Kentucky Greats: #14, Cliff Hagan

Although Cliff Hagen played over 50 years ago many people still remember him as one of the great players in Kentucky history still today. Maybe it is because he compiled a 86-5 (.945) career record at Kentucky in his 3 seasons on the varsity team including a National Championship and an undefeated season. Or maybe it is because he ranks in the top 20 in career: points, rebounds, free throws made, free throw attempts, field goals made & field goal attempts. It may be because Hagan was a two-time First Team All-American at Kentucky and is the only player in school history with back-to-back 600+ point season in which he also tallied one 325+ rebound season and one 500+ rebound season. That is pretty impressive when you look at all the great scorers and rebounders in Kentucky history (Dan Issel, Kenny Walker, Bill Spivey, Cotton Nash, etc.). Hagan is also still remembered because he grew up in Owensboro, KY and stayed in state to attend Kentucky where everyone loved him for his humble attitude and the fact that he WAS a boy from down the road. Some of Hagan’s career accomplishments are:

•  All-SEC Tournament team as a sophomore at Kentucky along with winning the NCAA National Championship
•  As a junior at UK Hagan made First Team All-American, First Team All-SEC & the All-SEC Tournament team
•  As a senior at Kentucky Hagan again made First Team All-American and First Team All-SEC along with finishing the season 25-0 at UK, the only team in UK history to go through an entire season undefeated
•  Hagan is 16th on Kentucky’s all-time scoring charts with 1,475 career points
•  He ranks 3rd all-time in rebounding at Kentucky with 1,035 career rebounds
•  Hagan attempted 487 career free throws, the 10th most all-time at UK, he made 341 of them which is 11th most ever
•  Hagan attempted 1335 field goals in his career, 13th most all-time at Kentucky, and he made 567 of them, which is the 18th most ever

Another accomplishment that I am sure Hagan is honored to have been chosen for is the fact that his jersey is retired in the rafters of Rupp Arena. His #6 jersey was the 12th jersey ever retired at Kentucky and still to this day only 37 players have had the honor of getting their jersey retired.

Web Wednesday – 3/26/08

Rumor Mill

•  In an interview with Rivals.com’s Jerry Meyer, Scotty Hopson stated that he looks to take official visits to, “Tennessee, Texas probably, Kentucky, maybe Louisville, probably Cincinnati”. Take it for what it’s worth but I think that should be very good news for Kentucky fans because it looks as though Billy Gillispie is officially recruiting Hopson and we might be able to steal his last visit from a team like Cincinnati or Louisville.
•  Darius Miller, a 2008 signee for Kentucky from Maysville (KY), won the KHSAA State Championship in Kentucky this past weekend when his Mason County High School team defeated Covington Holmes High School in the Sweet 16 finals. Miller tallied 24 points and the MVP award and now has pretty much locked his case for Mr. Basketball for the state of Kentucky.
•  Roderick Flemings, a 6′7″ UK target for the class of ‘08, has said that he will be setting up a visit to Lexington in the near future although he visits UCONN this weekend, some insiders say that he might commit on the spot at UK if he likes what he sees.
•  This is kind of off the subject but one member of Catpause.com presented the message board with a new website that allows people to take a virtual look at men’s college basketball gym floors.

Check out Kentucky’s Rupp Arena:

And my personal favorite floor, the Oklahoma State court:

Just to let everyone know, my bracket is still doing pretty well. The only teams that I picked to go to the Sweet 16 that are out were: Notre Dame, Clemson, Georgetown (Elite 8), Pittsburgh, & UCONN. I am currently tied for 5th in my bracket pool.

