Players that almost came to UK

[Buddah]

Tracy Macgrady = Dickie V even announced during the clemson game that he was going to UK

Jermaine Oneal = Was looking like a UK lean until the NBA come calling

Allen Iverson = I remember reading an article where his high school coach was speaking glowingly about, when Allen talked to Coach Pitino, things will be alot clearer. Just a few days later, Pitino said he would not recruit him.

[Spanish Moss]

One that really hurt was Butch Beard. We all thought he would be the one to break the color line but he didn't happen. We knew signing Wes Unseld was probably a dream and our chances were slim but Beard acted like he would join the Blue. It was a major disappointment and if we could have gotten him, it would have been a big boost in more ways than one.

[Wildcat Larry]

Darus Rice :shock:

Jason Rich :shock:

Chris Duhon :shock:

[POEKLM]

Who can forget wavering Ralph Sampson? At his press conference he still acted like he wanted to come to Kentucky. I will never forget when he came into Rupp Arena with the Pan-Am team to play against some UK Alumni. Coach Hall was afraid he would be booed because of the way he kind of strung us along so he asked the UK fans on the radio to please give Ralph a nice ovation. Well good UK fans always listen to their coach. They introduced Sampson and he got nearly a standing ovation. He stood there stiff as a board, no expression. Mr. Kyle Macy was introduced next and he received a thunderous standing ovation. He, of course stepped out of line and waved to the crowd in all directions. That angel.

[fce1226]

I heard something or read something to the effect that Dirk Nowitzki was close to coming to UK once -- can anyone back that up one way or another?

GO CATS!!!

[JPS]

I will never forget when he came into Rupp Arena with the Pan-Am team to play against some UK Alumni. Coach Hall was afraid he would be booed because of the way he kind of strung us along so he asked the UK fans on the radio to please give Ralph a nice ovation. Well good UK fans always listen to their coach. They introduced Sampson and he got nearly a standing ovation. He stood there stiff as a board, no expression.


Poeklm,

Do you happen to remember approximately when this took place ? FWIW, I have a complete set of Cats Pause (at least up to last year) in my basement and would like to look it up and read more about this.

Thanks

Jon

[POEKLM]

I will dig up my program from the game. It would have to be 79 or 80. I am thinking more like 80. Some of our historians may tell us before I can find the program.

[NickT315]

Dirk Novinzli
Tony Parker
T Mac
Moses Molone
Shaun Kemp
Big Jon(Jon Stewert)

People i didn't know about
Allen Iverson(Was he really coming to UK?)
Jermaine O'Neal(Remember him being interested in Duke,not UK but i could be wrong)
Darius Rice

[POEKLM]

JPS wrote:

Poeklm,

Do you happen to remember approximately when this took place ? FWIW, I have a complete set of Cats Pause (at least up to last year) in my basement and would like to look it up and read more about this.

Thanks

Jon
Here is a link to some data....it lists Kyle to play in 79

http://www.usabasketball.com/history/mpag_records.html

[JPS]

POEKLM wrote:

Here is a link to some data....it lists Kyle to play in 79

http://www.usabasketball.com/history/mpag_records.html


Thanks. It shows that in 1979, there was a game vs. the US Virgin Islands on 7/12/79. I assume the exhibition game would have been held before that ? Maybe June ? Does that sound right to you ?

Jon

[JPS]

NickT315 wrote:
Dirk Novinzli
Tony Parker
T Mac
Moses Molone
Shaun Kemp
Big Jon(Jon Stewert)

People i didn't know about
Allen Iverson(Was he really coming to UK?)
Jermaine O'Neal(Remember him being interested in Duke,not UK but i could be wrong)
Darius Rice



People have mentioned Iverson but I honestly don't remember UK being very close to signing him, before he had the bowling alley incident and certainly after. (In other words, I don't think and highly doubt that UK still recruited Iverson after the bowling alley incident and don't remember them recruiting before the incident.)

Jermaine O'Neal was very close to signing with UK (IIRC, the other option was in-state South Carolina). I believe he's been on record in the past saying that he would have played for Pitino at UK if he had gone to college.

