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College Basketball's Finest Is March Madness
'Cowboy' Hamilton Moves On
Best time of the year. NCAA Tournament time. Football's Super Bowl is more hype than anything else, baseball's World Series has been diluted by a 7-game league playoff system, and the National Basketball Association, plagued by inflated salaries, drug problems and fights among players is no longer prime time entertainment, particularly after one gets past the Celtics and Lakers.
But college basketball in Marchwith all its wartsis still magic, state of the art in sports. Gets people excited. A lady I know bought a chance in an office pool last week for the NCAA's final
Bob Watkins
Cats' Pause Columnist
64 "just because it was there," she said. She drew Kansas.
"Is that good?" she wanted to know.
Here in the heartland basketball is all the more special because Kentucky is such a basketball-mad state, always has been, always will be. The principal reasons, I like to believe, are these:
 The game's uncomplicated beauty. Even when coaches and television analysts try and make it more difficult to understand, the fact remains here are 10 guys in short pants, running up and down a wooden floor, trying to shoot a balloon through a hoop that has ropes on it.
That's all, right? Well, not completely.
 More central to the NCAA season is 'taking sides.' As in "my team is better than your team."
That idea is the important thing at this time of year. Kentucky's Eddie Sutton should not have been surprised before his team played Davidson last week when reporters wanted to talk about a UK-Western Kentucky.
I think the guy still has a lot to learn if he stays in Kentucky.
Clem Haskins was not surprised and admitted later that he planned for Nebraska, but had dreams about playing Kentucky. Louisville Coach was Denny Crum was not surprised either although he sidestepped making a prediction on the UK-Western game. The UL coach did answer the question in a more universal way.
Three Kentucky teams in the NCAA... "It shows what we've known all along, this is basketball country and that's why I'm here," Crum said, adding, "It's why I felt sorry for Coach (Guy) Lewis down at Houston. This is his last year and down there they don't even support their team. Our fans up here stick with us even when we have a season like we did last year."
Basketball country, yes. And NCAA Tournament time is the best time of year too.
Tired and testy
Despite its 30 win success story, SEC conference and tournament title, Kentucky Coach Eddie Sutton said last week that "this has has been the most difficult season I've ever had in 28 years of coaching. It's been very demanding. We've been working 16 hour days, and maybe we needed to work 18.
"But I've never enjoyed a season more either."
Sutton added this little gem: "Hey, when the moon's right we can beat anybody. I'm telling you guys, everybody needs a Farmer's Almanac."
Fans want to know
 What did Kentucky Coach Eddie Sutton say to get himself a technical foul (from referee John Clougherty) during the SEC title game?
"All I said was, 'did you guys get enough sleep last night? Are you awake yet or what?" Sutton said. Bingo, the UK coach had gotten two warnings already.
 Why wasn't Kenny Walker named to the SEC all-tournament team? Comment: Sutton hinted on his Sunday television program that "petty
jealousies in the SEC" was the reason.
Not so. The media voted the all-tournament team and there were players who deserved to be on it more than Walker did based on their tournament performances. Walker was two of eight shooting in the title game and had one point at half time of both the LSU and Alabama games. My ballot read Chauncey Robinson, Miss. State; Buck Johnson, Alabama; Winston Bennett, Kentucky; John Williams, LSU; and UK's Roger Harden as MVP.
The SEC all-tourney team featured all the above except 'Bama's Derrick McKey in place of Bennett, with Williams MVP instead of Harden.
The only injustice I noted was Harden not receiving MVP. Williams had an excellent tournament, but Harden led UK to the championship.
Comment: Jealousies among SEC coaches? Certainly. If you were coach at LSU, Georgia, or one of the others, wouldn't you get tired of the New York Yankees...ah Kentucky Wildcats beating your ears off year after year?
Success has its price.
 Virginia Harvley of Sonora, Ky. writes that she is sorry to see Roger
Harden's career at Kentucky end. "He's been such a joy to watch and he hasn't gotten the publicity he deserves, but that goes with the territory." Comment: Yes, the 'territory' called point guard.
"But Harden has his head on straight and has great confidence in himself," Harvley added. "It will serve him well in the years to come."