Kentucky Greats: #15, Frank Ramsey

Frank Ramsey is most known for being one of the first true all around players for the Kentucky Wildcats. Ramsey could shoot from the outside, inside, left, right, or anywhere else. Ramsey was only 6′3″ but that did not stop him from ranking near the top in UK history with 1,038 rebounds, he was the original Rajon Rondo who could shoot a little better. Ramsey also ranks near the top in many field goal attempts records because he was the best player on the floor for three consecutive years for the Cats. Ramsey was a three time All-American at Kentucky, only the second player to make three consecutive All-American teams at UK. In his three seasons at Kentucky Ramsey compiled an unbelievable 86-5 record overall, or a winning percentage of .945, one of the top 5 winning percentages of all-time at Kentucky. Ramsey was in the middle of a dynasty at Kentucky, he was a part of the third National Championship at Kentucky in four years. Ramsey was also on just the fourth 30 win team at Kentucky as a sophmore on the National Championship team. Here are a few of Frank Ramsey’s accomplishments: 

• Ramsey ranks 26th all-time at Kentucky with 1,344 career points
• Ramsey is 2nd on Kentucky’s all-time rebounds list with 1,038 career rebounds
• Ramsey also attempted 1,313 field goals, the 14th most all-time 
• As a sophomore at Kentucky Ramsey was on the First Team All-SEC, All-SEC Tournament team, and was chosen as a Third Team All-American. Also as a sophomore in 1951 Ramsey won a National Championship with a 32-2 (.941) record.
•  As a junior Ramsey again made First Team All-SEC, All-SEC Tournament team, and was selected to the Second Team All-American
•  In his senior season with the Wildcats Ramsey made First Team All-SEC for the third consecutive year and also was a Second Team All-American

Another reason why Ramsey is on the list as a Kentucky Great is because he has his jersey retired in the raffters in Rupp Arena. He was the 13th player to have the honor of getting his jersey retired and he was one of 3 players on the 1951 National Championship team to get his jersey retired.

Kentucky Greats: #16, Keith Bogans

Because he played only a few years ago many people DO remember Keith Bogans, unlike some of the players on this list. Bogans is one of the most consistent players in UK history when you talk about putting up steady numbers from their freshman to senior year, almost nobody put up the kind of numbers that Bogans did. Bogans is one of only 11 players in UK history to post at least one 400 point season and two 500 point seasons. With Bogans you knew what you were going to get every night and he was not one of those players you see every year that you hate on the team because he does not pass the ball or he does not hustle back on defense. One thing that made Bogans special was he was one of the hardest working players on the team even though he was undoubtedley the best player on the squad. Bogans improved drastically from year to year (Although his junior year was kind of a down year) and every single one of his stats improved from his junior year to his senior year. That includes his: points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, field goals made, free throws made & even minutes played. Bogans also compiled a 101-34 record at Kentucky including that dominate 2003 team when he was a senior that was 32-4 and the #1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament. Here are a few of Bogans’ career achievments:

• He was a Parade All-American and McDonald’s All-American as a senior in high school 
• His 1,923 points ranks him fourth all-time at Kentucky behind only Dan Issel, Kenny Walker & Jack Givens
• He ranks second in UK history with 254 three-pointers made
• Bogans attempted 742 three-pointers in his career, first all-time at UK
• Bogans ranks 12th in UK history with 155 career steals
• Bogans made the All-SEC Freshman Team in 2000 as a freshman
• The next season he made the Second Team All-SEC and All-SEC Tournament team
• As a senior Bogans made the Third Team All-American team, All-NCAA Regional Team, SEC Player of the Year, First Team All-SEC & the SEC Tournament MVP

Bogans was drafted 43rd overall by the Milwaukee Bucks following his senior season in 2003. Bogans currently plays for the Orlando Magic where he is currently averaging 27.5 mpg and 9.2 ppg.

Links

• Keith Bogans’ career stats

BLOG UPDATE: Behind on some entries

Sorry guys but I have been busy since the game so I will get you all the UK/Marq – Post Game soon and will have the next Kentucky Great announced soon as well.

