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It's Back To The Recruiting Wars
Final Four Entrants' Battle Plans To A Winner!
Now that the big NCAA rat race, known as the 1986 basketball tournament, is history, college coaches and their fans will be looking with interest toward the spring recruiting roundup.
Of course, recruiting in the Bluegrass State never dies, nor does basketball in general.
This spring will be especially interesting for UK fans on a couple of points.
Foremost is the idea that since the beginning of the new November Window in 1982, UK has not landed a single player in the spring who has stayed around long enough to contribute to the program his freshman year.
That November of 1982, Kentucky reeled in seniors-to-be (can you believe how fast time flies?) Winston Bennett, James Blackmon and Paul Andrews.
Jim Griesch
Cats' Pause Columnist
In the spring of 1983, former UK coach Joe B. Hall got Vince Sanford of Lexington Lafayette to sign. But, by August, Sanford asked for his release from the NCAA scholarship so he could attend South Florida. He was, and he did.
That November, Hall got his juniors-to-be  Robert Lock, Cedric Jenkins, Richard Madison. Todd Ziegler and Ed Davender  and then signed 7-foot-4 German Gunther Behnke the following spring. But. Behnke stayed in Lexington only long enough to find the water fountains and bathrooms at Wildcat Lodge. He was back in Germany long before the first frost, or first class.
Last season. Irving Thomas"came* aboard wiffi'Hairin'November; but present coach Eddie Sutton drew a blank in last spring's transitional period, even as he retained Hall's recruiter, Leonard Hamilton.
At that time, Sutton expressed real amazement over what he called "negative recruiting" by some schools with which he fought for such high school stars as Lance Blanks of suburban Houston, and Kenny Payne of semi-rural Mississippi.
Sutton Looking For The Big Man
Even signing Rex Chapman and Reggie Hanson last fall, Sutton has room from some particular types of players. He's said he wants a big man and another guard, minimum
If he wants to eventually go to New Orleans. Seattle or Denver in the next several seasons, he ought to take a look at some other schools' techniques
Since Louisville, Louisiana State, Kansas and Duke all made more than $800,000 just for appearing in 'Big D'. whatever their coaches did has to be worth it in the materialistic world of the NCAA.
On the face of it, only Duke's recruiting has not raised a few eyebrows in recent years. Coach Mike Krzysewski seems to have quietly built for this year, without doing as many wild things in recruiting as did Denny Crum at Louisville, Dale Brown of LSU. or Larry Brown of Kansas.
Of course. Atlantic Coast Conference insiders may have been surprised that Coach K landed 6-9 Danny Ferry last year, beating out North Carolina. Still, the gossip surrounding that case is a lot cleaner than for the other three
Crum apparently decided to toss some of his players to the wolves last spring in order to bring in the likes of 6-9 Pervis Ellison. 6-8 Tony Kimbro and 6-7 Payne.
Card fans can make all the excuses they want to, but the fact is, it looks as if Crum and his staff deliberately continued to pursue high schoolers long after he ran out of scholarships.
Those actions may come back to haunt Crum and his 'Gang of Two and a Half Any kid coming out of school with any integrity could look at how he handled the Robbie Valentine situation and the Barry Sumpter situation, then decide that U of L may not be the place to seriously continue his education.
Remember the circumstances of the fall of 1984?
The air waves were filled with the names of hot recruits of all schools. In Louisville, Card fans openly talked about Ellison, Kimbro and Payne, even after U of L had landed the likes of Keith Williams, David Robinson and Avery Marshall.
Did Denny Crum Over-Recruit?
After all, Crum still had two openings, and was rumored to be looking at several ways to get Valentine off athletic scholarhip.
Finally, in the spring, he signed Ellison, then Kimbro, then Payne. Of the six signees, the three in the fall were almost a total zero in contributing to this team
Those from the spring group carried U of L to Dallas. What would U of L had been like without Ellison in the middle? Not much to write home about.
Oddly, Milt Wagner's December. 1984, foot injury did not even seem to slow down U of L's recruiters. When Wagner got his medical redshirt via the NCAA, that left U of L with only one scholarship. Ellison got that one. Kimbro and Payne took Valen-
tine's spot. Sumpter was later declared academically ineligible at U of L, even though he met NCAA requirements.
Interestingly enough, that had never happened in basketball at U of L before. Sumpter became a FIRST, a PIONEER.
