player.
For a program that always draws attention to who is walking through the door, this is the kind of move that blends experience with a little nostalgia. Aboya adds international and developmental background to the bench, and Pelphreys return gives Big Blue Nation another link to the past while the Wildcats continue building out a staff meant to support the current roster. [Read more 🡒]