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Men's Basketball

Vanderbilt Pays Kentucky $500K after Storming the Court in Upset Victory

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Vanderbilt had to pay Kentucky a $500,000 fine after their third rushing offense in the past six months.
Denny Simmons | IMAGN

There wasn’t a lot of positive to come from Kentucky’s performance against Vanderbilt. However, if you like to look at the light in all situations, there is one.

The SEC has fined institutions for rushing fields/courts since the early 2000s due to safety concerns. However, the amounts did little to deter that. Over the years the fines have grown larger. In 2023 the policy was updated to what it is today and teams were given a new slate: For the first offense the fine is $100,000, a second is $250,000, and it maxes out at $500,000 for a third or subsequent offense, with the fine being paid to the opposing school.

After storming the field in an upset win over Alabama last fall, and storming the court after upsetting Tennessee last week, Vanderbilt had committed their first two offenses and paid out $350,000.

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On the verge of upsetting Kentucky inside the Historic Memorial Gymnasium, Vanderbilt Athletic Director Candace Lee was seen begging fans not to rush the court in an effort to save $500,000. “Let us use the money for NIL to make a great team next year,” she said.

https://twitter.com/Grace_M_Hall/status/1883267322821091684

However, it was to avail as the students proceeded to rush the court for their third offense after defeating Kentucky resulting in a $500,000 fine for “violation of the league’s access to competition area policy.”

The recipient. The Kentucky Wildcats, who can use that for their NIL fund.

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Men's Basketball

La Familia’s Lexington Regional Bracket Revealed

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Israel Schill | KY Insider

Kentucky’s alumni team, La Familia, has officially unveiled the bracket for The Basketball Tournament’s (TBT) Lexington Regional.

The No. 1 seeded alumni will face off against Stroh’s Squad (Bowling Green) in the opening round on Friday, July 18 with a late 9:00 p.m. ET tip time.

The Lexington Regional will take place at Memorial Coliseum from July 18-22, where Kentucky will host a plethora of teams looking to grab some gold.

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Familiar teams, such as Eberlein Drive, who former Wildcat Archie Goodwin used to play for and who have been around since the beginning of TBT, will lead the bottom of the bracket. In the second round, Big Blue Nation may see a way-too-early SEC matchup, technically, with the Auburn Tigers’ alumni team, War Ready.

The name is definitely fitting, obviously a play on Auburn’s “War Eagle” call, but as a whole defines the type of play that the TBT unleashes against every competitor.

When asked about who the “alpha dog” will be on this year’s team, someone who is going to be ready to go to war, general manager Twany Beckham admitted he emphasized finding guys like that during the offseason.

“That was one thing, you know when we lost last year, I feel like that Ohio State team, I’m not gonna say punked us because our guys played extremely hard,” said Beckham before head coach Sean Woods budded in and said “they were more physical.”

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“When I sat down after the season was over last year I sad to myself, ‘I want nine to 10 dogs’, and I think we did that with this roster,” Beckham added.

The winner of the Lexington Regional will play the winner of the Louisville Regional in the quarterfinals on Monday, July 28, at 6 p.m. ET on FS1, the team also announced recently.

Below is the entire bracket for the 2025 tournament:

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Men's Basketball

Top Guard Prospect Taylen Kinney Takes Official Visit to Kentucky

Perhaps the most highly touted guard in the 2026-27 class, Taylen Kinney has begun his visit to Kentucky – Mark Pope is on the clock.

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Taylen Kinney takes his official visit to Kentucky.
USA TODAY NETWORK

Directly following his involvement with Mark Pope and Jasper Johnson at the USA U19 basketball camp, Taylen Kinney has taken an official visit to Kentucky.

One of the top guards in the nation, Kinney is a native of Newport, Kentucky. As a result, naturally, both Louisville and Kentucky are in strong pursuit — among pulls on both sides, one potential advantage Kentucky has over their in-state rivals is Kinney’s extensive past ties to the aforementioned Jasper Johnson.

The two blue bloods manned the backcourt together for the Overtime Elite RWE team during the 2024-25 season. With Johnson being the first to pull the trigger in taking on the blue and white, the onus is on Kinney to potentially rekindle the duo’s dominant guard play in a new setting.

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Given Jasper’s potential for multiple years in Lexington, the likelihood that he could impact Kinney’s recruitment is all the more tangible.

The 6-foot-2 floor general stayed firmly put in the 2026-27 class, despite rumors of a reclassification, ranking atop national lists across the board as arguably the best available at his position. And while a timetable for Kinney’s ultimate decision hasn’t yet shaken out, it’s clear that the blue and red rivals each hold a powerful stake in his recruitment.

Regardless of the rumors, if Mark Pope gets a guy on campus, there’s a solid shot the Cats can capitalize on a commitment. When one battle ends for Kentucky’s staff, the next begins — if nothing else, it’s clear that the team has already started working towards as solid a roster next season as they put together for the one that’s about to begin.

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History Made: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Crowned NBA Finals MVP

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Associated Press

For the first time ever, the Oklahoma City Thunder have reached the mountain top, beating the Indiana Pacers in a win or go home game seven, becoming NBA Champions.

Superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander hoisted the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy and the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player award in front of more than 18,000 fans in Oklahoma City after leading the Thunder with 30.3 points, 4.6 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 1.9 steals and 1.8 blocks in the Finals.

The former Wildcat posted 29 points, 12 assists, and five rebounds in the series defining game where the Thunder won 103-91. Gilgeous-Alexander led the NBA Finals in points.

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Not only is Gilgeous-Alexander making NBA history for becoming only the 11th player to win league MVP, the NBA Finals and Finals MVP, but he joins an exclusive club of Hall of Famers, consisting of Willis Reed, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Moses Malone, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Kareem Olajuwon, Shaquille O’Neal, Tim Duncan and LeBron James. 

James was the last “triple-crown” winner in 2013 as a member of the Miami Heat.

Gilgeous-Alexander made Kentucky history by becoming the first ever former Kentucky player to win Finals MVP. Last month, Gilgeous-Alexander made history by becoming the first Kentucky alum to earn league MVP.

This was an incredibly impressive feat considering Gilgeous-Alexander is one out of 137 ex-Kentucky players to play professional basketball, and now is the only one to claim those honors.

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Another fellow Wildcat, Cason Wallace, joined Gilgeous-Alexander in a historic list of fellow Kentucky products to win the NBA Finals. The most recent players consist of Jamal Murray in 2023, Anthony Davis and Rajon Rondo in 2020, Jodie Meeks in 2019, and Rondo’s first ring in 2008, respectively.

Wallace averaged six points and 2.6 rebounds in the season-defining series.

This NBA Championship is technically the second in the organization’s history, with the first coming in 1979 as the Seattle SuperSonics defeated the Washington Bullets in five games. However, this marks the first time the franchise has boasted an NBA Championship as the Oklahoma City Thunder. 

In 2008, the SuperSonics, with a rookie Kevin Durant, left Seattle and relocated to the midwest and rebranded as the Thunder. Five years later, the Thunder, led by future MVPs Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden, would lose in five games to the Miami Heat.

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It has truly been an unforgettable season for Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder. Oklahoma City accomplished the unthinkable, winning the most games in it history with an NBA-best 68-14 record.

The Thunder swept the Memphis Grizzlies in round one, beat the Denver Nuggets in a seven-game series and bested the Minnesota Timberwolves in five games to win the Western Conference Championship en route to their NBA Finals victory.

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