I've been told Darius Rice verballed to UK at least twice, but his father refused to sign the papers and he eventually went to the wasteland that is Miami (Fl) basketball. In the end, it was a bad move on the Rice's part IMO. To this day I still believe that Rice in his heart really wanted to come to UK.

Jon

[Doug Hardin]

fce1226 wrote: I heard something or read something to the effect that Dirk Nowitzki was close to coming to UK once -- can anyone back that up one way or another?

GO CATS!!!

I remember hearing that, too. I had a friend in high school about '98 or so who was a German exchange student, and I remember asking him if he knew anything about Dirk

[Buddah]

JPS, it was after the bowling alley incident, when it looks like no one was going to recruit him, and then i read an article that his high school coach talked glowingly of pitino, and said after allen talked with coach pitino, evertything will fall into place, and then a few days later, pitino announced that uk would no longer recruit him. If anyone has a lexington hearald during that time, look back and check for yourself. I remember it clearly.

[JPS]

Buddah wrote:
JPS, it was after the bowling alley incident, when it looks like no one was going to recruit him, and then i read an article that his high school coach talked glowingly of pitino, and said after allen talked with coach pitino, evertything will fall into place, and then a few days later, pitino announced that uk would no longer recruit him. If anyone has a lexington hearald during that time, look back and check for yourself. I remember it clearly.

Buddah,

I don't doubt what you say. But just based on what you say above, it suggests to me that Pitino was recruiting him. The high school coach was hopeful but then after thinking about the situation (or more likely discussing it with the UK administration) Pitino determined it was not a situation they wanted to get into and announced that they were not recruiting him.

That's a far cry IMO from 'almost coming to UK' as the title of this thread suggests.

Jon

PS, you can electronically search the Herald Leader archives back to 1983.

Link to Archives (http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/archives/)

Here's some of the articles you are probably talking about. It doesn't show the entire article but from the short sections included, it does seem UK was indeed seriously recruiting him at one point.

-------------
92. Lexington Herald-Leader (KY) - July 14, 1993 - D1 SPORTS

UK REPORTEDLY STILL INTERESTED IN CONVICTED FELON IVERSON
Â* Kentucky Coach Rick Pitino has pledged to continue recruiting Allen Iverson despite the heralded high school basketball prospect's conviction on felony charges, the player's summer-league coach said. Boo Williams said Pitino made the promise in a telephone call to him Monday. Earlier that day, Iverson was found guilty of three felony charges connected to a Feb. 14 melee at a Hampton, Va., bowling center. He faces the possibility of up to 20 years in prison. Sentencing is scheduled ...

--------------------

82. Lexington Herald-Leader (KY) - July 16, 1993 - C1 SPORTS

WILDCATS WILL NOT RECRUIT TROUBLED IVERSON
Â* Kentucky officially dropped out of the recruiting race for basketball prospect Allen Iverson yesterday. Iverson's summer league basketball coach received word from UK after first reading about Kentucky's pull-out in USA Today. "That's the only problem I have with it," the coach, Marcellus "Boo" Williams, said of the way he found out. UK's abrupt end to its recruitment of Iverson capped a dizzying week for the school and the heralded point-guard...

[Buddah]

those are good links, but i remember something else that talked about his high school coach saying allen strongly favored uk and he mentioned a couple other schools, i remember it my friend.. if you can find it, i would welcome it. then as you point out in the article below, uk said they would no longer recruit him. I remember both of the articles you have linked, but i also remember some other parts that aren't in these snippets, as well as one more article.

[matt57]

how bout michael southhall, this kid was a shot blocking machine who comitted to us. he was later caught with marijuana and let go. i think he even lead the nation in blocks while @ louisana-lafayette. can you imagine him, estill, and jules???? WOW

[JPS]

Buddah wrote:
those are good links, but i remember something else that talked about his high school coach saying allen strongly favored uk and he mentioned a couple other schools, i remember it my friend.. if you can find it, i would welcome it. then as you point out in the article below, uk said they would no longer recruit him. I remember both of the articles you have linked, but i also remember some other parts that aren't in these snippets, as well as one more article.

