I
I
By Dan Krueckeberg
T
86-'87 CAT OPPONENTS & THEIR STARS
ACROSS
Raiders of Texas Tech
1   Cats face Che
on 12/2 3   Ricky of Cat foe LSU 9   Calloway of 45 Down
13 Initials of a former Cat coach
14 The _ squad comes to Rupp for
the last regular season game
15 Follows regulation
17 Poem
18 The __ mark was 17-1 in SEC last year
20 Initials of former Cat star Spivey
21 Coach of 49 Across
23 The _ squad will be the last SEC
foe to come to Rupp this season
26 Baseball's _       Young Award
27 Florida city
29 Coach Brokaw of 10 Down
30 "Check out" the opposition 33 Verb suffix
35 Abbr. for "district attorney"
36 Twofold
37 Lamar looks to__the Cats on 12/13
38 79 Down is the Hoosiers' scoring _
40 _ Atlantic: conference of 10 Down
41 Inicials of 9 Across
43 Big man for Cat foe, Navy
47 Cats foe with new coach R. Williams
49 SEC foe in Final Four in '86
50 Abbr. for a medical group
51 Double vowel
52 Initials of super-soph of 31 Down
53 30-win seasons appear to be the _
for Sutton-coached teams
55 Distress signal
57 Initials of coach Murphy of 23 Across
58 _        Cats win at Nashville on 1/10?
59 Play part
61 Rough-and-tough Mark of 31 Down 65 Will the Cats _ _ 'Bama as often as they did last year?
67 Standout McCalister of 14 Across
68 Abbr. for "supersonic transport"
70 Crass type
71 Shooting star
72 Namesakes of Farmer of Cat foe 'Bama 74 See 15 Across
76 Verb suffix
77 Fires up the ball 79 Curl the lip
81 Set for December 19
82 Insect
83 This is Kenny _ for the Cardinals
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BBBDBBBBB BB BBBB BBBB BBBB BBB BBBBB BBB B    B BB BBBBB
BBBBBBBB BB B ?BBB BBBBB BBB D B BBBB BBBBB BB BBBBBB BB B
BBBB D BBB BB
DOWN
1 Cats begin their title drive in SEC _ vs. Georgia on 12/30
2 The Wimp Sanderson _ at Cat foe
'Bama is in its 7th year
Coach Knight of Cat foe, IU What we hope all Cat foes do Indefinite article
The _        season opened on 11/29
Abbr. for "translation" Neither partner
10 The Gaels got a UKIT invite
11 Initials of Dudley of Cat foe 'Bama
12 Walls of 31 Down 16 Former Cat Heitz 19 Deal
21 Cougar school in Utah
22 Fine LSU Tiger guard Anthony
24 Age
25 An SEC foe
26 Hue
28 Conference of 31 Down
31 Host Cats in annual battle on 12/27
32 Coach Billy of 14 Across
34 Initials of Willie of Cat foe Georgia 36 An SEC coach, Don
39 Coach of 31 Down
40 Angry
42 Initials of former Cat great Cotton
43 Initials of former Cat footballer Lyons
44 A Cat foe twice in the regular season
45 Abbr. for school Cats venture to for annual war on 12/6
46 Kennedy, Johnson, King or Grant
47 Comes to Rupp on Jan. 7th
48 This is 79 Down's _ year at IU
52 Pod vegetable
53 Arrest
54 Super Gator Andrew
56 Coach Sonny of Auburn
60 Louisville's talented Herbert
62 Coach Newton of SEC foe, Vandy
63 Big-scoring Vol Tony
64 Initials of Gator coach Sloan
66 Returning starter for 44 Down
67 The Hoosiers should be the Cats' first big_
69 Super talented Kimbro of 31 Down
72 First name of 66 Down
73 SEC state abbr. 75 SEC teams
78 Initials of Oliver of Cat foe, LSU
79 Initials of big gun at 45 Down
80 See 51 Across
Meet The Press
Junior Guard Ed Davender Knows What Pressure Is; 6-10 Junior Center Rob Lock Taking Things In Stride
By Nick Nicholas
Here are some gormet goodies (not including the 101st serving of Hawaiian Ham) left over from last Thursday's Eddie Sutton press conference at Wildcat Lodge prior to the Kentucky-Indiana matchup in BloomTngton:
Turnabout Is Fair Play: Sutton noted that while Blackmon played poorly against Austin Peay. the 6-foot-3 senior had an outstanding overall game three nights later. "James did not play very well in our opening game with Austin Peay," said Sutton. "But the other night I thought he played the best defense that I've ever seen him play. He's probably the second best athlete on our ballclub. I like James Blackmon. I think he will be a very, very fine player by the end of the year. He played great basketball for us last season."
