xt76ww76tf93 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt76ww76tf93/data/mets.xml University of Kentucky 1956 athletic publications English University of Kentucky Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. University of Kentucky Basketball Media Guides (Men) Basketball, 1956 text Basketball, 1956 1956 2012 true xt76ww76tf93 section xt76ww76tf93 KENTUCKY BASKETBALL SCHEDULE 1955-56 Date Opponent Site Starting Time 19 5 5 Dec. 3 *LSU ............ Baton Rouge, La., 7:45 p.m. CST Dec. 10 Temple .................. Lexington, 8:00 p.m. CST Dec. 12 DePaul.................... Lexington, 8:00 p.m. CST Dec. 15 Maryland .... College Park, Md., 8:00 p.m. EST Dec. 17 Idaho...................... Lexington, 8:00 p.m. CST Dec. 20-21 U.K. Invitational Tournament (Minnesota, Utah, Dayton and Kentucky) ...... Lexington, 7:30 p.m. and Approx. 9:20 p.m. CST Dec. 29 St. Louis............St. Louis, Mo., 8:30 p.m. CST 19 5 6 Jan. 7 Georgia Tech .......... Lexington, 8:00 p.m. CST Jan. 12 Tulane .................... Lexington,, 8:00 p.m. CST Jan. 14 LSU ........................ Lexington, 8:00 p.m. CST Jan. 21 Tennessee .... Knoxville, Tenn., 8:00 p.m. EST Jan. 28 Vanderbilt .... Nashville, Tenn., 8:1 5 p.m. CST Jan. 30 Georgia Tech ...... Atlanta, Ga., 8:00 p.m. EST Feb. 1 Duke ...................... Lexington, 8:00 p.m. CST Feb. 4 Auburn ...... Montgomery, Ala., 8:15 p.m. CST Feb. 6 Florida .......... Gainesville, Fla., 8:15 p.m. EST Feb. 11 Mississippi .............. Lexington, 8:00 p.m. CST Feb. 13 Miss. State.............. Lexington, 8:00 p.m. CST Feb. 18 DePaul .............. Chicago, III., 9:40 p.m. CST Feb. 20 Vanderbilt.............. Lexington, 8:00 p.m. CST Feb. 25 Alabama .... Montgomery, Ala., 8:00 p.m. CST Feb. 27 Georgia .................. Louisville, 8:30 p.m. CST Mar. 3 Tennessee .............. Lexington, 8:00 p.m. CST * Game will not count in SEC standing. 1954-55 RECORD Won 23, Lost 3 UK INVITATIONAL TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONS SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS (Freshmen preliminary games begin at 6 p.m. CST. See page 33 for schedule.) University of Kentucky 1955-56 For Press and Radio Prepared and Edited By SPORTS PUBLICITY OFFICE Ken Kuhn, Sports Publicity Editor Bill Surface, Assistant TELEPHONE: 2-2200, Ext. 2241 Memorial Coliseum TABLE OF CONTENTS Facts About the University ........................................................ 3 Coach Adolph Rupp (Sketch) .................................................... 4-7 Asst. Coach Harry Lancaster (Sketch) ........................................ 8-9 Kentucky Basketball Coaches .................................................... 10 The Rupp Era .......................................................................... 1 1 The Outlook For 1956 ............................................................12-14 Final 1955 National Poll Ratings .............................................. 14 Squad Breakdown By Classes .................................................... 1 5 Lettermen Lost and Returning .................................................. 1 5 1955 Season Resume ............................................................16-18 SEC Composite Standings, 1933-55 .......................................... 18 Final 1955 SEC Standings ........................................................ 18 Kentucky All-Americans .......................................................... 19 Helms Foundation Selections .................................................... 19 All-Conference Players ............................................................ 20 U.K. Invitational Tournament ................................................21-22 Kentucky's Tournament Record ..............................................23-24 Gov. Chandler, Lederer Trophies ................... ........................... 24 All-Time Kentucky Cage Records ............................................25-31 Kentucky Hotel Headquarters on Trips ...................................... 31 Varsity Roster .......................................................................... 32 Freshman Roster & Schedule .................................................... 33 Final Varsity Statistics .............................................................. 34 Background Briefs On Players ..................................................35-49 Wildcats' Record Against All Opponents ................................50-52 All-Time Record (Scores) ........................................................53-65 Press-Radio-TV Outlets ............................................................ 