That's fine if you remember that. Maybe at some point Iverson did say he favored UK. That's not unusual for recruits to say that about UK at some point while they're being recruited and deciding on schools.

However I still maintain that even if true, it's a far cry from counting him as somone who 'almost came to UK.' If the bowling alley incident hadn't led to his conviction then probably so, but after that, it was a dead issue.

As far as findng the articles you're describing, I gave you the link to search for yourself. It's up to you, not me to find it. FWIW, I did do a search including Iverson's coach and didn't find any other articles which looked promising. Maybe you read it somewhere else ?

But finding the article you mention is probably unnecessary. I didn't remember UK being seriously involved with Iverson but from the articles above, it is apparent that at least for a short time they were. This article below supports that UK was pretty desperate for a point guard that year.

----------------------

72. Lexington Herald-Leader (KY) - July 9, 1993 - C1 SPORTS

WITH POINT-GUARD PROSPECTS SCARCE, PITINO SCOURS CAMP
Â* INDIANAPOLIS -- Finding a point guard is Job One this recruiting year for Kentucky. It's Worry One, too. "Normally, it's an easy position to find," UK Coach Rick Pitino said yesterday. "You always could get four or five point guards in New York alone. They're not there. I'm a little concerned." Pitino was at the Nike All-American Basketball Festival, where three point guards believed high on Kentucky's list are playing this...

--------------------

FWIW, UK never did get a top-flight point guard that year, but they did get a guy agree to walk-on in the name of Anthony Epps (http://www.ukfans.net/jps/uk/Statistics/Players/Epps_Anthony.html), who worked out just fine in the long run. :)

Jon

[Terry L. Wildcat]

Florida Cracker wrote: One that really hurt was Butch Beard. We all thought he would be the one to break the color line but he didn't happen. We knew signing Wes Unseld was probably a dream and our chances were slim but Beard acted like he would join the Blue. It was a major disappointment and if we could have gotten him, it would have been a big boost in more ways than one.
John, You are so on the money...damn.

[The Old School JPS]

Gunther Behnke...anyone remember that? The big tall German that Joe B. Hall had set to play for UK?

There are plenty in football too. Drew Brees' two finalists were Purdue and UK.

[cumberlandredskin]

The Old School JPS wrote: Gunther Behnke...anyone remember that? The big tall German that Joe B. Hall had set to play for UK?

There are plenty in football too. Drew Brees' two finalists were Purdue and UK.I remember. I think he was over 7 foot. He got homesick before he ever came here and stayed in Germany.

[Wildcat Larry]

How about Brandon Wright? :shock::?:(

[boomdaddy]

Shaun Alexander, the Seahawks RB, who played for Bama, said he always liked Kentucky but they never recruited him. Blame that one on Hal Dumme.

[The Old School JPS]

boomdaddy wrote: Shaun Alexander, the Seahawks RB, who played for Bama, said he always liked Kentucky but they never recruited him. Blame that one on Hal Dumme.
There's no way to blame that on Hal Mumme, since Alexander was playing for Alabama while Bill Curry was still UK's coach.

[ukfanman]

Kent Benson was very heavily recruited by UK. He was flown in on a private plane, greeted by fans at Bluegrass Airport. Even remember one sign.

KENTucky Wants You. When it came down to UK and Indiana, Bobby Knight won out.

[The Old School JPS]

Did UK recruit Isiah Thomas?

[Buddah]

Bill Curry said alexander couldn't play at kentucky....

[Spanish Moss]

Buddah wrote: Bill Curry said alexander couldn't play at kentucky....

There is THAT name again. Everytime I think of Bill I get the heebee geebees.

Alexander will go down as one of the greatest players to come out of Kentucky and we didn't even recruit him!!!!!!!!!

Let me add another name to the basketball list. Ron King, Louisville Central. He went to Florida State with his team mate, Otto Petty and Larry Gay from Clark County. They broke the color line in the state of Florida. Ron King was a great, great player and Kentucky recruited him very hard. FSU went to the Final Four with King the star of the team.

One of my best friends was one of the first blacks to sign a football scholarship at FSU and he came in about the same time as Ron King.

