Sometime after the 1948 championship season Dr. A.D. Kirwan speaking at a dinner in honor of Coach Adolph Rupp likened the coach to Alexander the Great. History says that at one point when the warrior took in the breadth of his domain, he wept, for he had no more worlds to conquer. Many felt Rupp had accomplished everything possible and probably would have little incentive left to achieve more. Personally, I don't believe Rupp would have ever been satisfied as long as there was one more title to win or even one more game to play. As this new season approached Coach Rupp felt that the 1949 team could be better than the championship squad of the previous year. The Fabulous Five returned minus one, Kenny Rollins who had graduated. The only other players lost from the team were Joe Holland and Jim Jordan, both of whom had used up their eligibility. Some very talented sophomores were ready for promotion though. Walt Hirsch, Bob Henne, Roger Day and Garland Townes were now regular members of the varsity squad. Another sophomore, Joe Hall moved up also, but could see that his chance of any meaningful playing time was slim to none. Hall expressed his desire to transfer to a school where he would have a realistic chance to play. After the first semester Rupp helped arrange a move to Sewanee College. Joe Hall would return a few years later to make his contribution to UK.

       The 1949 team would not have the bench strength of last season's squad.  In photos of the 1948 Wildcats I have counted as many as 19 players and in some games all 19 saw action. With that kind of depth Coach Rupp could afford to play fast and aggressive. The strategy for the '49 team would be a bit different also. UK would be going inside to Alex Groza as much as possible and while this would create the tendency toward a more half court game, it did not mean the Cats would abandon the fast break at all. With the loss of Rollins, Dale Barnstable was moved into the guard position as the playmaker.  Barnstable was a capable guard, but was not the passer or ball-handler that Rollins had been. Cliff Barker was by far the best passer on the team and Rupp would eventually move Barnstable to a forward position and Barker to guard. It created a perfect scenario and would lead to another outstanding year.

       As had become the norm in the last three to four years, the Cats began the season without one of their starters, Wallace "Wah Wah" Jones. Jones would join the team after the football season ended, but he would begin playing only after Rupp felt he had gotten into "basketball" condition. The team was experienced, with Jones and Ralph Beard both playing for the varsity for their fourth year. The other returning players all had logged plenty of playing time, even the sophomores had seen action with the varsity during their freshman years. Rupp was extremely optimistic about the upcoming season. The media and fans were also, many of them picking the Cats as the favorite to win it all again. While Coach Rupp was privately confident, he was busy telling anyone who would listen, especially the players themselves, that UK was really not that good. Even so, expectations were high and it was hard to blame anyone for it. The team that had won the NCAA title and an Olympic gold medal was returning virtually intact.

       The Wildcats opened the season on November 29, 1948 against the same opponent they had kicked off the previous year, the Indiana Central Greyhounds. Last season's contest had been an 80-41 rout and the prognosticators were predicting a similar result for this year's meeting. While the possibilities for an upset were slim at best, the UK coaches warned their players against overconfidence. Of course for this particular game it probably amounted to little more than lip-service. Few people, if any, considered Indiana Central as a serious threat to the Wildcats. Even so, Rupp gave them the old pep talk anyway, but it wouldn't be necessary. Superior talent would be more than enough to do the job on this night.

       Kentucky did just what everyone expected, giving Indiana Central an old fashioned licking. But they looked nothing like the team that just a few months ago had swept through the SEC, the NCAA Tournament and then proceeded to help the US capture the gold medal at the Olympic Games. It was a lop-sided 74-38 victory and while the Cats did have some excellent individual performances, as a team they were a bit on the ragged side.  Kentucky missed far too many easy shots in close and their floor play was just not sharp. Despite all of this, the Greyhounds never posed a threat to the Cats, but a more talented team could have made it tough for UK. Most teams aren't in top form early in the season, but Kentucky would need to get on track quickly because the schedule appeared to get tough right away. The Wildcats next game would be less than two weeks, against the always competitive Demons of Depaul.

       Against Indiana Central the Wildcats got in the scoring column in the opening seconds on a Cliff Barker free throw, but then struggled for more than two and one-half minutes to get on the board again when Alex Groza scored on a rebound shot. Kentucky was streaky in the first half, moving ahead 10-1 in the first five minutes, only to have Indiana Central come back with a 7-4 run to make it 14-8 with 10 minutes to go in the half. With four minutes remaining and the score 23-14 in favor of the Cats, Kentucky scored 10 unanswered points to finish the half at 33-14.

       The Cats opened the second period on a 14-5 run and Coach Rupp began to use the bench, which continued to dominate play. At the ten-minute mark the score was 58-26 and during the next five minutes UK had a 9-2 scoring spurt. Indiana Central did outscore the Wildcats 10-7 during the final minutes of the game, which gave Kentucky a 36 point, 74-38 win. Even though it was not a great team effort, a few of the Cats did have pretty good games. All-American Ralph Beard was as close to regular season form as any of the Wildcats, scoring 20 points to lead all scorers. Cliff Barker and Dale Barnstable added 10 points apiece and Barker looked very sharp passing and handling the ball. Barker was able to fake and drive around his opponent almost at will all night. Alex Groza had some superb moments, scoring 14 points, several on a slick-looking drop-step to the basket. While Groza used two or three clever moves several times during the game, the rest of the time his footwork was not as sharp and some folks commented that he appeared lackadaisical at times; but after all it was the first game of the season.

       Indiana Central had one player in double figures, Dwight Swails with 16 points. His next closest teammate was Bob Robinson with five. One aspect of Kentucky's play that appeared to be changing from the previous season was the amount of playing time put in by the starters. In many games during last year the Wildcat starters would be finished by halftime or shortly after and in a few instances even before the break. It had not been unusual for the starters to play less than 20 minutes in a game, but in this season opener all the UK starters saw at least 25 minutes of action. With the bench having fewer bodies this year, it appeared the Kentucky starters would tally a few more minutes per contest for a while.

       With almost two weeks before Kentucky's next game with Depaul, Coach Rupp and the athletic director decided to give the Cats a tune-up of sorts with a match against the UK freshmen team. Since the varsity had not looked as sharp and enthused as the coaches would have liked, a scrimmage against the Wild "Kittens" might help get them headed back to championship form. Another factor was to allow the general public a chance to see the Wildcats play. Each year demand for tickets far exceeded the seating capacity of Alumni Gym. As had been the case in recent years, students would be the only individuals allowed to purchase tickets this season and even they would be restricted to an odd-even alternating system. In other words students with odd numbered tickets would see one game and those with even numbered tickets would see the next, and so on throughout the season. The only other alternative for John Q. Public was to travel to an away game or hope to get into one of the contests held at a neutral site, which this season would be Louisville or Memphis, Tennessee. For this scrimmage a lottery was held to determine who would be allowed to buy tickets. Only non-students were allowed to participate. So the trouble of obtaining a ticket for a UK home game is not something new. As a matter of fact, it appears to have been tougher 50 years ago than it is today.

       As expected the UK varsity put away their freshmen counterparts with little trouble. While their execution was not what they might have liked, they were improved from their first outing. The encouraging part of the game was the fact that the "Kittens" were able to give the varsity some stiff competition, at least early on. While the freshmen were able to hang close for a while, trailing 18-11 after the first 10 minutes and 37-21 at halftime, the elder Wildcat's superior talent and experience allowed them to pull away to a 71-41 win. A surprisingly less than capacity crowd of 1,500 got a glimpse of the future. Bill Spivey, a seven footer 'impressed with his ability in the center position scoring seven points.' Forward Dick Swan added seven and Len Pearson led the freshmen with eight points.  UK's future athletic director, C.M. Newton, 'displayed good floor work and marksmanship scoring three points' for the junior varsity. With this scrimmage over, it was back to the real thing as Kentucky would prepare for DePaul in Louisville.

       As in the previous season, the Demons of DePaul would provide UK with their first real test of the year. Gone from their previous year's squad were Ed Mikan and Whitey Kachan, but the Demons were still expected to be a tough opponent. DePaul was reported to be a fast breaking team with a deep bench, the rather slow start the Cats had gotten off to had some UK fans a bit apprehensive.

       Playing before a sell out crowd of 7,800 fans at the Jefferson County Armory, UK and DePaul both stumbled out of the gate, neither team seemed to be able to find the basket in the opening minutes. The first 10 minutes consisted of two ragged five minutes periods, where both teams combined for 18 points. At the 10 minute mark Kentucky led 12-6 and the next 10 minutes were even worse. For the next five minutes the Cats hit just one field goal and DePaul only tallied one free throw. By halftime the two teams had managed to push the score out to 20-13 in favor of UK.

       The Wildcat's play was much improved as the second half began, but they still weren't very sharp. Five minutes into the second period, with the score 29-18, Kentucky finally hit their stride with a 16-0 run, that basically put the Demons away. Not only did the UK offense pick up, but the defense stiffened as well, allowing DePaul just five points from the charity line in the first 10 minutes of the half. With five minutes remaining, Kentucky had a commanding 59-26 lead. The fast breaking DePaul team that had been expected never materialized and the Cats finished them off 67-36. While Dale Barnstable and Ralph Beard led the scoring with 15 points each, the outstanding effort of the night came from sophomore Walt Hirsch. During his 16 minutes of playing time Hirsch scored eight points and was all over the boards. Alex Groza added 12 for the Cats, while 'Wah Wah' Jones and Jim Line both pitched in six points apiece. It was a victory, but UK still lacked the look of the championship team everyone was expecting. For this game one could have blamed it on the officiating I suppose. A referee named Bowser Chest had to call the game alone when the other scheduled official failed to show up. A single official could cause teams to play an uneven game, but from all indications Chest did an excellent job and had nothing to do with the teams rugged look during the game.

       The next couple of opponents would give the Wildcats the opportunity to get back in top form. UK next faced an undermanned Tulsa team in Alumni Gym. Kentucky looked like the championship squad of a year ago, as they rolled to an easy 81-27 win. Kentucky's offense was high powered and their stingy defense held Tulsa to 15.9% from the field. The Wildcats were much improved almost to a man, Groza was the top scorer with 23 points, Beard had 13, Line 11 and Jones played his best game yet with 10. In this one-sided affair Cliff Barker dazzled the crowd with his superb ball handling skills.
'His capers afforded considerable amusement for the fans and his flips to teammates resulted in numerous baskets for the Wildcats.' In shades of last season's blowouts, the entire bench saw action.

       The day after the Tulsa game it was announced that Alex Groza had been named the outstanding basketball player for 1948 by Sport Magazine. Groza would receive the magazine's award during a dinner at the Hotel Astor in New York City on January 19. It would be the second year in a row that a UK player would win the honor. Ralph Beard received the award for 1947.

       The Arkansas Razorbacks provided UK with their next opposition and the Cats turned in another outstanding performance. After an early 7-7 tie, the Wildcats ran off 13 unanswered points and at the 10 minute mark of the half led 22-10. During the final five minutes UK had another scoring spurt of 13-4 to take a 40-19 lead at the intermission. The second half was a carbon copy of the first. When the UK reserves took over they continued to dominate just as the first stringers had and after 15 minutes of play, the Cats had pushed out to a 38 point lead. Kentucky finished off the Razorbacks 76-39, with Groza leading the way with 18 points. Beard had 15 and Jones added 10. Although it was a big win for the Cats, it may have come at a high cost. After being knocked around several times during the game, Beard came up with a sprained knee. The timing was very unfortunate since Kentucky's next games were big ones in the northeast.

       Kentucky was ready for what in recent years had become the annual trip to the big city, the Cats would travel to Boston to face Holy Cross and then move on to New York for a game with St. Johns at Madison Square Garden. Kentucky had defeated Holy Cross in the NCAA Eastern Finals last season, so this game would be a much anticipated rematch. The day before the game Coach Rupp and the UK starters along with Walt Hirsch and Jim Line, worked out at Harvard University. A small group of sportswriters were on hand and were impressed with the Kentucky starters, especially Captain Alex Groza and 'Gum Chewing Ralph Beard'. Speaking with the press, Coach Rupp said he felt the Cats had not reached their peak. "We didn't start practice until November 1 and would be better if we had started 10 days earlier." Rupp said. "My biggest problem is the boy's mental attitude. They think they're good and a couple of whippings, which I don't want of course, might shake them down a bit. But we'll give a good account of ourselves tomorrow night. We're almost as strong in our first line as last year, but we haven't the depth we had then."

       When asked for a comment, Holy Cross coach Lester “Bus” Sheary gave almost an exact repetition of Rupp's comments, saying the Crusaders "are confident of giving a good account of themselves." Holy Cross was coming off a 72-68 over-time win against Bowling Green State, in which Bob Cousy and George Kaftan both played more than 40 minutes. Both said they would be ready to go by game time. Coach Rupp had another concern on his mind, the other half of the team had been delayed leaving Lexington and would arrive just a few hours before game time.

       A sell-out crowd of 14,000 filled the Boston Garden for what was being called a match between the two top teams in the country. The atmosphere was tense, with the Holy Cross Crusaders and their fans set on seeking revenge for their loss to the Wildcats in the previous year's NCAA Tournament. Some Holy Cross players had been openly boasting that they had been the best team last season and would prove it with a whipping of the Bluegrass boys.
It led to an unusually physical battle and a heated atmosphere both on and off the court.

       The Crusaders were a fast break team that liked to play pressure defense and a fast paced offense. But at the start of the game Holy Cross came out playing slow and deliberate, taking more then three minutes before attempting a shot, which missed. It appeared the Crusaders may have been employing the same strategy used by Oklahoma A&M in their victory over Kentucky two years prior in the Sugar Bowl Tournament. While that slow half court game was A&M's normal style, it wasn't suited to Holy Cross and they soon abandoned it.

