Brian mentioned a few days ago that this Kentucky team plays worse than any he can remember. Now, he was pretty young back in 1988-1989, but I thought I should pay tribute on this, the 20th anniversary of that wonderful team.
Team captain Michael Scott led that team to a magically listless 13-19 record. The Cats, inspired by the fadeaway jumpers of LeRon Ellis, played with the heart of Ellis and the intelligence of Eric Manual. And Chris Mills chipped in some highlights in between recruiting visits to Arizona. It was craptacular.
The season began with a 80-55 nailbiting defeat at the hands of Duke and, as hard as it is to believe, only got worse.
A loss to Northwestern State was one highlight. The loss to Bowling Green in the UKIT was my personal favorite. The 23-point loss to Bobby Knight stung a little, too. The 22-point loss to Louisville wasn't so wonderful.
The Cats did manage an awesome 8-10 record in the SEC, capped by a first round loss to Vandy in the SEC tournament. Yaaaay!
Luckily, when I arrived at UK the next season I began righting the ship.
This year's team knows how to celebrate an anniversary. So far.
1 comment:
It doesn't always take a good record to make Kentucky fans happy. The 14-14 team in Pitino's first year has been one of the most popular. All the fans want to see is a team playing to the best of their ability and have some optimism going ahead. Is that too much to ask?
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