[Wildcat Larry]

"Clueless Bill", we miss him so ..................................... not! :?

http://www.kernel.uky.edu/1996/fall/1125/curry1.gif

Scared you, didn't I? ;):lol:

[MthrBtch]

Hey Buddah and JPS,

There was an SI article (had a picture of Iverson dunking on a playground - seems like it had a metal chain net), and I believe it talked about the bowling alley incident, how Iverson was considering UK, and had comments from the coach. I've been wrong before, but this is what I vaguely remember.

[MthrBtch]

Sorry about the triple post, having problems with my ISP.

[The Old School JPS]

MthrBtch wrote: Hey Buddah and JPS,

There was an SI article (had a picture of Iverson dunking on a playground - seems like it had a metal chain net), and I believe it talked about the bowling alley incident, how Iverson was considering UK, and had comments from the coach. I've been wrong before, but this is what I vaguely remember.

His HS coach, or Pitino?

[lribookend]

Bill "Poodles" Willoughby signed with UKwent pro after HS);

Darrell "Chocoate Thunder" Dawkins (NBA);

Kenny Higgs....wanted to sign with UK, theybacked out, he signed with LSU instead;

Durand "Rudy" Macklin, went to LSU instead of UK;

King Kelly Coleman....(Drinking Problem? Never heard why the King didn't play for Rupp)

I forget the name of the Lexington Lafayette player who went to Clemson, I believe? Can anyone help me out on this one?

[ukfanman]

Jeff Mullins played for Layafette but went to Duke.

[lribookend]

Yeah, Jeff Mullins, and it WAS Duke, not Clemson. Couldn't remember. THANKS for clearing that up. Actually, there have been many Kentucky players who wanted to play at UK but weren't offered a scholarship, and went on to play pretty successfully elsewhere. Vandy has gotten several over the years, especially guards. Of course, Marshal got JR Van Hoose,the Paintsville kid, who did pretty well there. Wouldn't have been a star at UK, but maybea solid 4 year player. But then, we recruit someone like Oliver Simmons from Tennessee. Does that make sense? Guess I will never understand recruiting.

[lribookend]

Also, didn't Tracy McGrady have us as his favorite before going pro? And of course, Louisville signed Dewane Morton in a much publicized recruiting battle between the Cards and the Cats.

[Buddah]

Jeff Mullins was a great player... I have often wondered why King Kelly didn't come to UK..

I disagree with the poster about JR Vanhoose, the kid would have been a very soild player at UK, my dad works with his mother... JR knows how to win. You can't teach that sort of thing, some kids just have it.. He is one of Marshall's all time leading scorers... Compared and contrasted with the big men that actually came to UK during that time Camera and Stone... i believe i would take JR and been very happy with the results.. A good kid, great work ethic, a non thug, and someone who has pride in wearing the jersey of Kentucky.

[lribookend]

Buddah wrote: Jeff Mullins was a great player... I have often wondered why King Kelly didn't come to UK..

I disagree with the poster about JR Vanhoose, the kid would have been a very soild player at UK, my dad works with his mother... JR knows how to win. You can't teach that sort of thing, some kids just have it.. He is one of Marshall's all time leading scorers... Compared and contrasted with the big men that actually came to UK during that time Camera and Stone... i believe i would take JR and been very happy with the results.. A good kid, great work ethic, a non thug, and someone who has pride in wearing the jersey of Kentucky.

I agree that Camara and Stone were disappointments. Still not sure how van Hoose would have fared against better competition.Although, the SEC these days is nothing to brag about.I still think he would have been more of a Jared *****et type player....good role player, but not a star, but alas, we'll never know.

[Buddah]

i don't think he would have been a star per se, but he would be your garbage collector, and he knows how to win.... pelphery and farmer weren't stars, but i would like to have a full bench of them... players that do the intangibles(sp) that every team needs.... but like you said, we will never know.

[Grub]

Florida Cracker wrote: Buddah wrote: Bill Curry said alexander couldn't play at kentucky....

There is THAT name again. Everytime I think of Bill I get the heebee geebees.