65 FACTS ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY General Information LOCATION LEXINGTON, a community of about 100,000 located in the heart of Kentucky's famed Bluegrass region. Renowned as the thoroughbred horse breeding center of the world, Lexington's surrounding countryside is dotted with famous horse farms. The city also is known as the world's largest loose-leaf tobacco market. It is located about 80 miles east of Louisville and 85 miles south of Cincinnati, Ohio. FOUNDED 1865 ENROLLMENT 7,200 PRESIDENT Dr. Herman Lee Donovan VICE-PRESIDENT Dr. Leo M. Chamberlain VICE-PRESIDENT FOR BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Frank Peterson FACULTY CHAIRMAN OF ATHLETICS Dr. A. D. Kirwan DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC RELATIONS R. W. Wild ATHLETIC CONFERENCE Southeastern NICKNAME OF TEAMS Wildcats GYMNASIUM Memorial Coliseum (capacity 1 1,500) COLORS Blue and White FIGHT SONG "On, On U of K" BAND "Marching 100" directed by Warren Lutz Athletic Staff ATHLETIC DIRECTOR Bernie A. Shively (Illinois '27) HEAD BASKETBALL COACH Adolph Rupp (Kansas '23) ASST. BASKETBALL COACH Harry Lancaster (Georgetown '32> HEAD FOOTBALL COACH Blanton Collier (Georgetown '27) TRAINER John Payne (La. State '50) EQUIPMENT MANAGER S. C. (Buster) Brown ACCOUNTANT Julian Harrison TICKET SALES MANAGER Harvey Hodges (Kentucky '3D SPORTS PUBLICITY EDITOR Ken Kuhn (Michigan State '46> 3 ADOLPH FREDERICK RUPP Won 519, Lost 85 85.9% When the sport of basketball is mentioned today, a direct chain of thought eventually will bring out two names which have become virtually synonymous with the gameUniversity of Kentucky and Coach Adolph Rupp. Such unprecedented recognition for the fabulous cage mentor At the close of his Silver Anniversary season at Kentucky last March, Baron Rupp and proud supporters of the Wildcats (who evidenced their thanks for a job well done by presenting the coach with a shiny new Cadillac) could look back over an unparalleled honor roll of 16 Southeastern Conference titles, three NCAA Tournament championships, a National Invitation Tournament title, a trio of successes in the Sugar Bowl Tournament and a pair of championships in their own recently-inaugurated Invitational Tournament as well as is only natural since his deeds over the past 25 years as head man of the Wildcats have resulted in phenomenal success as witnessed by the record of 519 victories in 604 startsa winning average of better than 85 percent. To adequately describe the amazing success of the famed "Man In The Brown Suit," one must start with superlatives for Coach Rupp's record stands as the greatest of any coach in any sport. He is recognized as the nation's winningest basketball coach and his nationally-famous Kentucky cagers have picked up just about every team and individual honor that the basketball world has to bestow. 4 Olympic Trials collegiate bracket laurels and a nominal world's championship through participation as one half of the successful USA entry in the 1948 Olympic Games. Tournament invitations in the pre-Rupp years were almost unheard ofKentucky played in only three and lost each time. In contrast, the Rupp-led Wildcats have the distinction of not only playing in more tournaments of all types than any other team but also hold the record for most appearances (7), most games won (13) and most championships (3) in NCAA Tournament play. Coach Rupp is the first and only mentor to guide his teams to three NCAA and one NIT Tournament titles. All told, his Bluegrass five has achieved the unequalled feat of 103 victories against only 22 defeats covering action in 23 national classics (NCAA, NIT, UK Invitational and Sugar Bowl Tournaments) plus 21 conference meets and the '48 Olympics. Rupp and his almost invincible Kentuckians also have finished as national champion in the Associated Press and other polls four times in the last seven years, were second last season, third another year and unranked one campaign (1952-53) when they were idle. Possibly the greatest achievement was the 1953-54 season when the Wildcats rolled unchecked through a 25-game schedule of topflight opposition to become the biggest-winning, perfect-record unit of all time. However, the Baron himself and many of his critics are inclined to look upon last season's amazing success in the face of major pre-season losses and serious adversity during the year as perhaps one of his best coaching jobs. The colorful Rupp is credited in most quarters with doing more than any other modern tutor to make basketball a national