       The early minutes of the first half were tight, with Holy Cross getting on the board first when Bob Cousy was fouled by Ralph Beard while attempting a crip shot. Alex Groza got the Cats in the scoring column with an easy lay-up and "Wah" Jones hit a charity toss for a 3-1 UK lead. Bob MacMullan tied the score at 3-3 with two free throws, then the teams exchanged baskets to make the count 5-5. The Cats then took the first lead of any size at four points and midway of the first period Kentucky was on top 13-10. The Crusaders put together a quick five point spurt with two fielders and a free throw to make the advantage 15-13. UK regained the lead though, with charity shots by Groza and Barker and a rebound put back by Jones. At this point Kentucky was able to pull away from Holy Cross and held a 27-20 lead at the half.

       The Wildcats increased their advantage to 10 points in the early minutes of the second half. The Crusaders cut the lead to five, but were unable to hold the Cats at bay. UK pulled back out by eight with five minutes gone in the half and by the 10 minute mark led 44-32. Holy Cross was not about to go down without a fight and during the next several minutes the intensity of the game increased considerably. Bound and determined to take the game away from the Wildcats, the Crusaders cut five points from the UK lead with five minutes remaining. To add to the adversity the Cats were facing, 'Wah Wah' Jones fouled out of the game with 13 points. Jones had been playing a magnificent game and now Kentucky would have to face the final five minutes without him.

       Just moments after Jones "expulsion", Beard scored from the top of the circle and was fouled. He converted the free throw and Kentucky was back out by 10 points, but sensing they had the advantage with Jones out of the contest, Holy Cross really turned up the heat. UK had to basically hold on for the final two minutes as the Crusaders had cut the score to 51-44. Cousy was able to drive in for a crip shot and at the horn Kaftan hit a short jumper to give UK the three point win, 51-48.

       As was stated earlier, the atmosphere had been extremely tense for this contest and the close finish coupled with the disappointment of the loss had the crowd in an ugly mood. Even before the end of the game tempers were beginning to flare. With a couple of minutes left, Bob Cousy and Cliff Barker were involved in a tussle under the basket, which resulted in a double foul. After Jones fouled out of the game, a nearby fan began heckling him as he sat on the bench. After ignoring him several minutes, Jones turned and the fan hit him in the face with a wadded up cup. Jones grabbed the man with his left hand and delivered a hard punch to the jaw with his right. Harry Lancaster recalled, "The man was lying on the floor and Wah was standing there holding his tie and shirt front in his left hand."

       And that wasn't the end of the post-game festivities. As the game ended, with the crowd booing mercilessly, another fan seated behind the UK bench jumped from his seat and charged at Coach Rupp. A police officer standing nearby made no attempt at all to intervene. As the fan rushed toward Rupp with arms flailing, assistant coach Lancaster stepped in front of Rupp and knocked the man to the floor, receiving a kick to the mid-section that left the man's shoe print on his stomach.

       Alex Groza was targeted by the Crusaders and was subjected to as much physical contact as they could get away with throughout the game. Groza battled through it though, to be high point man for the Cats with 17. Ralph Beard showed little signs of problems from the knee sprain suffered against Arkansas and added 11 points. Jones may have had the best game of all with 13 points, had he not fouled out with five minutes remaining the outcome may have been quite different. Cliff Barker had another fine all-around game with seven points while guarding future Hall of Famer Bob Cousy who scored 11 points to lead Holy Cross. Next in scoring for the Crusaders was All-American George Kaftan with 10.

       Kentucky continued their annual eastern swing traveling to Madison Square Garden in New York for a date with St. Johns. Despite erratic play on UK's part, the Wildcats came away with a decisive victory 57-30, over what was described as the best collegiate team in New York City. Though Kentucky's offense was not up to par, as is evidenced by the low score, their defense was as tough as nails and assured the Redmen were never a threat after the opening minutes of the game. The Wildcats were so stingy that the top scorers for St. Johns could only muster five points each. Those players were Archie Oldham, Al McGuire and his brother Dick, both of them guards. Al McGuire would become a well-known figure in college basketball as an NCAA champion coach at Marquette University and a television commentator. His brother Dick had been named All-American in 1947 and at the end of the 1949 season he would win the honor again.

       The Kentucky frontline had a dominating night, with Groza leading all scorers with 21 points and Jones following with 15. Both players not only controlled the boards, but Groza's footwork was more than the Redmen could handle. Two St. Johns players fouled out attempting to throttle the Wildcat center. The first to go was Oldham with about four minutes remaining in the game, then his replacement, Ivy Summers, followed him to the bench only seconds later. If the Cats had to have a poor offensive outing, this was a good time for it, since St. Johns provided little competition. The outcome led some in the media to ponder if the Redmen had 'either been greatly overrated or basketball in New York's metropolitan area was not up to par this season.'

       The game got underway with Groza tipping the opening jump ball to Jones, who passed to Beard, who drove under for what appeared an easy crip shot, but Beard's shot was blocked and St. Johns got possession. Moments later Beard was called for holding Dick McGuire and the Redman guard put St. Johns on top 1-0. Groza put UK ahead with a hook, then Summers hit a one-hander to make it 3-2; it would be the last time St. Johns would have the lead. Even though UK would gradually pull away, the Cats had all kinds of trouble finding the basket for the remainder of the half. At the midway point, Kentucky held an 11-5 margin and by halftime it had only increased to 23-11. While the Cats managed only 12 points during those 10 minutes, they were able to hold the Redmen to just six. St. Johns only points during the last six minutes came on two free throws.

       An Al McGuire charity toss and a Summers one-hander cut three points off the Kentucky lead to get the second period underway, but by the 10 minute mark UK had pulled out to a 14 point advantage at 34-20. The Cats increased their lead to 44-23 with a 10-3 run, but then the action stalled for a few minutes due to a rash of foul calls. It slowed the UK run, but it prevented St. Johns from getting anything done also. During the final five minutes, Coach Rupp began substituting, sending in Walter Hirsch for Jones and Johnny Stough for Dale Barnstable. With just under three minutes to go and the score 50-27, Jim Line replaced Groza who received a rousing ovation. Cliff Barker slipped free for a crip shot, then Dan Finn scored for St. Johns and was fouled. His free throw was the final points for the Redmen, UK added five more to make the final score 57-30.

       As well as the outstanding performances by Groza and Jones, the play of Hirsch, Line and Stough went a long way to calm uncertainties some Wildcat fans had about the strength of the Kentucky bench. Beard and Barker both finished with six points each. In Beard's case the UK guard had sacrificed many scoring opportunities in order to concentrate on holding Dick McGuire in check. All things considered it was a great effort by the Wildcats. While their offense wasn't what they would have preferred, the other aspects of their game more than made up for it and the bench was now beginning to make meaningful contributions as well.

       It's interesting to see what coaches and others associated with the game were discussing at this time. Here are a few of the items that were being commented on during a meeting of the Metropolitan Basketball Writers weekly luncheon. Some coaches and school officials were concerned about the appearance that attendance was dropping for college basketball games. Bruce Drake of Oklahoma said, "I've been reading reports on the Garden games and it's apparent that attendance is dropping. We are deeply interested because of our plans to build a fieldhouse." Drake had earlier said the fieldhouse would hold 20,000 people and Oklahoma A&M was building one also that would hold 22,000.

       Jack Gardner of Kansas State, whose team had played in San Francisco earlier in the season, said he hadn't noticed any fall in attendance in his area, but said attendance was down on the west coast. "I believe it's a matter of less money around than anything else. Maybe it's because the game has seen it's heyday and we're in for a drop generally." Chick Sutherland from Iowa State, whose team was in town to play St. Johns, added his school was hoping to put up a new fieldhouse also. Sutherland quipped, "If attendance falls, maybe we can fill it with hay."

       With players getting bigger and play becoming rougher all the time beneath the basket, some coaches were in favor of adopting the same rule that the Olympics would employ for their next games, which would widen the lane. Drake rapped "rabbit-eared" officials and Gardner added that officiating was generally poor everywhere. Other interesting comments from the group consisted of these;

       Gardener: St. Louis has a fine team, but Indiana is better. St. Louis' Ed Macauley couldn't carry Alex Groza's bags.

       Ralph Jordan of Georgia: While Kentucky is the power by and far in the SEC Tulane, Tennessee, Georgia Tech and his own team will do well.

       Roy McArthur, Georgia Tech coach, spent time praising his 6'8" center Jim Nolan because he once scored 30 points against Kentucky and Alex Groza.

       Red Auerbach, who was coaching the Washington Capitols at the time, disputed the notion that pro teams did not stress defense enough. Auerbach said it was impossible to stop some star players saying, "…we concentrate on stopping the rest of the team when we play against a crack big man. We'll take on any college team, including Kentucky and hold them to 55 points in 48 minutes." Looking back at all of this, it's interesting to see how wrong some of their predictions were and how some things probably will always stay the same.

       Meanwhile back at the ranch, Kentucky faced their first SEC opponent of the season playing the Tulane Green Wave at a sold out Jefferson County Armory in Louisville. Tulane coach Cliff Wells had his squad ready and the "Greenies" had the UK crowd on the edge of their seats all night. Both teams came into the game undefeated, both playing a fast breaking, high scoring type of game. As will often happen in these contests, the game turned into a tight defensive battle instead of the wide-open, high scoring affair everyone had expected. Kentucky was able to hold off Tulane 51-47, after building a 14 point second half margin. The first half was as tight as a drum, as Tulane got on the board first and wasn't headed until the final minutes of the period. During the opening 15 minutes of the contest the score was tied seven times. After running neck and neck with the Green Wave, but never getting to the front, Kentucky finally took their first lead of the night. Jim Line, who had just entered the game, drained a long shot from the side to give UK a one point lead, 19-18. Jim Riffey tied it with a free throw, then Beard connected on another long heave and the Cats took the lead for good, 21-19. The Wildcats finished the half on a 9-3 run and led 30-22 at the break.

       During the first five minutes of the second period, Kentucky extended their lead to 14 at 44-30. At that point Tulane began to really tighten their defense. The Green Wave outscored the Cats 7-2 to pull to within 46-37 at the 10 minute mark. Tulane kept the pressure on and for the next five minutes held UK to a single field goal by Line and cut the lead to 48-44. The 14-4 spurt may have taken its toll on the Green Wave though, for Tulane was unable to get any closer. Both teams added 3 points to their totals and Kentucky held on for the 51-47 decision.

       Ralph Beard broke out of a bit of a slump to lead UK scorers with 15 points. Groza was next with 12 and Dale Barnstable had seven. The star of the game though was Jim Line with 10 points. Line saw only 18 minutes of action, but his points got the late first half run going, which turned out to be the difference in the game. Tulane's Jim Riffey was the top scorer for the game with 22. Forward Warren Perkins had 11 and Mel Payton added seven. The three frontline players accounted for 40 of Tulane's 47 points. After a break for the Christmas holiday, Kentucky's next contest would be against Tulane once again, in the Sugar Bowl Tournament in New Orleans.

       The Sugar Bowl was long one of the most prestigious early season tournaments in the country, attracting the top college teams. The 1948 tournament was no exception with NCAA Champion Kentucky, Tulane, highly ranked Holy Cross and NIT Champion St. Louis completing the most attractive field in years. The Wildcats had already defeated both Tulane and Holy Cross in competitive games, won by narrow margins. UK would be matched up against Tulane for the second time in a week. While Kentucky had won that meeting the Green Wave had to be confident of their chances since they had been able to make a big run at the Cats, only to come up short at the end. On the other hand, Kentucky had to feel they had gained valuable experience in the contest and should be able to correct their mistakes this time around. In any case, with a rematch this soon, both teams should be ready.

       Should Kentucky be victorious, They would face a tough opponent in the championship round no matter which team they would be up against. In Holy Cross they would be facing a squad for the third time in less than a year. Their game earlier in the season had been a rugged, physical battle that the Wildcats were just able to pull out for the win. The result certainly did nothing to lessen the Crusaders confidence at beating the Cats. St. Louis would be just as formidable opponent. Being the NIT Champion, they felt they had as much right to be called National Champions as the Wildcats. They certainly would relish the chance to defeat the NCAA title holder, thereby proving who the best team was; at least in their opinion.

       The rematch of the Tulane-Kentucky contest of a week ago didn't result in the same down to the wire tight finish. Since the Green Wave had given the Cats a tough game, they and their fans were confident of their chances the second time around, especially playing in their own back yard. The Kentucky team that showed up in New Orleans though, was a very different looking squad than the one that had taken the floor the previous week in Louisville. This time the Wildcats dominated play from start to finish and blistered the nets for 42.2% from the field. The Cats got an outstanding effort from Wallace "Wah Wah" Jones who attacked the basket from near, far and all angles, ringing up 18 points. Ralph Beard was hot behind Jones putting 17 on the board and Alex Groza had 12. The UK defense throttled back Tulane center Jim Riffey, holding him to 13 points, instead of the 22 that he had in the first meeting.

       For the first few minutes it appeared this would be a repeat of the earlier game which saw seven first half ties. After five minutes of action the score board showed a 7-7 tie, but this would be the last time the Green Wave would be even with the Cats on this night. The "Ruppmen" charged away on a 12-0 run and by the midway point of the half, Kentucky led 21-9. UK continued the torrid pace, during the next five minutes the Cats had a 12-6 streak, followed by a 14-4 run to finish the half 47-19.

       Trailing by 28 points, Tulane returned to the floor for the second period with fight in their eyes. The Green Wave picked up the pace and put up a fierce battle and managed to trim the UK margin to 51-31. At the 10 minute mark, the score was 56-38, but Tulane was unable to maintain the blistering pace and UK pushed the lead back out to 24 points, 68-44. For the final four minutes, the Kentucky bench took over and continued to pour it on. Jones fired in a long one-hander, which was followed by a Johnny Stough crip shot. Garland Townes added a couple of charity tosses and Roger Day connected on two field goals to give UK a 78-47 victory.

