xt7cz8928j2c https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7cz8928j2c/data/mets.xml University of Kentucky 1954  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, 1954 text Basketball, 1954 1954 2012 true xt7cz8928j2c section xt7cz8928j2c UNIVE
FOR PRESS, RADIO AND DEDICATED 1950
Here in Stone and Steel is Raised a Memorial To More Than Nine Thousand Sons and Daughters of The State of Kentucky Who Gave Their Lives in Battle That We Might Live in Peace Erect and Strong and Free.From Dedication Tablet.
GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY SEASON
The University of Kentucky and the sport of basketball are celebrating their Golden "Wedding" Anniversary this season. Although details of the ceremony uniting the school and cage game are clouded in history, it is a matter of record that Kentucky fielded its first basketball team back in 1904-05 and thus will be solemnizing a 50th year of association during the present 1 953-54 campaign. Kentucky's first recognized varsity hoop team, according to available records, played only two games and broke evendropping their initial contest to Cincinnati YMCA and topping old Kentucky University (now Transylvania) in the second and last court struggle. The decades since that modest beginning have seen the cage Wildcats grow in national stature, mainly under the guidance of famed mentor Adolph Rupp, to the point where Kentucky and basketball supremacy are virtually synonymous in most peoples' minds today. University of Kentucky 1953-54
For Press and Radio
Edited by Ken Kuhn Sports Publicity Editor
. SPORTS PUBLICITY OFFICE TELEPHONES
Dept. of Public Relations Dept. of Athletics
205 Administration Bldg., Memorial Coliseum
2189  2180 2241 TABLE OF CONTENTS
1953-54  Varsity Schedule ........................................................ 3
Facts About the University .......................................................... 4
Mr. Basketball (Rupp Sketch) ........................................................5-7
Harry Lancaster .......................................................................... 8
Kentucky Basketball Coaches...................................................... 9
Rupp and Ready (Outlook For 1953-54) ....................................10-12
Final Statistics (1951-52 Season).................................................. 12
L.ettermen Lost, Returning, Squadmen Back .................................. 13
Wildcatting (Review of 1952-53 Season) ................................14-15
Kentucky Basketball Recap (1951-52) ....................................16-17
Looking Back (Resume of 1951-52 Season) ............................18-19
The Rupp Era (1930-53) ............................................................ 20
UK Invitational Tournament ....................................................21-22
Kentucky's Tournament Record ................................................23-24
PressRadioTV Outlets .......................................................... 24
All-Conference Players ................................................................ 25
All-Americans, Helms Selections .................................................. 26
Picture of 1953-54 UK Cagers .................................................... 27
All-Time Kentucky Cage Records ............................................30-35
RosterFreshmen ...................................................................... 28
RosterVarsity .......................................................................... 29
Background Briefs ....................................................................36-46
All-Time Record, 1904-53 ......................................................47-56
2 KENTUCKY BASKETBALL SCHEDULE
1953-54
Date Opponent Site 19 5 3
Dec.    5 Temple ............................................ Home
Dec. 12 Xavier.............................................. Away
Dec. 14 Wake Forest .................................... Home
Dec. 18 St. Louis .......................................... Away
Dec. 21, 22 University of Ky. Invitational Tourn.
(Duke, U.C.L.A., LaSalle, and
Kentucky) .................................. Home
Dec. 28 Minnesota ...................................... Home
19 5 4
Jan.    4 Xavier .............................................. Home
Jan.    9 Georgia Tech .................................. Home
Jan. 11 DePaul ............................................ Home
Jan. 16 Tulane ............................................ Home
Jan. 23 Tennessee ........................................ Away
Jan. 30 Vanderbilt ........................................ Away
Feb.    2 Georgia Tech .............................. Louisville
Feb.    4 Georgia ............................................ Home
Feb.    6 Georgia .................................... Owensboro
Feb.    8 Florida .............................................. Away
Feb. 13 Mississippi ...................................... Home
Feb. 15 Mississippi State .............................. Home
Feb. 18 Tennessee ........................................ Home
Feb. 20 DePaul ............................................ Away
Feb. 22 Vanderbilt........................................ Home
Feb. 27 Auburn ............................................ Away
Mar.   1 Alabama .......................................... Away
(Kentucky's home games in Memorial Coliseum begin at 8 p.m. C.S.T. Doubleheaders on both nights of the Invitational Tournament will start at 7:30 p.m. Freshman preliminary games are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.)
