Wildcat Hoop Notes
Kentucky has extended Its string of non-losing seasons to 5_7,  the longest such string ln college basketball.    The last time L'K suffered a losing season was tn 1927, when the Cats were 3-13.
till
Nearly a half-million fans watched the Wildcats ln action ln person this season. That breaks down as follows:
Home: 320.926   (22.923 avg.)     Other:    173,556 (13,350 avg.)   Total: 494,482 (18,314 avg.)
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Coach Joe B. Hall used nine   different starting combinations this season, as compared to Just five last year. Here are the records of the various combinations: Walker (F), Bennett (F), Besrup (C), Blackmon (C), Hsrden (C) -    11 wins, 4 losses Walker (F), Bennett (F), Bearup (C), Davender (C), Harden (C) -     2 wins, 2 losses Walker (F), Bennett  (F), Bearup (C), Andrews (C), Harden (C)    -     1 win Walker (F), Bennett (F), Bearup (C), McKinley (C), Harden (C) -     1 win Walker (F), Bearup (F). Lock (C), Andrews (C), Harden (C) -     1 win
Walker (F), Bearup (F), Lock (C), Blackmon (C), Davender (G) -Walker (F), Bearup (F). Lock (C), Blackmon (C), Harden (C) Walker (F), Bennett (F), Bearup (C), Andrews (G). Harden (C) -Walker (F), Bennett (F), Bearup (C), Blackmon (G), Davender (G)-
0 losses
0 losses
1 loss
0 wins, 1 loss 0 wins. 1 loss 0 wins, 1 loss 0 wins,.1 loss
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n Co."     o   Hall a *1 ' ln th "'""heart" -nth.
"-^record h '  K?nCuc^' th U11^ats have complied a remarkable
21 record In February.    That's an Incredible winning percentage of 80 0
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This year's edition of the Wildcats Is on Its way to becoming the worst field goal shooting team of Joe Hall's tenure at IT..    Currently, the Wildcats are shooting 45.3 percent.    The previous low for a season was ln 1972-73, when UK shot 48.4 percent from the floor.
I'll
Kentucky continues to be the wlnningest team ln college basketball. Through the years,  the Wildcats have won 1 ,374 gases, while losing only 434.    That's a winning percentage of 76.0. Next ln line Is North Carolina with a 1,339-499 record (72.91). The only other SEC team ln the Top 25 is Tennessee st 1,028-595 (63.31).
Final Regular Season SEC Stats
Scoring (Top 15)
Player, School	G	Pts.	Avg
Kenny Walker, F	27	622	23.0
Kentucky			
Chuck Person, F	27	606	22.4
Auburn			
Michael Brooks, G	30	546	18.2
Tennessee			
Andrew Moten, G	27	456	16.9
Florida			
Phil Cox, G	26	437	16.8
Vanderbilt			
Buck Johnson, F	27	451	16.7
Alabama			
Eric Laird, G	21	347	16.5
Ole Miss			
Tony White, G	29	468	16.1
Tennessee			
Nikita Wilson, C	27	423	15.7
LSU			
Cedric Henderson, F	24	372	15.5
Georgia			
Eugene McDowell, C	27	402	14.9
Florida			
Brett Burrow, C	27	396	14.7
Vanderbilt			
Ken Harvey, G	26	369	14.2
Miss. State			
Curtis Ritchwood, F	26	365	14.0
Ole Miss			
John Williams, F	27	362	13.4
Reboundi	ng )		
(Top 10			
Player, School	G	Reb.	Avg
Kenny Walker, F	27	283	10.5
Kentucky			
Eugene McDowell, C	27	278	10.3
Florida			
Chuck Person, F	27	250	9.3
Auburn			
Buck Johnson, F	27	248	9.2
Alabama			
Rob Jones, C	30	264	8.8
Tennessee			
Bobby Lee Hurt, C	27	236	8.7
Alabama			
Brett Burrow, C	27	216	8.0
Vanderbilt			
Curtis Ritchwood, F	26	196	7.5
Ole Miss			
Jeff Moore, C	27	202	7.5
Auburn			
Cedric Henderson, F	24	175	7.3
Georgia			
Free Throw Percentage (Top 10)
LSU
Field Goal Percentage (Top 10)
Player, School Bobby Lee Hurt, C
Alabama Tony Robinson, F
Miss. State Rob Jones, C
Tennessee Eugene McDowell, C
Florida Nikita Wilson, C LSU
Buck Johnson, F
Alabama Chuck Person, F
Auburn Ken Harvey, G Miss. State Cedric Henderson, !
Georgia Kenny Walker, F Kentucky
FG 131	FGA 210	Pet 62.4
103	166	62.0
145	240	60.4
168	283	59.4
178	300	59.3
181	320	56.6
273	483	56.5
154	275	56.0
143	258	55.4
214	391	54.7
Player, School	FT	FTA	Pet
Michael Brooks, G	126	139	90.6
Tennessee			
Don Redden, G	62	71	87.3
LSU			
Phil Cox, G	109	125	87.2
Vanderbilt			
Brett Burrow, C	124	146	84.9
Vanderbilt			
Tony White, G	106	128	82.8
Tennessee			
Terry Coner, G	96	123	78.0
Alabama			
Nikita Wilson, C	67	86	77.9
LSU			
Anthony Richardson,	F 98	126	77.8
Tennessee			
Andrew Moten, G	120	155	77.4
Florida			
Kenny Walker, F	194	254	76.4
Kentucky			
Assists			
(Top	4)		
Player, School	G	Ast.	Avg.
