Nearly 10 months ago, Derek Willis stood before a big crowd in the Bullitt East High School library to say he was committing to play basketball for the University of Kentucky instead of with Louisville, Indiana or Purdue. It was a highly anticipated announcement in one of the state's most closely watched recruitments in years.
On Wednesday, he was back in the same room with a slightly smaller crowd to make that commitment official and sign a national letter of intent to UK.
It was a less stressful, less hyped, but no less memorable day.
Walter Cornett, of Glendale, Kentucky, is the owner and operator of Walter's Wildcat World. He founded WildcatWorld.com in 1998 making it one of the oldest Kentucky basketball fan sites in operation today.
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On This Day In UK Basketball History
- On March 18, 1966, Louie Dampier joined the 1,000-point club. He did it in 53 games.
- On March 18, 1966, Kentucky, the No. 1 team in the nation, faced off against No. 2 Duke in the 1966 NCAA Final Four. Louie Dampier (23 points) and Pat Riley (19) led the top-ranked Cats past No. 2 Duke in front of 14,253 at the Cole Field House in College Park, Md.
- On March 18, 1972, Adolph Rupp coaches his last game at UK, a 73-54 loss to Florida State for the Mideast Region title in the NCAA Tournament.
- On March 18, 1978, in the 1978 NCAA Tournament round of eight, sophomore point guard Kyle Macy scored nine points in the final 6:16 to rally the Wildcats past Michigan State and freshman star Earvin “Magic” Johnson before 13,485 at the University of Dayton Arena.