Thanks James, Paul
Dear Sir:
Let's all give a word of thanks and a big hand to James Blackmon and Paul Andrews for their contributionsblood, sweat, tears, aggravationand for what all they encountered in their four years at UK. I think we're all knowledgeable of the situation each faced and their hanging tight and hanging tough endears them even more to us.
Thanks fellows! You both were special to the program at a very critical time.
Now, let's get our minds directed toward next season. Most, if not all, of the new recruits have either completed the regular season and some tourney play, or are gearing up for their state tournaments. We've heard precious little in 77?e Cats' Pause concerning these young men and how their seasons have gone. Now would be a great time to enlighten us. UK's season is over, the staff needs new material and interest in these new fellows and who's returning is at a fever pitch. It's been a long time since we've had such a high-potential group coming in.
We're hungry, Oscar! Feed us! A little blue over Big Blue, but the sun is coming from behind the cloud!
Thanks,
Ray Roberts Ashland, Kentucky
Beef? Where's The 'D'?
Dear Sir:
I'm enclosing my check to renew my subscription. I was raised in the great state of Kentucky and have followed the 'Cats since I was a small child.
I've just watched the 'Cats against Ohio State in the NCAA. What a disgrace! I've never seen a Kentucky team that is so undisciplined and plays with such little (or no) intensity. I really believe the honeymoon is over for coach Eddie Sutton. He has the best job in the country where being mediocre is not acceptable. At least Joe Hall had Kentucky ties and understood the meaning of hustle and dedication.
Coach Sutton says he believes in the three D's, well maybe he better start teaching the first which is defense. And this man is supposed to be great defensive coach. Well, defense starts with hard work and I've yet to see this group work hard. I think maybe the NCAA did the fans an injustice by inviting the 'Cats to the dance.
Well, at least the 'Cats weren't disgraced by Georgetown on Sunday.
Bill Sexton Reckville, Maryland
King Of Hoops?
Dear Sir:
It won't be long now, UK football fans around the state and elsewhere, until people in the basketball arena are saying, "Wait 'til football season."
This business of "Basketball is King at Kentucky," "We're the epitome of college basketball" and "Best program in the country" has been further verified as a myth. A myth obviously created by UK administrators, supporters and most of the media (go through a few copies of The Cats' Pause during the football and basketball seasons).
If you lose FIVE postseason games to the [Continued On Page 21]
Look For SEC Hoops To Only Get Better
Will Be The Land Of The Giants In '88
For a so-called "football league," the Southeastern Conference fields some pretty good basketball teams.
This stuff about the Big Ten being the best conference in the country or the Big East as the nation's dominant league is just that, "stuff." and you know what kind.
Every section has outstanding players but no one has more than the SEC. Our conference has something else that makes a difference when NCAA Tournament time comesthe 18-game round-robin schedule followed by the league tournament. You only learn to play against strong teams at the end of the year
Stan Torgerson
Cats' Pause Columnist
by playing against them during the year.
The coaches can complain, as many do, about having both the double round-robin and the SEC Tournament but it gets them ready to play the best when year-end time comes.
Not everyone agrees, of course. We notice the Big Ten may jump nto the postseason tournament business, but the sentiment up there is to cut down the number of conference games if the tournament is played.
That idea has popped up in the SEC from time to time. Divide the league into two parts, the critics say. Play the four opponents in your division twice a year and those in the other division once a year. In other words, play 13 conference games instead of 18 and fill the five open spots with patsies who you know you can beat. Five more wins mean job security for coaches. At least that's the theory.
The problem with that logic is will the strength of the two divisions be equal? This year four of the six NCAA teams came from what would likely be the Eastern DivisionFlorida, Georgia, Auburn and Kentucky. Only two came from the Western Division LSU and Alabama. Mississippi, Vanderbilt and Mississippi State are the probable other three Western teams with Tennessee certain to be No. 5 in the East. The balance of power is obviously in the East.
In addition, what would happen to traditional rivalries such as Alabama-Auburn or LSU-Kentucky?
Everyone wants to play Kentucky because the Wildcats guarantee a full house and a good payday. It would cost the Western schools good money to have the 'Cats come to town only every other year.
For those and other reasons the Southeastern Conference will probably leave well enough alone regardless of what the Big Ten or anyone else does.
Now what about the competitive future of the SEC? In other words, let's look at next year.