NUMBER ONE TEAM IN NATION (1951-52) ASSOCIATED PRESS AND UNITED PRESS POLLS
The Wildcats' 1951-52 RecordWon 29, Lost 3. No competition in 1953-53.
3 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  1 865
ENROLLMENT  Approximately 6,000
PRESIDENT  Dr. Herman Lee Donovan
VICE-PRESIDENT  Dr. Leo M. Chamberlain
FACULTY CHAIRMAN OF ATHLETICS  Dean A. D. Kirwan
ATHLETIC CONFERENCE  Southeastern
NICKNAME OF TEAMS  Wildcats
GYMNASIUM  Memorial Coliseum (capacity 13,000)
COLORS  Blue and White
FIGHT SONG  "On, On U of K"
MASCOT  "Colonel" (a live Kentucky wildcat)
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) TRAINER  Charles (Smoky) Harper (Mercer '23) EQUIPMENT MANAGER  S. C. (Buster) Brown ACCOUNTANT  David Doyle
TICKET SALES MANAGER  Harvey Hodges (Kentucky '3D SPORTS PUBLICITY EDITOR  Ken Kuhn (Michigan State '46)
I MR. BASKETBALL Adolph Frederick Rupp
The University of Kentucky's chief of basketball, Adolph Rupp, has won so many honors, titles and nicknames and proven so successful during his 23-year regime at the helm of the cage Wildcats that you
could very appropriately sum him up as "Mr. Basketball."
The colorful and affable wizard of hardwood magic, who stands alone today as the nation's winningest basketball coach, 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, Coach Rupp has introduced or popularized 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 been a crowd-pleasing trademark of Wildcat cage teams.
Rupp has become, without a doubt, the best known and most widely quoted basketball coach in America and his personal popularity is rivaled only by the success he has instilled in Kentucky's cage crews over the past 23 seasons.
Colorful as he is successful and widely-known, the crafty professor of hardwood tactics is referred to in the sports world by a variety of titlessuch as "Baron," "Colonel," "01' Rupp and Ready," "The Bluegrass Baron," "The Baron of Basketball," and "The Man In The
5 Brown Suit." The latter stems from Rupp's superstitious preference of brown as the color of his game-night wardrobe.
However, none of the titles seem adequate to describe the man's contributions to the sport, his human interest and colorful personality. Only the title of "Mr. Basketball" seems a fitting summation of the many nicknames, by which he has become internationally known and respected.
Rupp came to Kentucky in 1930 from Freeport, III., high school, where he had compiled an outstanding record. Although the competition was nowhere near as rugged as the schedules played by today's nationally-recognized Wildcat basketball brigade, Rupp's very first team compiled a respectable 15-3 record. In the days before the Baron became headmaster, UK had better-than-average teams, but received little recognition, even in their own Southeastern bailiwick. Today, however, when one thinks of the sport of basketball, one thinks of Kentucky and Adolph Ruppmaker of champions.
With his 23rd season at the Blue Grass school behind him, Coach Rupp can look back over an approximately two-decade regime of unparalleled success that has made Kentucky a consistent national power and earned him recognition as the nation's most winning cage mentor.
He has written books on virtually every phase of the gameincluding the good seller, "Championship Basketball"and his style of play has been copied by coaches all over the world.
The Wildcats have compiled, under his direction, an amazing record of 471 victories against only 82 lossesa winning average of better than 85 percent over nearly a quarter-century.