Terry Coner, G	27	163	6.0
Alabama			
Gerald White, G	27	149	5.5
Auburn			
Roger Harden, G	26	120	4.6
Kentucky			
Jeff Norwood, G	27	124	4.6
Miss. State			
Bob Watkins
(Continued From Page 14)
carry the annual tournament that fans call "The Greatest Show On Earth."
"It's tough changing a tradition because it (play-by-play coverage of the Sweet 16; has been WHAS's gift to the state, but it's not good business," Denny Nugent, director of programming at WHAS, said last week. "We're going to have (play-by-play) coverage for the Saturday morning and evening sessions and we're leaning to covering games involving Louisville teams, especially on Friday."
The format for the tourney will include end-of-quarter summaries of each contest and another at game's end, Nugent said. The summaries will be done by-Paul Rogers and Jock Sutherland.
"That will give us five breaks per game," Nugent explained. "Basically, this is a programming decision based on serving our metro audience. It's a ratings thing," Nugent added. "A problem with covering every play of every game has been the departure from our regular format of music and drive time news. We just decided this is the way to go.
"It won't be a wire-to-wire thing, but we're going to cover the tournament." And what about thousands of Kentucky prep fans who have relied on WHAS Radio for tournament coverage for a quarter-century?
"Our decision is based on serving the most people and 95 percent of our listeners are in the metropolitan area. It's hard to let five percent dicate what our direction our programming is going to take," Nugent replied. "We decided, from a business standpoint, this was the way to go."
Nugent added however, that "We're still making a big deal out of the state tournament in that we're going to be doing some special features throughout the week on the tournament's history, some of the classic games, things like that." Then Nugent got in a plug for his station.
"The reason for our increased ratings the last two years, and they have been up immensely, is consistency. I think we've been consistent. And, you have to remember that three counties in our prime listening area are in IndianaFloyd, Clark and Harrisonand they don't give a hoot about the Sweet 16." Roundbali tidbits
 It is time for Indiana's Bobby Knight to retire from coaching? I recall an item from an Indiana newspaper five weeks ago..."What with the Olympics and this season, Bobby is mentally exhausted, maybe even burned out.
 At one time Bucky Waters (NBC Sports) was the best analyst of college basketball games...until he began trying to be Al McGuire.
 Sam Bowie is second in the NBA in blocked shots, 123 in 49 games, 2.5 per contest. Suddenly, "loud" critics of Portland's decision to pick Bowie over Michael Jordan in the NBA draft are distant echoes.
Letters
From Hopkinsville Joel Combs wanted to know the score and players from UCLA's 1975 team that beat UK in the NCAA finals.
The Bruins (28-3) beat the Kevin Grevey-led Wildcats 92-85 in San Diego in Coach John Wooden's last game in 1975. The guard...
 Andre McCarter is now an assistant to Walt Hazzard at UCLA. The forwards...
 David Meyers, who scored 24 against UK that day, was the only returning starter for Wooden. He retired from the NBA in 1980 and is in private business in California.
 Richard Washington was a 6-11 sophomore who scored 28 against UK, retired from the NBA last year.
 Marcus Johnson was also a 6-7 sophomore that year and is now with the NBA Los Angeles Clippers.
 Ralph Drollinger was a 7-1 junior. He retired from the NBA in 1981 and is now a high school coach.
Top substitute...
 Pete Trgovich, averaged 10.2 for the Bruins as a senior that season. As a high schooler he was one of Indiana's best, from East Chicago, Ind. Rupp remembered
Trivia question  who shot the very first hoop at Rupp Arena?
Give up? The first attempt went up on Oct. 15, 1976.
Just before the University of Kentucky's first basketball practice in the 23,000-seat hall, Coach Joe B. Hall directed his Wildcats to "stand back" while Adolph Rupp took his grandson by the hand, led him onto the court and let him shoot the first basket.
"That was grandfather," Chip Rupp, now a senior at Lexington Henry Clay High School, told a Lexington reporter recently. "A lot of people thought he was a mean man who was extremely strict about everything and didn't care about other people's feelings. But that's not how I remember him. Behind closed doors, he was a real nice man."
Comment: Young Rupp's remarks reminded me of a couple of things.
 Cheers to Cats Pause columnist Mel Holbrook for his interesting two part series on Herky Rupp and family.
 Jeers to former coaches and Rupp associates and writers who have attempted to enhance the worthy contributions of others at the expense of Coach Adolph Rupp's reputation.
Examples.
 Few would challenge the worthiness of contributions made to UK sports by the late Harry Lancaster. But why did author Bert Nelli find it necessary to chronicle in his recent book on UK basketball that Lancaster, and not Rupp, ran the UK team during the last several seasons of Der Baron's career?
Whose interest is served? If it is Lancaster's, then his memory is soiled.
I believe Rupp's family should have been spared such cheap shots at the Coach's alleged eccentricities and human frailties. Afterall, the core of Kentucky's rich basketball heritage is set on a foundation put down and made firm over 42 winters by Adolph Frederick Rupp who was wise enough to surround himself with capable staff.
Those who genuinely care about the college game and its lofty popularity in the 1980s should recall also Rupp's contribution to it and keep it sacred. Missing...
Whatever happened to basketballers Bob Tallent ('66) and Lucian 'Skippy' Whitaker ('52)? And so it goes.H