Forty Minutes To Glory

"Let's blow 'em out," shouts Lee.

In the second half Kentucky continues to dominate until, in the final minutes, the subs allow Bama to cut a big lead to 97-84. Afterward Hall is his crusty self, criticizing his team for lacking "the killer instinct." Then he apologizes for his outburst. "I'm just uptight," he says. "But it kills me to see you give away a lead like that."

I knew we were going to play tonight. I could see it in their eyes. I've made a little fur fly the last few weeks, but they're back now and I think they'll stay back. I feel good about the rest of our season, but this team has taught me you can't let up. A few days ago in practice James made a great play and I felt like cheering. But I just called him over and told him, "James, you know I can't brag on you." He said, "I know, Coach." I die when we're not playing, when we're not executing, but, hey, I'm a great guy when we play like we ought to.

Hall is prophetic about Kentucky's return to top form. The Wildcats roll to successive wins over Tennessee, Georgia, Nevada-Las Vegas and Vanderbilt and finish with a 25-2 record. They win the SEC by three games.

Only a few weeks before, Hall appeared to be cracking. Actually, his outbursts were calculated, as they had been in the past and as they would be in the approaching NCAA tournament. In 1975, during an important game at Alabama, Hall benched Grevey and called him "gutless" at halftime. Grevey came back to hit the winning basket. Hall has never forgotten that incident.

But Hall does not escape the season without one more controversy. Hall's pride and joy is his team's new basketball "house," a modern and luxurious $700,000 dormitory across the street from his office. He raised the money for it himself, and the foundation formed to supervise its construction voted to name the building after him. On March 3, the night before Kentucky plays Las Vegas, Hall is dining with Vegas Coach Jerry Tarkanian when he receives a phone call telling him that in the dead of night university maintenance men have removed Hall's name from a sign outside the building. The administration says proper technical procedure for naming the building had not been followed.

Tarkanian is appalled. He is aware that Hall has been under fire, but the removal of his name is too much. "What you ought to do is win the NCAA and then resign and take the Tennessee job," says Tarkanian.

Hall just smiles. Now is not the time to talk about quitting. There are three weeks to go. You can put up with anything for three weeks.

In Florida State, the Wildcats' first-round opponent in the NCAAs, Kentucky will encounter just the sort of opponent—fast and underrated—that had given it trouble.

Thursday, March 9—We beat Florida State by 40 points—97-57—last year. That right there could make it an even game on Saturday. It will hurt us and help them.