       Kentucky's win coupled with the St. Louis victory over Holy Cross, set up a contest between national title holders for the Sugar Bowl crown. The NIT winner, against the NCAA champion, both teams arguably felt they were the national champions. For many, this would settle the debate of which team was THE top squad of 1948.

       UK's past history in the Sugar Bowl had produced a mixed bag of results. After winning the championship in their first two appearances, they had lost in their last two. This year it was billed as not only the tournament championship, but also as a battle for national bragging rights. The game would also feature a showdown between two of the top centers in the country, Alex Groza and Ed MacCauley of St. Louis. It goes without saying that Coach Rupp wanted this game badly; of course Rupp wanted them all, but when it came to a game such as this against another top contender that put prestige and recognition on the line, the possibility of a loss was not acceptable.

       St. Louis usually played an aggressive air-tight defense and on this night it would be tight as ever. After a couple of scoreless minutes, the Billikens got on the board on a Joe Ossola free throw. Five minutes in the Wildcats had taken a 6-5 lead and continued to hold a one point advantage at the 10 minute mark, 13-12. At this point the Cats seemed to get on track. During the next few minutes UK outscored St. Louis 10-4 and when the horn sounded for the break, the Cats held a 27-18 lead. Kentucky gained the nine point margin over the Billikens in large part to the play of Alex Groza who dropped in 10 points while St. Louis center Ed Macauley could only manage four, all coming on free throws. The Cats chances looked pretty good if Groza could repeat his performance in the second half.

       The second period did not exactly start the way Rupp and his team would have liked. St. Louis came back to the floor and trimmed seven points from the UK lead in just a couple of minutes. Cliff Barker, who had been held scoreless in the first half, finally cracked the ice with a long one-hander to put the lead back out to four. Then Ossola was fouled and converted the charity shot, which was followed by a Macauley put back and the Kentucky lead was down to one. With 10 minutes remaining Groza hit a free throw to make it 30-28 Wildcats. Jim Line entered the game and made his presence felt right away, knocking down a long jumper and then adding two free throws to give UK a six point advantage, but the Billikens came right back. Macauley hit two quick field goals, then Groza made good on a crip shot and with five minutes remaining Kentucky held a slim 36-32 lead. Unfortunately the tide was about to turn against the Wildcats.

       For the next two minutes UK could not find the basket, meanwhile Bob Schmidt broke open for an easy lay-up and Louis Lehman nailed a long bomb from far out on the court to tie the score. "Wah Wah" Jones, who had been held scoreless to that point, finally hit a running one-hander to put the Cats back on top by two, 38-36. On St. Louis' next possession Lehman was fouled and hit one free throw, then just a few seconds later Lehman hit another long jumper from deep in the corner and St. Louis was on top 39-38. Kentucky went back to the front on a couple of free throws by Dale Barnstable, then Lehman struck again. The St. Louis guard took the ball and drove the length of the court for an easy crip shot, to give the Billikens a 41-40 lead with one minute to go.

       St. Louis 'put on the freeze' for final minute and Kentucky could only manage to make desperate attempts to steal the ball, which resulted in fouls. The Billikens elected to take the ball out of bounds each time, only deciding to shoot the free throw when they were fouled at the buzzer. Ossloa pushed through the charity toss and St. Louis had taken the victory 42-40.

       Alex Groza was the leading scorer for the game with 13, but he was unable to duplicate his fine first half effort in the second period. Beard had nine points and Barnstable eight. Jones was held to only two points which came late in the game. Big Ed Macauley had 12 points for St. Louis, Ossloa added nine and Schmidt eight, but the player who really did the damage was Louis Lehman who also scored 12. Most of Lehman's points came during the late stages of the game, none bigger than his length of the floor drive that gave St. Louis the lead for good. Whether the Wildcats were surprised, tired or something else, the Kentucky players had basically stood and watched as Lehman drove in for what would be the winning lay-up.

       Author's Note: The above description of the finish of the Sugar Bowl final against St. Louis was taken from the Lexington Herald. I found this to differ from another account of those final moments. In his book Big Blue Machine, Russell Rice describes the finish this way: "The Wildcats were leading by two points when one of the guards looked up at the clock and dribbled the ball off his foot. St. Louis took the ball out of bounds and scored a basket while the Kentuckians just stood around. When the Billikens were awarded a foul shot with seconds remaining, Rupp told his boys to be sure that St. Louis did not tip in the ball if the shot missed. A Billiken standing in the number two position, tipped in the winning basket as the gun went off." Obviously, quite a bit different. Unfortunately I have been unable to find any other accounts of this game in my sources of information. I would tend to think Rice's version correct, although the Herald account was written immediately after the game and all of the facts should have been fresh in the writer's mind. Whatever the circumstances, the results remain the same, Kentucky 40, St. Louis 42.

       If Rupp was upset with his players after their loss to St. Louis, he was furious with their next performance against Bowling Green State. Playing before a record crowd of 13,113 at Cleveland Arena, the Wildcats struggled just to come away with a two point 63-61 win. Foul trouble played a substantial role in the game as Alex Groza played less than 12 minutes. Groza picked up four fouls in eight minutes and had to sit for the remainder of the first half, then he was whistled with his fifth personal just under five minutes into the second half. Groza did make the most of his time on the floor, scoring 11 points. With Groza on the bench most of the contest, the Falcon's big center Chuck Share ran loose, scoring 25 points and dominating the boards. Emerson Specher had 12 and Mac Otten added 10 points before 'he was ejected from the game on fouls' in the second half.

       With the Cats minus Groza, someone else had to take up the slack. 'Rapid Ralph Beard' came through with a big night, scoring 20 points and Jones had a better game this time out with 14. The lead seesawed back and forth, changing hands several times. Bowling Green led at the half 29-28. UK opened the second period by taking a seven point lead in the first five minutes. At this point with the score 49-42, Groza fouled out and the Falcons took advantage to draw within two points 50-48 at the 10 minute mark. Behind the fine play of Beard and Walter Hirsch, who entered the game when Cliff Barker fouled out just moments after Groza, Kentucky pulled back out 61-56 with just under five minutes remaining. Jim Line nailed a long jumper to make it 63-59 and the Cats froze the ball the rest of the way to hang on 63-61.

       Coach Rupp was very disappointed in the team's performances in the last two games. After returning to Lexington, he put them through some of the most rugged practices they had ever had. The Wildcats were experiencing something 50 years ago that is still true to today and probably will be true 50 years from now. When you wear the Kentucky uniform you have to play like champions every game. Just as today, the teams back in the 1940's pointed to their date with UK as the biggest game of the year. The opponents always give their best efforts, so the Wildcats don't and didn't, have the luxury of relaxing even a bit to have an easy game. Rupp used the next few practices to drive that point home and it paid off, as Kentucky played solid for the rest of the season. Assistant coach Harry Lancaster recalled that the best games he saw during the entire season occurred during those practices in Alumni Gym.

       Coach Rupp next unleashed his practiced hardened Wildcats on the Tennessee Volunteers in Knoxville. The intense practice sessions appeared to have had the desired effect as the Cats charged out of the gates to dominate the first half. With UK going inside to their big man Groza as often as possible and tightening the clamps on their border state rivals, the Cats raced out to a big 37-15 half time lead. The Kentucky defense was stifling, allowing Tennessee only five field goals in the opening half. Time again Groza easily faked defenders out of position to get open shots. Volunteer center Art Burris was over matched, scoring only four points and fouling out after the first minute of play in the second period.

       While UK had easily controlled the first half, the Volunteers returned for the second determined to get back into the game. Hugh Jones, "Wah Wah"'s brother, led the attack that cut the Kentucky margin to 16 at the 10 minute mark. The Cats big first half weapon, Alex Groza, tired noticeably and Tennessee took advantage of the situation by driving into the lane every time possible. Rupp replaced Groza with a fresh Walter Hirsch and the sophomore halted those Volunteer trips to the basket. With five minutes to play the Cats held a 57-39 lead. Hugh Jones threw in a long set shot and moments later a free throw to cut the margin to 15. Hirsch answered with a hook shot, then Tennessee fired in five quick points on fielders by Joe Eldridge and Ed Montgomery and a free throw by Paul Walther. "Wah Wah" Jones then broke open for a crip shot and after an Eldridge charity toss Kentucky led 61-48. During the final couple of minutes, Line added three points and Montgomery matched them for Tennessee to give the Wildcats the 66-51 win.

       Alex Groza had another of what would be many big scoring nights before this season would end, tallying 20 points. Ralph Beard had a quiet 12 and Dale Barnstable 8. Wallace Jones tied his brother Hugh in scoring with 13 points. Montgomery was next in the scoring column for Tennessee with 12.

       In a fascinating side bar, at least fascinating from this person's perspective, it was noted that the Tennessee freshman team defeated the Harlan, Kentucky High School squad 58-32, in a preliminary contest before the Kentucky-Tennessee game. This is the first time I have seen reference of a high school playing a college team of any sort. This may have been common during this era, though it sounds rather strange today.

       Coach Rupp and the Wildcats traveled to Atlanta for their next contest against Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets made a game of it for about 10 minutes, even taking an 11-10 lead at one point, but in the end Kentucky was able to pull away for an easy 56-45 win. Instead of a big game from the Wildcat center, Alex Groza, it was "Kentucky's three great B's, Barnstable, Beard and Barker that turned the game into a near runaway." Ralph Beard seemed to toy with the Engineers, driving in, around and through the taller Tech players all night to score right under the basket. Along with "Wah" Jones, the UK back-court players controlled the game, keeping the ball on the Kentucky end of the floor most of the night. Melvin Dold and Colin Anderson both had big games, scoring 16 and 15 respectively, but it wasn't enough to threaten the Cats on this night. Beard was the top gun for the Wildcats with 16 points, Barnstable had 13, Barker seven and Jones finished with nine. Alex Groza, one of the top scorers in the conference, came up with only five points, but he held his Georgia Tech counterpart, Jim Nolan, to just five as well. The Cats would return home now, to prepare for a rematch with DePaul in Chicago.

       A huge crowd of over 17,000 filled Chicago Stadium to see Kentucky's Wildcats met DePaul for the second time of the season. The Cats had won the earlier meeting in Louisville by a whopping 31 points, 67-36. UK was also riding a modest three game winning streak over the Demons. Kentucky's trips to Chicago always brought out huge crowds and in an ironic twist it seemed that more often than not they pro Wildcat crowds. This was the case for this contest and the Cats put on a sparkling performance. Whether it was Groza going up strong to control the boards or Beard racing up and down the floor throwing in a spectacular shot or Barker dazzling the crowd with his fancy ball handling, time and again the fans roared their approval for the UK squad.

       Realizing their chances were slim in a fast paced game against Kentucky, DePaul attempted to slow the pace and for a awhile it was fairly successful. But as the Cats began to build a lead, the Demons were forced to give up their slow down tactics. The Wildcats scored first in this physical contest. Alex Groza tipped the opening jump to Wallace Jones, who passed to Cliff Barker, who slid under for the opening points; the ball never touched the floor. The deliberate pace resulted in a 7-7 tie after eight minutes of play and with five minutes remaining in the first period the score stood at 18-12 Wildcats. At this point Kentucky broke out of the slow tempo and both teams had scoring sprees going to the intermission. At the end of the half the score was UK 32, DePaul 23.

       The opening minutes of the second half left a lot to be desired for the Cats as they had only four points, all on free throws.
Meanwhile DePaul was doing no better, managing to come up with only one field goal and a charity toss. By the 10 minute mark Kentucky was back on track and had pulled out to a 14 point lead at 43-29. Beard sent a long set shot through the net, then Pete Coorlas answered with a long fielder and a free throw. George Leddy added another charity toss for DePaul, Beard matched it with a gratis shot of his own and the UK lead was 10 at 50-40. After a hook shot by Jack Phelan for the Demons and a rebound put back by Walt Hirsch, Phelan and Jim Line were called for a double foul. It created an odd situation since it happened to be both players fifth personal, ousting both men from the game. The officials ruled that neither player was eligible to shoot the free throws. Sam Vukovich hit the charity toss for Phelan and Johnny Stough connected for Line, to make the score 53-43 with one minute to go. After sinking two free throws, Coorlas fouled Groza who hit the free toss, then Groza connected again with a crip shot at the buzzer to make the final 56-45.

       The 11 point margin of victory was a bit deceiving. The game was slow and rough throughout, but the Wildcats were in control from start to finish. In a pattern that would repeat itself many times before this season ended, Groza led everyone in scoring putting in 18, but the big center was followed closely by fellow All-American Ralph Beard with 16. Cliff Barker cracked double figures also with 10 points.

       The next opponent on the UK schedule was Notre Dame. The match-up between these two always attracted attention from the sports media from one end of the country to the other. The Cats had fallen flat at South Bend in last season's meeting and the Irish would like nothing better than a repeat of last year's outcome. Situations were similar to the previous season with Kentucky coming in with one loss. Though Notre Dame would come into the game with three losses, they returned some dangerous players such as Leo Barnhorst and All-American Kevin O'Shea. Both players inflicted considerable damage in the previous year's Irish win. Reports from the UK camp said that the Wildcats were looking good and had been working against Notre Dame plays that were being run by the freshman squad. Maybe the UK freshmen weren't on the same par with Notre Dame, but they were probably already better than many varsity teams around the country; the Wildcats would be ready and waiting.

       The luck of the Irish was no where in sight for Notre Dame. Led by Alex Groza's game high 22 points, Kentucky decided luck is what you make it and make it they did to the tune of 62-38. A record 8,000 fans jammed Louisville's Jefferson County Armory and watched the Cats give a solid team performance on both ends of the floor. Defensively UK was able to control Notre Dame stars Kevin O'Shea and Leo Barnhorst. Barnhorst did have a short scoring streak late in the contest when the issue had been decided, but Irish All-American O'Shea was held in check, scoring only five points on the night. The match-up between All-Americans Beard and O'Shea was a battle in itself. The two players fought to a stalemate, with Beard managing a couple of field goals for his only points of the game. While Beard was finding the baskets hard to come by, Alex Groza was having no such problems. Groza had the Irish center John Foley, faked off of his feet time after time, allowing the Wildcat big man many easy lay-ups.

