OSCAR L. COMBS
Crunch Times Here, And It's Do-Or-Die For 'Cats
Crunch time?
You'd better believe it!
Coming off a two-game losing streak at the hands of Tennessee and Florida, Eddie Sutton and his Wildcats face a do-or-die situation as the regular-season Southeastern Conference race winds down during the next seven days.
With just three SEC games remaining on the UK schedule, the 'Cats know full well they must win all three contests if they have any hopes of claiming the SEC title outright. There is a possibility the 'Cats could win a share of the title with one more loss, but the loss could not come at the hands of LSU, which is suddenly breathing down everyone's neck.
After last Saturday's action, there was a virtual four-way deadlock for first place. Kentucky and Vanderbilt were tied for first place with identical 10-5 league marks while LSU and Florida were tied in the loss column with five losses (both at 9-5), but a half-game back overall.
What all this means is that there is going to be a wild scramble for the league title, and an almost impossible task of trying to figure out the SEC tournament seedings before the last regular-season game. It could be the first time in SEC history that more than two teams tie for the title and it could well become the first time in history when a team with six losses has won the regular-season crown.
There are a lot of "ifs" for any of those things to happen, but who would have thought of a four-way tie for the league lead with just two weeks remaining?
Some of the mystery could be solved this week, beginning on Wednesday night (which already will have been played by the time many of our out-of-state subscribers read this) when Kentucky entertains the LSU Tigers.
The loser of that game will definitely become a darkhorse, if any horse at all. LSU could stand the loss, perhaps, better than Kentucky because the Tigers have two of their last three (only Mississippi State is on the road) at home and finish the season by taking on one of the leadersFloridathe final day of the season.
On the other hand, Kentucky is through with the league leaders after LSU. That's good news if the 'Cats are in the lead, but if they need to make up ground, then their fate would depend on outside forces, something no one likes to depend on.
Plus, UK still has to face Georgia at home and giant-killer Ole Miss on the road to close out the regular season.
Both Florida and Vanderbilt are at home on Wednesday and are expected to win those respective games which would keep them in the hunt. Florida hosts Tennessee and Vanderbilt hosts Auburn.
By the time Saturday rolls around, either Kentucky or LSU will have fallen to fourth place, with the other hanging tough at the top.
Saturday's action has only four games, but none of them will affect the SEC race as UK and LSU are idle from SEC action. Kentucky goes outside the conference to play Syracuse on Sunday and
LSU is off until next Wednesday.
Auburn is at Alabama, Georgia goes to Ole Miss, Mississippi State is at Tennessee and Vanderbilt journeys to Notre Dame.
So everything will come down to the final five days of the season. And scheduling could be a major factor.
Next Wednesday, the game of games has Vanderbilt on the road at Florida with LSU at Mississippi State and Kentucky hosting Georgia. Then comes the weekend action when two of the frontrun-ners must play conference games on both Saturday and Sunday.
Florida hosts Alabama on Saturday and then has to hop a plane and head to Baton Rouge for the season finale the next afternoon. It won't be easy for Norm Sloan's Gators to pull off the double sweep, especially the latter.
LSU is faced with the same mission, except that the Tigers get to play both games at home, first Auburn and then Florida. However, when you bunch games like that, a team has been known to look ahead to the big one. With the race as tight as it is, every game is a big one.
Both Kentucky and Vanderbilt close out their seasons a day earlier on Saturday, and in a stateMississippiwhere some say the two should enjoy a decided advantage over LSU and Florida.
Vandy goes up against Mississippi State while Kentucky battles Ole Miss. The two Mississippi schools were tied for last place earlier this week with idential 4-10 records. Wouldn't it be ironic that a last-place team should have the opportunity to dictate the winner of the SEC?
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Back to last week's action.
The two losses to Tennessee and Florida should not be all that shocking to Kentucky fans. The Wildcats have paved a pretty good (or pretty bad) track record, 2-14 over the past 16 years, in Big Orange Country and there have been some far greater UK teams to lose in Knoxville than the one which lost there last Wednesday.