spectator sport. From the very outset of his career at Kentucky, which began in 1930, he has introduced or popularized many new and revised trends in the game that have aided materially in making the country basketball-minded. One such innovation was the controlled fast break offensive pattern which has since become the crowd-pleasing trademark of Wildcat cage teams. Rupp has become, without a doubt, the best known and most widely quoted cage coach in America and his personal fame is equalled only by the success he has instilled in the highly-publicized Kentucky basketball powerhouses. The Kentucky Colonel was named to the Commonwealth's Hall of Fame in 1945 and, in 1949, was honored as the outstanding citizen of the University city of Lexington. Active in civic affairs, he is a 5 Past Potentate of the Oleika Temple of the Shrine and currently is a member of the board of directors of the Shriners Hospital for Crippled Children. He was selected as one of the 10 outstanding Shriners of the nation in 1950 and holds honorary memberships in various temples of the order throughout the country. Recognized internationally in registered Hereford breeding circles, Rupp has several farms near Lexington on which he maintains one of the finest white-faced Hereford herds in the south and raises fine burley tobacco. He is now in a third term as president of the Kentucky Hereford Association and serves on the board of directors of the Kentucky Hereford Breeders Assn. and the Bourbon Beef Show. Rupp is called upon in the off season to go all over the country to speak on agricultural problems. The coach also is a director of the Central District Warehousing Corporation, world's largest tobacco marketing organization, and sits on the board directing activities of the Blue Grass Festival and Blue Grass Foundation. In 1946, Coach Rupp was given the highest individual coaching honor in the cage world when he was elected to the Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame sponsored by the Helms Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles, Calif. The New York Basketball Writers' Association named him "Coach of the Year" for the re-building job he accomplished on the sophomore-studded 1949-50 Wildcats who succeeded the "Fabulous Five." He was made an honorary citizen of New Orleans for the second time in 1951 and, at the same time, received the first plaque of appreciation ever awarded by the Sugar Bowl committee in recognition of his contributions to their annual tournament. The Wildcat chief has written books on virtually every phase of the game of basketball, including a good seller entitled "Championship Basketball," and is in great demand during the off season to make speaking engagements and conduct clinics. Rupp made a third trip to Europe this past summer at the request of the Air Force to conduct a clinic for NATO Nations' Air Forces in Germany. His previous trips were in 1945 and 1951. He also has his own television and radio shows during the season and often is referred to in the press by such titles as "Mr. Basketball," "The Bluegrass Baron of Basketball," and "The Man In The Brown Suit," the latter stemming from his superstitious preference of brown as the color of his game-night wardrobe. Born in Halstead, Kansas, Sept. 2, 1901, Rupp attended the 6 University of Kansas where he played guard under the firey Phog Allen. Following graduation in 1923, he coached high school ball one year at Marshalltown, Iowa, and then at Freeport, III., for four seasons before coming to Kentucky in 1930. Although the competition was nowhere near as rugged as the schedules played by today's nationally-recognized Wildcat brigades, Rupp's very first team complied a respectable 1 5-3 record and Kentucky basketball has been on a winning plane ever since. The most games lost in a single season since Rupp added his touch was eight in 1940-41, but even that year was a winning campaign (17-8) and the remarkably low average number of losses per season in the Rupp Era is three. Today, when one thinks of the sport of basketball, one thinks of Kentucky and Adolph Ruppone of the greatest fundamental teachers the game has even seen and truly a maker of champions. 