       For the first time in several games Kentucky put together two good halves. In recent games the Cats had either been on the money in the first half and off kilter during the second or vice versa, but on this night UK put the whole game on the floor. Groza broke a 4-4 tie to put Kentucky on top 6-4 during the opening minutes of the game. At the 10 minute mark the Wildcats were on their way with a 14-8 lead. The next 10 minutes of the half turned into a UK blitz, with Groza outscoring Notre Dame single-handed. Kentucky had a 19-8 run and during the last five minutes Groza fired in eight points while the Irish were getting just four, making it 33-16 at the break.

       The second period picked up right where the first left off, as the Wildcats struck quickly for six straight points to make it 39-16. First came a Wallace Jones fielder from the side, then Beard nailed a long one and Jones struck again with another long shot from the same side. If it hadn't been over before, it was now. The Wildcats blistering charge from the gate at the start of the second half, completely demoralized the Notre Dame squad. Midway of the second period, with the score 45-26, Jones suffered a sprained ankle and was forced to leave the game. Jones had done a superb defensive job on Barnhorst, but after "Wah Wah" exited the line-up, Barnhorst was able to throw in three field goals and three free throws. Barnhorst would finish as Notre Dame's leading scorer with 13, getting most of those in the waning, minutes of the game, but they came far too late to help the Irish.

       The 24 point difference was the largest losing margin for Notre Dame to that point in the season and was the worst defeat the Irish had suffered in a long time. James O'Halloran followed Barnhorst in scoring with eight for Notre Dame. Behind Groza's 22 came Cliff Barker with nine and Jones with eight. The Wildcats got outstanding efforts from a couple of players off the bench. Walter Hirsch gave a solid performance with nine points and Jim Line contributed six important points to the UK cause. Kentucky held the Irish to 18.3% shooting, while hitting 31.6% of their own shots. The only black mark on the night would be Wallace Jones ankle injury, which would keep him out of the line-up when the Cats traveled to Nashville to take on Vanderbilt.

       Monday January 31, began a busy week for UK. The Wildcats would take to the road for three SEC contests, the first coming in Nashville in a cramped gym hardly large enough for 2,000 fans. The fans weren't the only ones experiencing tight quarters, the Cats found themselves in a close game as well, at least for about 12 minutes. Vandy coach Bobby Polk had his team fired up and ready for battle. The teams traded the lead back and forth with fives ties, the last coming at 21-21. Alex Groza tossed in a free throw to begin a 10 point run that put Kentucky in front for good. UK outscored Vanderbilt 10-6 going to the intermission and the Cats held a 41-28 advantage at the half.

       Though the Commodores gave UK a tough first half, the Cats steadily pulled away to a 72-50 win. The Wildcats were without the services of Wallace Jones due to his sprained ankle, but Walter Hirsch did a good job as his replacement scoring seven points. The big gun for UK though was Alex Groza who burned the nets for 31. Ralph Beard had a big night with 16 points and Dale Barnstable added nine. Billy Joe Adcock was high man for Vanderbilt with 22 points, followed by George Kelly's 11. It was time again to put on the traveling shoes and head for Tuscaloosa.

       Alabama coach Floyd Burdette made no secret of the fact that he intended to employ the same tactics that St. Louis had used when they knocked off UK in the Sugar Bowl. Though the Crimson Tide were not in the same class as St. Louis, they were far more familiar with the slow down type of game, which gave 'Bama confidence that they could pull the upset. Unfortunately a major obstacle stood in their way, Alex Groza, who had scored 53 points in Kentucky's last two games. The Wildcats would be at full strength also as Wallace Jones had recovered from his ankle injury, so unless Alabama could force their will on the Cats, the Tide would be in for a long night.

       It was Groundhog Day and the question in the Bluegrass State was, "What happens if the Wildcats come out of the gym and see their shadow?" Well, on this day they went back inside and whipped the tar out of the Crimson Tide of Alabama. The road was being anything but unkind to Kentucky as they worked their way through a busy week in the SEC. The Tide was well known for putting the ball in the "deep freeze", especially against stronger competition and Coach Burdette's team did just that; or at least attempted to. While the tactic did manage to slow the Cats down, in the end it only made the final score lower than it otherwise would have been. Alabama also employed alternating defenders against UK's All-Americans Ralph Beard and Alex Groza. Beard had to deal with Dyson Hamner for awhile, then Hamner would give way to Dick McKenzie. Groza was in much the same situation, first Billy Dean, then a sub named Palmer. The strategy sounded good, but it didn't work so well, especially against Groza who sent Dean to the bench with five fouls and two points. While Palmer didn't foul out, he didn't set the woods on fire either, scoring just three points. So the idea of keeping a 'fresh' man on Groza didn't exactly work out. As a matter of fact Alex didn't seem to even notice; he just went about his normal routine, which on this night included scoring 23 points.

       As was pointed out earlier, Alabama did manage to slow the pace, even if it didn't produce the results they had hoped for. After free throws and a field goal by each team, the game slowly progressed to the five minute mark with the Cats on top 4-3. Kentucky managed to extend the lead to 12-9 midway of the half. At this point the floodgates opened and the Wildcats drove Alabama out of their stall-ball strategy. It was bad news for the Tide as the Cats finished the half on a 19-7 run to lead 31-16 at the break.

       Alabama charged from the dressing room in high gear to start the second period. In the first five minutes the Tide outscored UK 11-7 to trim the margin to 38-27. They weren't finished either, Hamner hit a hook shot and Pete Mangina got the 'Bama crowd into the game when he connected on a one-hander from the corner to make the score 38-31. The Wildcats were having none of that though. Groza sank two charity tosses, "Wah Wah" Jones tipped in a missed shot and Groza followed with a crip shot to push the lead back out to 13 at 44-31.

       After a Mangina field goal the Wildcats were off on another streak. While Kentucky dropped in six straight, Alabama found the range for only one field goal, then Groza and Barnstable connected and the Cats had a 21 point advantage, 54-33. With just under three minutes to go, Rupp sent in the subs to finish the job. Though the Tide outscored UK 7-2 during the final minutes, the end result was another dominating performance by Kentucky, 56-40. Groza's 23 points ran his three game total for the busy week to 76. The UK center was well on his way to another All-American season. Jones was the only other Wildcat in double figures with 13. Alabama was led by Dick McKenzie with 13, then came Hamner and Carl Shaffer with six each. There would be no rest for the Wildcats, as they would truck on up to Memphis the following night, to face the Ole Miss Rebels.

       It was beginning to sound monotonous, but once again the Wildcats brought out a record crowd, cramming over 5,000 fans into Ellis Auditorium to see UK take on Mississippi. The Cats were heading into the home stretch of a long, busy week on the road and decided to get this one over as early and as effortlessly as possible. After a morning bus ride from Tuscaloosa, the UK starters probably wanted to put this game away in the first half, then coast in the second, until the reserves could come in and finish up. Sometimes the best-laid plans go awry, but not in this case, the Cats had no problem at all putting the Rebels away as planned.

       The Cats got on the board right off the opening tip with an Alex Groza lay-up and UK jumped out to a 9-1 lead, but Ole Miss kind of surprised the Wildcats coming right back with a 7-2 run of their own. After five minutes they had a game, with the score 11-8 Cats. During the next five minutes it didn't go quite as well for the Rebels, as a matter of fact it went 12-2 Kentucky, which made the score 23-10. From the Ole Miss standpoint things continued to go downhill, during the next five minutes Kentucky had a 10-4 run that pushed the lead out to 33-14. The last five minutes of the half weren't as bad, but they didn't help the Rebel cause either. They lost two more points to the Cats and trailed 40-19 at the break.

       Just according to plan, UK coasted through the second period and the reserves took over during the late stages of the game. Mississippi played Kentucky fairly close in the second half, getting outscored by only nine points, which made the final 75-45. UK got pretty much what they wanted, an easy win without expending too much energy. They also got something they didn't want, a re-injury to Wallace Jones ankle. He had suffered the sprain against Notre Dame, sat out the following game against Vanderbilt and returned for the Alabama game. The ankle felt 100% at the start of the Ole Miss contest, but about halfway through the second half he turned it again. Jones now had basically two days to recover to be ready for one of the more important games on the UK schedule, a Saturday night contest with Bradley.

       The Wildcats returned home, so to speak, to wrap up a long road trip. Though it had only been eight days since Kentucky had defeated Notre Dame in Louisville, it seemed much longer. During that time the Wildcats had knocked off three more SEC opponents, not to mention having to travel and spend almost every night in a different bed. UK was back in Kentucky, but not back in Lexington. The Cats were facing the Bradley Braves in Owensboro. The occasion was to inaugurate the cities new Memorial Recreation Center. A banquet was held the night before the game with Coach Rupp and the Kentucky Basketball team the honored guests.

       Coach Rupp complimented the city on their newly finished project, calling it the finest investment a city could make in it's children and said the center would prove to be worth…."100 times what you invested in it." Rupp commented that many parents were afraid to allow their sons to participate in athletics for fear of injury, he then added, "I would rather see my son come home with a broken arm or broken leg, than see him come home at 10 or 11 o'clock with a broken character."  Rupp also told his audience that holding the Olympic Games annually, "would do more good for international brotherhood…than all the ministers we could muster up in the next 1000 years."

       As far as the game was concerned, Rupp and the Wildcats expected a tough battle. The Braves had lost only three games so far, all of them to top competition. In edition to a loss to highly regarded Oklahoma A&M, Bradley had been beaten by St. Louis, the only team to hang an L on Kentucky to that point in the season. The Braves were confident of their chances, considering the Cats should be tired and road-weary.

       A close hard fought battle is what Kentucky expected and that's what they got. It would be the fifth game in eight days for the Wildcats, while the Braves came into the contest with a week's rest and they came in on the warpath. In a rugged played first half, the Indians hit a blistering 48.3% of their shots. The Wildcats weren't doing so bad themselves, connecting on 38.2%. Even with fresher legs, the Braves were still unable to outrun the Wildcats. The UK squad out-passed, outrun, out-maneuvered and simply out-played Bradley and in the end they out-lasted them also. If the Cats couldn't match the Brave's shooting eye, they would have to out-gun them and that's exactly what they did. While Kentucky was throwing up 90 shots, Bradley was held to 54, of which they hit 38.8%.

       With Kentucky coming into the game tired from the road and Bradley fresh, rested and fired up to face the top team in the country, one could
certainly see the formula for an upset. The first half did nothing to dispel that possibility as Bradley jumped out to an 8-5 lead after the first five minutes. After a free throw by Gene Melchiorre of the Braves, Alex Groza took matters into his own hands scoring UK's next eight points. Groza followed up a missed field goal, then hit on an easy fake and spin move. As Bradley brought the ball up court, the Kentucky center stole the ball and drove in for a crip shot to put UK back on top 11-9. The Braves regained the lead on six quick points to make it 15-11, but during the next six minutes the Wildcats would go on a 16-7 run, outscoring the Braves 10-2 at one point. The run gave Kentucky a 27-22 advantage and Bradley would not see the lead again.

       Though the Braves cut the lead to one point, the two teams played the rest of the half on a pretty much even basis. The highlight of the evening came just moments before the end of the first half, when Cliff Barker unleashed a 55 footer that dropped through the net clean just before the buzzer. The first half ended with the Cats on top 39-35.

       The Wildcats started the second period by extending the lead in the first five minutes to 10 points, 48-38, then the Braves cut the advantage back to five at 49-44, at the 10 minute mark. Groza took advantage of his Bradley counterpart, Paul Unruh, throughout the contest. Groza faked the Braves center off his feet time and again getting easy scores inside. Unruh finished with a respectable 11 points, but eight of those came in the first half. His only second half score came on a late field goal after the issue had long been settled. During the second period Kentucky basically played hard and held on as fatigue became a factor in the late stages. With just under five minutes to play and the score 58-49, the Cats tightened their defense and slowed the pace to finish off the Braves 62-52.

       Alex Groza continued on a torrid pace, scoring 30 points and Wallace Jones recovered from his ankle injury quite nicely pitching in 12. Melchiorre led Bradley with 13 and Humerickhouse had 12. During the eight day, five game stretch, Groza had tallied 127 of the 327 points scored by the Wildcats. Groza's domination of the season was moving full steam ahead.

       The article talked of the top quality group of champions Coach Adolph Rupp had been putting together over the last few years; how the parts came together from all over the country. It singled out one in particular, describing how his great depth, smoothness and physical ability made him an outstanding individual. Another article singing the praises of Coach Rupp and his championship Kentucky Wildcats, right? Not quite. It was another championship team all right, but this one was a herd of pure bred Herefords. It seems the UK coach was building a herd of prize-winning cattle on his Scott County farm. The article, from The Lexington Herald, stated Rupp had purchased several head at the Warren Hereford Ranch at Deer Lodge, Montana. The UK coach now has a herd of 26 cows on his farm and should have an excellent crop of calves to show this summer. As is the case today, the public was interested in any and all things concerning the UK coach and players; even their cows. One more agricultural tidbit; 47 White Leghorn chickens, belonging to Stanley Giles of Sadieville, laid 2,028 eggs during the months of November and December. I don’t know if that was any kind of record, but it did earn Giles the title of “Kentucky Master Poultry Keeper”.

