7&e       ' delude
Springtime In The Bluegrass
Basketball Still In The Air
With basketball, baseball, and football overlapping each other these days, a sportswriter's thoughts might be disarrayed to some extent.
During the springtime month of March this Bluegrass state is definitely intermingling in the athletic world.
For example:
*Joe B. Hall and his Kentucky Wildcats have showed the Floridas, Purdues, and West Virginias that they do belong in the 64-field tournament, beating Washington and Neveda-Las Vegas in West Regional action.
Nick Nicholas
Celts' Pause Columnist
*The NCAA championship road comes to its destiny next week in Lexington!
""Kentucky's high school girls have just completed thier "Sweet 16" b-ball tournament in Bowling Green, while this week the boy prepsters gather in Rupp Arena to see who's best.
*Some interesting figures were discovered when the football Wildcats went through a few tests during "Pro Day" drills.
*Coach Keith Madison's Bat Kats were lookin' good before they traveled to Nashville. But like I said . . . before they traveled to Nashville.
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Kenny Walker.
Kenny Walker is finally getting the national attention he deserves. While a forward out of Oklahoma, and a 7-foot-2 giant out of Georgetown have been among the center of national attention, 'Sky-Walker' showed the maximum ability of a basketball player like no other last weekend.
Against Washington on national television the 6-9 agile forward poured in 29 points and grabbed 10 boards in leading the 'Cats over the Huskies 66-58. Walker's block shot of Richie Adams short jumper in the closing seconds enabled UK to hold on to a slim lead for the 64-61 nailbiting victory over the Runnin' Rebels of UNLV. The second-team All-American (AP) finished with a game-high 23 tallies and six rebounds in 37 minutes of action.
But without the play of Roger Harden, Richard Madison, JEd Davender, Winston Bennett and Bret Bearup, Walker might not be able to showoff his talents in the tourney. All the Wildcats seem to be playing with new life. For instance reserves James Blackmon, Robert Lock and Cedric Jenkins have come on like young lions to contribute vastly to their teams recent NCAA success.
When the Wildcats play with enthusiasm and determination they're a whole new ballclub. It's definitely not the same team which lost earlier in the year by 16 in Tennessee.
Now Walker and troops must try to outstage popular Chris Mullins, Bill Wennington, Walter Berry and Lou Carnesecca and his new cream sweater. Everybody knows these guys, but UK is still somewhat unfamiliar to the national scene.
Last Sunday, CBS expert Brent Musburger noted that 'David Walker' blocked Adams' shot. Brent, don't you know who Kenny 'Sky' Walker is? C'mon now.
As the Final Four draws nearer and nearer, here's who I feel should be listed on the '85 all-America team.
FIRST TEAM
Forwards -- Kenny "Sky" Walker (Kentucky), Wayman Tisdale (Oklahoma)
Center -- Patrick Ewing (Georgetown)
Guards -- Chris Mullin   (St. John's), Dwayne "Pearl" Washington (Syracuse)
Coach -- Bill Frieder (Michigan)
SECOND TEAM
Forwards -- Keith Lee (Memphis State), Carl "The Mailman" Malone (Louisiana Tech)
Center -- Joe Kliene (Arkansas)
Guards -- Steve Mitchell (Alabama-Birmingham), Sam Vincent (Michigan State)
Coach -- Andy Russo (Louisiana Tech)
THIRD TEAM
Forward -- Xavier McDaniel (Wichita State), Alfredrick Hughes (Loyola) Center -- Roy Tarpley (Illinois)
Guards -- Mark Price (Georgia Tech), Calvin Duncan (Virginia Commonwealth)
Coach -- John Thompson (Georgetown)
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Tie -- Gary Grant (Michigan) and Danny Manning (Kansas)
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Rex Chapman.
Rex Chapman will probably draw a crowd in the boy's state tourney. The 6-3 Owensboro Apollo guard will not only be the subject of the opponent's swarming defenses, but a big contengent of Kentucky high school basketball fans will be on hand at Rupp Arena to see the junior sensation.
Last week TCP prep editor -- J.C. Dumas and I ventured down to Owensboro (see Dumas's story on Chapman in this edition) to see Chapman's squad play Owensboro in the Third Region finals. When we walked in the Owensboro Sportscenter, coaches Denny Crum, CM. Newton, Clem Haskins were some of the college dignitaries on hand to see the contest between two of Kentucky's Top Ten teams.
Those coaches were treated to an Apollo victory, who erased a 13-point deficit in earning a spot opposite Somerset in the state tournament.
Chapman lit up the scoreboard with 39 points as Apollo won for the third time in five games this season over the Red Devils.
The Apollo guard can flat do it all; he jumps center, plays tenacious defense, dribbles the ball with extreme deception and takes the jumper with confidence. But most of all, Chapman is a team player. You see, all the youngster cared about was his team winning against their arch-rivals and being able to play in Rupp Arena.
'That's going to be a dream come true for all of us,'' said Chapman about playing in the gigantic UK arena. None of us have never played there. A lot of good teams got knocked off and we've got a chance to go a long way. But we're going to have to play great.
"This was one of the biggest games of our lifetime. It's something that we'll never forget. We just love each other to death and we've come together as a team. That's what it is ... a team."
Kentucky has also been one of the many colleges eyeing the prep recruit. Assistant coaches Lake Kelly and Jim Hatfield were in attendance at the Sportscenter the night before when the Eagles played and beat Muhlenberg Central.
If Kentucky lands Chapman, you can be assured that the Wildcats reeled in one of the country's biggest catches in '86.
Kentucky football.
The Kentucky football team went through a few drills last week in the 'Cats' annual spring "Pro Day."
Several pro scouts were on hand to check the players on their 40 yard sprints, weight, and bench pressing abilities. Also some of UK's current seniors -- ala George Adams, Joker Phillips, Cam Jacobs, Frank Hare, Paul Calhoun -- participated in drills for the scouts. Former Wildcat quarterback/receiver Terry Henry was even at the Shively practice field trying to get the scouts' attention.
Senior-to-be Brian Williams turned in some impressive stats. The defensive back, while weighing in at 208 pounds,s ran an impressive 4.65 in the 40 yard dash. After being suspended from the Hall of Fame game for team violations, Williams seems to be going all out to redeem himself for the upcoming season.
A lot of the Wildcats appear to have been working hard as 35 players on the roster have weighed in with 10 percent or less body fat. According to UK sources, anything under 15 percent is good.
Cornell Burbage and Mark Logan turned in the fastest speeds with a 4.4 time. The fastest player ever recorded in a 'Cat uniform was back Ken Northington with a time of 4.3-plus.
Sophomore-to-be Mark Higgs was clocked at 4.52.
Kentucky baseball.
With three games scheduled against Vandy in Nashville last weekend, Coach Keith Madison's felt his squad was ready to get back in the SEC's eastern division race. UK with a 2-4 conference record (7-8 overall) trailed leader Florida by only 3 games and had just won 3 of 4 games. But after Saturday's  twin-bill  loss  to  the  Commodores,   the  Wildcats' found
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