Web Wednesday – 3/19/08

Rumor Mill

•  Looks like Jodie Meeks might play tomorrow against Marquette. Still a long shot but coach Gillispie said he at least is improving a little bit.
•  On the recruiting front, Kentucky is pursuing 5-star big man from the class of 2009 DeShonte Riley out of Michigan, rivals.com ranks him as the #13 player overall in his class. He is also being recruited by Georgetown, Kansas, Michigan, Michigan St., Kansas St. & Ohio St.
•  Shawne Williams, a top UK recruiting target for the 2009 class, said in an interview with Catspause.com’s Jeff Drummond that Kentucky is firmly in his top 3 and UK has offered him a scholarship. Williams was on the Duncanville HS (TX) team this season, a team that at one time was #1 in america.
•  Scotty Hopson, probably the best player in Kentucky, had his season end today as his University Heights Academy team fell to Lexington Catholic in the Boys Sweet Sixteen, Hopson finished with 21 points in the loss.
•  According to this Sports Illustrated article it looks as though Kentucky is now pursuing two of the top unsigned players from the 2008 class Bud Mackey and David Ebanks. Ebanks originally signed with Indiana but asked out of his LOI and was granted his release after the Kelvin Sampson incident.
•  Pictures surfaced of possible new Kentucky Basketball uniforms, and no they are not black. the home uniforms are white with a thick solid stripe of blue coming up the back on each side by the shoulders and have checkerboard shorts. The road uniforms are blue with white stripes. Click THIS LINK to see the jerseys if you are a premium member to Catspause.com or look at the bottom of the page for pictures. The jerseys in the picture are not the exact pictures from the catolog that originally presented the new uniforms, they are basically a photoshop copy.

My Bracket
Here are my picks from my main bracket. If the winner is in bold that indicates an upset which is just if the winner is a lower seeded team than their opponent:

East

North Carolina
Arkansas
Notre Dame
Washington State
Oklahoma
Louisville
Butler
Tennesse

Sweet 16

North Carolina
Notre Dame
Louisville
Tennessee

Elite 8

North Carolina
Louisville

Final Four

North Carolina

Midwest

Kansas
Kent State
Clemson
Vandy
USC
Wisconsin
Davidson
Georgetown

Sweet 16

Kansas
Clemson
USC
Georgetown

Elite 8

Kansas
Georgetown

Final Four

Kansas

South

Memphis
Mississippi State
Michigan State
Pittsburgh
Kentucky
Stanford
St. Mary’s
Texas

Sweet 16

Memphis
Pittsburgh
Stanford
Texas

Elite 8

Memphis
Texas

Final Four

Texas

West

UCLA
Texas A&M
Western Kentucky
UCONN
Purdue
Xavier
West Virginia
Duke

Sweet 16

UCLA
UCONN
Xavier
West Virginia

Elite 8

UCLA
Xavier

Final Four

UCLA

NCAA Tournament Final Four

Kansas over North Carolina
UCLA over Texas

NCAA Championship

Kansas over UCLA

Pictures

Possible jersey tops: Home and Road

Possible jersey shorts: Home and Road

Kentucky Greats: #17, Johnny Cox

Not many people that do not follow Kentucky Basketball very carefully will even know who Johnny Cox is, let alone rattle off his name when talking about the best players in UK basketball history, most likely he would not even be in the discussion to be honest. You see, Johnny Cox played 3 years at Kentucky beginning in the 1956-57 season and was an instant hit amongst the fans and made an immediate impact on the team as well. Cox was born and raised in Hazard, Kentucky, one reason why he was beloved by the Cat fans was because of his rural Kentucky upbringing, the type of upbringing that made up the majority of the fan base at Kentucky. Cox was just like the average fan in Kentucky, except he could play, he could play very very well. Cox is one of only 5 players in Kentucky history to make the First Team All-SEC 3 times in his playing career, he is on the list with some of the all-time greats including Dan Issel, Kenny Walker, Kevin Grevey & Kyle Macy. Those are four players that will be higher on this list so that right there shows you how great Johnny Cox was because just to be in the conversation with those players is quite an achievement. Not to mention that Cox ranks in the top 20 in: career points, career rebounds, career free throw attempts, career free throws made, career field goals attempted & field goals made, he is one of only about 10 players to rank in the top 20 in all of those categories. Here are some of Johnny Cox’s top achievements:

