Kentucky has played one game in its history on Christmas Eve — and there were some unusual circumstances for that 1983 game.
The game was played at the University of Illinois and a major snowstorm hit the area, keeping the referees who were scheduled to call the game from traveling to Champaign, Ill. Local high school officials were pulled from the crowd to work the game in jeans and a ref’s shirt.
James Blackmon nailed a jumper at the buzzer to win it for UK. Those same two teams played another nail-biter in March in the NCAA Mideast Regional final, with Kentucky pulling out another hard-fought win to reach the Final Four.
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“I think, at least the first year, it will be number one.”
That was the response from ESPN college basketball writer Andy Katz when I asked him where the first Champions Classic will rank on the menu of early season events.
“Maui will be interesting next season, but (The Champions Classic) will dominate the scene leading up to it and then after,” Katz said of the doubleheader that will pit Kentucky against Kansas and Duke against Michigan State at Madison Square Garden. “It will cap our tipoff marathon. It is in New York City next year, so it will get even more coverage because it is there. It will be interesting to see how coverage will be in Atlanta (in 2011) and then Chicago (in 2012).
And even more intriguing to see which power house fan base shows the most support.
“Atlanta will be interesting,” Katz said in an interview on “The Leach Report.” “You know Kentucky people will go, but you need the three other schools and I don’t know if they can pull people in (there). I think both the Madison Square Garden and United Center are smaller venues, so I don’t know how the Georgia Dome will be in early November. I am surprised they do that on November 15. You are in the middle of football, people are budgeting for the economy or maybe going to a bowl game, and if you are SEC fans, do you spend the money to go to Atlanta for that one game? So, I don’t know. It’s around the holidays and so, with travel cost and all that, it will be interesting to see where Atlanta factors in.”
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“I gotta pinch myself to think I’m a part of something phenomenal here. Kentucky basketball is beyond life. It’s a little bit of heaven on earth.”
That’s what Winston Bennett said last Saturday while taking in the celebration of former UK coach Joe B. Hall’s coaching career. Bennett was one of about four dozen of Hall’s former players who came back to Rupp for a pregame reunion and a halftime program on the Rupp Arena court.
Bennett spoke for most, if not all of those former players when he talked about how Hall served as a father figure for a young player away from home.
“I was a young minority from Louisville and when I committed, there was an uproar because I was the first one to come to Kentucky minority-wise since Tom Payne,” Bennett said. “Coach Hall was a father figure to me. He not only coached me but he helped further what my parents instilled in me as a young man. He taught me a great deal.”
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Only five freshmen in Kentucky’s history have hit 40 percent or better from the 3-point line for a season. Of those, only Derrick Miller in 1987 and Gerald Fitch in 2001 played significant minutes.
Doron Lamb is hitting 55.6 percent at this point. = = =
Terrence Jones is averaging eight free-throw attempts per game. If he would keep up that pace, he’d have a good chance to break Kenny Walker’s school record. Walker attempted 284 free throws in the 1984-85 season.