       Rule changes are always a topic that stirs strong opinions and in 1949 there were a few ideas being tossed around. From the looks of what they were talking about in 1949, it appears we are still working on a couple of these today. One of the things the National Association of Basketball Coaches was looking at was rough play under the basket. While today the aim is to clean up play during the entire game, the association seemed to be mainly concerned with the scrambles after free throws; even to the point of “....eliminating the easy field goal after a missed free throw.” Some of the questions the association was requesting coaches opinions on were, would you be in favor of awarding the fouled team the ball out of bounds regardless if the free throw was made or missed? Another alternative being offered was to return to the center jump following free throws. A few of the more interesting questions included, would you be in favor of limiting the height of players? Are you in favor of a three second rule applying only to the player handling the ball? Are you in favor of allowing players six fouls before disqualification? Would you be in favor of allowing a player three fouls in each half? A player having three first half fouls could return to the game in the second half. Would you be in favor of allowing a player who has fouled out under present rules the option of returning to the game in the event of overtime until they commit a sixth foul? I believe the next one could be asked indefinitely, are the rules governing blocking and screening clear as presently stated? I think it will be a long time before that one is settled to everyone’s satisfaction.

       After what must have seemed like a longer road trip than it really was, the Cats were finally back on their home court, Alumni Gym, to face one of their biggest rivals, Tennessee. On the recent road trip the Wildcat’s center, Alex Groza had been an absolute scoring machine and the home crowd was excited and anxious to see their star in action again. With the Volunteers in town the two leading scorers in the SEC would be on the same court. Tennessee’s Paul Walther would come into the contest in the top spot, followed closely by Groza, but after a record setting night, Groza would move ahead in the scoring race. By the end of the evening Groza had fired in 34 points, which set a new single game scoring record for the SEC, the University of Kentucky and Alumni Gym.

       It was late in the game when the Wildcats realized Groza had a chance to break the record and they began going to the big guy almost every time on offense. The record setting basket came in the last minute of play. Cliff Barker received the ball inbounds and fired a length of the court pass to Groza who was standing under the basket. Apparently experiencing a bit of nerves, Groza tossed up a quick shot that missed, but he grabbed the ball and put it back in to get the record.

       The Cats were not sharp to begin the game, they appeared rather sluggish and shot poorly in the first period. Ralph Beard was held out of the starting lineup because of a sore ankle and was replaced by Walt Hirsch who gave a fine performance scoring six points. It was another meeting of the Jones brothers, this time the two siblings finished with nine points each. Kentucky jumped on top 24-12 in the first 10 minutes of play, but during the last 10 minutes of the half both teams struggled and the Vols outscored UK 9-6 to make it 30-21 at the break.

       The Volunteers started the second period pushing the Cats hard and stayed with Kentucky for the first 10 minutes of play trailing 43-35. At that point UK stepped on the gas and took control the rest of the way. Behind the outstanding performance of Groza, Kentucky pulled away to take a 16 point advantage with a minute to play, 69-53. Barker then hit Groza, who scored the record breaking basket. During the final seconds Hank Kinzel added three points for Tennessee to make the final score 71-56.

       While Groza was the big star of the evening, his record breaking performance had to be credited in part to great floor play by his teammates. Jones, Barker, Dale Barnstable and Hirsch all funneled play toward the UK center much of the evening. Paul Walther of Tennessee lost his SEC scoring lead even though he put in 21 points. Kentucky improved their accuracy in the second half and finished the game hitting 33.7% against Tennessee’s 26.8.

       As the season progressed, the UK team’s personality became remarkably different from one year ago. In the 1948 season fans saw the Cats regularly dismantle opponents in the first half, allowing Coach Rupp to use as many as 18 players in a game. On many occasions the Kentucky starters were pulled at halftime or in the early moments of the second period. This year’s team was still dominating on the court, but they had to do it with seven or eight players instead of 12-18. What the Cats lost in quantity from a year ago, they made up in quality. Alex Groza’s big scoring games were due to a degree to the fact that UK’s bench was short. In reality he or some of the other Kentucky players could have done this before if the team had wanted to concentrate in that direction. While Kentucky was far from a one player team, they would continue to go to Groza as much as possible. If any team could stop him, there were two or three other guys just as dangerous on the floor that could take up the slack.

       During Kentucky’s next contest with the Xavier Musketeers, they demonstrated just how dangerous they could be. This game looked very much like one of those one-sided blowouts of a year ago. UK completely outclassed the Xavier squad, with one scoring run after another. It was 13-4 after the first five minutes, 25-12 at the 10 minute mark, 35-19 with five to go and 45-22 at the half. The second half was more of the same, with Coach Rupp clearing the bench. Every player in a uniform got in the game and every one of them scored. When the horn sounded it was a 96-50 rout. Five Wildcats hit double figures, led once again by Alex Groza with 23. Ralph Beard had an exceptional game putting 16 points on the board. Beard had been hampered with a sore ankle, which had been affecting his performance in recent games, but the Little Man was back to the form that has made his name legendary during his four years of collegiate competition. It was one those night when the Ruppmen could seemingly do no wrong. They hit 44.9% of their field goals and defensively made life miserably for the Musketeers, while running circles around them at the other end of the floor. The lopsided game turned in to an exhibition of precision ball-handling and passing skills by the Wildcats. The Alumni Gym crowd could not have been witness to any greater display of basketball magic had they been watching the Harlem Globetrotters. In addition to Groza and Beard’s fine performances, the Cats put Dale Barnstable, Wallace Jones and Walt Hirsch in double figures with 10,12 and 11 points respectively.

       The Musketeers were led by Bill Hoffer with 11 points, Bill Cady added 10 and former Kentucky player Art Morthorst, the Xavier captain, finished with 10. In a preliminary match up the UK freshmen took the measure of the Muskie Jr. squad 78-64. Seven foot Bill Spivey poured in 32 points for Coach Harry Lancaster’s team. It certainly appeared the center position would be in good hands after Groza’s departure at the end of the season.

       A week ago Kentucky was on the last leg of a long road trip, now they were in the midst of a six game home stand. So far the Wildcats were enjoying their familiar surroundings, having two convincing wins under their belts they were primed and ready as Alabama came calling. Kentucky’s offense had experienced a recent surge in production, as a matter of fact the team’s overall play seemed to be improving with each game. Rupp’s Wildcats were beginning to gel, as they say today and it was clearly evident against "Bama’s Capstone Cagers".

       Kentucky poured on the offense and clamped down the defense, tripling the score on the Crimson Tide by halftime, 39-13. The Cats allowed Alabama just three field goals in the first period and only seven for the entire game, which resulted in a meager 17.9% from the field. As had been the case over the years when these two teams met, it was a physical contest from start to finish. Players were tangled-up, sent sprawling and banged and bumped all night. One of the casualties was Alabama’s Carl Shaeffer, who was forced from the floor late in the contest with a cut over his right eye. Just a typical Kentucky-Alabama set-to with no-holds barred was the report in the morning papers. The officials blew 49 fouls and could have called quite a few more.

       A slow 6-1 start for Kentucky, turned into a first half blowout. At the 10 minute mark, UK led 16-7, then during the next 10 minutes the Cats simply ran away to lead 39-13 at the intermission. As it would turn out, Kentucky’s 39 first half points would be more than enough to put this contest in the win column. The Tide was held to three field goals in the first period, one each by Shaeffer, Jack Brown and Billy Dean. The UK defense was going to make it an easy night to keep track of the Alabama scoring.

       The Kentucky reserves took over early in the second half, but the Crimson Tide had no more success against them than they had against the starters. Alabama did return to the floor playing with renewed determination, but after 10 minutes they found themselves 12 points further behind, trailing 58-24. During the final five minutes the UK bench chalked up 13 points to ‘Bama’s four and put their opponent out of misery, 74-32. Jim Line, Roger Day, Garland Townes and Johnny Stough all had solid games with Line and Day both scoring eight points each, while Townes added five. Though Alex Groza took a great deal of the night off, leaving the game after the first minute of the second half, he still led all scorers with 18. Ralph Beard also gave way to a reserve shortly after Groza and left with 13. “Wah Wah” Jones finished with 11 points. Alabama had no players in double figures, their high point man was Gene Palmer with eight.

       I think many of us today look at Kentucky’s dominance of the SEC as something that has mainly garnered a great deal of attention during the last 3-4 decades. Looking back over the history of the conference Kentucky’s numbers are, well downright obnoxious! Though the records have taken years to establish, even in 1949 UK’s dominance of the SEC was beginning to look unbelievable.

       Sterling Slappy made these observations in an AP article during the 1949 season. Since the SEC was formed in 1933, the Wildcats have lost 16 games in those 17 years; less than one a year. In the SEC Tournament, Kentucky has won 43 and lost 5. In the first season of 1933, the Wildcats played eight teams and they whipped eight. Kentucky didn’t lose the next year or the next. They did slip losing to Vanderbilt in 1936. However, Kentucky now has a 39-game regular season winning string. During this 17 year period, the Wildcats have won the season championship eight times, tied once and unless there is a complete breakdown, they will soon win their ninth. Kentucky has won 10 of the 15 conference tournaments and reached the finals in two others. As a matter of fact, no other team has won it in the last five years. Nearly half of all SEC records, team and individual, have been set by Kentuckians. If that isn’t embarrassing enough for the rest of the league, in 1947 all five players on the All-Tournament first team were Wildcats. The next year four of them were from Kentucky and in four other seasons three players were Wildcats. There has never been an All-Tournament team without a Kentucky player on it. Kentucky is the most complete master of one sport in any conference in the nation. Just as true today, as it was then.

       As the season wound down the Wildcats found themselves driving through the conference with ease, posting one lopsided win after another. Halfway through this six game home stand Kentucky was beating their opponents by an average of 34 points, scoring 241 points during the first three games while allowing the opposition 138. The next victim was Ole Miss and the Rebels were overwhelmed in the first half. Kentucky built a 21-4 lead in the opening 10 minutes, allowing the Rebels only a field goal each by R.B. Reeves and Maxie McMullen. The Ruppmen were on a torrid pace as they went on a 31-9 scoring streak to the intermission.

       With a 52-15 halftime lead UK began the second period with three reserves and only two starters, Groza and Barnstable, who would both leave the game just a few minutes later. Once again the subs saw plenty of action with Jim Line scoring 10 points. Fellow reserves Walt Hirsch, Johnny Stough and Garland Townes each added five and Roger Day threw in six. Alex Groza led all scorers with 18 points. Barnstable enjoyed one of his best games of the year scoring 13 and Ralph Beard had 10 points while playing only 18 minutes. It was another blowout, this one by 54 points, 85-31 and the Wildcats were beginning to appear virtually unbeatable. Their only competition for the top regular season spot in the conference was Tulane, whose two losses came at the hands of the Wildcats. With a little more than a week to go, Kentucky was a pretty good bet for the title. The actual conference champion though, would be determined later in the SEC Tournament.

       It has been pointed out in earlier parts of this chapter that Kentucky had become a team that utilized six to seven players for the most part each game, instead of the 10-12 man attacks from the previous season. They had also focused their offense around Alex Groza at center, making him the ‘go to guy’ so to speak. He had responded by putting up some huge numbers. Six days after Groza set the new SEC single game scoring record with 34 against Tennessee, it was broken by Vanderbilt’s Billy Joe Adcock who drilled Mississippi State for 36. With the Cats on a torrid scoring streak during this home stand, there was plenty of fan interest in whether Groza could make a run at the record. For some it wasn’t a question of could he, but would he get the chance. UK had been winning their recent games by large margins and as he had done last season Rupp was pulling the starters early. Many felt Rupp had missed a golden opportunity to allow Groza to go for the record in UK’s last game against Ole Miss. Rupp had pulled his center from the game with almost the entire second half remaining and Groza already with 18 points. While Rupp may have been trying to not embarrass his opponent, the fans didn’t seem to care, they just wanted Groza to get the record and keep it; or at least get a chance if the opportunity was there.

       Kentucky’s next opponent, Georgia Tech, was going through a lackluster year, but they always seemed to give the Cats a hard time no matter what their record was. Alex Groza’s chance at breaking the scoring mark got a huge boost when Georgia Tech’s starting center, Jim Nolan, was unable to play due to an injury. This not only opened it up for Groza offensively, but would allow him to dominate both ends of the floor. With Groza roaming almost free, Kentucky sailed to another easy victory. UK was sharp offensively, but their defense was outstanding. The Wildcats held the Yellow Jackets to 19.1% shooting and allowed Tech just 10 second half points on four field goals and two charity tosses. UK forced the Jackets to fire from far out on the court and blocked one shot after another when they attempted to go inside. During the evening Groza and Beard made several spectacular plays to swat away what looked to be sure baskets by the Techsters.

       The Jackets made it rough going for the Wildcats in the early minutes, taking a 9-7 lead after five minutes of play. “Wah Wah” Jones hit a free throw after being fouled by Joe Keener, then Groza followed up a miss to give UK the lead 10-9. Cliff Barker added a couple of gratis shots and Jones nailed a long one from the top of the foul circle to push the margin to 14-9. Keener then hit a rebounder and Mike Sermershein hit a free throw to cut the Kentucky lead to one. At the 10 minute mark, UK led 18-12. After exchanging baskets during the next few minutes, the Cats finished the half on a 10-4 run and led 34-22 at the intermission.

       To say Kentucky dominated the second half would be an understatement. The Wildcats reeled off 14 points before Mel Dodd was able to tip in a rebound to give Georgia Tech it’s first score of the half. By the midway point of the second period, the score was 55-30. During the final 10 minutes of the game, the reserves gradually took over and continued the onslaught, outscoring the Yellow Jackets 23-2. The final count was 78-32 and while Groza had a big game he did not break the scoring record, coming up with “only” 26 points. It was possible Alex could have surpassed the mark if he had not been removed with a little under five minutes remaining. Ralph Beard and Walt Hirsch both tossed in 12 points and Jones had 10. Georgia Tech saw almost all of their scoring come from two players, Keener who had 12 and Dold with 11. With only two conference games remaining, Kentucky was virtually guaranteed of entering the SEC Tournament in the top spot. The only team that could possibly catch them was Tulane, but that would require the Cats to lose to both Georgia and Vanderbilt; a highly unlikely scenario.

