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A Look at the Memorial Coliseum Renovation Project

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UK Athletics

While John Calipari and many fans are calling for a new practice facility, there is one project that must be completed first, and rightfully so, the Memorial Coliseum renovation project.

First completed in 1950 at a cost of approximately $4 million, Memorial Coliseum has played host to just about every type of event imaginable, from professional tennis exhibitions featuring the likes of Jim Courier and two of Kentucky’s basketball championships.

While there have been projects to upgrade minor parts of the Coliseum and the parts around it, such as new basketball and athletics administration offices (1990) and a new video board (2007), there have been no major changes. Case in point, the facility does not even have modern air conditioning.

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Approved earlier this month, the Memorial Coliseum renovation project constitutes the biggest investment in women’s sports facilities in school history, with an estimated construction cost of $82 million.

The University says that the project is expected to be completed by Fall 2024 and will ensure the Kentucky Women’s Basketball, Volleyball, Gymnastics, and STUNT Teams can call home a state-of-the-art facility that honors Kentucky’s historic past.

Memorial Coliseum will also continue to pay tribute to and honor the servicemen and women who died in World War II and also honors those who have fallen in the Korean War, Vietnam War, and subsequent military service. The renovation project will include an upgraded memorial.

Here are visual plans that the architects have created, displaying what Memorial Coliseum will look like after renovations for each sport.

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Women’s Basketball

Volleyball

Gymnastics

STUNT

Football

Grammy Nominated Music Star Has Credit Card Stolen, Thief Buys 15 Hotdogs at Kentucky Football Game

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A Kentucky football fan stole music artist Noah Kahan's wallet at an airport and purchased 15 overpriced hot dogs.
Piet Levy | Imagn

Not a lot of good things came from Kentucky’s 24-10 loss to Auburn on Saturday, but one fan did get FIFTEEN (yes, 1-5) hot dogs courtesy of Grammy-nominated folk-pop artist Noah Kahan.

To clarify it was not a gift, rather the fan stole Kahan’s wallet at Laguardia Airport in New York City. Of all the places for it to venture to, it was Kroger Field.

“The guy who took my wallet went to a Kentucky football game last night,” Kahan shared on social media. “I just know that Mofo bought 15 overpriced hot dogs.”

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Kahan has found comedy in the situation, despite having hundreds of dollars in hot dogs purchased on his dime.

“Come on dawg we gotta be collaborative in our spending!! Check with me first,” Kahan shared.

Kahan headlined Railbird Music Festival in Lexington this past summer. Maybe the next time he is in town, he can get a hot dog of his own.

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Cards Best Cats On National Stage In Volleyball

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The Kentucky Wildcats volleyball team lost to the Louisville Cardinals in a top 10 battle.
Megan Simmons | UK Athletics

The fourth-ranked Cardinals traveled to Memorial Coliseum in Lexington on Wednesday night to take on the 11th-ranked Wildcats. 

The stage was set for another memorable Battle of the Bluegrass with both teams having a national ranking. In addition to that, the game was broadcast nationally on ESPN and was in front of a great crowd of 3,838 in Memorial. 

Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough for the Cats to pull through as they lost in four sets, 25-21, 25-18, 20-25, 25-16

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The lady Cats have now fallen to 6-4 on the season, as well as 0-4 against ranked opponents. To make matters worse this is the 4th consecutive loss to Louisville in the annual match-up. However, Kentucky still holds the series 37-29.

After the match, Kentucky head coach Craig Skinner said “Our team did a good job of sustaining their concentration level, but execution suffered at times.” He also gave credit to the Louisville team, complimenting their ability to “play well for a long period of time.” He also credited the 4th ranked team’s ability to “continue to limit options,” and elaborated. “I mean, I think the first several passes, they were doing a good job keeping themselves in the system. And when you’re playing against teams like that, to get blocks when they’re passing the ball within 8 feet of the net, it’s tough. And so it comes down to individual plays, reading the situation of the attacker and making those moves and getting those stuffs. And creating chances by transition opportunities to limit their options that way, too. But yeah, it took a while. And obviously, something we continue to work on.”

Looking to shake off this series the Wildcats will face No.2 Stanford who are 7-1 in Palo Alto, California, on Saturday at 10:30 p.m. Eastern. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2.

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Kentucky Baseball Transfer Class Ranked Ninth in the Country

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Kentucky Baseball is bringing in the ninth best transfer class in the country.
USA Today/IMAGN

The Kentucky Baseball program is coming off its first-ever trip to the College World Series and they have carried that momentum to the recruiting trail. After losing a large amount of production and experience, Nick Mingione and Co. went and hit the transfer portal hard and are bringing in some talented players.

According to 64Analytics, the Bat Cats are bringing in the 9th-best portal class in the country. The class consists of fifteen players totals, including seven players within the top 250.

92. 1B/DH Cole Hage (Columbia)
114. C Raphael Pelletier (Kansas State)
152. INF Luke Lawrence (Illinois State)
156. OF Shaun Montoya (San Diego State) Transfer Spotlight
168. RHP Nic McCay (South Dakota State)
211. RHP Scott Rouse (Radford)
235. LHP Ethan Walker (Longwood) Transfer Spotlight
272. OF Carson Hansen (Milwaukee) Transfer Spotlight
319. RHP Oliver Boone (California) Transfer Spotlight
398. OF Will Marcy (Memphis)
407. RHP Simon Gregersen (Indiana State)
425. LHP Cole Hentschel (Richmond) Transfer Spotlight
752. 1B Dylan Koontz (Columbia) Transfer Spotlight
2872. RHP Chase Alderman (Eastern Kentucky) Transfer Spotlight
2893. LHP Adam Hachman (Arkansas)

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Mingione is no stranger to the transfer portal as he has effectively used the portal to completely change the outlook of his tenure and the program.

From the brink of being fired in 2021, he has led the Cats to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances for the first time in program history. In those appearances, they advanced to the Super Regionals in each and the aforementioned CWS this past season. With this incoming class, Mingione will hope to continue that trajectory and become a consistent tournament team and contender.

That said it will be difficult. While Kentucky has one of the top classes in the portal, it is the 7th best in the SEC, with top 25 programs in Oklahoma and Texas joining the conference as well.

There will likely be some fall exhibitions for the Kentucky Wildcats, but it won’t be until February that we get to see how this collection of talent looks and if they can make another run to Omaha.

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Also published on A Sea of Blue.

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