In major tournament competition, Rupp's teams can boast an unequalled record of 98 victories against 21 defeats covering play in 20 national classics (NCAA, NIT and Sugar Bowl Tournaments), 21 conference tournaments and the 1948 Olympic Games.
Under the guidance of Adolph Rupp, Kentucky in 1951 became the first and only basketball team in history to annex three NCAA crowns and one National Invitation Tournament title. He also has seen his squads win 14 Southeastern Conference championships, including the last nine in a row before Louisiana State became interim titlist during UK's enforced absence from competition last season.
Coach Rupp and his "Fabulous Five" of 1948generally recognized as one of the greatest collegiate cage aggregations of all time
6 represented the United States as a unit on the American basketball entry in the '48 Olympics and were highly instrumental in capturing the World Championship of Basketball for the USA.
Not to be outshone by the highly-publicized cage powerhouses he has developed at Kentucky, Baron Rupp has scaled the pinnacles of professional and personal fame to win deserved recognition in his own right.
In 1944, he was given the highest individual coaching honor in the basketball world when he was elected to the Hall of Fame sponsored by Helms Foundation.
The New York Basketball Writers Association named Rupp as "Coach of the Year" for the rebuilding 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. Colonel Rupp was named to Kentucky's Hall of Fame in 1945 and, in 1949, was honored as the outstanding citizen of the University city of Lexington.
Rupp is a past Potentate of the Oleika Temple of the Shrine and is very active in Shrine hospital work. He was selected as one of the 10 outstanding Shriners of the nation in 1950 and holds honorary life memberships in various temples of the order throughout the country.
Recognized internationally in registered Hereford breeding circles, Rupp has four farms near Lexington on which he maintains white-faced Hereford herds and raises fine burley tobacco. He was named president of the Kentucky Hereford Association for 1953-54.
Born in Halstead, Kansas, Sept. 2, 1901, Rupp attended the University of Kansas where he played guard under the veteran Phog Allen. Following his graduation in 1923, Rupp coached one year at Marshall-town, Iowa, and then at Freeport, III., for four seasons before coming to Kentucky in 1930. Colleges and the pro ranks have repeatedly made eyes at the successful mentor, but he has chosen to honor a 10-year contract with the University which does not expire until May 1, 1957.
7 HARRY LANCASTER
Assistant Coach
Baron Rupp's capable assistant professor of basketball knowledge and general right hand man is genial, smiling Harry Lancaster. Rivaling his boss in affability and capability, Lancaster is Kentucky's first
full-time assistant coach and also holds down the position of Head Freshman Basketball Coach.
Harry bosses a promising group of freshmen who are being held out of varsity competition this season and helps out with the heavy varsity coaching duties. In his "spare" time the former Georgetown (Ky.) College athlete manages to sandwich in a large slice of scouting duties.
Rupp was one of the first coaches in college basketball to inaugurate an extensive system of scouting his future opponents. That very important task is now assigned to Lancaster. Lancaster spent the summer of 1951 in Greece 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 procedures and other matters. He also conducted numerous clinics, coaching schools and gave public lectures on the cage sport as played in the United States.
Lancaster came to the University in 1942 as instructor in the physical education department.
During the war years, he entered the United States Navy as an Apprentice Seaman and, after 26 months service, Lancaster was discharged with the rank of Liuetenant Senior Grade.
8 KENTUCKY BASKETBALL COACHES
(With Season Record)
1905 F. E. Schacht (1-1)
1906 W. 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 1Iddlings (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) * No schedule played.
1930John Mauer (16-3)
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)
1 938-	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)
1 945-	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 (*)
 RUPP AND READY
The Cage Outlook For 1953-54
Cagey Adolph Rupp, the Bluegrass Baron of brown suit fame who rules the basketball dynasty at University of Kentucky, puts on his best poker face but can scarcely conceal the gleam in his eye when talking about the future of his Wildcats.