Alexander will go down as one of the greatest players to come out of Kentucky and we didn't even recruit him!!!!!!!!!

Let me add another name to the basketball list. Ron King, Louisville Central. He went to Florida State with his team mate, Otto Petty and Larry Gay from Clark County. They broke the color line in the state of Florida. Ron King was a great, great player and Kentucky recruited him very hard. FSU went to the Final Four with King the star of the team.

One of my best friends was one of the first blacks to sign a football scholarship at FSU and he came in about the same time as Ron King.
Guys, I may be waaaaay off base on this...but if I remember correctly, Shaun Alexander told theUniversity of Kentucky to not waste their energy. Shaun was a bit of a prima donna as a high schooler...I can see how this mentality wouldn't jive with Curry.

[UK 4 Life]

Wasn't Glenn Robinson also close to signing with UK before he choose Purdue?

[Trueblujr]

What about Lamar Odom?

[Buddah]

Odom, Oneil, and T Mac were all coming here, but Rick to Boston killed it, and with their own plans to head straight into the NBA. Vincent Yourbourgh was another one that would have been here as well.

[NotFrank]

Trueblujr wrote: What about Lamar Odom?


Nope. Grades with Lamar. His prep school is one of the most notorious basketball factories in the country. He didn't go straight to the pros. He went to URI and Jim Harrick...nuff said. Odom is actually a pretty good guy now that he's gotten away from NYC and started a family.

[Trueblujr]

NotFrank wrote: Trueblujr wrote: What about Lamar Odom?


Nope. Grades with Lamar. His prep school is one of the most notorious basketball factories in the country. He didn't go straight to the pros. He went to URI and Jim Harrick...nuff said. Odom is actually a pretty good guy now that he's gotten away from NYC and started a family.



I remember everyone in the Wildcat camp and the media had Odom Pegged for UK, it was even assumed on the day ofhis announcement that he was coning,then all of a sudden he said he was going to UNLV. Then I'm not sure what happened after that to make him wind up at Rhode Island.

[NotFrank]

I can tell you as close as you can to fact that UK wanted no part of Odom. The UNLV thing had to do with his relationship with an assistant there. There were reasons that none of the big schools went after him hard. There is an article about his prep school on CBSSportsline that couldn't be more accurate. Redemption should be shut down...yesterday. Same prep school as Victor Page and a few other unscrupulous characters.

[RP_McMurphy]

Compared with Richie Brooks he looks like a Rhodes Scholar.

Wildcat Larry wrote:
"Clueless Bill", we miss him so ..................................... not! :?

http://www.kernel.uky.edu/1996/fall/1125/curry1.gif

Scared you, didn't I? ;):lol:

[Buddah]

NotFrank wrote:
Trueblujr wrote: What about Lamar Odom?
Â*

Nope. Grades with Lamar. His prep school is one of the most notorious basketball factories in the country. He didn't go straight to the pros. He went to URI and Jim Harrick...nuff said. Odom is actually a pretty good guy now that he's gotten away from NYC and started a family.


I never said he went straight to the pros... But I will stand by my statements, those three that i outlined were strong for UK, T Mac was here and he left to the NBA, same with Oneil, who had grade issues and so forth and went to the NBA, Odom it was thought was right here until he committed to UNLV, and then went to Rhode Island. As we all know and have learned, nothing is for certain when it comes to recruiting.

I can even remember several articles that said UK was the favorite.

[kauffman21]

Buddah wrote: Odom, Oneil, and T Mac were all coming here, but Rick to Boston killed it, and with their own plans to head straight into the NBA. Vincent Yourbourgh was another one that would have been here as well.


oneil went pro before pitino left, he was drafted in 1996 1st round 17th overall. Pitino left the following year.

[RockStrongo]

The only one I clearly remember was Shawn Kemp, but he had academic issues. I also heard he stole Sean Sutton's gold chain...can anybody validate that??

[The Old School JPS]

lribookend wrote: King Kelly Coleman....(Drinking Problem? Never heard why the King didn't play for Rupp)
Coleman committed to West Virginia but ended up playing for Kentucky Wesleyan.