       May be Adolph Rupp planned it. In the final game of this six game home stand, the Kentucky Wildcats had one of their best efforts of the season and Alex Groza broke the SEC single game scoring record. In the last few games there were some fans and writers that felt Rupp could have given Groza a better chance at the record by leaving him in the game longer. Of course UK was winning by large margins and leaving the starters in those types of games did cause some to accuse the Cats of running up the score needlessly. So it was a dilemma for Rupp, but when Kentucky took the court against the Georgia Bulldogs, Groza and his teammates took care of the problem.

       It’s hard to say if Alex came out with intentions of going for the record or not, but after five minutes of the first half Kentucky led 8-4 and Groza had seven of UK’s eight points. At that juncture in the contest it seemed fans and players alike sensed the big guy might be on his way to setting a new mark. With Alex on a roll, the Wildcat players looked for him practically every time they had the ball. It didn’t take long for Groza to become a marked man, as the Bulldogs used every means they could come up with to try to stop him. Two Georgia players, Bob Schloss and Al Fabian, fouled out attempting to guard the UK center. A third picked up two fouls and four other players committed five more fouls while matched up against Groza. While Georgia made it difficult for Groza to even get the ball, the UK squad did an excellent job of working the offense to the center.

       The Wildcats jumped out to a quick lead and simply ran away from the ‘Dawgs. At the midway point of the first period, the Ruppmen held a 10 point lead at 21-11. During the second 10 minutes, UK outscored Georgia 31-11, scoring 20 points in the last five minutes. With the score 52-22 at the intermission, Groza had nearly matched the Bulldogs all by himself, scoring 21 points.

       Walt Hirsch got the score board clicking in the second half with a field goal and by the 10 minute mark the Cats had a 43 point lead at 73-30. Kentucky continued to score almost at will and with just over seven minutes to go Groza dropped in a one-hander from the foul circle to break the scoring record and give the UK pivotman 38 points for the night. Coach Rupp called time out and replaced a tired but smiling Groza as the entire gymnasium stood and applauded. As Coach Rupp stepped out to meet his big center the entire UK team gathered around him to give their congratulations. At the point when Groza left the game the score was 80-32, he had scored six more points than the entire Georgia team.

       The reserves came in and finished the battle, even without Groza in the game Georgia could fair no better. The Wildcat subs finished the contest with a 15-8 run to make the final 95-40. The star of the game was obvious on this night, but even with Groza’s hot hand much credit had to be given to his teammates. Kentucky played a great overall game, shooting the ball quite well, which did not allow the Bulldogs to concentrate completely on Groza. While Georgia did double and triple team Alex, the UK squad was still able to run the offense well enough to get the ball inside.

       Several of the Cats had big nights as well, Cliff Barker came through with twelve points, Dale Barnstable had 13, Al Bruno knocked in seven points in just three minutes of playing time and Walt Hirsch had a fine night with eight points. Georgia put one player in double figures with 11 points coming from Bob Healey, while Earl Davis and Joe Jordan added seven points each. Groza’s 38 points moved his season total to 478, which was 26 points short of the SEC individual season scoring record. With two more games remaining chances looked good that Groza could get that mark as well. During this six game home stand Groza had scored a total of 147 points, averaging 24.5 per game. The team as well was on a roll every coach loves to see at this time of year. During this same stretch UK had tallied 499 points, holding their opponents to 241. The Cats average margin of victory was 42.4 points; things could not have been going better. Next up for Kentucky would be Xavier in Cincinnati and then the final regular season game against Vanderbilt at Alumni Gym.

       As the final weeks went by, there was speculation that Kentucky might be given the opportunity to play in both national championship games at the season’s end. Both the NIT and NCAA crowns had never been won by one team in the same year. With UK’s four seniors having gained so many honors already, many felt they had earned the chance to go for both titles. Coach Rupp would have liked nothing better than to accomplish such a feat, but there was another motive also and that was getting a chance to face St. Louis once more. The Billikens had put the only blemish on UK’s record this year and by participating in both the NIT and the NCAA Kentucky would seem to be virtually guaranteed the opportunity for revenge. There was still work to be done though and it could have a definite bearing on whether or not the Wildcats would get the chance to capture this double championship.

       Part of that work took place on February 24, as Kentucky traveled north to face Xavier in the new Cincinnati Garden. There was a standing room only crowd of more than 13,000 on hand and the Wildcat contingent was kept on the edge of their seats all night. UK fans were looking for another easy win, but Xavier forced this one down to the wire. The Cats had to fight and scratch for a 51-40 victory. As sportswriter Babe Kimbrough put it, “It took veteran Cliff Barker to pull Kentucky’s chestnuts out of the fire as he slipped through the Musketeer’s defenses.....to lead the Wildcats in scoring with 15 points.” Alex Groza who had been scorching the nets lately, was as cold as ice, coming up with just seven points. None of the Kentucky players showed much in the marksmanship department. The officiating allowed the teams to get more physical than usual and the rough play resulted in extremely tight defense from both teams. Wallace Jones finished with 11 points, Beard had eight, Barnstable eight and Walt Hirsch added two; that was the entire scoring for UK. For Xavier sophomore Bill Cady led everyone with 17 points and former Kentucky player Malcolm McMullen was next with 10.

       The Wildcats forged ahead in the early minutes 9-3, only to see the Musketeers take a 12-10 lead on a 9-1 run. UK tied it at 12-12, but Xavier pulled back ahead 17-14 at the midway point of the first half. Kentucky reasserted themselves and outscored the Muskies 10-5 and led 24-22 at the break. The second half opened with a three minute drought, finally Jim Kartholl hit two quick field goals to put Xavier back in front 26-24. “Wah Wah” Jones nailed two fielders moments later and Beard added one to make it 30-26 Wildcats.

       The Musketeers were a stubborn lot and during the next few minutes they ran off eight straight points to take a 34-30 lead at the 10 minute mark. It was a seesaw battle for the next five minutes with the score tied at 34-34, 36-36 and 38-38, before Barker put UK in front for good, 40-38 with five minutes to play. Kentucky had not played as well as they had desired to this point, but in the final minutes the Cats turned on their championship game. Barnstable pushed the lead to four with a long shot from the side; then Barker and Groza broke open for crip shots. Next Barker added a charity toss and Beard hit a running one-hander. Cady scored for Xavier from the top of the circle and Barnstable finished the scoring for the night with a couple of free throws to give Kentucky their 24th win, 51-40.

       It wasn’t what UK fans were expecting in light of the rash of easy walkovers that Kentucky had been delivering in recent games, but it may have been good for the Cats to have their backs against the wall just once before the tournaments started. At least it appeared to prove the Wildcats could stay composed and handle a late game pressure situation well enough to avoid a loss. The only question was, could they do it when the loss meant the end of the season?

       The end of an era was approaching, as the remaining four members of the Fabulous Five would take the Alumni Gym floor for the last time. UK would finish the regular season against Vanderbilt. Not much more than pride was on the line since Vandy had upset second place Tulane earlier in the week to give Kentucky the SEC regular season title. The official crown would be decided in the conference tournament the following week, but everyone wanted to go in on top. For Cliff Barker, Ralph Beard, Wallace Jones and Alex Groza, their careers as UK Basketball players were almost over. As usual a capacity crowd filled Alumni Gym and throughout the evening they showed their appreciation for the team that would go down as one of the greatest ever at UK, if not in all of college basketball. The four seniors responded in kind, giving one of their best performances in their last appearance at their Euclid Avenue home.

       The Wildcats put to an end early in the first half of any hope the Commodores had of pulling another big upset. There was no comparison between the performance the Cats had given in the their last contest against Xavier and the one on this night. The Fab Four all gave championship efforts, which carried over to the rest of the squad. The Wildcats came up with a couple of record breaking performances; Alex Groza fired in 23 points to not only lead everyone in scoring, but also break the SEC scoring mark. The other new record came in the final moments of the game. Cliff Barker took an inbounds pass from the Vandy end of the floor, standing just a few feet out from the shadow of the basket, he dribbled a couple of times and began to bring the ball up for a shot. Coach Rupp yelled from the bench, "Don't do it Cliff." then covered his eyes. Barker sent a high arching shot spinning toward the basket, it hit the back of the rim and dropped through just as the final seconds ticked off of the clock. Dr. H.L. Donovan, president of the university, ran onto the floor and tossed his hat on the spot where Barker had launched his bomb. A tape measure was found and the distance to the goal came to 65 feet, breaking the previous record of 52 ½ feet set the year before by Ralph Beard against Tennessee.

       While Groza and Barker were breaking records, Beard and “Wah Wah” Jones were breaking the Commodores backs. Helping them take Vandy’s heart out of the game was Dale Barnstable who left his heart on the floor to make certain his senior teammate’s last home game would be a memorable one. UK won their 17th game in a row and their 74th straight home game by a score of 70-37. Along with Groza’s 23, Jones poured in 18 points, Barker had 13 and Beard added five. The Cats were on top of their defense as well, holding Vanderbilt to 22.2% shooting. Next for the Wildcats was the SEC Tournament, which practically everyone was conceding to them; everyone except the other conference teams. Publicly they were saying they had little or no chance against UK, but privately they were vowing to not just hand it over to them either. Kentucky’s first round opponent would be Florida, the same team they had opened last season’s tournament against.

       “We fully understand our responsibilities to our followers and we hope that we may be able to measure up to the confidence placed in us.” Those were the words of Coach Adolph Rupp as he announced Kentucky had accepted invitations to play in both national championship tournaments, the NIT and the NCAA. It had been talked about for the last couple of months, now it was official. To make things complete St. Louis, the NIT defending champions and the only team to beat the Wildcats during the season, had accepted a spot in the NIT also. That would set up an exciting rematch of the two national title holders, most likely in the championship round; or so everyone thought.

       For the Kentucky seniors it was an honor to have the opportunity to capture both titles in the same year. Many in the sports world looked at it as a deserving tribute for the many accomplishments they had already achieved; as a matter of fact, this seemed to be about the only thing they hadn’t done. Looking over their record may be they did deserve it. During the last four years they had either individually or collectively won just about every honor the game had to offer. While Barker and Groza’s careers were interrupted by military service, Jones and Beard had played four consecutive seasons. They had played in a national tournament final each year and the chances looked highly likely that they would do so again this year. With three tournaments yet remaining, the Cats had compiled a four year record of 123-9; a “meager” 93.1% winning average. The challenge now for Coach Rupp was to keep his players minds on the mission at hand and prevent them from getting ambushed in the SEC Tournament while looking ahead to the two national title series. If there was any concern that the Wildcats might not have their minds on their business for the opening round game of the SEC Tournament, it was immediately dispelled as they sent the Florida Gators back to the swamp with a 73-36 trouncing. Coach Rupp was hopeful of resting the starters as much as possible and things couldn’t have worked out better. The Cats raced out to 36-12 lead after 12:47 had elapsed from the first half, at this point the reserves began to take over. Rupp’s first substitution was replacing Alex Groza with Walt Hirsch. Groza had scored 22 points in those first 12 minutes, who knows how many he could have tallied had he played into the second half. Coach Rupp was thinking about the big picture though and by half time all of the UK starters were on the bench for good. Kentucky simply overwhelmed the Gators during the first 20 minutes, shooting 43.4% to take 48-15 lead at the intermission.

       The Wildcat bench wasn’t quite as sharp as the starters and with the big lead the game deteriorated into a run and shoot affair during the second half. The Cats managed to outscore Florida 25-21, as the entire UK roster saw action and everyone scored. The only Wildcat other than Groza to reach double figures was Jim Line with 12 points all coming in the second period. Harry Hamilton led Florida with 11. Though the second half had been ragged, the message had been sent in the first 10 minutes of the game. It was going to take an outstanding performance to keep Kentucky from winning another SEC title. Whatever hopes the remaining teams had coming into the tournament, must have dimmed considerably.

       Auburn was Kentucky’s second round opponent and they proved no better competition than the first. The Wildcats easily moved on to the semi-finals by racing by the Plainsmen 70-39. This time the starters did play into the second half, but not very long. UK opened the game by taking control almost immediately. Before the fans could get settled into their seats, the Cats had a 12-0 lead. In reality, the game was over at that point. Alex Groza got off to another fast start, scoring nine of Kentucky’s first 12 points and by the 10 minute mark UK was riding a 20-7 advantage. The Cats shifted to high gear and coasted on to half time taking a 33-19 lead to the dressing room.

       The second half began pretty much the same way the first had; the Wildcats floored it and raced out on a 17-2 run. Coach Rupp pulled the starters and let the bench take over; it did allow Auburn a small amount of satisfaction as they played the Wildcat second and third stringers on nearly even terms. Of course by that point even the reserves were basically just playing out the minutes. For some reason Auburn abandoned their normal deliberate, possession style of play and came out attempting to run with Kentucky. It was a bad idea anytime, but especially on this night when the Wildcats had all cylinders fine-tuned. Kentucky hit four of their first five shots to start the game and began the second half making good on their first five attempts.

       Alex Groza only played three minutes into the second half before retiring to the bench with a game high 19 points. His replacement, Walt Hirsch, was second in scoring with 14 and Beard tossed in 11. For the second night in a row, the entire 12 man roster saw action. Groza continued to post new SEC marks. His 19 points now gave him 322 points for the season in SEC games, breaking the old mark of 296 set in 1938 by Bonnie Graham of Mississippi State. Records are great, but championships are what matters the most. All these marks would be quickly forgotten if the Wildcats didn’t bring home the brass ring. The next road block would be their border state rival, Tennessee, who they would face in the first semi-final game the following day.

