KSR Today: March Madness is officially here…
Good morning, folks! It’s time for the real thing. The opening round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament begins TODAY.
From noon until midnight, tournament games will grace our televisions and consume our personal lives. All of the First Four games have wrapped up as we’re down to the field of 64. Rupp Arena is the host site for several games this weekend, including the very first contest of the day between Creighton and Louisville. You still have some time to fill out your On3 Bracket Challenge too.
If 16 games in one day (or 32 games across two days) is too much to follow, KSR’s Drew Franklin has a nifty How to Watch Guide for the entire first round made just for you. Below is today’s NCAA Tournament schedule. Let’s have some fun and hope for plenty of March Magic.
TIME/TV (ET)MATCHUP/LOCATION12:15 PM (CBS)(9) Creighton vs. (8) Louisville | Lexington, KY12:40 PM (truTV)(13) High Point vs. (4) Purdue | Providence, RI1:30 PM (TNT)(14) Montana vs. (3) Wisconsin | Denver, CO2:00 PM (TBS)(16) SIU Edwardsville vs. (1) Houston | Wichita, KS2:50 PM (CBS)(16) Alabama State vs. (1) Auburn | Lexington, KY3:15 PM (truTV)(12) McNeese State vs. (5) Clemson | Providence, RI4:05 PM (TNT)(11) VCU vs. (6) BYU | Denver, CO4:35 PM (TBS)(9) Georgia vs. (8) Gonzaga | Wichita, KS6:50 PM (TNT)(15) Wofford vs. (2) Tennessee | Lexington, KY7:10 PM (CBS)(10) Arkansas vs. (7) Kansas | Providence, RI7:25 PM (TBS)(13) Yale vs. (4) Texas A&M | Denver, CO7:35 PM (truTV)(11) Drake vs. (6) Missouri | Wichita, KS9:25 PM (TNT)(10) Utah State vs. (7) UCLA | Lexington, KY9:45 PM (CBS)(15) Omaha vs. (2) St. John’s | Providence, RI10:00 PM (TBS)(12) UC San Diego vs. (5) Michigan | Denver, CO10:10 PM (truTV)(14) UNC Wilmington vs. (3) Texas Tech | Wichita, KS
The Kentucky Wildcats don’t play until tomorrow, but the KSR crew is already in Milwaukee to get us ready for the first NCAA Tournament game of Mark Pope‘s coaching career at UK. If you’re already in the Cream City, you can go watch open practice at the Fiserv Forum. Kentucky’s will take place from 2:45 to 3:25 p.m. CT this afternoon. Troy will take the court before the Cats at 2:00 p.m.
11:00 – 11:40 a.m.: Lipscomb
11:45 – 12:25 p.m.: Iowa State
12:30 – 1:10 p.m.: North Carolina/San Diego St.
1:15 – 1:55 p.m.: Ole Miss
2:00 – 2:40 p.m.: Troy
2:45 – 3:25 p.m.: Kentucky
3:30 – 4:10 p.m.: Illinois
4:15 – 4:55 p.m.: Xavier/Texas
[Beer, Cheese, and Basketball: A Kentucky Fan’s Guide to Milwaukee]
Boys’ Sweet 16 field is set
After a crazy finish Wednesday night, all 16 spots in the 2025 UK HealthCare Boys Basketball Sweet 16 have been locked in. Montgomery County secured the last bid by winning the 10th Region championship 59-56 over George Rogers Clark on a banked-in three-pointer at the buzzer by Cayden Reed.
The Sweet 16 at Rupp Arena in Lexington will be held next week from March 26-29. Top-ranked St. Xavier will begin its run that Wednesday against Jeffersontown while No. 2 Great Crossing, led by Kentucky commit Malachi Moreno, will take on Daviess County on Thursday in its opener. The title game is set for Saturday, March 29 at 7:30 p.m. ET.
More postseason awards for Kentucky WBB
To no one’s surprise, Georgia Amoore picked up even more All-American honors on Wednesday. She received her first Second Team All-American recognition on Tuesday by The Sporting News before picking up two more yesterday via the Associated Press and USBWA.