The nation's winningest cage mentor hesitates to come right out and wax enthusiastic over the group of standout basketeers returning to the cage wars this season after a year's enforced layoff under discipline by the NCAA and Southeastern Conference. However, when asked about the prospects for a winning campaign in 1953-54, which most impartial observers are about willing to concede without batting an eyelash, Baron Rupp glances down his star-studded roster and admits in a carefully-chosen summation: "The University will have its usual representative team."
Never one to throw caution to the winds, but usually eloquent on the ability of the Wildcat cage crew, the veteran mentor claims that, despite the fact that "things look pretty good on the face of the matter," no one can say how good Kentucky will be. "It's hard to tell how much the layoff hurt us. After all, every team in the country will have more experience and if competition means anything we just won't have itat least not until about mid-season apparently. With the schedule we are faced with, the boys just can't afford to be staleas I am afraid they may be due to continual practice and the lack of the incentive of competition."
Ail-American Duo Returning
A veteran lineup, headed by All-Americans Cliff Hagan and Frank Ramsey, has been bolstered by the addition of several top-flight prospects from last year's freshman team and Rupp has already pared his squad list down to fighting trim to make way for even more classy new blood to be injected. The result could be one of the greatest outfits since the 1948 team that captured the Olympic championship.
10 Unless the unexpected develops, all the regular mainstays of the suspended 1952-53 team will be around this season. Only three seniorsHagan, Ramsey, and Lou Tsioropouloswere members of last season's combine, and, under the rules allowing four years of competition within a five-year period from the time of first enrollment, they have one season of eligibility remaining (1953-54). Other regulars returning to competition include Bill Evans, junior starting guard; Gayle Rose, also a junior guard who likely would have been the fifth man in the starting lineup if UK had played last year; and Willie Rouse, still another third-year guard who was a top reserve two seasons ago. That's the cream of the old faces that Kentucky's foes will be seeing again. (As this booklet went to press, Rouse was lost for the season due to a knee injury and starting forward Tsioropoulos also was being bothered by a strained knee that threatened to possibly keep him out of early season action.)
In the newcomer category, the Wildcats began practice last season with 16 freshmen on the roster. Normal departures have reduced the number, but it's likely that eight or ten will graduate to varsity action. It's even more probable that the top performers in this group will find the transition to high-level inter-collegiate play much smoother than most yearlings ordinarily experience.
Yearlings Developed Well
The one bright spot in the year-long layoff has been the rapid and encouraging development of Kentucky's freshmen cagers, according to the man who has guided the Wildcats to four national championships in the past seven years. He attributes this, among other things, to the left-handed compliment of the NCAA that allowed more time for practice. Whereas the team formerly got in only a couple of practices a week between games to work on fundamentals and the freshmen received comparatively little attention, last season was different. Practice went on every day with the frosh coming in for as much attention as the varsity. Fundamentals were stressed as much as needed, defense came in for attention exclusively a week at a time, new plays and defenses were developed and tested under simulated game conditions during four exhibition intra-squad scrimmages.
Already signed for the coming year are the state's top high school starsRay Mills of Clay County, a six-foot-four-inch center and stellar
1 1 rebounder; Earl Adkins, Ashland, a six-foot-three, high-scoring guard; Logan Gipe, a six-foot-two star forward from Hagan's hometown of Owensboro; John Brewer, a six-foot-three forward from Anchorage; Sonny Corum, a five-foot-eleven guard from Midway; and Jerry Calvert, Maysville, a five-foot-ten-inch guard.
The future looks bright, on paper, for Kentucky to continue its domination of the national basketball scene. Maybe the Wildcats will suffer, as their veteran coach points out, from the absence of a "big" man in the pivot and will be "on the spot" to live up to high expectations of the public. Perhaps the other teams will have more experience under competitive conditions and possibly it will take half of the season to become accustomed to collegiate competition again, as the Wildcat chief would have you believe.
But most opponents, including a few Southeastern clubs already quaking in their respective boots at the thought of facing the "Pride of Dixie," are not taking much stock in the outside possibilities.