       For the third straight game the entire UK squad got in on the action and all 12 of them notched the scoring column. The Wildcats looked as sharp as ever as they shredded arch-rival Tennessee 83-44 to move on to the SEC Tournament Final. UK’s opponent in the championship game would be Tulane, which had gotten by LSU 72-63. It would be the third meeting of the season between the two top conference teams. While Tulane had a real battle with a stubborn LSU team, the Cats once again sailed by with little trouble in their semi-final match-up. It would be the final time that the Jones brothers would face off on the hardwood and as had been the case in virtually all their other encounters, “Wah Wah” would come out ahead of brother Hugh. Not only did “Wah” top his brother, he was the shining star of the night leading the scoring with 17 points. Jones cashed in 13 of those in the first period as Kentucky raced out to a 43-23 half time lead. The contest was basically over by then and Coach Rupp used the starters for only about five minutes of the second half. With the advantage up to 56-27, Rupp began a steady stream of substitutions for the remainder of the game. Alex Groza was given few chances to score by the Vols in the early going, but did finish the half strong and tallied 16 points before leaving in the second half. Though they may have slowed Groza for awhile, the Volunteers had no answers at all for Jones or Ralph Beard. Both led the barrage that put UK in control, erasing a 7-6 deficit in the first three minutes that allowed Kentucky to pull away. Tennessee’s leading scorer, Paul Walther, was held to just two field goals, but made good on all 10 of his free throws to top the Vol scorers with 14. The Cats now had the opportunity to capture their sixth straight conference crown, but would have to knock off a tough opponent for the third time of the season.

       Kentucky headed to the finish of the first leg of their attempted triple crown; to win titles in the SEC, NIT and NCAA all in the same year. The Green Wave of Tulane proved a stubborn lot and the Cats did not have the luxury of an easy coast through the second period this time out. There was no 12 man attack this time. The starters had to put in overtime, at least compared to UK’s last three contests. Though Kentucky was a heavy favorite to win the title, it took outstanding efforts from every one of the Ruppmen involved to give the Cats the crown.

       The opening 10 minutes was tight. Tulane jumped on top 6-1 and led 8-7 after the first five minutes of play. During the next few minutes the score was tied at 12-12, 15-15 and again at 17-17. Cliff Barker broke the last tie with a crip shot that put Kentucky in front for good. UK used a 15-6 run to gain a 32-23 lead with five minutes remaining in the half. During those last five minutes the Cats pumped through eleven more points while the Green Wave could only manage four, to hold a 43-27 advantage at the intermission.

       In the first five minutes of the second period Tulane trimmed two points from the UK margin to make the score 49-35. During the following five minutes both teams struggled offensively, but the Greenies added five more points to only a single free throw by the Wildcats and the margin was down to 10 at 50-40. Beard then cashed in a free throw, then Mel Payton drilled a long one-hander to cut the lead to nine. With the Green Wave making a charge the Wildcats decided to go to their best weapon, Alex Groza in the middle. Groza was already having a big game, but for whatever reason at the beginning of the second half Kentucky had not been making the same concentrated effort at getting him the ball that they had in the first half. During the final minutes the UK strategy changed to smothering defense and more offense by Groza. With five minutes to play Tulane had rallied to pull to within 57-49, but at that point Groza really went into action. While the Wildcat defense held the Green Wave to three points, Groza accounted for all of Kentucky’s final 11 points giving the Cats a 68-52 victory and their 12th SEC title since 1933.

       The performance of Kentucky’s All-American center was nothing short of amazing. Groza scored 37 points in the final, a new single game tournament record. He totaled 94 points in all four games, his season total in all conference games was 475 and in all games played he now had 602 points; all new records. At first glance this could appear to have been a one-man victory, but nothing could have been further from the truth. Though Rupp wasn’t able to empty the bench this time, the seven players who did see action all played important rolls in not only gaining the victory, but also allowing Groza the opportunity to turn in his record breaking performance.

       The Wildcats were honored for their efforts with selections to the all-tournament teams. Alex Groza, Ralph Beard and Wallace Jones were selected to the first team and Cliff Barker was named to the second team. Rounding out the first team were Virgil Risner and Warren Perkins both of Tulane. Groza and the other Wildcat seniors were nearing the end of their incredible college careers. Groza was going to be remembered as one of the outstanding centers in college basketball history. Of course the teams that he was lucky to be a part of were truly assembled once in a lifetime. While he would have been an outstanding player where ever he had played, even he would admit many times that it was the talent of his teammates that made possible his achievements. In reality, one could say they complimented each other. Maybe, team chemistry was born with this group of players. In any event, no team before or after has made a better mix. Now the hottest playing team in the country would head to New York City and the NIT.

       With the regular season over, the awards honoring the nations best players were being announced. The Chicago Sportswriters declared Alex Groza the year’s outstanding player. Groza and Ralph Beard were selected to the Associated Press All-America First Team and Wallace Jones was named to the second team. United Press placed all three of the Kentucky players on its All-America First Team. Cliff Barker was given honorable mention on both teams. Now that the national championship tournaments were ready to start, there was quite a buzz concerning Kentucky’s attempt at winning both titles in the same year. Coach Rupp explained that the situation came about largely due to a misunderstanding of NCAA eligibility rules. Rupp claimed he and the university were told at mid-season that four year players would be ineligible for the NCAA Tournament, thus the reason for accepting an invitation to the NIT. Sometime later the NCAA ruled that war-time freshmen would be allowed a fourth season of tournament play. Having already committed to appear in the NIT, Rupp said he would honor his commitment; which would mean playing in both post-season tournaments. (Wink, Wink!) Of course in reality Rupp was eager to play in both tournaments. Add to that the fact that St. Louis, the only team to beat the Wildcats all year would be participating in the NIT also just meant that wild horses couldn’t have kept Rupp out of Madison Square Garden.

       Rupp made no secret that he and the Cats were anxious for another shot at St. Louis. Not only was Rupp eager for a rematch, but it seemed the entire New York sports world expected it. The way the teams were bracketed for the NIT meant that the only way St. Louis and Kentucky could meet would be if both teams made it to the title game. From all indications it appeared just about everyone had both teams written in for a championship showdown before the first ball was tossed in the air.

       A quick glance at the NIT field showed that UK and St. Louis were the cream of the crop. Any novice basketball mind would have had both teams favored to meet for the championship, but there were some other pretty decent teams on hand also. To start the opening round Bradley would play favored Western Kentucky in the first contest of the afternoon, followed by UK against Loyola-Chicago. In the evening games San Francisco would be a slight underdog to Utah and St. Louis would take on Bowling Green to finish the first days proceedings. None of these games seemed to be generating much interest among fans or the media. Most of them were too busy speculating on the outcome of the “eminent” Kentucky-St. Louis rematch. Before the day was over, it appeared some basketball teams may have been doing the same thing.

       “It had to happen sometime.” Those were the words of Coach Adolph Rupp after the Wildcats suffered a monumental first round loss to Loyola of Chicago in the NIT. That dream of two national titles went up in smoke and along with it Rupp’s chance to avenge UK’s lone loss of the season to St. Louis. From the opening moments of the game the Wildcat players didn’t seem to have their heart in it. Many fans and sportswriters were puzzled by the lackadaisical approach the Kentucky squad was taking. In particular was Alex Groza’s play against Loyola center Jack Kerris. Groza was not as aggressive as usual on defense, nor did he seem to be working very hard to position himself on offensive or for rebounds. It seemed that the Cats were out of position on almost every rebound opportunity. Time and again Kentucky came down court, shot, missed and found themselves in the wrong spot to come up with ball. It wasn’t strictly Groza who did not seem to be giving a maximum effort either, the other UK players were not feeding the ball inside to their scoring machine as they had been in recent games. All in all it was a very strange and disappointing afternoon for the Wildcats and their fans. When the game ended Coach Rupp had three of his front line players sitting on the bench with him, all having fouled out of the game. The foul discrepancy was one reason for the defeat. Both teams made 21 field goals, but the Ramblers chalked up 25 out of 34 free throws, while UK was only 14 of 22.

       The Cats were never in control of the game and by half time found themselves in considerable foul trouble. At the intermission Groza, Wallace Jones and Dale Barnstable all had three personals and Walt Hirsch had four. What would turnout to be so frustrating for UK fans and Coach Rupp was the fact that Loyola center Jack Kerris picked up four quick first half fouls as well, but was able to finish the entire second half without committing his fifth. While Kerris was considered better than the average college center, he was certainly not on the same level of Alex Groza. On this afternoon however, it appeared the two players had changed positions. Kentucky was never able to put together any of their characteristic scoring streaks and was only able to get a couple of small leads.

       Gerry Nagel got Loyola on the board first with a long shot from the side, Kerris then followed with a hook to put the Ramblers on top 4-0. The Cats managed to get out in front 8-5 after the first five minutes, but from that point on it was a tight battle. During the next five minutes the score was tied five times; 9-9, 11-11, 14-14, 16-16 and 17-17. By the midway point of the half Kentucky held a slim 18-17 lead. It didn’t last long, as Ralph Klaerick put the Ramblers back in front 19-18 with two charity tosses. After three more ties the Cats broke away from Loyola with a small three point lead, 30-27, with just under five minutes to go in the first half. Once again the Ramblers came back to regain the lead with a 5-1 run to finish the period with a 32-31 advantage.

       The Wildcats began the second half looking as though they had finally decided to get down to business. UK scored the first six points of the half and after five minutes led 37-34, but as had been the case throughout the first period, Loyola came right back to cut the lead to one, 38-37. Once again the contest became a tight nip and tuck battle, which saw the teams tied at the 10 minute mark 47-47. Now things began to go wrong for the Cats. Ralph Beard put Kentucky ahead with a long set shot and Jim Line added a free throw to make it 50-47. On the next trip down the floor Jones picked up his fifth foul and had to leave the game with 9:30 remaining. The Wildcats suddenly went ice cold and was outscored 6-0. With five minutes to go UK trailed 57-54, then with 4:45 on the clock Groza fouled out. If that wasn’t the death blow, Hirsch followed him to the bench 25 seconds later. Though two free throws by Line cut the lead to two at 58-56, the game was over for the Cats; they would spend the last four minutes missing hurried shots, then fouling while desperately chasing the Ramblers. Kentucky didn’t notch the score board again and when the final horn sounded their dream of two national titles had turned into a 67-56 nightmare.

       Loyola’s Kerris was the star of this game leading all scorers with 23 points, Nagel also reached double figures with 11. Beard led UK with 15, Cliff Barker had 12 and Groza scored 12 all in the first half. Amazingly Kerris picked up his four fouls in the first 10 minutes of the game and made it the rest of the way without picking up another, with little time spent on the bench. Coach Rupp was quick to point it out afterwards. “How a man can carry four fouls that long and never foul out is a mystery to me. I know we can’t do it.”

       While many UK fans were not happy with the officiating, Rupp was making no excuses. “It had to happen sometime, it’s a damn shame it had to happen here. We have no alibis, they out hustled us, that’s all. I knew the jig was up when Jones and Groza fouled out.” There was plenty of speculation concerning the loss. Many people refused to believe Loyola was capable of beating Kentucky unless the Cats had more or less allowed it. The rumors of game fixing and point shaving had been spreading for some time and games played at Madison Square Garden were said to be the ones more often then not that gamblers controlled. One theory was that the Wildcats had not intended to lose the game only make it close, but it had gotten away from them. While it did look strange there were other facts that at the time, seemed to contradict this explanation. The players certainly did not appear indifferent emotionally, even if their efforts on the court were. Alex Groza was unable to hide his disappointment, breaking into tears after fouling out and continuing to cry openly on the bench until the team returned to the dressing room.

       If the fix was on it may have been on in the other games also, because each favored team lost in the opening round. Even if the Cats had pulled out the win, their desire for revenge on St. Louis would not have been possible after the Billikens lost to Bowling Green 80-74. Most people felt the losses in both the Kentucky and St. Louis games were due mainly to the fact that the teams were already looking ahead to the championship matchup they were going to have. With Kentucky playing in the afternoon and St. Louis later in the evening, the Billikens had gone into their game knowing UK had lost. Some thought that had either made St. Louis overconfident or as one writer put it, they lost interest!

       As it was the Kentucky players were extremely disappointed and Rupp was angry. “I was so darned mad at the boys that I just took them home the next day.” Rupp said. “I practiced them like the dickens. I’m telling you we went through some bloodthristy practices.” As depressing as the trip home from New York had been a week ago, the return trip to the Big Apple for the NCAA Regional, was completely different. The Wildcats attitude was back to normal and while most folks had made them overwhelming favorites in their first game against Villanova, the experiences of last week meant the Cats were not taking anything for granted. Just to make sure no one forgot, Rupp would drop an occasional reminder of their last visit to New York. “I didn’t bring a handbag this time,” Rupp said, “Just a toilet kit and one shirt.”

       What a difference a week makes. This time last week Kentucky was suffering a shocking upset at the hands of an underdog opponent, but now just seven days later the Wildcats were back at the scene of the crime and as confident as ever. UK was not overly confident this time, but they were cautiously determined. Kentucky had lost their chance at the NIT crown and their upstart conquerors, Loyola-Chicago were able to reach the title game only to lose to another unexpected first round winner San Francisco, 48-47. . But that was history now and the task at hand was to take care of another opponent looking for an upset.

       Just as the case had been last Monday, Kentucky was a solid favorite to dispose of Villanova. The two squads of Cats would square off in the Garden in the second of two games during the evening. In the opener Illinois would face off against Yale of the Ivy League. The winners would then meet the following evening to determine who would travel to Seattle, Washington to play for the title against Oklahoma A&M who had already won the Western Regional. The consensus was UK and Illinois would be the two teams fighting for that honor, but the Cats weren’t taking any chances. They felt they had something to prove, if not to others then at least to themselves. During the previous weeks practice sessions, Jim Line had worked his way into the starting line-up for the NCAA opener. He would replace Dale Barnstable, while the other starters would remain the same; Groza, Beard, Jones and Barker.

