Sat, Mar 15, 1975 – 1 · Lexington Herald-Leader (Lexington, Kentucky) · Newspapers.com
Sat, Mar 15, 1975 – 11 · Lexington Herald-Leader (Lexington, Kentucky) · Newspapers.com
Sat, Mar 15, 1975 – 9 · Lexington Herald-Leader (Lexington, Kentucky) · Newspapers.com
Sat, Mar 15, 1975 – 10 · Lexington Herald-Leader (Lexington, Kentucky) · Newspapers.com
Al McGuire always seemed to like Joe Hall. He was one of the few people in college basketball who gave that impression, and I always wondered about that.
ReplyDeleteOK, now 1975 is one of the best years in the history of American sports. Lots of greatness this year, across a variety of different sports. Watergate is over, Vietnam is over, the country is finally getting tired of all the culture wars that started in the mid-1960's, and folks are ready to watch some sports. And sports will not let them down.
ReplyDelete1975 will feature one of the best Masters Tournaments ever played. It will revitalize baseball with what probably is the best World Series ever played. It will give us the Hail Mary pass in football. And this tournament -- the last to feature John Wooden, and the first in which more than one team from a single conference could participate -- is the beginning of a spectacular era in college basketball.
ReplyDeleteFrom March 1975 through March 1993, college basketball will be the best sport in America. It will save ESPN. It will drive the culture in a way that it never did before or sense. It will feature a flood of superstar players unlike anything before or since. And it will turn a whole generation of great coaches into icons.
ReplyDeleteFor a nine-year-old living in Paducah, and being obsessed about sports, this golden age will be an amazing gift. Of all the programs in the United States, very few will experience as much drama, heartbreak, and joy as the Kentucky Wildcats over these 19 years.
ReplyDeleteAlmost everything will happen to Kentucky. The Wildcats will move into a new arena. They will win the NIT. They will win the NCAA. They will come close to building a Super Team, but miss out on a key recruit at the last minute. They will change coaches, go on probation, and watch their rivals exceed them. And then, like a phoenix, they will arise better and stronger than ever. It's amazing to me that I was lucky enough to see all of that.
ReplyDeleteAnd it all starts right now, in Tuscaloosa (a gym where UK never plays very well) on NBC Sports against Marquette. The game between UK and Marquette is by far the premier matchup of the first round. Both teams are in the top ten, and Marquette went to the final in 1974.
ReplyDeleteMy mother thought UK was going to lose. She was furious that Kentucky, who was number 5 in the country, had to play the number 10 team in the country in the very first round, while Georgetown and Central Michigan got to play each other.
ReplyDeleteFor Joe Hall, the stakes -- as they will be so many times over the next ten seasons -- are enormous. This is Hall's third year on the job. He has an extraordinary senior class -- one of the best UK has ever had. Kevin Grevey, Jimmy Dan Conner, Bob Guyette -- these are great college players, and huge stars in the Commonwealth.
ReplyDeleteBut up to this point, they've been disappointing. In 1973, when they were sophomores, and Hall was a rookie coach, they opened the season with a dreadful 11-7 record. Then they won nine straight to win the SEC for the sixth year in a row. In the tournament, they survived a 106-100 battle with Austin Peay (in OT). But two days later, Indiana beat them easily. The Hoosiers were up 45-32 at the half, and won 72-65. Bobby Knight went to the Final Four, and Joe Hall went home.
ReplyDeleteThe next year was a disaster -- one of the worse in UK history. The Cats went 13-13. They lost to Kansas. They lost to Indiana (again). They lost to North Carolina, Tennessee and twice to Vandy, which won the SEC for the first time since 1965. There was no post-season.
ReplyDeleteI think Hall may have been coaching for his job in 1975. Certainly I think he would have been fired if he'd missed the tournament again. But in only the third game of the season, UK was hammered by Indiana (again) -- this time by 24 points. It was humiliating. The Hoosiers had the best team in the country. Louisville was looking for another final four (they'd gone in 1972). And UK just didn't seem to be competitive.
ReplyDeleteStaggered by their loss to Indiana, the Cats went to Freedom Hall on Monday, December 9, 1974, for a game with North Carolina. The Tar Heels were number 9 in the country and had beaten UK six of their last seven matchups, going back to 1964. After this night, UNC would not lose to UK again until December 2, 2000.