I think after Coleman committed to West Virginia, Rupp turned WVU in to the NCAA for gifts (cars I think) they had given to Coleman, and as a result he couldn't play there.

Coleman was already drinking heavily in high school and it quickly took its toll on him.

[Blue Heaven]

I forget the name of the Lexington Lafayette player who went to Clemson, I believe? Can anyone help me out on this one?
Posted by Iribookend

Would that be Greg Buckner? And not the scrub Buckner who went to dUKe?

[KennesawCat]

POEKLM wrote: Who can forget wavering Ralph Sampson? At his press conference he still acted like he wanted to come to Kentucky. I will never forget when he came into Rupp Arena with the Pan-Am team to play against some UK Alumni. Coach Hall was afraid he would be booed because of the way he kind of strung us along so he asked the UK fans on the radio to please give Ralph a nice ovation. Well good UK fans always listen to their coach. They introduced Sampson and he got nearly a standing ovation. He stood there stiff as a board, no expression. Mr. Kyle Macy was introduced next and he received a thunderous standing ovation. He, of course stepped out of line and waved to the crowd in all directions. That angel.We were thinking we could have had the greatest recruiting class of all time: Ralph Sampson, Sam Bowie, who else that year, was Kyle Macy in that class? Charles Hurt, Derrick Hord, or am I getting this all mixed up?

[KWICD]

Didn't Kevin Garnett say if he could have gotten into college, He would have went to UK.

[boomdaddy]

RockStrongo wrote: The only one I clearly remember was Shawn Kemp, but he had academic issues. I also heard he stole Sean Sutton's gold chain...can anybody validate that??


I saw the video from R.L.Gold Shack, where Kemp was caught pawning Sutton's chain. Sutton later publically stated that it wasn't stolen, to keep Kemp out of trouble. The big joke going around, after Kemp turned pro, was that all of the players of his pro team , had to lock up all of thier jewelry during practice to ensure that they would not get it stolen. :lol:

[catman4life]

Greg Buckner played at University Heights Academy. I know because I played against them 5 years straight(I played on varsity as an 8th grader).

[The Old School JPS]

Left off this list so far is Harvey Grant. His twin brother played at Clemson (and later for the Bulls in the NBA) and Harvey Grant went to Clemson as a freshman but didn't play, then later gave Kentucky a verbal commitment. He ended up at a junior college and was an All American there, then played two years at Oklahoma and averaged over 20 points per game and almost 10 rebounds per game. They made it to the NCAA title game his senior season. He scored almost 1,400 points in just two years there.

Wes Unseld was the Bullets' coach then and took Grant with the 12th overall pick in the 1988 draft. He wanted Vanderbilt's Will Perdue but the Bulls had taken him with the 11th overall pick.

Grant played 11 seasons in the NBA and averaged over 18 points per game in three of them.

Had Grant come to UK instead of Oklahoma, UK's frontcourt in 1986-87 (Rob Lock, Richard Madison, Irving Thomas, Cedric Jenkins) would've been significantly bolstered and we might have done better than a first round NCAA loss. (Oddly, UK beat a favored, #12 ranked Oklahoma team by one point that year; Grant had 20 points and 12 rebounds. Madison had 12 and 12 for UK, Lock 7 and 8, Jenkins 0 points but 7 rebounds and Thomas 0 and 0.)

In 1987-88 UK (SEC champs, 25-5, #6 in the final AP poll, same frontcourt save that Winston Bennett was back) likely would've done better than its Sweet 16 loss to Villanova had Grant been in blue.

Had Grant gotten to UK when he committed, our 32-4, AP #3, SEC season and tourney champ team would've had a frontcourt of Kenny Walker, Harvey Grant and Winston Bennett in that Southeast Regional Final that LSU won by 2 points.

[baldcat]

Is it true that Larry Bird wanted to come to UK but Joe B. refused to recruit him?

I've heard that all my life.

[The Old School JPS]

baldcat wrote: Is it true that Larry Bird wanted to come to UK but Joe B. refused to recruit him?

I've heard that all my life.


I doubt there's any truth to that.