The loss to Florida was to a team which has equal talent to Kentucky this year and both clubs were facing the same challenge last Saturday. Each had lost its previous game and it was time to check in or check out. Unfortunately for UK, the Gators were playing at home.
This is not to mean Kentucky should have stayed home and saved the travel expenses. This merely points out that this is not a great Kentucky team. There aren't many great teams in the country this year. I would have said none, except Temple proved in waxing North Carolina 83-66 Sunday, that the Owls just might be a cut above everyone else.
In the SEC, however, the records prove my point. There are four teams with five losses. Perhaps the middle of the pack is a little stronger than in past years, but there is no dominant one or two teams in the league like past seasons.
If UK should beat LSU and Georgia,
but lose at Ole Miss, and if LSU should beat Mississippi State, Auburn and Florida, and if Vanderbilt should lose to Florida, but beat Auburn and Mississippi State and if Florida should beat Vanderbilt, Tennessee and Alabama but lose to LSU, then you would have a four-way championship with the co-champions owning six losses each.
Never before have more than two teams tied for the SEC title. And never before has a team with more than five losses won a title. It could happen.
The real question now. Is the SEC that balanced this season or that weak! Even the non-conference games have failed to prove the point thus far. Kentucky is undefeated outside the conference. Vandy upset then top-ranked North Carolina and gave Indiana quite a scare. Florida has been on both ends of the yo-yo stick againsty out-of-league opposition.
A more up-to-date barometer will probably come this weekend when UK hosts Syracuse and Vanderbilt goes to Notre Dame.
Two years ago. experts said the SEC was down, partly because Kentucky ran away with the league title. In the NCAA, the SEC proved it was the nation's finest conference.
The jury is still out on this season.
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Kentucky, which moved up to the No. 9 spot last week after a modest three-game winning streak, was expected to drop way down in the ratings after the back-to-back
home, they don't deserve any better.
If Kentucky could sweep the remainder of their games, and that's a very big "if," the 'Cats could get back into the Top Ten before the NCAA bracket is announced. If the 'Cats want a shot at the Final Four, they need a friendly first- or second-place seeding in a regional and Kentucky officials would much prefer to stay close to home.
That can be assured only if UK wins the SEC regular-season title. That with a victory over Syracuse would be good testimony for the Kentucky case.
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HITS AND MISSES . . . Former UK assistant Leonard Hamilton has been in the news quite a bit recently. He recently appeared on the cover of Basketball Times with a story on how Hamilton is rebuilding the Oklahoma State program. And then he got a dose of the other kind of publicity Sunday when he was banished from the Oklahoma State-Missouri game won 92-70 by Missouri. Missouri was up by only a pair at the half. Hamilton was hit with a double technical foul early in the game and was then kicked out of the game when a third technical was whistled on the State bench. In college ball, a coach is kicked out of the game after three technicals, and any technical against a team's bench automatically goes against the head coach. Hang in there, Leonard, sunshine is on the way . . . Former SEC television analyst Joe Dean, who is now athletics
Dean, Left, Says Chapman, Right,
losses to Tennessee and Florda, but the CNN-USA Today poll still had Kentucky No. 13 this week.
To some, the number 13 is unlucky, but not this one.
Why?
Because the NCAA tournament seedings rely very heavily on the polls when determining where the teams are placed in the tournament bracket.
The big poll will be the one which will come out the Monday after the regular-season finale. Next week, Kentucky could be in an even better position because the 'Cats will have two home gamesLSU and Syracuseon which to improve their No. 13 ranking. If the 'Cats cannot win at
Will Be Better Player In The NBA
director at LSU, said recently Rex Chapman "will be a better pro basektball player because his shot selection in the college game is very questionable, but in the pros no one will care because they get the ball back every 24 seconds." . . . In the UK locker room after the Kentucky-Alabama game recently was 6-5 sharpshooter Pat Graham, a high-scoring guard from Southern Indiana who is one of the top junior prospects in the state. Graham reportedly has narrowed his list to Big Ten schools along with Kentucky and Louisville. He plays for the same Indiana school which produced former Wildcat Jerry Hale . . . Florida writers [Continued On Page 22]