•  Johnny Cox ranks 18th on the all-time scoring list at Kentucky with 1461 career points
•  Johnny Cox  is 4th on the all-time rebounds list at UK with 1004 career rebounds
•  He made 333 free throws in his career at UK and attempted the 14th most free throws by attempting 441
•  He made 564 field goals which is the 19th most in school history and attempted the 9th most field goals by attempting 1425 shots
•  As a sophomore at Kentucky Cox made the First Team All-SEC team along with the All-NCAA Regional Team in the NCAA Tournament and Third Team All-American as well
•  As a junior at UK Johnny Cox did even better by making the All-NCAA Regional Team, First Team All-SEC & the All-NCAA Final Four Team
•  In his final season at Kentucky as a senior Cox compiled even more accolades by making yet again another First Team All-SEC Team (His 3rd consecutive time on the team), First Team All-American & the All-NCAA Regional Team

Johnny Cox went on to have a less than stellar career in the National Basketball Association, he was drafted #37 overall in the 4th round by the New York Knicks and was traded to the Chicago Zephyrs. Cox goes down in many people’s mind as one of the top 10-20 players all-time and you can see by my ranking that I am one of those people. We will have #16 in the Kentucky Greats series unveiled on thursday.

#11 UK vs. #6 Marquette – First Round Preview (NCAA Tournament Edition)

Kentucky fans held a collective breath tonight as team after team was announced to participate in the NCAA Tournament, and finally, after two and a half brackets were announced Kentucky got their name called to play against Marquette in Anaheim, CA for the first round game of the tournament. Kentucky is trying to revenge an Elite Eight loss to the Golden Eagles in 2003 when Dwyane Wade became one of only 3 players to record a triple-double in a tournament game when he had 29-11-11 in his coming out party. Kentucky will have a lot to prove to a lot of people because many analysts are saying they got lucky and were put in ahead of more deserving teams. Jay Bilas of ESPN has been ripping the Cats all night about their lack of quality wins and about how they have not won any good games on the road all season, he is one of many that is outraged that Kentucky got in over Arizona State. Kentucky should be playing with a preverbial chip on their shoulder thursday against Marquette because of everyone’s criticism and for people questioning their validitity in the tournament. At least I hope that is the way Kentucky prepares for the game, because in UK’s game against Georgia Billy Gillispie did a very poor job of preparing the players mentally to play against a Bulldog team that was obviously going to come out hungry and have the ‘Us against the world’ mentality. This time Kentucky will be the team with everything to prove and nothing to lose, a situation Georgia perfected this weekend at the Southeastern Conference Tournament.

KEYS TO THE GAME

The first KEY TO THE GAME against Marquette will be to slow down Dominic James, the Golden Eagles’ second leading scorer and most important player. Marquette is 9-1 when James gets at least 17 points so if Kentucky can hold him under that point total then they should be right in the ball game when it matters the most. One way to slow James down is to lay off of him around the perimeter and force him to hit a three-point shot consistenly, which is something he has not proven he can do throughout his three year career. James only shoots 31.7% from behind the arc this year but whenever he is hitting his shots Marquette is a very tough team to beat. Whenever Dominic James makesmore than one three pointer in a game Marquette is 9-2 this season with losses coming @ Notre Dame by 3 and @ West Virginia, two NCAA Tournament teams. Marquette is at their best when James plays effective and smart basketball on the offensive end, that is why whenever James shoots near 50% from the field for the game the Golden Eagles usually win. Kentucky could try to crowd James and force him to either make great plays or to pass it because he has 15 games this season in which he has at least 3 turnovers, a stat that is #1 in the Big East Conference, but James is so quick that unless you have an equally quick guard who plays smart defense, which Kentucky does not, then you should not do that.

