March 3, 1999
By TIM WHITMIRE
AP Sports Writer
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) – Kentucky has been the monster of the SoutheasternConference tournament in the 1990s, running up a 20-1 record while winning itsix of the last seven years.
Now, after only their second losing February since Adolph Rupp came toKentucky 69 years ago, the 14th-ranked Wildcats look vulnerable.
Auburn, Tennessee, Arkansas and Florida all head for this week’stournamentin Atlanta with more momentum than the Wildcats (22-8, 11-5 SEC), whose hopesof a third national title in four years have flickered with losses in four oftheir last seven games.
Seeded No. 2 out of the SEC East, Kentucky has a first-round bye and onFriday faces the winner of Thursday’s South Carolina-Mississippi game.
On Tuesday, coach Tubby Smith and his players put a brave face on theteam’sslump.
“Obviously we’ve lost some tough games on the road and at home,” Smithsaid. “But when I look at the stats from last year and this year, there’s notmuch difference in the teams. The ball bounces certain ways certain years, andobviously it wasn’t our year to get the proper bounces.”
“I have the utmost confidence in this team,” center Jamaal Magloire said.
“We feel like we can win the (SEC) tournament,” said point guard WayneTurner, who said he and the team’s other seniors held a players-only meetingafter Sunday’s regular season-ending loss to Tennessee.
“We were making the younger guys realize our season isn’t over,” Turnersaid. “We just want them to understand the season is not over yet, it’s notcoasting time, it’s time to put it in overdrive.”
Unlike last year, when the Wildcats closed with a rush, this year’s teamstumbles into the postseason.
Kentucky started strong, with successive December wins over UCLA, Kansas,Miami, Indiana, Maryland and Georgia Tech, then opened league play with a35-point victory over Florida. Later in January, the Wildcats bounced backfroma home loss to Tennessee to hand Auburn its first loss of the season, and bythe end of the month they were 8-1 in the conference and 19-4 overall.
Then came back-to-back road losses at Florida and Alabama, followedlater inFebruary by a loss at Arkansas and a season-ending defeat Sunday at Tennessee.
The result has been widespread pessimism in the bluegrass about thechancesof this year’s team following in the footsteps of its predecessors and playingin Kentucky’s fourth straight national title game.
On Tuesday, Smith reminded reporters of the relative youth of his team,which has just four upperclassmen on its 13-man roster. In addition, Smithsaid, the Wildcats have struggled to counter the adjustments other teams havemade as the season has progressed.
Tennessee, for one, swept Kentucky by packing it in under the basket andplaying tough, physical defense that forced Kentucky to take outside shots.Lacking a consistent outside shooter, the Wildcats were a combined 4-of-28 on3-pointers in two losses to the Vols.
In spite of the team’s 31 percent 3-point shooting, Smith said hisplayersneed to start taking more 3s.
“We’ve got some good 3-point shooters,” he said, citing seniors Turner,Scott Padgett and Heshimu Evans, as well as freshman Desmond Allison. Smithsaid a renewed commitment to the 3 could lead to more open looks and morepasses from the interior to the perimeter.
Though the notion of the Wildcats suddenly making themselves over into along-distance bomb squad raises questions about the team’s direction goingintothe postseason, Smith argued that the Wildcats’ lack of a clear style of playis a strength.
“What I like about our team is that we can do a lot of differentthings. Ithink we’re very versatile,” he said. “We’re a team that can play manydifferent ways, and I think that’s why we’ll go far and I think that’s whywe’ve got a good shot at going a long way in postseason play.”
Asked how he could be so confident about a team that won just three ofitslast seven games, Smith responded simply: “Because I want to be positive.”
