Tennessee’s game plan for the rematch at Kentucky should be the exact opposite of the late January loss to the Wildcats in Knoxville – inside out instead of outside in.
Last time, UK dared the Vols to shoot three-pointers. They fell into the trap. They attempted 45. They made 11.
In recent victories over Florida, Missouri and Oklahoma, Tennessee dominated with points in the paint. Odds are Rick Barnes will see if the Wildcats can stop the Vols’ inside game.
Here’s a guarantee – things are going to be different. Last time, both Kentucky point guards were sidelined with injuries. Last time, Zakai Zeigler missed 10 of 11 bombs from outer space.
Check it out – Tuesday, Rupp Arena, 7 p.m., ESPN.
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Tennessee-Kentucky basketball used to be so much fun – natural rivalry, legendary coaches, tremendous players, intriguing sideshows, high stakes now and then.
Do what? You say not much has changed? Best I can tell, there has been only one Adolph Rupp, son of German immigrants, second only to John Wooden in coaching fame.
History? Kentucky has it.
Rupp went 876-190 in 41 seasons as coach. His 82.2 winning percentage is still second all-time. His Wildcats won four NCAA championships (1948, 1949, 1951, 1958), one NIT title, 27 Southeastern Conference regular season titles and 13 SEC tournaments.
Joe B. Hall dared follow those colossal footsteps. In 13 seasons, he made it to three Final Fours. His 1977-78 team went 30-2 and won UK’s first national title in 20 years.
A statue of Hall stands on campus in front of Wildcat Lodge, where the basketball players live.
Rick Pitino (1990-97) did more with less. He came after the NCAA imposed sanctions for academic and recruiting violations. In his last six seasons, Wildcats won a national championship and five times made it to the Elite Eight or beyond.
Tubby Smith won a national championship in 1998-99, his first season as coach. He won five SEC titles. He survived 10 years.
John Calipari had a remarkable 15 years. His teams won 32 NCAA tournament games and one championship. The Wildcats were SEC champs six times. He gained a shocking salary but outstayed his welcome.
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So many stories …
Rupp often complained about poor lighting in UT’s old Alumni Gym. He arrived one Friday for a pregame practice wearing a coal miner’s cap with carbide lantern burning brightly.
Whispers said Rupp cheated, that a spy watched visitors’ private practices at Memorial Coliseum. The coach wanted to know everything, projected starters, new alignments, who was limping, get me the facts.
A pesky sportswriter and Vol manager Greg Coffman conspired to do a spy search the next time we were in Lexington. We approached the bleachers from opposite directions and worked our way through the darkness. Indeed, we found a Kentucky manager in hiding, armed with notebook and ball-point pen, looking through an opening.
He was stunned. He fumbled and mumbled that he was searching for lost car keys.
Ray Mears was delighted to hear about the catch. An hour later, I confronted Rupp at a social gathering: “Why would you do such a thing?”
Rupp’s response: “Marvin, let me get you a drink.”
My newspaper story earned a big headline. UT athletics director Bob Woodruff played duck-and-run. The SEC commissioner had no comment. I received a $5 merit raise.
Rupp was the coach during the 1951 point-shaving scandal. Kentucky players Alex Groza, Ralph Beard, Bill Spivey and Dale Barnstable were arrested for taking bribes from professional gamblers to control final scores. Rupp didn’t know a thing.
A Tennessee-Kentucky game was part of the investigation. A subsequent NCAA review found that Kentucky had committed several rules violations. The SEC voted to ban the Wildcats from competition for a year. Tennessee cast the only no vote.
Rupp contributed the best quote in my newspaper career. We were talking basketball on the phone on the day Doug Dickey confirmed he was leaving Tennessee to coach football at Florida.
Rupp asked if the story was true. He paused to digest the news.
“Why would a man leave the Garden of Eden to see if he can make it on his own?”
***
Besides being an on-going news story, Joe B. Hall was a friend. Before a Kentucky Derby, he invited me to breakfast at Churchill Downs, at the working staff kitchen on the backside of the race track – sausage, gravy and biscuits as big as fists.
Everybody knew the coach. He introduced me around as if I was a celebrity. For years, calls to those new acquaintances provided racing tidbits and insight.
During a coaches’ convention in Las Vegas, Hall asked Sarah and me to go fishing with him at an exclusive golf course lake. Sarah caught a medium-large bass. It jumped and broke the line.
Hall found that the line did not break, that my knot attaching the lure to the line had failed.
“And you grew up as a Boy Scout?”
Marvin West welcomes comments or questions from readers. His address is marvinwest75@gmail.com
Marvin West is a PEARL!
My father – a WWII combat veteran – and several others used to really get Rupp mad by chanting “two Adolphs that we had enough – Adolph Hitler and Adolph Rupp!” They evidently had seats very near the Kentucky bench and pestered the visitors rage whole game.
I made the decision to go to the Kentucky Derby after reading a Marvin West column about it. Ended up going a dozen times, finally graduated from the infield to the grandstand. Each one was a great time. Thanks for that and the other thousands of your articles I’ve read. Please don’t stop.
Amen Mr. Mincy! Never thought of UT as a “Garden of Eden”, but I guess if coaches follow the rules, it truly is. Thank you Mr. West!
Oh, my. Between Rupp, Hall, and the rest, it would seem we enter their arena taking on the current boys in blue, plus the father, son and several holy ghosts. They can spy if they wish; they know what is coming. Personally, if they want to shave a few points, no problem here. Take note, dear readers: nowhere else do we get the current game report and a seventy-five-year history appendix in the same column. A valued collector’s item.