Bird was an Indiana kid and went to IU as a freshman, but felt out of place and homesick because it was so big. He left before he had a single practice with the Hoosiers and went home, taking a job as a garbageman. If he felt that way about IU, I can't see him wanting tobe farther from home at another big campus (UK). He ended up at Indiana State thanks to doggedrecruiting by Indiana State's head coach,who actually drovearound Bird's hometown trying to find him and make his pitch.

It may be true that Hall didn't recruit Bird, but had he done so, his efforts probably would've been squandered given Bird's IU experience. At any rate, the idea that Bird wanted to come to UK - I can't see that being at all likely.

[Zakk Wyldcat]

baldcat wrote: Is it true that Larry Bird wanted to come to UK but Joe B. refused to recruit him?

I've heard that all my life.

InBird's autobiography 'Drive', he said that he'd heard Hall thought he(Bird)was too slow. Said he was looking forward to the UK-IU games to prove Hall wrong.

[Catlanta91]

I know this is a basketball thread. But I'll go ahead and say Bill Parcells anyway.

[ryanebelhar]

my brother swears up and down that Kobe Bryant was coming to UK. Ihave no idea.

[matt colvin]

Kobe, himself, has said that he would have went to Duke had he went to college. I do not have a link to anywhere that says that, but I remember hearing him say he would have wanted to play for Coach K. Yeah, I don't know what's wrong with him :shrug:

[Madiblue]

Did we not go after Jeff Lamp and Lee Raker out of Ballard, they had a pretty good career at Virginia?

[The Old School JPS]

Madiblue wrote: Did we not go after Jeff Lamp and Lee Raker out of Ballard, they had a pretty good career at Virginia?

Good question! I hope someone remembers something about that.

UK's recruits out of Jeff Lamp's and Lee Raker's class (Class of1977I think) was Chuck Aleksinas, Fred Cowan, Scott Courts and Chris Gettlefinger. Courts and Aleksinas were big men who transferred quickly. Gettlefinger never played much (and may not have started on scholarship; I'm not sure). Cowan was from western Kentucky and was a pretty decent player but not high school All American material.

Lamp and Raker wanted to both go to the same school, I think; maybe UK didn't want to sign both of them.

That was right in the middle of about a 10 year period when UK didn't take a single player from Louisville until Winston Bennett came along.

[CARDSRTOAST]

POEKLM wrote: I will dig up my program from the game. It would have to be 79 or 80. I am thinking more like 80. Some of our historians may tell us before I can find the program.
1980:dude:

[EDBAGA15]

UK wanted Lamp. He let it be known very early that he and Raker were going to school together. Man that was a loaded team. Beat my school for the state title.

[FatCatDaddy]

Bo Kimble.



If you watch the Hank Gather's story. Bo is sitting in a barber chair and the barber's ask him where he is going to play. He says "Kentucky". He went to USC and then Loyola Marymount where he averaged 35 ppg his senior season.

[FatCatDaddy]

boomdaddy wrote: Shaun Alexander, the Seahawks RB, who played for Bama, said he always liked Kentucky but they never recruited him. Blame that one on Hal Dumme.
Sorry, that was Bill Curry. I remember they interviewed Alexander a few years ago and he said Curry never sent him a letter or never called him on the phone. He said Kentucky did not recruit him in any fashion.

[The Old School JPS]

Watching Eliott Uzelac misuse Tim Couch was bad enough. Imagine how it would have been to haveUzelac stick Shaun Alexander on the bench next to him in favor of Billy Jack Haskins and Ray McLaurin.

The epic nature of that coaching regime's blunders never ceases to amaze me, even 10 years later.

[Madiblue]

EDBAGA15 wrote: UK wanted Lamp. He let it be known very early that he and Raker were going to school together. Man that was a loaded team. Beat my school for the state titleI can remember that game, considering all the talent that Ballard had, it was a pretty good run by the Vikings ...speaking of which they needed a buzzer beater to beat a western team that was anchored by Big Joe Jacoby, fantastic game as well, and as for the UK connection...the player who hit that shot was Derek Anderson's High School Coach FYI.