ell Rick Pitino the cupboard is bare... and he'll tell pu to look again.
Such was the case a year ago, when doomsdayers and optimists alike were predicting a long season for the Kentucky Wildcats basketball team. During his first year as the UK coach, Pitino was faced with a roster that featured only eight scholarship players, none taller than 6-7. By the time Pitino arrived from New York to take over in Lexington, probation had taken its toll on Kentucky's roster, reputation and morale. The program was a mess. Or was it?
Preaching his gospel of optimism, hard work and enthusiasm, Pitino led the 1989-90 Wildcats to a respectable and surprising 14-14 record, and a 10-8 Southeastern Conference finish that was good enough for a tie for fourth place. Kentucky was a perfect 9-0 in SEC games in Rupp Arena, highlighted by a thrilling 100-95 win over LSU before 24,301, the largest crowd ever at Rupp Arena.
The Wildcats didn't do it with mirrors. They did it with preparation, determination and pure hustle. They did it with three-point
BIRTH OF THE BOMBINOS
Pitino's first Kentucky team was nicknamed "Pitino's Bombinos," in reference to their youth and their three-point shooting. The Cats earned the nickname after bombing Tennessee Tech, 111-75. Lexington Herald-Leader columnist |ohn McCill wrote, "Pitino's Bambinos? No, call them Pitino's BOM-binos."
NAME THAT TUNE
The song played during Kentucky's starting lineups is the musical prelude to "Eye in the Sky" by the Alan Parsons Project It is the same music used for starting lineups at Chicago Bulls games.
shooting  seven NCAA records were broken. They did it with defense  the team set a new record for steals in a season. And they did it with the help of their fans  six of the top 13 crowds in Rupp Arena history saw the Cats play last season.
"We were hoping to build a positive attitude, to establish our style of play, and to convert our fans back to the positive track," Pitino says. "I think we accomplished all of those."
For a .500 year, it was a season of unparalleled excitement in Kentucky, ironic for a program whose fans have been described as the most demanding in sport. "Fun" replaced "win" as the Bluegrass basketball buzz word. Pitino wants both this coming season.
"I have set four goals for this coming season," Pitino says. "One is to win 16 games, which may not seem like a lot, but we play one of the toughest schedules in the nation. The second is to average 95 points a game. This is probably unrealistic, but I want to keep striving to score that many points with the type
"Jeff is a young man who played a lot as a freshman and did an admirable job for someone of his size. He is going to have to improve his shooting his ball handling and his passing. He certainly has the potential to do that, and we look forward to him continuing to grow as a player. He is; hard-working young man, someone who will give 100% every practice and every game"
"Johnathon Davis is a quality young man who is very good in the classroon and exemplifies what we want Kentucky basketball people to stand for off the court."