 Phyllis Pence of Elizabethtown had a response to Louisville Coach Denny Crum's remark about Kentucky's schedule. Before the NCAA pairings were announced Crum said that while UL's schedule was rated among the most difficult in the country, UK's was not in the top 50.
Says Mrs. Pence: "What difference does it make if you play a tough schedule if you never beat any of those top ranked teams? That's what UL did. Crum must have forgotten one of those teams, UK beat on its weak schedule, was his."
 Russell Reed of E'town is quite a basketball fan and first round action in the NCAAs proved he knew what he was talking about.
Best games? "Virginia Tech and Villanova will be a good match," Reed said last week. "And I think Jacksonville and Temple could be the best game among the openers.
Possible surprise? "I think Indiana's going to overlook Cleveland State," Reed said.
Comment: Villanova upset Virginia Tech...Temple beat Jacksonville in overtime...and Cleveland State stunned Indiana.
Leonard Hamilton's departure
It became official last week, the former UK assistant coach Leonard Hamilton became head coach of the Oklahoma State Cowboys.
Sutton grew testy when asked whether or not he will try and hire a black assistant coach to replace Hamilton.
"I'm not going to answer any questions about coach (Leonard) Hamilton," he snapped. "When the time comes I want to get the best man for the job and I don't intend to let black and white get into it. It's my call."
What impact will Hamilton's departure on UK's current recruiting effort?
"Leonard's loyalty is not to be questioned," Sutton said. "My priorities will be recruiting and then hiring a new assistant coach. Right now we're hoping to sign a couple more players. But we're going for quality, not quantity."
It seems from here that, aside from the initial impact of Hamilton's departure, goodbyes, perhaps a few snipes et cetera, his leaving will have no major effect on Kentucky's basketball program. What is important, and Sutton recognizes it, will be finding the right man to replace him.
And one legitimate candidate, it seems to me, ought to be Dwane Casey.
Western Kentucky's assistant coach would be a natural for the jobif he expressed interestfor a number of important reasons.
^ Casey is a native Kentuckian, Union County, and knows the state better than anyone Sutton has now or could hope to find.
^ Having played at Kentucky, then serving a year as graduate assistant, Casey understands the caliber of player (and person) it takes to play at Kentucky.
 Aside from one year in private business, Casey has seven years experience as a recruiter nationally. He has made friends and contacts.
 Casey knows how to recruit in Jefferson County, long a UL stronghold.
 He is a first class human being with high ethical standards. He is personable and knows how to deal with people professionally as well.
If Sutton formed a search committee to go looking for the ideal man for Hamilton's job  skills as a recruiter, ambassador for UK  Dwane Casey would be a quality candidate oh all counts.
Of course there are stumbling blocks too.
First, Sutton might not be comfortable with Casey because of his ties to the Joe Hall era at Kentucky.
Second, there has long been speculation that Casey's return to WKU in 1982, after leaving Bowling Green for a year, may be hinged to an assurance that he would be in line to replace Clem Haskins if the current coach resigned or moved up to replace director of athletics John Oldham who has said he will retire this year.
And third, the money might not be right. UK's 'McDonald numbers'
Interesting how things can snowball. Two weeks ago LSU Coach Dale Brown praised the Wildcats, but pointed out that Eddie Sutton afterall, had seven McDonald's Ail-Americans on his team. Next day a Louisville reporter misquoted Brown writing that UK had eight McDonald's All-Americans.
Last week Denny Crum said this: "Kentucky's had a great year, but they've got nine McDonald's All-Americans on that team. And I think Kentucky's the only team in the country that starts five McDonald's All-Americans."
Denny Crum views
The NCAA pairings have not always satisfied Louisville Coach Denny Crum and the Cards being sent to the West Region promised to raise the coach's ire once more. But Crum glanced at the 64-team field last week and said, "I've tried to look at this (NCAA) bracket and find a place I'd rather be than where we are and I can't find one. There are just so many good teams in here it doesn't matter where you are it's going to be a tough draw."
True enough. Balance is the operative word to describe this year's NCAA field.
Crum said that his team headed into the tournament at the top of its game mentally but "physically we're still making too many turnovers. They haven't hurt us badly though because our defense has been so good. But I do think we need to take better care of the basketball."