Reality check of Kentucky basketball’s road woes?

What woes?

The SEC stopped being UK’s road map to NCAA tourney bids before Jimmy Dykes knew a nail from a Brad Nessler cuff link, let alone where it is in a basketball floor.

Today, SEC school athletic department worker bees no longer concentrate wintertime energies solely on making poetry of football signee profiles. With prime time television coverage for hoop$, they work on Red-outs (Georgia), Black-outs (Vandy) and plan kill-Kentucky T-shirt possibilities.

Game day, Kentucky’s McDonald’s All-American-studded roster becomes fire ‘em up fodder for fanatics in Oxford, Athens and the rest, and targets for a parade of players whose closest brush with McDonald’s is a Big Mac. Suddenly, they elevate their game to match Dicky V adjectives and Jimmy’s chirp, swishing shots even as the coach is yelling frantically, “no!, no! no! YES!”

Cosmic elevated play for Kentucky.

If you’re still reading this, raise your hand if, in preseason, you ever heard of Gerald Robinson (Georgia), Reginald Buckner (Ole Miss), Scottie Wilbekin (Florida), and Steve Tchiengang (Vanderbilt).

To a man, each put on a Superman’s cape and dealt krypton to the Cats.

Each leapt off a middle page in the scouting report well after Chris Warren, John Jenkins and the rest. Even when Kentucky defended with passion deep into 35-second clocks, these men rose up to sink in-your-face shots to sink the Cats.

So, a more reasonable assessment of Kentucky’s three losses in February’s first four, may be seen more clearly through a prism of numbers 34, 36 and 37. Time against three teams UK will play again.

For 34 minutes in Gainesville, Kentucky was solid despite the hot breath of an Orange-out storm of fans.

Against Tennessee, for 37 minutes, John Calipari’s team was crisp, efficient, dominant. Its best performance in league play.

For 36 minutes at Vanderbilt, Kentucky was resilient and poised in the SEC’s toughest den of all, Memorial Gym.

And this – in the heartbreaker losses, we saw signs of battle hardened for tournament ready.

Next? In the new SEC, the goal becomes big run to Basketball Bash in, yes, Catlanta. A place where tee-shirt distribution and leather lung fans turn a neutral site into, well, Catlanta.

GRAND REUNIONS

AT BOWLING GREEN … been 40 years.

Western Kentucky University celebrated Hilltopper sports history last weekend when members of the 1971 team who made it to the Final Four at the Astrodome were honored at Diddle Arena.

Along what can appropriately be described as the Tops glory road, Western dominated the OVC, hammered Kentucky, upset favored Ohio State and eliminated Artis Gilmore-led Jacksonville on the way to the Astrodome.

After losing to Villanova, Western beat Kansas State in a consolation game.

April 1971 – Hilltopper basketball was at its Everest summit.

The Hilltoppers, featured five starters from Kentucky – Clarence Glover, Jim McDaniels Jerry Dunn, Rex Bailey and Jim Rose – remain WKU’s favorite team ever.

AT LOUISVILLE … The national champion Cardinals 1986, came home for a 25th reunion.

“It never gets old. How could something like this get old?” Billy Thompson asked rhetorically after an ovation for the 1986 NCAA champions at the Yum Center Saturday.

Clearly, as Thompson and his teammates must realize, not only will coming home to adoring fans never get old, the occasions will become ever sweeter as time passes.

A HERO COACH?

Coach Kerry Stovall’s Christian County basketball team played at Henderson County last week. His handling of an incident before halftime put a new toe-tap into “… the sun shines bright in my old Kentucky Home.”

Reported by sports writer Kevin Patton in The Gleaner.

Henderson center Adam Revlett was fouled on a shot under the basket. The referee blew his whistle, but did not see that Revlett’s shot went in.

The official signaled two free throws (in the act of shooting) and Henderson coach Mark Starns objected. The three-man officiating crew conferred and still maintained Revlett’s shot did not go in.

Stovall stepped forward and told the officials, yes, Revlett’s shot had gone in. Intent on getting the call right, the officials reversed themselves, counted the basket and Revlett hit a free throw to complete the three-point play.

Christian County won 68-53, after which Stovall explained to Patton, “It was the right thing to do. The basket went in. I talk to my kids all the time about doing the right thing. How can they believe me if I don’t say anything (in this instance)? My players all knew that basket went in.

“I hope that all coaches would do the same thing,” Stovall said.

“… in more than 20 years of covering various levels of sports, I don’t recall a coach helping an opposing team in such a manner,” Patton wrote. “I think most probably would have remained silent, letting the officials sort it out.”

Indeed.

Having watched games and coaches over four decades, not a single coach’s name comes to mind who would have done what Stovall did. The important thing is, he has set the bar for his colleagues.

On principle alone, Stovall is a hero where it counts – to his son, players and Christian County fans. In an era when coaches, particularly college ones, need a reality check and an image upgrade, Kerry Stovall is your model.

Pin it to the locker room wall.

And so it goes.