The other KEY TO THE GAME for Kentucky against Marquette on thursday is for the senior leaders Joe Crawford and Ramel Bradley step up and play like veterans against the Golden Eagles. Ramel Bradley played horrible for 38 minutes on saturday against Georgia and that kind of performance will not win a game on thursday as it did not against the Georgia Bulldogs, Marquette might have the best perimeter defense in the country with four players averaging at least 1.0 steal per game this season. Jerel McNeal leads the team with an eye popping 2.2 spg, a stat that is good enough to put him second in the Big East. Marquette leads the Big East in steals per game as a team with almost 9.5 spg, and all the UK fans know that Kentucky really loves to give the ball away, they lead the SEC in turnovers and assist/turnover differential. Only two players for Kentucky that get any playing time have more assists on the year than turnovers and they are Ramel Bradley, a guy that UK will depend upon to make plays and set up the offense when everything gets hectic for everyone else, and Derrick Jasper, a player that really needs to play some defense against Jerel McNeal and Wesley Matthews.

The third and final KEY TO THE GAME against Marquette on thursday is for Kentucky to start off the game strong by playing good defense and converting open looks on the offensive end of the floor. Kentucky got down against Georgia very quickly and found themselves in a 16-4 hole not even 10 minutes into the game against the Bulldogs, that can not happen thursday or Kentucky will not be in the game very long because unlike the Wildcats Marquette starts off fast just about every game they play in. One reason why Kentucky starts off slow in just about every game is because coach Gillispie loves to start Mark Coury for some reason. Coury, in my mind, is the worst player I have ever seen suit up for Kentucky in the 10+ years that I have watched Kentucky Basketball. Coury always seems to either pick up an unneccesary foul or drops a pass when he has a clear lane to the basket when all he needs to do is catch the ball and finish. Also Coury is a very unreliable free throw shooter. He only shoots 52.9% from the free throw line this season and has only made 3 of his last 6 free throws over the last 8 games. I have no idea why Gillispie continues to start Coury because he always makes the team play worse when he is in there. When he left the game against Georgia we were already down 10-3 and had to dig ourselves out of that hole the entire game and we were not able to do so in the end. Had Perry Stevenson just started the game instead of coming off the bench after 4 minutes I seriously doubt we would have been down 10-3 and Zac Swansey would never have been in the situation to win the game because the game would never have gone to overtime. My solution is to start Perry Stevenson and to tell Ramon Harris not to get in foul trouble because if he does AJ Stewart will come into the game and with him only being a freshman I would not feel comfortable with him in the game.

How They Match Up

Team Name	W/L Record	RPI (As of 3/16)	SOS	PPG	Def. PPG	RPG	APG	Turnovers PG	A/TO Ratio	Record vs. RPI Top 50	Last 12 games
Kentucky Wildcats	18-12 (12-4)	57	20	68.6	65.33	33.7	12.7	15.9	1/1.3	4-6	9-3
Marquette Golden Eagles	24-9 (11-7)	20	17	75.91	64.31	36.6	14.8	13.2	1.1/1	4-8	8-4

Prior Tournament Results

Kentucky and Marquette have met in the NCAA Tournament 2 times since the field was expanded to 64 teams (And later to 65 teams) and Marquette has won both meetings.

March 20, 1994
(6)Marquette 75, (3)Kentucky 63

Kentucky lost to Marquette in this matchup in the NCAA Southeast Regional Second Round (at St. Petersburg, FL). Damon Key led the Golden Eagles with 25 points and 6 rebounds while Tony Delk led the Wildcats with 24 points of his own.

March 20, 1994 – Box Score

March 29, 2003
Marquette 83, Kentucky 69

Every Kentucky and Marquette fan remembers this game because it was the first time that the nation was introduced to a player that is now a world-known NBA player who has already won an NBA title, his name is Dwyane Wade. Like I said earlier Wade became the third player to record a triple-double in an NCAA Tournament game when he dropped 26-11-11 on Kentucky in front of 28,383 people in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Kentucky was led in that game by Keith Bogans and Gerald Fitch who each scored 15 points in the losing effort.