7 HARRY LANCASTER Assistant Coach When Harry Lancaster finds a spare moment to reflect on his days as an all-around star athlete at Georgetown (Ky.) College back in the early thirties, he can recall with a degree of dismay how close he came to never pursuing the "round ball" sport that in the days since has earned him a somewhat unique position in the basketball world. An All-Conference halfback for three straight years and captain during his last two seasons, Lancaster's football career almost overshadowed his play on the basketball court. In the cage sport, he was equally successfulwith three All-Conference nominations and two team captaincies to his creditbut considered himself a better football player than eager. Experience, however, proved him a good student and teacher of the sport of basketball as he began his coaching career and he now carries no regrets over the choice he made. Lancaster bosses a promising group of yearling cagers and holds down the position of assistant varsity basketball coach and general right hand man to the fabulous Adolph Rupp. When he was made a full-time assistant by Coach Rupp in 1948, Lancaster joined a very select group due to the general scarcity of such positions at major colleges and universities. Even today, most teams rely on only part-time assistants. Born in Paris, Ky., in 1911, Lancaster attended Paris High School where he played four years in all sports, being coached at one time by Kentucky's current Head Football Coach Blanton Collier. Following graduation in 1928, he continued his athletic career at Georgetown College and gained star recognition in football, basketball and baseball. After finishing at Georgetown in '32, Harry remained on for the next school year as an assistant coach in both the grid and cage sports before moving into the high school field. He coached several sports, 8 mostly basketball, for nine years and was a high school principal for six years before coming to the University of Kentucky in 1942 as an instructor in physical education. Soon thereafter, the war intervened and Lancaster saw 26 months' Navy duty, rising from apprentice seaman to Lieutenant (Senior Grade). Returning to UK, he became a part-time assistant to the Wildcats' famous cage mentor, Adolph Rupp, in addition to carrying on his teaching duties and gaining his master's degree. He also served as Kentucky's baseball coach in 1946-47 and picked up the assignment again starting with the 1951 campaign. He was promoted to full-time Assistant Varsity Basketball Coach in 1948 upon Coach Rupp's recommendation. In addition to his coaching duties, Lancaster manages to sandwich in a large slice of traveling. Besides checking on the nation's best high school cagers as potential material for future Wildcat national champion crews, his travel stems from a plan to extensively scout upcoming opponents. Coach Rupp was one of the first in the country to inaugurate this widespread scouting system in basketball and believes it has contributed materially to Kentucky's past success in carrying off championships with almost reckless abandon. Lancaster also traveled to Greece in the summer of 1951 on a special athletic assignment for the U. S. State Department. The mission called for the Kentucky aide to act as an advisor to Greek Basketball Federation officials on Olympic procedure and other matters. He also conducted numerous clinics, coaching schools and gave public lectures on the cage sport as played in the U.S.A. Lancaster's coaching success with his freshman teams has been commendable. The yearlings have lost only five contests under his tutelage the past six seasons against formidable competition that included the more elite junior college clubs and top-notch service quintets. KENTUCKY BASKETBALL COACHES (With Season Record) 1905 F. E. Schacht (1-1) 1906W. H. Mustaine (4-8) 1907 W. H. Mustaine (2-4) 1908 W. H. Mustaine (5-6) 1909 W. H. Mustaine (4-4) 1910 E. R. Sweetland (4-5) 191 1Iddings (6-6) 1912 E. R. Sweetland (9-0) 1913 J. J. Tigert (6-3) 1914 Alpha Brummage (9-2) 1915 Alpha Brummage (7-5) 1916 James Park (8-6) 1917 W. P. Tuttle (4-6) 1918 S. A. Boles (9-2-1) 1919 Andrew Gill (6-8) 1920 Geo. C. Buchheit (5-7) 1921 Geo. C. Buchheit (13-1) 1922 Geo C. Buchheit (10-6) 1923 Geo. C. Buchheit (3-10) 1924 Geo. C. Buchheit (13-2) 1925 C. O. Applegran (13-8) 1926 Ray Eklund (13-2) 1927 Basil Hayden (2-13) 1928 John Mauer (12-6) 1929 John Mauer (12-5) 1930 John Mauer (16-3) * No schedule played. 