Hearing that UK is in hot pursuit of transferring UGA linebacker Jamon Dumas-Johnson. I will hold off on more detail for right now but this would be a massive addition. Not prepared to log a prediction on where he might end up but I can say Kentucky is one of the schools making a play. News today indicates that Dumas-Johnson has arrived, today, at Auburn for an official visit. I can confirm that Dumas-Johnson visited Kentucky just before he was at Auburn.

Can confirm that Jalen Farmer visited UK, and that is why we wrote the portal target spotlight on him last week.

To the draft…

Rothstein’s write up on Bradshaw:

Aaron Bradshaw completely changes Kentucky


Saturday’s win over North Carolina in the CBS Sports Classic was the first time this season that Bradshaw played against a power conference opponent. He looked the part. The 7-foot freshman only logged 21 minutes against the Tar Heels, but finished with 12 points and three rebounds all while giving Kentucky a different dynamic than it had when he was out of the lineup with a foot injury. Bradshaw’s presence allows John Calipari to play bigger with he and Tre Mitchell or smaller with one of them in the game alongside four guards. The Wildcats showed great promise without Bradshaw. With him? They’re one of the best teams in the country.

These teams really competed. It wasn't always pretty. A lot of missed shots, some bad decisions, stretches of unsteady play. But they battled and competed like UK and UNC almost always do when they get together. Could tell both teams really wanted it. In the end, UNC was fortunate to have a chance to win it because RJ Davis got really hot. He's been hot. But they also had a couple of really bad mental errors at bad moments. In that sense, UK showed enough poise, even as the younger team.

Kentucky led for the vast majority of this game and they had plenty of opportunities to extend that lead and get some breathing room but every time the lead went to 8 or 10 UNC battled back. They're a very experienced team. Thought DJ Wagner was really tough today. Steady player, pretty efficient, rose to the occasion when Edwards, Dillingham, and Reeves didn't shoot well. Wagner looked like he had a lot of confidence throughout. That was excellent to see.

At this point Edwards is just not helping them much. He was not good defensively and was missing bunnies on offense. The difference between what you expected to get from him and what they're getting is huge.

Bradshaw's fourth foul was unnecessary and a big moment I thought. He was trying to deny a pass to Bacot 15 feet from the basket and it just wasn't necessary. Took himself out of the game just a couple of minutes into the 2H. But overall, Bradshaw made a very positive impact on the game. Ugo showed some things, too. This was not a game where UK was able to just move the ball, get the defense out of position, and score easy baskets. They had to hit some really hard shots, and they had to get those looks a lot of different ways.

The flagrant foul against Thiero was ridiculous. Shouldn't have even been a foul. The technical on Calipari was weird but didn't really impact the game too much. Lot of little officiating things that weren't great today. Thought it should have been continuation on the late Bradshaw basket. Thought RJ traveled down 85-81.

Big win for UK. Beat Miami by 20, now a top-10 win on a neutral. Cal's 8-4 against the Heels.

What can you tell us about GA LB Jamon Dumas-Johnson, now in portal? 7 SEC offers out of HS including UK. UK's up against it with LBs, very thin position.

There's a ton to like on this team.

Can't say enough about everybody on this team.

But Bradshaw brings it.

One of best sports weekends in recent memory for me. Bengals erase a 14 point 4Q deficit and win in OT despite losing multiple starters to injury. Team has the heart of a lion.

Cats come out and take care of business against a bitter rival. Team looks to be poised to take off soon with everyone getting healthy.

Fantastic Saturday of sports for this guy.

Pause

71Michael Tarquin
​

• Position: Offensive Lineman
• Height:6-5
• Weight:300
• Class: Redshirt Senior
• Hometown: Ocala, Fla.
• High School: North Marion HS / Florida

Summary​

CAREER: In his 4-year career at Florida (2019-22), he appeared in 34 games on the offensive line with 20 starts (10 starts each at left guard and left tackle).

