6. Kentucky
After an off-season rife with ugly incidents, what kind of season can the damaged Wildcats expect? Merely to repeat as champs
Posted: Wednesday November 18, 1998 12:55 PM
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If Kentucky is to wrest
an eighth title, Padgett
will again be a key
figure. Bob Rosato |
It should
have been a summer of content for Kentucky coach Tubby
Smith. But instead of reveling in the school's seventh NCAA
championship, he spent much of his time doing damage
control. In May, sophomore forward Myron Anthony confessed
to leaving the scene of a
September 1997 accident, a transgression for which senior
point guard Wayne Turner had been charged. Also that month,
sophomore guard Ryan Hogan pleaded guilty to driving under
the influence of alcohol. Then in June, junior center
Jamaal Magloire was in
a car that was pulled over by Louisville police. Though
Magloire
wasn't charged, one of the two men riding with him was
arrested and later pleaded guilty to possession of
marijuana.
Try as he might, Smith couldn't control the damage. He said
in June that the players would be punished, but he didn't
reveal the specific penalties until Nov. 2. (Anthony, Hogan
and Magloire were scheduled to miss the Wildcats' first two
games, and
Anthony may have to sit out five more games for academic
reasons.) For his perceived stonewalling, Smith received a
barrage of criticism in Lexington. "I read what you
all wrote about me," Smith said at media day on Oct.
20, "and I just want to say, right
back at you. Know what I mean?" The comment was delivered
tongue in cheek, and the assembled reporters laughed
accordingly, but it was hardly the optimum way to launch a
title defense.
Assuming the worst is over, there is every reason to
believe that the Cats can win it all again. Sure, they lost
their two top scorers, Jeff Sheppard and Nazr Mohammed, but
didn't they begin last season having to replace not only
Ron Mercer and Derek
Anderson (both NBA lottery picks), but also coach Rick
Pitino? "This time last year everybody was saying it
was going to be a rebuilding season," says senior
Scott Padgett. But, the Wildcats don't rebuild; they don't
even reload. They just keep
shooting.
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| STARTING LINEUP |
| POS. | HT. | CLASS | KEY STAT |
| SF Heshimu Evans | 6'6" | Sr. | 8.8 ppg |
| PF Scott Padgett* | 6'9" | Sr. | 11.5 ppg |
| C Jamaal Magloire** | 6'10" | Jr. | 4.2 rpg |
| SG Ryan Hogan** | 6'3" | So. | 1.1 ppg |
| PG Wayne Turner* | 6'2" | Sr. | 9.3 ppg |
'97-98 record: 35-4
Final rank (coaches' poll): No. 1
*Returning starter
**Suspended for first two regular-season games
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The trigger man this season will be Padgett, a
6'9" power forward who connected on 37.4% of his
three-pointers last season. Running the offense is the
savvy Turner, who was named the most valuable player of the
SEC tournament and the NCAA's South region. Magloire will
patrol the middle, where he
served as a capable
understudy to Mohammed for most of last season, and sixth man
Heshimu Evans, a
6'6" senior, now starts on the wing. The Cats have to
replace Sheppard's 13.7 points a game (and 37.6%
three-point shooting), but with Hogan,
6'5" freshman Desmond Allison,
6'8" freshman Tayshaun Prince and
6'2" sophomore Saul Smith in the lineup, long-range
scoring will not be hard to come
by.
It remains to be seen how deeply the summer's travails have
affected this team, but the start of the season will serve
as a welcome salve. "We've dealt with it,"
Padgett says. "Now we're ready to start playing
again."
—Seth
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