1931- Adolph F. Rupp (15-3) 1932- Adolph F. Rupp (15-2) 1933- Adolph F. Rupp (20-3) 1934- Adolph F. Rupp (15-1) 1935- Adolph F. Rupp (19-2) 1936- Adolph F. Rupp (15-6) 1937- Adolph F. Rupp (17-5) 1938- Adolph F. Rupp (13-5) 1939- Adolph F. Rupp (16-4) 1940- Adolph F. Rupp (15-6) 1941- Adolph F. Rupp (17-8) 1942- Adolph F. Rupp (19-6) 1943- Adolph F. Rupp (18-5) 1944- Adolph F. Rupp (19-2) 1945- Adolph F. Rupp (22-4) 1946- Adolph F. Rupp (28-2) 1947- Adolph F. Rupp (34-3) 1948- Adolph F. Rupp (36-3) 1949- Adolph F. Rupp (32-2) 1950- Adolph F. Rupp (25-5) 1951- Adolph F. Rupp (32-2) 1952- Adolph F. Rupp (29-3) 1953- Adolph F. Rupp (*) 1954- Adolph F. Rupp (25-0) 1 955- Adolph F. Rupp (23-3) 10 THE RUPP ERA 1930-55 Season Kentucky Opponents Percent 1930-31 15 3 .833 1931-32 15 2 .882 1932-33 20 3 .870 1933-34 15 1 .938 1934-35 19 2 .905 1935-36 15 6 .714 1936-37 17 5 .774 1937-38 13 5 .722 1938-39 16 4 .800 1939-40 15 6 .714 1940-41 17 8 .680 1941-42 19 6 .760 1942-43 18 5 .783 1943-44 19 2 .905 1944-45 22 4 .846 1945-46 28 2 .933 1946-47 34 3 .918 1947-48 36 3 .923 1948-49 32 2 .941 1949-50 25 5 .833 1950-51 32 2 .941 1951-52 29 3 .906 1952-53 (No schedule played) 1953-54 25 0 1.000 1954-55 23 3 .885 25-Year Tota .. 519 85 ......859 Total PointsKentucky 35,170; Opponents 24,253 Game AverageKentucky 58.2; Opponents 40.0 11 THE OUTLOOK FOR 1956 For more than a quarter century of the Adolph Rupp Era, sports fans of the nation have witnessed an amazing success story being written into the annals of college basketball with such regularity that the name of Kentucky has become symbolic of top-flight basketball and almost a foregone conclusion of winning ways. Every year that the famed Wildcats "pick up the marbles" lends more credence to their reputation as the greatest name in the history of the sport and, despite the acknowledged calibre of past Kentucky fives, many observers are pointing to this year's edition of Ruppmen as potentially one of the greatest. Baron Rupp himself hesitates to wax quite that enthusiastic over the immediate future of his sophomore-studded, 1956 team, but admits that he expects "a slightly stronger unit than last season, particularly from the standpoint of better bench strength." The main reason for restraint in forecasting the future of last season's national champion runner-up stems, according to Rupp, from the expectation that most of the teams dotting the Kentucky schedule also will be improved. "I can foresee that we may be a little better, but we can have a better team and still not post as good a record," he explains. "Our success is keyed to what others have. You don't just write off good ball clubs like Dayton, Utah, Minnesota, Alabama, St. Louis, DePaul, Temple, Idaho, Maryland, Ga. Tech, Vanderbilt, Duke and others just because we expect some improvement." The Wildcats' probable increased potential is based on the fact that only two lettermen, starting guards Bill Evans and Gayle Rose, departed from the rebuilt '55 quintet that took adversity in stride as it swept to a final, 23-3 record, 16th Southeastern Conference championship and all-time record seventh appearance in the NCAA tournament. Although Kentucky tasted defeat on its home floor for the first time in 12 years and was beaten by the same team twice in the same season for the first time since 1927, their amazing recovery in the face of pre-season expectations and the loss of no less than three starters at various stages during 1954-55 is considered reason enough to not underestimate the strength of this year's aggregation. Rupp will be molding the 1956 Wildcat aggregation around a 12 trio of tall and talented seniors, a similar number of juniors who played well in both reserve and starting roles last season, plus a group of 10 promising sophomores. The Kentucky senior starters, all 6-6 or better and each one worthy of All-America mention, are expected to form the nucleus of one of the tallest squads in Wildcat history. Although outranked in the height department by teammate Phil Grawemeyer (6-8 to 6-7), Bob Burrow stands out as the big man in the U.K. lineup. The tall Texan, a second or third team choice on most All-America picks last season and one of the nation's leading rebounders, is the Junior College transfer center who showed up more impressively with each game last year and led the Wildcats in every offensive department at season's end. So effective was his work that DePaul Coach Ray Meyer summed up the feeling of many frustrated mentors when he declared, "The only way to beat Kentucky is to break Burrow's control of the backboards." Rupp says of his star: "Bob stepped into the pressure-filled shoes of Cliff Hagan in excellent fashion last season and showed great promise of developing in the tradition of our outstanding centers of the past. He has the stuff to make All-America this year and should rate high consideration if he continues the pace he was setting at the close of last season." The tall front line also includes forwards Grawemeyer, 6-8 captain who shows no signs of trouble from the leg broken last February, and