FINAL VARSITY BASKETBALL STATISTICS 1951-52
(THIRTY-TWO GAMES  Won 29, Lost 3)
Name Pos.	G.	FGA	FG	PCT.	FTA	FT	PCT.	REB.	AST.	PF	TP	AV.
Hagan,   C .	32	633	264	41.7	235	164	69.7	528	128	108	692	21.6
Ramsey, G	32	470	185	39.3	214	139	64.9	383	83	1 1 1	509	15.9
Watson, G ...	32	517	184	35.6	80	53	66.2	79	50	55	421	13.1
Tsioropoulos, F	32	347	104	29.9	89	46	51.6	329	52	100	254	7.9
Whitaker, G ....	31	280	100	35.7	86	42	48.8	89	42	89	242	7.8
Evans, F ..........	31	201	63	31.3	51	36	70.5	165	55	82	162	5.2
Linville, F ......	29	167	64	38.3	41	29	70.7	139	36	75	157	5.4
Rose, G ..........	28	1 17	46	39.3	30	20	66.6	30	24	36	112	4.0
Rouse, G ........	20	25	9	36.0	1 5	10	66.6	19	5	12	28	1.4
Neff, F ..........	21	34	1 1	32.3	8	3	37.5	29	1 1	12	25	1.2
Others ............		38	13	34.2	16	7	43.7	27	1 1	27	33	
Kentucky												
Totals		2829	1043	36.8	865	549	63.4	1817	497	707	2635	82.3
All Opponents'												
Totals		2219	658	29.6	786	458	58.2	1 164	188	731	1774	55.4
Average Scoring Margin26.9 (Kentucky's offensive average and margin of victory average were the best in the nation in 1952.)
12 LETTERMEN LOST BY GRADUATION
(From 1951-52 Team)
Bobby Watson ............................................................ All-SEC Guard
Lucian Whitaker .......................................... Starting Guard-Forward
Shelby Linville ........................................................ Reserve Forward
RETURNING  1952 LETTERMEN
Cliff Hagan  Senior ............................................................ Center
Frank Ramsey  Senior .......................................................... Guard
Lou Tsioropoulos  Senior .................................................. Forward
Bill Evans  Junior .............................................................. Forward
Gayle Rose  Junior .................-............................................. Guard
RETURNING SQUADMEN
Jerry Bird  Sophomore ............................................ Center-Forward
Phil Grawemeyer  Sophomore ............................................ Forward
Linville Puckett  Sophomore ................................................ Guard
Hugh Coy  Sophomore ...................................................... Forward
Jess Curry  Sophomore ........................................................ Guard
Bill Bibb  Sophomore ........................................................ Forward
Pete Grigsby  Sophomore .................................................... Guard
Clay Evans  Sophomore ........................................................ Guard
Harold Hurst  Sophomore .................................................. Center
Dan Chandler  Sophomore .................................................... Guard
FRESHMAN CANDIDATES
Earl Adkins ............................................................................ Guard
John Brewer ........................................................................ Forward
Gerry Calvert .......................................................................... Guard
Paul (Sonny) Corum ................................................................ Guard
Logan Gipe .......................................................................... Forward
Ray Mills.............................................................................. Center
Paul Bussee .............................................................. Forward-Center
Don Frazier ............................................................................ Guard
Don Godby ............................................................................ Guard
John Steele .......................................................................... Forward
Jackie Terrell ............................................................ Guard-Forward
Steve Shuck ............................................................................ Guard
L3 WILDCATTING
(Reviewing The 1952-53 Season)
One of the strangest seasons in the history of collegiate sports was written into the annals of athletics last winter during the suspension of the nation's top-ranked basketball teamUniversity of Kentuckyfrom inter-collegiate competition.
The famed cage Wildcats of Baron Adolph Rupp were obliged to cancel a power-packed 2]-game schedule when the National Collegiate Athletic Association placed the school on unprecedented probation for a year for alleged infractions of eligibility rules. In place of the cancelled card, UK substituted a unique intramural series of exhibition games.