2023: Tarquin, an experienced offensive linemen who transferred to USC in the spring of 2023 from Florida, looks to compete for time on the Trojan offensive line as a redshirt senior, with two years of eligibility remaining.

FLORIDA: Tarquin saw action in 9 games (all except South Florida, Tennessee, Eastern Washington, Missouri), starting 8, in 2022 as a redshirt junior.

As a redshirt sophomore in 2021, played in 12 games and started in 2 (Vanderbilt and South Carolina. He helped the offense stay in the top-16 in total offense all year. He was named to the 2021 SEC Fall Academic Honor Roll.

As a redshirt freshman in 2020, he appeared in all 10 regular season games on the offensive line. He was named to the 2020 SEC Fall Academic Honor Roll.

As a true freshman in 2019, he played in three games (UT Martin, Towson and Vanderbilt) and redshirted.

HIGH SCHOOL: He missed his senior season with a torn labrum injury he sustained early in the year at North Marion HS.

PERSONAL: He earned his bachelor’s degree in Criminology from Florida. He is currently pursuing a certificate in Gerontology at USC with a 3.20 GPA.

Excellent win. Gritted one out. Liked the composure.

Bradshaw getting better. Wagner starting to look like a dude. Sheppard continuing to shine. Dillingham is fearless. Thiero continues to make nice blocks and plays. Glad Ugo got some minutes. Edwards will hopefully make abothet step.

Beating UNC always a good time.

Good read with a few references on UK.

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I will say I don't Cal will try to run the score up. I think if we get a big lead he lets the air out of the ball because he likes and respects KP.

DK has us at +500 odds so I thought what the heck.

Sounds about right, even though resume is probably more like 10ish.

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QUICK TAKES: Kentucky 87, North Carolina 83​

Kentucky's Rob Dillingham and North Carolina's RJ Davis battled for a loose ball on Saturday in the CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta. (Jordan Godfrey/USA Today Sports)

Jeff Drummond • CatsIllustrated
Managing Editor Edit
@JDrumUK

In our regular postgame feature, the Cats Illustrated staff offers its first impressions from Kentucky's 87-83 win over No. 9 North Carolina on Saturday at the CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta...​

JEFF DRUMMOND:

This was a much-needed, resume-building win for Kentucky. It felt a little bit like a tournament game. I thought the Wildcats showed a lot of toughness, both physically and mentally, against a veteran North Carolina squad. John Calipari has to be thrilled with the way they closed out the game. Antonio Reeves and Aaron Bradshaw each came up with a huge offensive rebound in the final minute of play, and the Cats knocked down four of those last six free throws to seal the deal. Rebounds were a big key to this win. Kentucky won the battle on the glass 42-32, including an 18-6 advantage on the offensive end. The Cats were +9 in second-chance points, basically the difference in the game. Every time the Tar Heels made a run in this one -- rallying from 11 down in the first half and 12 down in the second half -- UK had an answer.

DAVID SISK:

That was a great game. Neither team probably believes they played their best game and they still combined for 170 points. That tells you the talent that was on the floor. It was an all-around effort for Kentucky, but D.J. Wagner and Rob Dillingham made play after play down the stretch. On the other side, R.J. Davis was magical to keep North Carolina within striking distance. Enough can’t be said about the big men and defensive strategy that allowed only four shot attempts by Armando Bacot. They also did a nice job late job on Cormac Ryan who was on fire for the first 30 minutes. Big Blue Nation will be on fire about this team going into SEC play, and why not? Very, very impressive games against North Carolina, Miami, and Kansas.

TRAVIS GRAF:

What a fantastic game. It seems like every Kentucky-North Carolina game in the series is electric and this one was great as well. Kentucky now has a complete team with rim protection added as well as better rebounding. It was a great team win for Kentucky in a resume builder, and the offense was as good as you could expect with added some post presence. The freshmen stepped up in a big way, and Bradshaw had a more immediate impact than I expected.