Jerry Bird, 6-6 "midget" who finished third in scoring for the Wildcats in '55. Either man would be the standout star of many another ball club and will be fighting for honors in their own right as the campaign progresses. Although many opposing coaches make a good pep talk out of the height that the 'Cats boast, Coach Rupp hastens to point out that he had the same boys in the same positions last year. For himself, the Baron makes much of the team's serious inexperience at guard. Kentucky's championship outfits of the past always had outstanding men in these positions who were adaptable to the controlled fast break style of offense and could break a tight defense open with their outside shooting. The outlook for such men this year is doubtful. The two regulars lost were guards and the man who took the ineligible Evans' place in the NCAA Tournament, 5-1 1, Gerry Calvert has by no means won a starting nod for '56. Another late-season fill-in, 6-3, John Brewer, has been converted from a forward and could be one of the starting 13 guards. Several other promising men dot the roster, including some potentially good sophs, but the probability is that the guards won't be set until mid-season and may even be the "Achilles heel" of the championship-minded Bluegrass five. In the realm of sophomores, Kentucky has reserve power unequalled in recent years. Among the better looking prospects are 6-7 center Ed Beck, captain of last season's freshman team; Vernon Hatton, 6-3 guard from Lexington who could get a starting nod; 6-6 center Phil Johnson; 6-3 guard-forward John Crigler; and 6-3 guard Billy Cassady. Facing a December schedule of some of the nation's toughest teams, Kentucky cannot afford to be a late starter and must settle its internal problems quicklya time factor that may offset the improvement expected from better bench strength. FINAL 1955 NATIONAL POLL RATINGS (Regular Season) AP WRITERS' POLL UP COACHES' BOARD Team (Ists) Pts. Team (lsts) Pts. 1. San Francisco (23-1) ......67 1424 1. San Francisco ................28 326 2. Kentucky (22-2) ............58 1358 2. Kentucky ...................... 2 264 3. LaSalle (22-4) ................ 5 1043 3. LaSalle .......................... 1 224 4. N. Car. State (28-4) ...... 3 788 4. Utah .............................. 1 188 5. Iowa (17-5) ....................15 734 5. Iowa .............................. 180 6. Duquesne (19-4) ............ 605 6. North Carolina State .... 1 165 7. Utah (23-3) .................... 4 581 7. Duquesne ...................... 144 8. Marquette (22-2) .......... 4 499 8. Oregon State .................. 117 9. Dayton (23-3) ................ 3 306 9. Marquette ...................... 1 82 10. Oregon State (21-7) ...... 5 286 10. Dayton .......................... 1 53 SECOND 10 Second 10 11. Colorado, 46; 12 11. Minnesota (15-7) .......... 244 UCLA, 41; 13. Minnesota, 17; 14 12. Alabama (19-5) ............ 1 151 Tulsa, 14; 15. George Washington, 11, 13. UCLA (21-5) .................. 131 16. (tie) Illinois and Niagara, 9 each; 14. George Wash. (24-6)...... 114 18. St. Louis, 8; 19. Holy Cross, 7 15. Colorado (16-5) ............ 1 110 20. (tie) Cincinnati and Southern 16. Tulsa (20-6) .................. 2 108 Methodist, 4 each. 17. Vanderbilt (16-6) .......... 1 94 Others Missouri, 3; Duke, Villa- 18. Illinois (17-5) ................ 82 nova, West Virginia and Maryland, 2 19. West Virginia (19-10) .. 1 76 each; Canisius, 1. 20. St. Louis (19-7) ............ 63 INS CAGE RATINGS 1. San Francisco (23-1) 2. Kentucky (22-2) 3. LaSalle (22-4) 4. North Carolina State (28-4) 5. Duquesne (19-4) 6. Dayton (23-3) 7. Utah (23-3) 8. Iowa (17-5) 9. Marquette (22-2) 10. Oregon State (21-7) 14 SQUAD BREAKDOWN BY CLASSES SENIORS Bob Burrow, Phil Grawemeyer, Jerry Bird. JUNIORS Gerry Calvert, Ray Mills, John Brewer, Earl Adkins SOPHOMORES Ed Beck, Bill Cassady, Vernon Hatton, Phil Johnson, Billy Smith, John Crigler, Lincoln Collinsworth, Harold Ross, Jay Bayless. 1954-55 LETTERMEN LOST Bill Evans .................................... All-Southeastern Conference Guard Gayle Rose .......................................... All-NCAA Tournament Guard RETURNING LETTERMEN Bob BurrowSenior .............................................................. Center Phil GrawemeyerSenior .................................................... Forward Jerry BirdSenior ................................................................ Forward Gerry CalvertJunior ............................................................ Guard Ray MillsJunior ................................................................ Forward John BrewerJunior............................................................ Forward *Earl AdkinsJunior .............................................................. Guard SOPHOMORE CANDIDATES Ed Beck .................................................................... Center-Forward Vernon Hatton ........................................................................ Guard Billy Ray Cassady.................................................................... Guard John Crigler ............................................................................ Guard Phil Johnson ........................................................................ Forward Billy Smith ............................................................................ Forward Lincoln Collinsworth ................................................................ Guard Harold Ross .......................................................................... Forward Jay Bayless .......................................................................... Forward * Ineligible for varsity play (First Semester). 1954-55 ALL-OPPONENT TEAM Tom Gola ...................................................... LaSalle Art Bunte ........................................................ Utah Denver Brackeen ...................................... Mississippi Dave Piontek .................................................. Xavier Joe Helms ............................................ Georgia Tech Jesse Arnelle ............................................ Penn State Clarence Taylor ........................................ Vanderbilt Carl Widseth ............................................ Tennessee Ed Weiner ................................................ Tennessee Terry Rand .............................................. Marquette Toughest Game Utah (UK Invitational Tournament) I.") 1955 SEASON RESUME Last season was the year that the incomparable cage dynasty built by one Adolph Rupp at the University of Kentucky was supposed to come tumbling down around the ears of the fabulous "Man In The Brown Suit." Gone from the sensational, perfect-record machine of 1954 were its top starsAll-Americans Cliff Hagan and Frank Ramsey plus another great, Lou Tsioropoulos. The shattered remains added up to only one man, Bill Evans, who had been a consistent starter and, before the season opened, he was shifted from his regular forward post to a guard position. The time appeared ripe for picking on the inimitable Mr. Rupp and his all-conquering Wildcats, who through the 25 years of the Rupp Era had developed into the most consistent winner in the history of the game and could boast of being the only cage outfit ever to win three NCAA titles. However, the script that Kentucky was supposed to follow in 1954-55 got lost somewhere along the way. The "Desire Kids" from the Bluegrass, despite having to contend with adversity that cost the services of three starters, forged through a schedule of consistently high-ranked opposition with only three setbacks to mar a repeat performance of their perfect record of 1954. The final mark of 23 victories and only three defeats gave Kentucky its 16th Southeastern Conference title in 22 years and record seventh bid to the National Collegiate Championships, in which they have fared better than any other team in both number of victories and championships. The road to success was not easyin fact most observers opined that it was the most difficult ever encountered by a Wildcat squad and classed the results as the best coaching job ever accomplished by the "Maker of Champions," Coach Rupp, in the quarter century he has been at the Kentucky helm. The rebuilding Wildcats were figured so lightly by the experts that it shocked the cage world when they rolled to three straight wins against good opposition opening the season and then pushed impressively past Utah, the nation's number two team at the time, and defending NCAA champion La Salle on successive nights in the U.K. Invitational Tournament. Just when the top-ranked Wildcats seemed set to roll unchecked to another perfect season despite glaring shortcomings in comparison 16 to other great Kentucky teams of the past, adversity reared its ugly head for the first time. Lowly Georgia Tech, a Southeastern Conference rival who hadn't won a single league tilt the year before and weren't considered much more potent in 1955, up and surprised the cage world by upsetting the 'Cats, 59-58and had the audacity to accomplish the minor miracle on the Lexington hardwood where no Kentucky team had tasted defeat in 12 lo