Next Year, SEC Will Be Land Of The Giants'
Traditionally this has been a league of guards and power forwards. It has not been a good league for big centers, the 6-foot-ll or 7-0 kind.
Look at the all-conference teams of recent years. Alabama's Derrick McKey in 1986, and the Tide's Bobby Lee Hurt in 1984 and '85. Both are 6-9 and use finesse rather than muscle. In 1983 you did have Melvin Turpin of Kentucky and in 1981 Sam Bowie of the same team but other than those two and Rick Robey, also a Wildcat, you must go back to 1976 and Alabama's Leon Douglass to find a legitimate all-star big man.
But next year it will be a whole new world. Every team except Auburn and Alabama will have at least one giant playing in the middle. People such as Vanderbilt's Will Perdue and Florida's Dwayne Schintzius are back. Ole Miss has coach's son Sean Murphy eligible at 6-11. LSU returns Zoran Jovanovich who is 7-1 and Jose Vargas, listed at 6-10. Kentucky recruited several of them. Georgia got two. Tennessee's 6-11 Doug Roth will be only a junior. Mississippi State returns 6-10 Hubert Henderson and has recruited another tall man.
Next season the year of the big center will come to the SEC and the league's already high talent level wil be higher yet.
This year the NCAA chose six SEC teams for its annual tournament. At the rate the conference is going, next year it may be 10.
Not For Broadcast
Despite not being chosen for either the NCAA or NIT tour-
naments the Tennessee Volunteers (14-15) posted victories over six postseason tournament teams. The Vols beat Florida (NCAA), Kentucky (NCAA), Georgia (NCAA). Auburn (NCAA). Louisiana Tech (NCAA) and Vanderbilt (NIT). The Vols ranked 37th nationally in the end of the season computer ratings published by USA Today and that was a higher ranking than any team selected to play in the 1987 NIT. . .With all their troubles two Volunteer players earned statistical first places at season's end. Tony White was the SEC's leading scorer and Dyron Nix was the league's besl rebounder. . .Florida's press department says the Galois' 111S7 football schedule may be the toughest in the country. UF plays Miami, Alabama, LSU, Auburn, Georgia and Florida State among others. All appeared in bowl games last year. The "others" include Tulsa, Mississippi State, Cal State-Fullerton, Temple and Kentucky. Thanks to the 1984-86 probation period the Gators start spring practice with only 58 returning scholarship players. . .Chris Morris of Auburn wins this year's "all-scowling" award. No basketball player since Kenny Higgs of LSU in 1977 can match his facial expressions when, in his opinion, things go wrong. . .Derrick McKey gets more accomplished with less apparent effort than any player we have seen in years. The Alabama star seems to be just standing around watching the game until the Tide needs a rebound or blocked shot or a basket and then there he is. . .Nothing happened in the conference tournament to change our mind. Don Rutledge is the best offical to work in the Southeastern Conference, during the past 20 years. . .Speaking of officials, the boys in stripes have apparently rescinded the three-second rule on their
UT's Dyron Nix Led SEC In Rebounding
own. In nine SEC Tournament games a three-second violation was called only once despite the fact that most of the post players camped out in the lane. . .Lord, we're sick of "two bits, four bits. . ." as a yell. Hey, gang, let's have something new like "Who are you for.
it's time to tell, if you're for_, stand up and yell!" Corny.
yes, but worn out, no. . .If you believe the attendance figures for the various sessions at the Southeastern Conference Tournament in Atlanta, then you believe in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and the Governor of Texas saying he was against cheating at SMU. .Why does the SEC Tournament list tourney starting times as two hours apart?.The teams get 30 minutes to warm up and no one ever played a TV basketball game in an hour and a half. Two and a half hours is much more realistic. . .Alabama won the tournament but Kentucky won the battle of the cheerleaders. The Wildcat girls and boys were the best. . .Kentucky coach Eddie Sutton has taken 10 teams to the NCAA Tournament but no team of his has ever appeared in the NIT. . .The Georgia Bulldogs seem to go to the NCAA in odd numbered years and the NIT in even numbered years. Hugh Durham's clubs were invited to the NCAA in 1983 '85, '87 and to the NIT in 1982, '84, '86. . .Only two Southeastern Conference football teams have an early TV booking for this fall CBS has booked the Ohio State-LSU game on Sept 26, Alabama at Notre Dame on Nov. 14 and Alabama at Penn State on Oct. 17. More will follow, of course, but these three games already have been listed. WTBS will continue to telecast SEC games in
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