Valentine stayed in school, we're told, via the Pell Grant, known so well to collegians of the 1960s and 1970s as the Basic Educational Opportunity Grant (BEOGj.
Valentine got some $2,100 to go to school. However, those who know how the Pell Grant works say the $2,100 is only about half of what a student needs to remain in school at U of L.
Valentine said he worked last summer, and also told Bob Watkins of the Elizabethtovm News-Enterprise that his mother gave him money (but not more than $200 or $300).
Sumpter remained in Louisville, working at a lumber yard and was back in school this winter. He could work out with the team, but will not be eligible until next winter.
Any way you count it, that's 17 players Crum and his crew kept around.
Another question that comes to mind is how U of L is always able to keep unhappy players in the program.
Valentine is one who got hooked on the idea of playing before big crowds, under bright lights. Yet, Crum tried to find a way to oust him for two years. Once, they looked at a medical dispensation because of recurring knee problems. Then, last summer, Valentine pumped home 33 points a game in a summer league in which every current U of L player was involved. The incoming freshmen and frosh redshirt Kevin Walls were even on the same team.
Walls almost left U of L this winter, but began playing after he boycotted the team for several days.
Junior Mark McSwain, before a serious knee injury, walked off the bench during a U of L game.
Outwardly, there seem to be fewer perks at U of L than at some other schools.
Joe Hall had problems many years keeping all his high quality talent happy.
The players who left included Dwight Anderson, Todd May, Chuck Aieksinas, Tim Stephens, others. A few others left for a day or two but returned.
Remember. UK. like most major schools, has a whole host of open perks. There is the Lodge (which allows much needed privacy), playing in Rupp Arena, overwhelming fan adulation, and the like
Heck, UK players have it so good, the NCAA once had to come in and force a downgrading of the facilities.
The NCAA made players double up in rooms, take out extra-long beds, and close private baths. UK also had the use of the lodge kitchen facilities taken away, because UK doesn not have semi-private kitchens in its dorms.
Still, with all that, players stay and stay, and never get to play. Why?
It is hard to say that what U of L has done the last year or so is wrong. We can present no hard evidence here.
But, the reports of the actions surrounding Payne's recruitment at the 1985 Derby Classic all-star game in Louisville in early April make you wonder how ethical it was.
Second hand reports attributed to authoritative people indicate that U of L coaches visited the locker rooms after the game (an NCAA no-no). Other reports talk of three-hour visits with Payne and his parents (their transportation to Louisville paid for by the all-star game, not U of L) which smacks of something shady. And, the fact that five of the six coaches involved in the game had players who were already playing for U of L, were to have players at U of L. or were having players being recruited by U of L seemed like an awfully heavy coincidence, to me.
And. the fact that U of L never slowed down its recruiting pace all last year seems to indicate that some players would be tossed out to make room for Ellison, Kimbro, and/or Pavne.
Go on. kid Take your chances. But, even if you start, you better hope Crum doesn't find someone better than you next year.
You'll be gone. Crum won't honor his commitment to you.
But. if you survive, you'll get a shot at a trip to the Final Four.
And. of course, Crum's not the only Final Four coach this year with a checkered recruiting background.
Dale Brown of LSU is still undergoing an NCAA investigation about some of his handiwork. John Williams. Tito Horford. and who knows who else could be involved.
Still, Brown has become a real media attraction this season. Television seems to love him. He'll say anything, do anything, go anywhere, to get on. Last month, he was on CNN, a syndicated wrestling show seen in Lexington, and during the season (or before) made the cover of Sports Illustrated, was on ESPN, and became a real celebrity when he lost Nikita Wilson because of academics (he failed a freshman level remedial math course during his junior year of play).
Brown's reward? He played two highly seeded teams on his home floor during early NCAA tournament play, then upset two teams ranked in the Top Six  Georgia Tech and Kentucky  to reach the Final Four.
And. some cynics say the NCAA makes sure its Black Sheep do not receive any favors!
Neat Package Deal At Kansas
Larry Brown of Kansas pulled off the recruiting ultimate a few years ago. In order to get 6-10 super prospect Danning Manning (out of North Carolina, ACC and Dean Smith territory). Brown hired Danny's father, Ed, as an assistant coach.
Ed Manning is also 6-10 or so. and had a journeyman career in the American Basket-
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