Charging no admission and adding the incentive of clinical explanations of the Kentucky system, the exhibition series of four intra-squad scrimmage games between divided groups of Wildcat cage candidates drew surprisingly large crowds. While attendance at sporting events, particularly basketball attractions, fell off the country over last winter under the competition of television and other undetermined causes, the quartet of public practice sessions attracted a total audience of nearly 35,000 into UK's spacious Memorial Coliseum.
The workouts drew, successively, crowds of 6,500 (on the worst night of the winter), 9,000, 10,000 (probably the largest cage crowd in the South last year), and 9,200. The average of approximately 8,750 for the four-game season likely was some sort of recordespecially considering the intramural nature of the affairs. At any rate, the large turnouts were interpreted by most observers as loyalty to Coach Rupp and the scandal-rocked UK team, which unjustly bore the brunt of punishment for something that they had no connection with whatsoever.
In between their public appearances, the highly-regarded Kentucky cagers took their lack of a schedule in stride by practicing. The work card was not a strict plan. Generally, the Cats were on the court about three times a week and Rupp detailed work to them as
I I needed. The freedom from the pressure of preparing for games allowed considerable time for fundamentals, which many thought brought the younger squadmen along much faster than usual; defense; new plays; and scrimmage.
"There's a lot of lost time in the usual practice schedule," according to the Baron, "but last year we didn't lose any time. If we started to work on a play, we went until all the kinks were ironed outeven if it took an hour or so. And defensewe once worked defensively for a solid week."
The unusual opportunity for practice allowed Rupp to install a few new ideas to pep up his already famous and colorful racehorse offensive system. To go along with the old standby plays, such as the "butter and egg" number 6 and others demonstrated openly to the public at the exhibition game-clinic affairs, the Bluegrass Baron reportedly has developed a new theory on front-back screens to confuse opponents when the Wildcats return to the cage wars.
It came as a surprise to no one that Kentucky looked fully capable of giving a good account of itself against any competition during the few exhibitions of the crew to the public gaze. All-Americans Cliff Hagan and Frank Ramsey set the pace with senior forward Lou Tsioropoulos getting the nod from sportswriters as probably the most improved man on the squad. If the Cats had played as a team last year, instead of divided into equal groups for the scrimmages, the other likely starters would have been Bill Evans, junior regular forward-guard; and either Gayle Rose, junior letterman, or Willie Rouse, also a junior reserve.
A bevy of talented freshmen were "on deck," but Coach Rupp announced before the season that every yearling basketeer would be held out of competition to preserve their eligibility for the 1955-56 Olympic year. Under NCAA rules, players who have participated four varsity years are not eligible for tourney competition that leads to the Olympics invitation.
To opponents already quaking in their boots at facing a veteran lineup available to the nation's number one team of 1951-52, the decision of the UK mentor to withhold his freshmen seemed to have more meaning than met the eyeobviously Kentucky was loaded again. KENTUCKY BASKETBALL RECAP1951-52
FG's Att.
KENTUCKY ................ 90
Wash. & Lee (H) ........ 69
KENTUCKY ................105
Xavier (A) .................. 78
KENTUCKY ................ 70
Minnesota {A) ............ 78
KENTUCKY ................ 76
St. John's (H) ............ 60
KENTUCKY ................110
DePaul (H) .................. 66
KENTUCKY ................ 93
U.C.L.A. (H) .............. 74
KENTUCKY ................ 86
Brigham Young .......... 67
KENTUCKY ................ 52
St. Louis ...................... 60
KENTUCKY ................ 96
Mississippi (N) ............ 60
KENTUCKY ................ 57
L. S. U. (H) ................ 44
KENTUCKY ................ 98
Xavier (H) .................. 69
KENTUCKY ................ 89
Florida (A) .................. 66
KENTUCKY ................114
Georgia (N) ................ 62
KENTUCKY ................ 77
Tennessee (A) ............ 69
KENTUCKY ................103
Georgia Tech (A) ........ 96
KENTUCKY ................ 74
Alabama (A) .............. 72
KENTUCKY ................ 85
Vanderbilt (A) ............ 65
KENTUCKY ................ 74
Auburn (A) ................ 69
KENTUCKY ................ 96
Notre Dame (N) ........ 76
KENTUCKY ................103
Tulane (H) .................. 81
FG's	Pet.	FT's	Pers.