Below is the entire list of 2024-25 AP All-Americans:
First Team
JuJu Watkins (USC) — 24.6 PPG, 6.9 RPG, 3.5 APG
Hannah Hidalgo (Notre Dame) — 24.2 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 3.7 APG
Paige Bueckers (UConn) — 19.0 PPG, 4.9 APG, 4.5 RPG
Madison Booker (Texas) — 16.2 PPG, 6.6 RPG, 2.8 APG
Lauren Betts (UCLA) — 19.6 PPG, 9.7 RPG, 2.8 APG
Second Team
Georgia Amoore (Kentucky) — 19.1 PPG, 6.9 APG, 2.2 RPG
Aneesah Morrow (LSU) — 18.5 PPG, 13.6 RPG, 1.4 APG
Sarah Strong (UConn) — 16.0 PPG, 8.4 RPG, 3.4 APG
Ta’Niya Latson (Florida State — 24.9 PPG, 4.7 APG, 4.5 RPG
Olivia Miles (Notre Dame) — 16.2 PPG, 5.9 RPG, 5.8 APG
Third Team
Kiki Iriafen (USC) — 18.2 PPG, 8.3 RPG, 1.9 APG
Hailey Van Lith (TCU) — 17.9 PPG, 5.3 APG, 4.4 RPG
Mikayla Blakes (Vanderbilt) — 23.2 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 3.2 APG
Flau’Jae Johnson (LSU) — 18.9 PPG, 5.8 RPG, 2.4 APG
Audi Crooks (Iowa State) — 23.2 PPG, 7.6 RPG, 1.5 APG
Honorable Mentions
Raegan Beers (Oklahoma) — 17.5 PPG, 8.9 RPG, 1.1 APG
Sedona Prince (TCU) — 17.5 PPG, 9.6 RPG, 2.4 APG
Joyce Edwards (South Carolina) — 13.2 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 1.1 APG
But Kenny Brooks also got in on the fun. The Sporting News named him their National Coach of the Year on Wednesday for how he turned Kentucky WBB into a contender right away after back-to-back losing seasons prior to his arrival. The Wildcats finished year one under Brooks with a 22-7 record, earning a 4-seed in the NCAA Tournament.
UK will host the first two rounds at Memorial Coliseum as a result, with the opening round matchup set for tomorrow at noon ET on ESPN against 13-seed Liberty. Tickets are still on sale through the link here.
Shoutout to our friends at Club Blue
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Unlike most collectives, 100% of subscriber money and 100% of donor money goes directly to NIL, Club Blue charges no fees. Club Blue subscribers receive some amazing benefits like invitations to special events, meet and greets with UK athletes, signed merchandise, monthly giveaways, ticket giveaways, Club Blue merch and more.
Subscribe today at www.clubbluenil.com. You get to pick which sport you want to support when you sign up. Choose Your Sport and Support, with Club Blue!
UK contacts Nevada transfer forward
According to On3’s Joe Tipton, Kentucky is one of over 30 Division I schools that have reached out to Nevada transfer Nick Davidson. After spending the last three seasons with the Wolfpack, the 6-foot-10 stretch forward elected to enter his name into the portal on Monday. On his way to being named All-Mountain West Second Team this past season, Davidson averaged 15.8 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.8 assists, and 1.2 blocks in 33.2 minutes per game.
Davidson started all 33 contests for Nevada in 2024-25 on 50 percent overall shooting, 37.1 percent shooting from deep on 3.8 three-point attempts per outing, and 69.9 percent from the free throw line. He will have one year of college eligibility remaining at his next stop.
Will Wade is headed to NC State
Will Wade has been somewhat surprisingly honest about the coaching search process this season, as it’s long been assumed this was likely to be his final year at McNeese State. Well, the NC State Wolfpack went ahead and scooped him right up before Wade could even coach McNeese in the NCAA Tournament this week. Just three years after being fired from LSU for recruiting violations, Wade is back coaching a high major.
Wade will stick with McNeese State throughout the remainder of the postseason before shifting over to NC State. In two seasons with the Cowboys, he went 49-8 with a pair of NCAA Tournament berths. He’s going to have some fun coaching in the ACC.
Softball shuts out Bellarmine 5-0
Kentucky softball (19-10; 3-3 SEC) picked up back-to-back midweek wins with yesterday’s 5-0 shutout victory over Bellarmine. Sophomore pitcher Sydney Langdon threw a complete-game shutout one-hitter, her first complete game of the season. Only once did a Bellarmine batter advance further than first base. On offense, the Wildcats racked up 13 hits but did leave 11 runners on base.
For a full recap from KSR’s Eleanor Beavin, click here. UK will return to John Cropp Stadium this weekend for another conference series. The ‘Cats will host Ole Miss with first pitch for game one set for Friday at 6:00 p.m. ET on the SEC Network.
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