As soon as Enes Kanter transferred into his prep school, Derryk “Tank” Thornton began reading. The coach at Stoneridge Preparatory School in Simi Valley, Calif., Thornton had heard the horror stories of shepherding an international basketball player toward NCAA eligibility. He had heard the tales of the NCAA withholding a player from a sizable portion…
Enes Kanter turned down $6 million from a pro team in Turkey to attend college
Where Are They Now: NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Players Of The Past 25 Years
Good read from Aron Phillips of DimeMag.com: “Yesterday was my 25th birthday. I know, kinda crazy. So with the National Championship game last night, I figured I’d look back at the past 25 years of the Big Dance. At the end of the Final Four, the Associated Press always selects a Most Outstanding Player (last…
Despite the loss, Kentucky is back
Kentucky basketball seemed to be back to its royal status as soon as John Calipari was hired a year ago. The rock star stature of its coach within the Commonwealth and the Wildcat diaspora spread throughout the world believed that the program had returned to its rightful place among the elite as soon as the…
Cats won’t be remembered for falling short
Standing on the precipice of greatness, perspective is easy to lose. So when the Cats stunningly fell just short of the Final Four, they fell hard. A team whose 13 players had combined to play in six NCAA Tournament games before this year’s go-around often struggled to find the right reaction this year but before,…
Cold shooting ices Cats, fall to West Virginia 73-66 in Elite 8
Joe Mazzulla scored a career-high 17 points in his first start of the season to help West Virginia beat top-seeded Kentucky 73-66 in the East Regional final Saturday to advance to its first Final Four since 1959. Da’Sean Butler scored 18 points for the second-seeded Mountaineers (31-6), who won their 10th straight game. Mazzulla started…
Boxscore and Game Notes: Kentucky vs. Cornell
Go here for boxscore. Kentucky moves to 35-2 on the season while Cornell is now 29-5. UK is 1-1 all-time against the Big Red and 1-0 against Cornell in the NCAA Tournament. The Wildcats are 101-44 all-time in the NCAA Tournament. UK is 1-1 in NCAA Tournament games played in Syracuse. UK also is…
Cats disciplined defensive effort best of the season
Chants of “Go Big Red” bounced down from the overhead dome. “Overrated” even echoed from a few thousand leftover West Virginia fans. Boos berated the Kentucky players every 30 seconds. This was every bit a road game. In hostile territory, nearly 85 percent of the 22,271 fans in the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, N.Y., wanted…
Kentucky downs Cornell, 62-45, and advances to Elite Eight
John Wall and top-seeded Kentucky overcame an early deficit with a swarming defense, stopping Cornell’s captivating NCAA tournament run with a 62-45 win Thursday night in the East Regional semifinals. With much of the Carrier Dome crowd – and the country – pulling for an upset by the 12th-seeded Ivy Leaguers, Cornell bolted to a…
How I Helped Cornell Beat Kentucky in 1966
From Hall of Fame journalist Billy Reed: “On the day of the first basketball game between Kentucky and Cornell since Dec. 28, 1966, I might as well tell you about why Adolph Rupp accused me of helping the Ivy League school shock the mighty Wildcats, 92-77, in Memorial Coliseum. That was the season after the…
On this day in 1993, Kentucky decimated Wake Forest in Sweet 16 win
From The Season Never Ends 2010 Calendar: “Kentucky reassumed the role of heavyweight after the previous season’s Cinderella-like Unforgettables, rolling to a 103-69 win over Wake Forest in the Sweet 16. Jamal Mashburn began the assault on Wake with perfect five for five three-point shooting in the first half. In a game expected to be…