April 14, 1998

Coach Tubby Smith announced Tuesday that he received a signed national letter-of-intent from Paintsville’s Todd Tackett to play basketball at the University of Kentucky.This season, the 6-3, 175-pound guard averaged 20.8 points, 3.2 assists and 3.2 rebounds per game in leading Paintsville High School to a runner-up finish in the KHSAA’s Sweet 16. He was named first-team All-State for the second consecutive year and finished his five-year career scoring 2,082 points, becoming the fifth Tiger in school history to join the 2,000-point club. He also set the school record for assists with 601. Earlier this season, he set the school’s single-game scoring record with 56 points vs. Pike County Central.”We are really excited about Todd Tackett becoming a Wildcat,” Coach Smith said. “He adds depth at shooting guard for us after the losses of Jeff Sheppard and Cameron Mills to graduation. We were looking for help at that position and Todd will help us fill that void.” This past March, Tackett averaged 23.5 points per game in the four state tournament games. He tallied 31 points vs. Clay County in the tournament opener, and in the championship game against Scott County, he scored 19 points before leaving the game because of a sore back with 2:58 remaining in the third quarter and the Tigers leading 59-58. Paintsville then lost the contest, 89-78.

As a junior, Tackett helped the Tigers advance to the state semifinals after they won the state title in his sophomore season of 1996. In each of the last three Sweet 16 Tournaments, he was named to the All-Tournament team. Tackett also was an honorable mention All-America selection by both Parade Magazine and Street & Smith Magazine this season. He was named All-57th District and All-15th Region each of the last four years. He chose Kentucky over Clemson.

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