Kentucky Wildcats guard Reed Sheppard and his high school sweetheart Brailey Dizney have become part of the furniture among the CBB fraternity. On Sunday, Dizney endeared herself even more to fans with a post on Instagram.
Dizney celebrated the Kansas City Chiefs' 17-10 win against the Baltimore Ravens during the NFL conference championship game on Sunday evening.
She was hyped due to musician Taylor Swift's connection to the Chiefs via her boyfriend, tight end Travis Kelce. She had a wholesome edit of the fact on her Instagram stories with the caption:
"Taylor Swift is going to the Super Bowl!"
Reed Sheppard continues proud family legacy
Reed Sheppard's mother, Stacey Sheppard, is still in several top 10 categories in Kentucky women's basketball lore. Her son gets compared to her daily by his own admission during an interview with On3.
“Everyone from home is like, you play like your mom,” Reed Sheppard said. “She played the same way. And then some people that don’t really know mom, they just fall onto: I play like my dad because that’s all they know.”
His father, Jeff Sheppard, played 134 games in five years for the Wildcats, winning two national championships as the Most Outstanding Player in 1998 under coaches Ricky Pitino and Tubby Smith.
Reed Sheppard switched his jersey number from No. 3 to his dad's No. 15 while still a student at North Laurel High School before joining the Kentucky Wildcats:
“Adou Thiero is wearing No. 3. So I figured, after that, I would just have to go with pop’s old number and rock the 15,” Reed said.
“I definitely thought about it. I kind of always kept it to myself, though,” Sheppard added. “But I never told him. In my head, I was like: I’m probably gonna wear No. 15. But I never said anything to him. So this year was the first time he ever heard about it. It was really cool. It was cool for me to be able to tell him. And it shocked him. I don’t think he was expecting it just because I wore three my whole life ... It was a really cool moment.”
Thus far, Reed Sheppard is living up to the hype and the legacy left by his parents. The sharp-shooting guard has become an instant folk hero to the Kentucky fans.
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