JOE HALL YEARS
Joe B. Hall
Thirteen years ago, the University of Kentucky basketball program was at an impasse. The man who had led the program for 42 years, the legendary Adolph Rupp, was retiring. A vital search to find the man to carry on the torch ensued.
History will show that Joe B. Hall was unquestionably the right man.
In the past 13 years, Hall not only maintained Kentucky's reputation, he embellished it as he averaged more wins per season than Rupp. With the tremendous parity in college basketball over the last 13 years, Hall's record is indeed remarkable. The Wildcats made 10 trips to the NCAA Tournament, earned three visits to the Final Four and won an NCAA title. Hall produced a 20-9 record in the pressure-packed NCAA Tournament.
Last season, Hall faced one of his most difficult assignments ever. The Wildcats lost four starters off the 1984 NCAA Final Four squad. For most teams, that would have doomed the season. However, by the end of the year, Kentucky and Coach Hall had proved that, above all, they were winners.
In the NCAA Tournament, the Cats knocked off Washington, the Pac-10 champion, in the first round. In the second round, Nevada-Las Vegas fell to the Cats in a torrid shootout. Only a Chris Mul-lin finger that found its way into Kenny Walker's eye and a talented group of St. John's Redmen prevented the Cats from taking another step toward the Final Four.
But, Kentucky and Joe Hall had made a dramatic statement that nobody in the basketball world missed. Kentucky basketball is still one of the elite programs in the competitive world of collegiate basketball.
Over the past 13 years, parity in college basketball is registered by the fact that 31 different teams have reached the NCAA Final Four. In that time, only two schools made more visits than Kentucky.
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