ReplyDeleteBut on December 9, 1974, something clicked for UK. Playing a team with Walter Davis, Mitch Kupchak, and Phil Ford, they played one of the best game UK has ever played against the Tar Heels. They whipped them 90-78, behind 35 points from Jimmy Dan Conner, giving Hall the biggest win of his career.
ReplyDeleteThat sparked a great run for the Big Blue. This team played really fast, and had amazing offensive firepower. They scored over 100 points eight times, and scored over 110 points in five of those games. On December 23, 1974, they beat Kansas 100-63 in Freedom Hall. Five days later, they came back to Freedom Hall and beat Notre Dame 113-96.
ReplyDeleteFor the rest of the year, they only lost three games: 90-85 at Auburn, 103-98 at Tennessee (don't get me started), and 66-58 at Florida (when Florida played in the notorious "Gator Alley.") They tied Alabama for the SEC title, got up to number 6 in the polls, and went to Tuscaloosa to play Marquette.
ReplyDeleteOf course, no one expected Kentucky to win the National Championship or even get to the Final Four. Everyone understood that this season would come down to an undefeated Indiana team trying to beat UCLA for the title in San Diego. But it would be humiliating to go out in the first round, even to a good team like Marquette.
ReplyDeleteI cannot begin to express how happy I am to have started this post.
DeleteThe Warriors jumped out to an early 25-17 lead, and the prognosis looked grim for UK. But Marquette got into foul trouble, and the Cats climbed to within 28-25 at the half. In the second half, UK switched to a 1-3-1 zone -- something that Hall almost never did -- because Marquette was too quick for them.
ReplyDeleteIt worked. Marquette's players were quicker, but UK had big, "physical" players, to use a term that would resonate over the next three years. They were also a very deep team. They had eight guys who were all good: Grevey, Guyette, Connor, Mike Flynn, Larry Johnson, Rick Robey, Jack Givens, and Mike Phillips. And they wore Marquette down. In the second half, they outscored Marquette by the incredible margin of 51-26, and rolled to a 76-54 win.
ReplyDeleteWatching the nationally televised broadcast on NBC, we were ecstatic. For the first time, I experienced the best feeling in all of sports -- the feeling that you have advanced to the next round, and now you have several days to await the next game.
ReplyDeleteUK-Marquette was the early game, so I spent most of the afternoon playing. I checked the TV from time to time, and saw some of Alabama's 97-90 loss to Arizona State. And my parents told me not to worry too much about the next game, because UK would probably beat Central Michigan in the Sweet 16 (although back then it was called the Regional Semi-Final). But that's a story for another week.
ReplyDeleteAlabama lost 97-94; see the next entry below.
DeleteOther big games from the first round:
ReplyDeleteSyracuse survived LaSalle in overtime, 87-83.
IU crushed UTEP, 78-53
MTSU went out to Oregon State, 78-67
Notre Dame beat Kansas 77-71
Louisville rolled over Rutgers 91-78
UCLA survived in OT against Michigan, 103-91
Arizona State beat Alabama, 97-94.
N.C. State (number 8 in the country) was the only top ten team not to make the NCAA's, as the ACC's two bids went to UNC and Maryland. Marquette (number 10 in the country) was the only top-10 team to be eliminated in the first round.
ReplyDeleteEight teams from the top ten made the Sweet 16:
ReplyDelete1. Indiana (30-0)
2. UCLA (24-3)
3. Louisville (25-2)
4. Maryland (23-4)
5. Kentucky (23-4)
6. N. Carolina (22-7)
7. Arizona St. (24-3)
9. Notre Dame (19-8)
I got 11 of 16 first-round games. My big miss was LaSalle, which I had going to the Final Four, because I desired it to be so. WKU beat LaSalle in Philadelphia in January, so that would've been nice to see them excel in the NC2As.
ReplyDeleteIt's really cool that they played all of these first-round games on the same Saturday.
March 17 Lexington Herald editorial:
ReplyDeleteJoe Shows ‘Em
When Joe B. Hall took over as head basketball coach at the University of Kentucky, “they” said that he’d never be able to live with the pressure of following Adoph Rupp.
Well, Hall’s Wildcats put a whomping on a fine Marquette club Saturday afternoon. And Hall has just been selected Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year.
All of which should remind us again that “they” usually don’t know what they’re talking about.