Made		Made	Fouls
38	42.2	20	29
18	26.0	10	29
41	39.0	15	21
32	40.0	8	21
21	30.0	15	20
23	29.5	15	18
33	43.4	15	25
10	16.6	20	26
43	39.0	12	22
22	33.3	16	27
30	32.2	24	19
18	24.3	17	27
SUGAR  BOWL TOURNAMENT (At New Orleans, La.)
37	43.0	10	24
24	35.8	16	15
21	40.4	18	14
25	41.6	11	22
43	44.8	30	28
20	33.3	18	21
1 8	31.5	21	20
15	36.5	17	32
34	35.4	15	27
18	26.0	14	25
44	45.4	1 1	20
22	34.8	8	17
38	33.3	19	18
22	35.4	1 1	21
25	32.4	15	19
21	30.4	14	17
43	41.7	10	17
20	20.8	11	14
26	35.1	19	28
24	33.3	19	26
33	38.8	22	24
1 7	26.1	17	29
34	43.0	20	25
16	33.0	16	21
28	29.2	15	22
27	35.5	12	23
42	40.7	19	25
18	22.2	18	29
Reb.    Ast.   Half Final Score Score
66	1 1	47	96
29		17	46
67		49	97
43		43	72
28	8	33	57
34		27	61
63	1 1	39	81
31	2	19	40
77	8	45	98
48	1	29	60
69	6	39	84
43	2	30	53
58	6	40	84
34	4	23	64
21	1	28	60
37	4	27	61
41	10		116
			58
32	12	19	57
39	5	28	47
70	13	48	83
44	2	24	50
58	30	45	99
34	14	28	52
69	30	43	95
32	14	20	55
55	15	28	65
25	7	26	56
50	7	49	96
18	2	23	51
45	8		71
42	14		67
62	12	37	88
33	4	22	51
35	18	43	88
31	3	27	48
44	11	33	71
34	4	39	66
69	28	45	103
21	8	24	54
16 KENTUCKY	113	33	29.2	15	22	84	12	38	81
Mississippi (H) ...	....... 72	23	31.9	15	19	43	5	34	61
KENTUCKY	107	41	38.3	11	15	77	14	42	93
Georgia Tech (H)	..... 75	17	22.6	8	12	45		21	42
KENTUCKY	101	45	44.5	20	25	71	16	55	1 10
Miss. State (H)	....... 72	23	31.9	20	18	37	3	35	66
KENTUCKY	114	35	30.7	25	23	89	12	49	95
Tennessee (H)	60	13	21.6	14	27	33	2	21	40
KENTUCKY	77	27	35.1	21	17	64	10	40	75
Vanderbilt (H)	...... 75	18	24.0	9	29	44	3	24	45
KENTUCKY	77	25	32.5	13	38	64		37	63
DePaul (A)	62	17	27.4	27	26	41	7	33	61
	SOUTHEASTERN		CONFERENCE		TOURNAMENT				
		(At Louisville, Ky.			)				
KENTUCKY	108	32	29.6	16	18	55	8	43	80
	76	24	31.5	11	20	34	2	27	59
KENTUCKY	93	34	36.5	17	20	49	7	44	85
	71	23	32.4	15	23			29	61
KENTUCKY	85	28	32.9	25	17	51	9	43	81
Tennessee ..........	76	27	35.5	12	31			40	66
		(Championship Game)							
KENTUCKY	59	1 5	25.4	14	15	43	5	31	44
L S. U...............