JUSTIN ROWLAND:

That was a huge win for Kentucky, in terms of the resume, the pulse of the fan base, and the confidence of the team. The reason I think this win was huge was Kentucky had to do a lot of things to win. Ugo had to give them some solid minutes down low. Bradshaw had to show competitive spirit against a big matchup problem for him. DJ Wagner went up against a clutch senior guard. Kentucky had to manufacture points by hitting hard shots and getting looks in different types of ways. Tournament type of win, Elite Eight kind of game.

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In the final minute of the UK-NC game the CBS camera zoomed in on Roy Williams, the retired tar heel coach, who was sitting courtside. He had the look of a sad eyed hound when it became obvious the cats were going to win the game. This only added to my enjoyment of UK's victory since I have nothing but disdane for "dadgum" Roy. My dislike for him goes back to the 89-90 season when as the head coach of the Kansas Jayhawks he deliberately ran up the score on Pitino's depleted first UK team. With about ten minutes remaining in the game Kansas was ahead by about 50 points and still had most of their starters in the game to include their all American power forward Randall. Pitino had used all of his timeouts trying everything to stem the Jayhawk offense. At about the ten minute mark, Williams yelled over to Pitino and asked him sarcastically if he could call a time out for him. Pitino responded "why don't you take Randall out".
The game ended in about a 60-65 point blowout. I remember during the post game radio show with Cawood that Pitino was very upset with Williams who was gloating over the lopsided victory. According to some of the UK fans who attended the game Williams had his chest run out so far "that you could have hung a washing out on it". I also remember that Pitino in general said on his radio show that we play Kansas in Rupp next year and his team would be ready. The next year Pitino's full court press, which had failed so miserably the previous year, worked to perfection and Ky defeated Kansas, with Randall, by double digits. Sweet revenge against "clean Roy"!

NM

He thinks that he avoided a serious injury. Hopefully he's right. Sometimes he's too tough and brave for his own good.

Starters
Bradshaw 21
Mitchell 33
Edwards 13
Wagner 35
Reeves 23

Bench
Dilly 25
Shep 25
Thiero 16
Ugo 9

1. As predicted....Burks is out of rotation and makes sense.
2. I feel Cal did a solid job of minutes tonight.
3. I think the bigs controlled the paint...beat a good Carolina bigs on backboard 43 - 32 and the shot block was impressive. Bacot usually gets us...not tonight 9pts 6 boards
4. Thiero...I think Cal has to find minutes as he plays with his hair on fire.
5. I hate any players much over 32 minutes a game with depth...DJ at 35 is a bit high but we had to cool RJ Davis down and he's probably our best on ball defender.
6. Good to see Cal not play Edwards a ton as he screws up on D too much and his offfense is just high shot taker....but give Edwards this much...he did get 6 boards.

1. Purdue
2. Kansas
3. Houston
4. UConn
5. Arizona
6. Marquette
7. Kentucky
8. Oklahoma
9. Tennessee

Yours?

Looks like he’s going into the portal from USC. I know we already have our QB in Brock but wasn’t there some obscure interest or link to UK when he committed to them?

Big news!

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I buy our (Kentucky fans') mantra that U of L built its program since 1994, at least in part, with the Kentucky game/Governor's Cup.

But since joining the ACC, the Cards have had two solid shots to make a NYD6 Bowl, in 2016 and 2023, both seasons being ranked in the Top 12, until the final weekend of the regular season, when they lost at home to UK. And the whole point of being ranked in the Top 12 late in the season takes on a whole lot more significance with an expended play off next season.

Kentucky fans can look back to 2021, and 2018, and speculate that "we came, oh so close" to being Top 12 at the end . . . just as Card fans can look back to 2016 and 2023 in the same light.

The difference being that our U of L victories moved us up a tad in our two best years, and U of L's losses essentially knocked them just below the mark in their two best years.

Will Louisville regret the end of the Governor's Cup should that come to pass with SEC expansion?

Oh, they'll howl, but if I were them, I think I would seriously be very happy to shed this game, as for a decade, it has not been to their advantage to play it, when highly ranked.