Be Prepared: With the three-point rule now in effect, it's only a matter of time before sharp-shooting Steve Alford breaks loose for a bundle of buckets. A first-team All-America selection last season, Alford is considered one of the nation's finest shooters. "Steve Alford is going to hit somebody for 50," Sutton said two days prior to the game in Bloomington. "I just hope it doesn't happen Saturday afternoon."
Clearing Out The Paint: "Right now everybody is experimenting with the three-point rule," said the UK coach. "We talk about it everyday. There's no doubt that it will open up the paint area. A lot of us are concerned that the three-point shot is too close. I'm not sure that they'll ever take it out of college basketball. And I'm not sure that it's not good for the game, but I do believe it's a little too close. It has opened up the inside area. The way we plays basketball, defensively, I don't think it has really affected us. But offensively it probably has helped us because a lot of teams that have packed it in in the past can't do that now."
Season On Tlie Brink?: A reporter from Indiana asked Sutton, through a phone hookup, if he had read the book Season On The Brink by John Feinstein. The story is about the 1985-86 season with Indiana basketball coach Bobby Knight. "What's that?" Sutton asked. The writer replied. "It's a book that has been circulating up here." "No, I've never even heard of it." responded Sutton. An excerpt of the book was reprinted in Sports Illustrated* special pre-season basketball outlook. Within the excerpt are comments from Bobby Knight about last year's Alford-less battle against Kentucky. He referred to Kentucky as "those cheating SOBs." Earlier a state reporter showed Sutton the article from Sports Illustrated. Sutton, in fact, did say he had seen the story.
Uptown Ed: Wildcat guard Ed Davender was sensational during Kentucky's first two
wins. The junior averaged 21.5 points in UK's victories over Austin Peay and Texas Tech. Here's what Sutton had to say about his starting point guard. "I believe he is one of the top guards in the country. Last year I made the comment and I'll make it again this seasonhe's one of the best defensive guards for sure. But he's (also) scoring very well. In our first two games he's just played at both ends of the floor." Sutton reflected on a story written by the Lexington Herald-Leader's Jerry Tipton on Davender in which the UK hoopster had a gun pulled on him while growing up in Brooklyn. "He (Davender) said playing in Rupp Arena or playing for the Wldcats doesn't compare with that." remarked Sutton.
They Call It Like They See It: In regards to SEC officials, Sutton was quick to note the league has referees second to none. "In my opinion the SEC has the best officiating in the country," Sutton said. "We have more qualified officials than any other officials. Now. some nights they don't call as well, just like I don't coach as well and players don't play as well. Basketball being the game that it is, one can sometimes get a little too excited. Too emotional. . .1 got a little too excited the. other night (Austin Peay)."
Rebounding Blues: With the loss of Cedric Jenkins and Winston Bennett Kentucky's inside strength is drastically affected. With the return of Jenkins sometime into January plus the possibility of Mike Scott joining the program, UK will be armed for its upcoming wars in the SEC. Before they can be available for duty Kentucky must improve if its to be ready for a tough December slate. Against Austin Peay the 'Cats were outrebounded 38 to 27. The results were better three night later as Texas Tech grabbed only four more boards than the Wildcats (25 to 21). UK's corp of big men now only feature 6-10 Rob Lock, 6-7 Irv Thomas and 6-7 Richard Madison. Meanwhile. Sutton believes this group can still be competitve. "Rebounding is a problem with us right now." muttered Sutton. "We don't have anybody that can just take the game over. . .That was one thing Blackmon did well for us last year (rebounding). He hasn't done it as well this year. I made him very much aware of that. I had a talk with him and told him how important that was. Offensively go to the glass and defensively you make darn sure that you block your man and don't leak out. So, we're going to get better in that area of the game."
Lock Keeping The Faith: As he did following Kentucky's win over Texas Tech, Sutton mentioned he was "very disappointed" with the students booing Lock. However, Lock still has confidence in his game according to the UK coach. Sutton mentioned his 6-10 center was playing down the incident. Lock joked to the players and coaches after the Tech ballgame that even his girlfriend booed him after he kissed her good night.