“Mountain Tops”, by Ira Combs
Big Blue Nation invades Atlanta
It was college basketball at it’s best in Rupp Arena Sunday afternoon.
At the end of the day it was UK - 75 Florida - 70 but during the 40-minute SEC battle several of the more unlikely and inexperienced Cats had their best effort of the season. The Cats razor-thin 6′ 9″ Soph. PF Perry Stevenson was 6 for 6 from the field and 6 for 8 from the line for 18 pts. and 10 reb. by far his best effort to date as a Wildcat, Derrick Jasper still playing basically on one good leg was 5 - 5 from the field and 4 for 4 from threeville with two of them being solid candidates for your typical horse game on the playground.
Yes, in a hoop season that has had about as much bad luck as any Wildcat football team has ever had this Kentucky basketball team had one of it’s most memorable and emotional days on Senior Day. Big Blue Nation showed up in big numbers 24,257 to be exact; the inclement weather and treacherous roadways across the Bluegrass were overcome by college basketball’s most passionate fans just like the players fought through the past season of trials, tribulations, and devastating injuries. It all ended in a mid court victory celebration lead by Coach Billy Clyde Gillispie and his two senior stars Ramel Bradley & Joe Crawford each giving a farewell message over the Rupp Arena public address system to their loyal fans in a moment when all involved coach, players and fans each demonstrated their affection for each other knowing they had all had a special part in one of Kentucky basketball’s most overachieving seasons.
One could easily vision Adolph Rupp, Cawood Ledford, and Gov. Happy Chandler looking down from the heavens and saying “Looks like we have weathered the many storms of another winning season guys, and the future looks brighter than ever.”
Gillispie on NCAA’s Big Dance
When questioned in his post game press conference about his team’s chances for an invitation to the NCAA tournament, Gillispie said, “We’ll continue on one game at a time, just as we have since early January and count the W’s up when we win or are eliminated from the conference tournament and see where we are. I have no knowledge of a magic number nor do I have a personal contact with the selection committee, we just live and plan for the next game.”
UK stands at 18 - 11 going into the conference tourney with sterling 12 - 4 SEC record that garnered them a 1st Round bye. The Cats first game will be against the winner of Thursday’s Ole Miss - Georgia game Friday at 9:45 p.m. (WYMT-TV) and should they win will play in the Semi-Finals Saturday afternoon at 3:15 p.m. (WYMT-TV). The SEC Tournament Championship game will be played this Sunday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. and will be nationally televised on CBS.