March 20, 1994 – Box Score

NEXT GAME

March 20 vs. Marquette

Time TBA

Blog Update: No Game Previews for SEC Tournament

Just to let you all know I will not be doing any Game Previews for the SEC Tournament. The Game Previews will start back up for the NCAA Tournament.

Kentucky Greats: #18, Pat Riley

Pat Riley was and still is one of the most recognizable and remembered Wildcats of all-time. One reason is he is now considered one of the greatest NBA coaches of all-time winning multiple NBA Championships in his terrific coaching career. Another reason is he was one of the best players at UK in the school’s history. He was a member of the infamous Kentucky Wildcats team that took on Texas Western (Now known as UTEP), which resulted in the movie Glory Road, which is still considered one of the better and more successful teams in UK history. Riley ranks near the top in nearly every major statistical category as well. He ranks in the top 25 in: career points, career rebounds, free throws, field goals & field goals attempted. Riley also was 55-25 in his career at UK, including that 27-2 season in which Kentucky played Texas Western as the #1 team in the nation. Riley was in the top 2 in scoring average on the team in each of the three seasons in which he played, not even 10 players in school history who played at least three seasons can say that. To be honest Riley’s coaching success in the NBA does help him out a little bit on this list because fame and how well-known the player is does factor in a little bit. Had Riley had a better career record than 55-25 he might have made the top 10 or top 15. Pat Riley is the only successful coach on this list as well so that helps him out a little bit as well. Some of Riley’s career achievements at UK and in the NBA as a coach include:

•  As a junior Pat Riley made the First Team All-SEC, All-NCAA Tournament Team, NCAA Regional Player of the Year, SEC Player of the Year & AP Third Team All-American
•  The following year as a senior Riley made First Team All-SEC, one of the only players in Kentucky Basketball history to make two or more First Team All-SEC teams
•  Riley ranks 17th on the all-time scoring list with 1,464 career points
•  He also ranks 24th all-time at UK with 672 career rebounds
•  Riley attempted 284 free throws in his career, good for 24th in UK history
•  He made 590 career field goals which is 15th in Kentucky Wildcats history
•  Riley was voted as one of the ten best coaches in NBA history in ‘96-’97

Riley’s resume is filled with many milestones during an NBA career that spans 38 years as a player, assistant coach, head coach, administrator and broadcaster and has produced seven NBA championships. He has compiled a 1,151-589 (.661) all-time record guiding the Los Angeles Lakers, New York Knicks and the Miami HEAT during a 22-year head coaching career that is one of the most impressive in all of sports. His 1,151 regular season victories trail only Lenny Wilkens and Don Nelson on the NBA’s all-time list. His 171 postseason victories rank second in NBA history, just seven behind Phil Jackson. His 278 postseason games coached rank first all-time in the league. His five NBA championships as a head coach tie him with John Kundla for the third highest total in NBA history. Riley has averaged over 52 wins per season in his coaching career. His .661 winning percentage in regular season play and 1,740 games coached both rank sixth all-time in the NBA and his .615 postseason winning percentage ranks ninth all-time in the league annuals. In 1996-97 as the NBA celebrated its 50th Anniversary, Riley received one of the highest honors bestowed upon an NBA coach when he was named one of the Top 10 Coaches of All-Time by a panel of media who regularly cover the league. Simply put, Riley is a winner.

Another reason Riley is placed so high on this list is because he has had his jersey retired at UK. He is one of only 36 players in UK history to have their jersey retired, so obviously that is a great honor . Only 14 players in the last 40 years have had their jerseys retired which shows even more how beloved and how great Riley was at Kentucky.

Links

1. Pat Riley coaching page
2. Pat Riley wikipedia page
3. Miami Heat home page