Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 28, 1992 TAG: 9203280107
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL BRILL SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: PHILADELPHIA LENGTH: Long
The Wildcats, that is. Kentucky basketball, which means that in the Bluegrass state, even the forced sale of Calumet Farms on Thursday wasn't the top news story.
It is one of the nation's fabled programs - second in total wins (behind North Carolina), first in NCAA appearances (33), tied for second in national championships with Indiana (5, behind UCLA's 10).
Somehow it's fitting that in what is shaping up as a Final Four of basketball blue bloods, Kentucky is once again in the mix.
Today's West-East CBS doubleheader couldn't possibly have more prestige. UCLA, Indiana, Duke and Kentucky. It doesn't get any bigger than that. The only other programs of comparable stature are North Carolina, which played Friday night, and Kansas, which got upset on its way to Kansas City and the Midwest Regional.
In the basketball stock market, they are the bluest of the blue chips.
Kentucky is 29-6, rated sixth in the nation, champions of the Southeastern Conference, and not expected to deny Duke (31-2) a fifth consecutive Final Four appearance.
Proud Kentucky, of course, concedes nothing. But it is accurate to say the 'Cats are ecstatic about just being here.
The tribulations have been documented. The scandal concerning the recruitment of Chris Mills. The forced resignation of Eddie Sutton, who, ironically, coached Oklahoma State in Rupp Arena on Friday night.
The painful two-year NCAA probation, no postseason play, and, most distressing for the UK fanatics, not even a TV appearance in '89-90.
That was when the restoration process began. Rick Pitino, the so-slick huckster who had taken Providence to the Final Four in 1987, then left for the New York Knicks, suddenly departed the Bronx zoo for burned-to-crisp UK, where the NCAA is a dirty word and nobody ever admitted any guilt.
Pitino has one gear, forward, and one speed, fast.
He was about as non-Kentuckian as you can imagine, yet, in three seasons, he not only directs a regenerated program for the 24,000 who always fill Rupp, but has Lexington's No. 1 restaurant, Bravo Pitino.
That off-TV team struggled to a 14-14 record, then rebounded last year to 22-6, including a No. 1 regular-season finish in the SEC, and a No. 9 ranking.
Add the infusion of one great player, Jamal Mashburn, and the rebuilding of some damaged psyches (Richie Farmer, Sean Woods and John Pelphrey), and suddenly the 'Cats were a national power again.
Only they don't look like a No. 6 team. Mashburn, 6-foot-8 and imposing, is terrific. The rest of the players look like they might have gotten lost during a Southern Conference road trip and just turned up in Lexington.
Pelphrey has been a career role player who's suddenly a force. He has scored 60 points in three NCAA games.
Farmer, the former fat boy who is the fans' darling, is too small and slow to play the shooting guard, but he does it well.
Woods is a three-year starter at point guard who has finally realized that the object of that position is to make others better by sacrificing your own offense.
Farmer, Pelphrey and sixth man Deron Feldhaus, the No. 3 scorer, are native-born sons. "I wanted to play for the Big Blue since birth," Farmer said Friday.
So did Pelphrey. They never considered leaving when Sutton was essentially ridden out of town in disgrace.
"Plus, we didn't exactly have a lot of other options," Pelphrey said, candidly.
Kentucky has a reputation of a team that lives and dies by the 3-point shot. In fact, the 'Cats have a solid inside-outside game that has been especially efficient during the SEC and NCAA Tournament games.
In the 87-77 victory over Massachusetts Thursday, UK took a season-low 15 3-pointers and made but three, going 0-for-8 in the second half while still outscoring the Minutemen.
"We don't look for threes," Pitino said. "We look for lay-ins. But our three-point attack opens things up inside, because we get a lot of one-on-one coverage."
Mashburn, the team big man, also is UK's best outside threat, much as Christian Laettner is for Duke.
Kentucky will run and press tonight, as it has all season in a style the fans love, against a team that prefers to play that way.
"If we can't wear them down, we won't win," Pitino said. He'll play a dozen guys, while Duke uses six or seven.
"If your talent is not as good, you can't play one against two or three in a half-court game. You've got to push the basketball."
According to Pitino, "If it's close, we're probably going to get beat."
Truth is, the reason Kentucky is such a suspicious national candidate at this late date is that when everything doesn't go right, the 'Cats get blown out.
Other than a one-point loss at Georgia Tech, their defeats were by 18, 22, 17, 21 and 17 points.
Unlike Duke, where everybody except Bobby Hurley is tall, sleek and powerful, Kentucky gets by on guile.
"The art of passing, that's why we're so successful," Pitino said. "We look like a Tuesday-Friday night bar softball team."
by CNB