Kentucky Greats; Greatest Team – Tournament rounds begin!

Today marks the closing of the final Kentucky Greats decade as the 1990’s poll has closed. We will now be putting each of the winning teams into a bracket and then you will be voting on one matchup per week.

The first game is between the 1979 Wildcats and the 1946 Cats. The winner of this game will take on the infamous 1966 team that was defeated in the National Championship by Texas Western. Here is a breakdown of the game.

Point Guards
1979 Kyle Macy vs. 1946 Jack Parkinson

I don’t know much about Jack Parkinson other than he scored 851 career points and was the leader of the 1946 Kentucky Wildcats, but I know alot about Kyle Macy. Macy was the greatest scorer of the 1970’s for UK and was an All-American each of his three seasons in Lexington, including a 1st-Team naming as a senior. Macy also won the SEC Player of the Year as a senior at UK, he finished his career with over 1,400 career points and 470 assists, the only player in UK history to accomplish the feat. I think it is safe to say that Macy and the 1979 team win this matchup.
Advantage: Kyle Macy, 1979

Shooting Guards
1979 Dwight Anderson vs. 1946 Ralph Beard

Ralph Beard is considered one of the best UK Wildcat players in history by many who have either seen him play or heard stories from those who have, Beard’s 1,517 career points are more than any other player on either roster and it isn’t by accident. Beard was a three-time 1st team All-American but that was overshadowed by the point shaving scandal that got him banned from the NBA for life. But this tournament is not about life choices it is about how the players played in college, and he was great. Another easy one, no need to even talk about Dwight Anderson.
Advantage: Ralph Beard, 1946

Small Forwards
1979 Lavon Williams vs. 1946 Jack Tingle

Well, this is the matchup that might decide the game if these two teams were somehow able to really play, but this is a fan poll so it really doesn’t matter. Lavon Williams has a serious height advantage (6′6″ vs. 6′3″) and an athletic advantage, Jack Tingle never scored 300 points in a season, advantage Williams.
Advantage: Lavon Williams, 1979

Power Forwards
1979 Chuck Verderber vs. 1946 Wilbur Schu

Neither player made serious contributions to their squad, in fact Schu was on a football scholarship I believe and just played basketball. This one is a draw.
Advantage: Neither

Centers
1979 Chuck Aleksinas vs. 1946 Wallace “Wah Wah” Jones

Just Aleksinas’ name shows he isn’t a match for ‘ol Wah Wah Jones, Jones is a UK legend and Aleksinas just has a crazy name.
Advantage: Wallace “Wah Wah” Jones, 1946

Coaches
1979 Joe B. Hall vs. 1946 Adolph Rupp

Really??
Advantage: Adolph Rupp, 1946

Well from this matchup overview it looks as though the 1946 team would win in a real game, but what do you think? Vote below on which team you think would win, vote today through next monday for the winner.

UKmadness 2009 rankings, #17

#17 – Jon Hood – Committed to Kentucky

Positives
- The first major positive in Jon Hood’s game is his perimeter shooting ability. Hood can shoot from everywhere on the court but he excels around the three point line and he is a deadly knock down shooter from around it. Hood is tall for his position (6′6″ SG) so he has no problem shooting over most of his opponents, which allows him to take his time while shooting the ball and to get in a rhthym. Hood averaged over 20 points per game because of his shooting ability on all areas on the floor.

- The other good thing about Jon Hood’s game is a two part answer: His size for his position and his athletisicm for his position. Hood overpowers smaller opponents with his height and overpowers many post players with his ability to get in the air and simply out jump them. Hood is very creative around the basket and is not afraid of contact around the rim although he is not the biggest guy on the court. Hood uses his height to his advantage very well because as I said he is not very muscular and strong so he has to find some sort of advantage and he chose his height.

Negative
- The shining negative in Jon Hood’s game is, as I mentioned before, his strength with and without the ball. Hood is 6′6″ but only 185 lbs. and if you look at the other top shooting guards in the nation they are almost all either heavier than Hood or shorter than him, Lance Stephenson is an inch shorter than Hood but still weighs 10 lbs. more than Hood does and Xavier Henry is 210 lbs. and is the same height as Hood. If Hood can bulk up either this summer or before the next high school basketball season starts he should see a nice rise in many rankings this summer and winter. Hood has said that he loves Kentucky’s weight room so lets see if he uses it to help his game over the next year or so.

Comparison
The player that compares closest to Jon Hood in my opinion is Sacramento Kings shooting guard Kevin Martin. Like Martin, Hood is around the 6′6″-6′7″ range on height and both are at a slender 185 lbs. Both players are pure scorers and phenomenal knock down shooters. Like Martin, Hood uses his height to his advantage because even in the NBA there are not very many 6′6″ or so shooting guards in the league.