       Kentucky returned to the form that had gained them their number one national ranking with an 85-72 win over Villanova. Though the Mainliners fought till the very end, the Wildcats controlled the contest after the first seven minutes. Rupp’s change in the starting lineup paid big dividends as Jim Line came through for 21 points. Alex Groza and his Villanova counterpart Paul Arizin shared top scoring honors for the contest, both players racked up 30 points each. The star of the game from the UK point of view was Cliff Barker who gave one of his best performances as a Wildcat. Barker provided the spark all night, out-maneuvering the opponent for drives to the basket or assists to teammates, he displayed his expertise as a playmaker on offense. On the defensive end he was just as brilliant, covering the floor like a blanket. Line and Barker’s efforts were important for the Cats were forced to play without Wallace Jones most of the game. Jones found himself in foul trouble with four personals after the first 11 minutes. He did return for a few minutes late in the contest to finish with four points. Ralph Beard had an unusually low scoring night as well, only putting three points on the board.

       The opening minutes of the game were tight with the score tied on a couple of occasions. After five minutes of play Villanova had pulled out to a 15-10 lead, but the Cats came back to tie at 15-15 with seven minutes gone. A one-hander by Line and rebound put back by Groza gave UK the lead 19-15 and the Cats were never headed again. Kentucky held the lead at the half 48-37 and even though Villanova made a couple of runs at the Wildcats they were never able to get close.

       The game resulted in three new NCAA Tournament records. Kentucky’s 85 points were the most scored by one team, the two team’s 157 total points was the most in a single game and the Ruppmen tossed in 23 free throws which was also a new single game record. Kentucky now faced a formidable opponent in Illinois for the Eastern Division crown and the chance to go to Seattle to play for the championship. The Cats would go west win or lose, the next game’s outcome would determine the stakes the Wildcats would play for; win and go for the championship, lose and play for third place.

       Kentucky’s first round win over Villanova may have appeared to be just a routine Wildcat victory for this dominating team, but the fact was that the Cats were still feeling the effects of their first round loss in the NIT. That defeat at the hands of Loyola of Chicago had jolted the UK team more than many may have thought. In fact the Cats were still suffering from the jitters in that contest, but when UK took the court against the Fighting Illini it truly was back to business as usual. Kentucky returned to that form of precision and power that had made them the most dreaded opponent in the game. For many the Wildcats were still somewhat of a paper lion, they were not convinced the superiority displayed on court was genuine. For them Kentucky played in a conference where they could pad their record against inferior opponents and when they had faced top teams and won it was simply a matter of luck. Illinois, champions from the rugged Big Nine conference, was the team that was going to expose the Wildcat’s weakness. In the end it served to only convince most that basketball in the south was superior to that of the midwestern power conferences.

       The Madison Square Garden crowd, 15,000 strong and overwhelmingly in favor of the Illini, saw their hopes fade quickly after the start of the contest and had little to do but sit back accept the inevitable. The Wildcats were off and running from the start. Illinois took the lead on a long shot in the opening seconds of the game. UK countered with a one-hander by Cliff Barker and took the lead when Jim Line scored a long field goal from the side; Kentucky never looked back. The game stayed relatively close for the first five minutes with the score 11-7 with 15 minutes remaining in the half, but UK began to pull away extending the lead to 22-14 at the 10 minute mark. The Cats added to their margin with a seven point run on a charity toss by Ralph Beard, and field goals by Groza, Jones and Line. By half time Kentucky was sitting on a 17 point lead, 39-22.

       Illinois began the second half with a bit of a spark, cutting a couple of points off of the UK lead in the first five minutes. The Wildcats sped off on another run though, outscoring Illinois 11-3, pushing their margin to 23 points making the score 59-36 at the mid way point of the period. With five minutes to play and the score 63-39 the Illini began a desperate attempt to cut into the lead. Playing with renewed determination, Illinois’ aggressive play paid no dividends at all, as the Wildcats opened up and ran away. After replacing Wallace Jones, Walter Hirsch scored two quick crip shots, then Groza hit a short one-hander. Line and Hirsch both got tip-ins and while this was going on Illinois was adding seven points to their total to make it 73-46 with one minute to play. Both teams exchanged free throws and Line finished the scoring with a couple of charity tosses to give UK a 76-47 win.

       It was an usual game for the Garden, in that only one player was expelled by fouls. Wally Osterkorn of Illinois left the game after two minute of the second half with his fifth foul. Alex Groza was the only Kentucky player to come close to disqualification with four personals. Groza was the top scorer with 27 and once again Line proved worthy of his recent starting assignments tossing in 15 points. Jones and Beard gave fine efforts with nine points each, Barker had a solid game scoring eight and even Walt Hirsch was productive tossing in six points in just a few minutes of playing time. No Illini player broke double figures, their top scorer was Walter Kersulis with nine, then came Fred Green with eight points.

       Kentucky indeed was back to normal, which was bad news for Oklahoma A&M. The local scribes called their performance awe inspiring, describing the Cats as poised masters of the game. Groza was matchless under the basket, as he was complimented by a gum-chomping Ralph Beard driving in for lay-ups, fancy-flipping Jim Line with a left-handed shot that wouldn’t miss and the cool floor mastery of Cliff Barker. Even Coach Rupp was described as being back to his old self again leaping up to protest calls, after being under the shadow of defeat, when he sat glumly and quietly on the bench. Even the crowd sensed the significance of this game, recognizing it would be the last time this outstanding team would play together in the Garden. As the Kentucky team left the floor organ strains of Auld Lang Syne were played.

       The NCAA title contest matched up two of the marquee teams in the game, plus it was a clash of styles. Describing it as a meeting between “Deep Freeze Iba” and “Red Hot Rupp”, the question on most everyone’s mind was could Rupp thaw Iba’s ball freezing tactics? While the Wildcats were known as a fast-breaking, offensive-minded squad, Oklahoma A&M was the extreme opposite. Hank Iba coached a ball control philosophy, which was predicated on limiting the opponent’s chances to score and it was a safe bet that the Aggies had no intention of attempting to run with UK. While Kentucky was a high scoring team, they certainly did not ignore the importance of a strong defense. As a matter of fact Coach Rupp took issue with the claim that Oklahoma A&M was considered the top defensive team in the nation.

       Rupp’s main argument was with the manner in which teams were rated. At the time the National Collegiate Athletic Bureau based the defensive rankings on the average number of points allowed per game. A&M was tops in the country giving up an average of 33.8 points a game. Kentucky was allowing the opposition 43.1 points per contest, 10 more points than the Aggies, but the Cats were winning by a much wider margin. The Wildcats were beating their opponents by 25.1 points per game, compared to A&M’s 12.6. Rupp’s contention was that Iba’s teams achieved their defensive ranking mainly by holding the ball and not by actually stopping the opponent.

       “In the first game against St. Louis, Oklahoma A&M won 29-27, in overtime. That gave the Aggies a good defensive mark, but they only won by two points.” Rupp said. “Against Illinois we made 31 field goals and 14 free throws. That means every one of those times, 45 of them, we had to give up the ball and let them take a chance at scoring. That’s the real test. In my opinion, a teams defensive strength should be figured on point spread rather than on the number of points allowed.”

       This contrast in styles generated quite a bit of discussion. Everyone seemed to have an opinion about which team had the greater advantage. Moose Krause of Notre Dame said, "The Wildcats are one of the greatest teams in the history of the game. If they ever get a lead, they’ll run up a score.”

       Bruce Drake, coach at Oklahoma predicted, "The Aggies might win it on percentage shots.”

       Yale coach Howard Hobson observed, “Kentucky is unbeatable when it is on.”

       Kenneth Wilson, Big Nine commissioner felt Kentucky would have to play much better than they had in New York or they could be in for a drubbing. Most of the media and coaches were taking a wait and see approach, but there seemed to be a slight majority in favor of UK’s up tempo game which had become so popular in the years after the war. But as one writer observed, if Oklahoma A&M comes away victorious, look for a big slow-down next year.

       As is the case today, the NCAA Championship brought coaches and athletic directors together from around the country and as now meetings were held to discuss possible changes to the game. During this year the main topics were eliminating excessive fouling at the end of games and devising a method of ensuring uniform officiating throughout the country. At the time rules were subject to vastly different interpretations from one section of the country to another, mainly concerning fouls. With teams traveling more this was fast becoming one of the major complaints from coaches. It was suggested that a body be formed to establish an interpretation of the rules that could be used by officials nationwide.

       The fouling problem was caused mainly by teams holding the ball for long periods of time while leading, so it came as a bit of a surprise when a suggestion to help eliminate this tactic came from Hank Iba who utilized the strategy as much if not more than anyone. He suggested a jump ball after each free throw in the last two minutes, whether the shots were made or not. Some felt the option of allowing teams to inbound the ball instead of shooting free throws should be abolished, while others favored awarding two free throws on all fouls in the final minutes. It is rather ironic that a couple of these suggestions have been tried and some coaches are calling for a return to giving teams the option of shooting free throws or taking the ball out of bounds. I imagine this is a problem college basketball may still be working on 100 years from now.

       The experts predicted a mighty battle between the Aggies and the Wildcats. All players for both teams were reported to be in good shape, except Keith Smith of A&M who was suffering from an ankle infection. In most games the Wildcats enjoyed a height advantage over the opposition, but in this case Oklahoma A&M would put a taller front line on the court. The Aggies would counter 6’7” Alex Groza with Bob Harris also 6’7” and Jack Shelton at 6’6”. It is somewhat amusing to see these players referred to as “towering pivotmen” in light of today’s players. With A&M having a height advantage, the Cats must have been somewhat weary of the possibility of the Aggies gaining a lead and holding the ball. But if Kentucky could get to the front, then the Cats could force the action and the Aggie height could become a disadvantage.

       A crowd of more than 12,500 fans filled the University of Washington Pavilion in Seattle and were witness to two games with very different outcomes; one a come from behind win in the final minute of play and the other a more methodical contest of strategy that displayed two completely different coaching philosophies. In the opening game Illinois came back to slip past Oregon State College, 57-53, to win third place honors. The Illini held a 28-19 half time lead only to see it disappear as Oregon State took a 45-41 advantage with five minutes to play. Illinois overcame Oregon State’s bid for victory with a 16-8 surge to win the game. For the casual observer this was probably the more entertaining game of the evening. As has been pointed out, the UK-A&M matchup was one that was hard to predict. No one was really sure which, if either, team could dominate the other. Some of the experts had predicted this game would be a two against one contest of big men; Groza against A&M’s Harris and Shelton. When the evening’s activities were over though, it would be clear to everyone why Alex Groza had been honored so many times in his career.

       All that could be said or written about this game had been, now there was nothing left but to toss it up and play. Alex Groza directed that opening tip to Cliff Barker, but the Cats came up empty on their first possession. Jack Shelton put the Aggies on the board first with a short jump shot and a few moments later Jim Line fouled Joe Bradley who connected on a free toss to make it 3-0 A&M. Line made up for his misdeed by getting the Wildcats on the score board with a spinning jumper. Bob Harris fired in a short jump shot to make it 5-2 in the Aggies favor, but in these early minutes of the game a turning point was about to occur. On UK’s next trip down court Groza hit spinning jump hook and was fouled by Harris. Groza hit the charity toss to tie the score. Then after the Aggies brought the ball up court, Groza broke up a pass and took the ball the length of the floor for a lay-up that gave Kentucky it’s first lead, 7-5 with five minutes gone in the first half. It wasn’t known at the moment, but the Cats were in the lead for good.

       J.L. Parks hit a free throw, then Ralph Beard connected on a one-hander and added a charity toss to make the margin 10-6. Parker came back with a quick jumper and Bradley hit a free throw to cut the Cat’s lead to one with 10 minutes left in the period. Wallace Jones and Groza dropped in two quick fielders to push the margin to 14-9 and the Aggies called time-out. After the time-out Oklahoma A&M cashed in a couple of free throws, then Barker dropped a one-hander through from the side and added a charity toss after Shelton fouled him. Vernon Yates and Harris came back with field goals for the Aggies and with five to go in the half Kentucky led 17-15.

       The Wildcats finished the period on an 8-5 run as they climbed aboard the back of their star, Big Alex, who provided all the horsepower. First it was Groza with a lay-up that was followed by a tip-in by Harris, then Groza dropped in a crip shot and added a free throw to give the Cats a five point margin. Groza struck again with a short jumper just before McArthur hit a charity toss. Alex then went to the free throw line for one after Harris was charged with his fourth foul of game. Parks added a fielder as the half ended with Kentucky holding 25-20 edge. Alex Groza was on his way to a most valuable player game with 15 points in the period.

       The Wildcats were somewhat lucky to have the advantage at the half. Oklahoma A&M had started the game running their deliberate offense almost perfectly, slicing through the UK defense for wide open crip shots which they were unable to connect on. As the half continued and the Cats gained the lead, A&M was forced to play more aggressively which was more to the liking of Kentucky. It also was probably partially responsible for getting the Aggies in early foul trouble. Harris finished the half with four fouls and Parks picked up three.

       The second period got underway with both teams exchanging free throws, then Line tapped in a missed field goal to make the score 28-21. Then with just over four minutes gone in the half, one of the first nails was driven into the Oklahoma coffin. Groza faked Harris and went up for a jumper that was good and the Aggie center was called for his fifth foul. Alex sank the free toss and at the 15 minute mark Kentucky had it’s first double digit lead, 31-21. With Harris on the bench the writing was on the wall for A&M and the Wildcats turned up the defensive pressure. The Aggies offense was reduced to an occasional free throw, while Kentucky continued to attack the basket with Groza leading the charge.

       With the score 34-25 Groza went to the bench for a breather and was replaced by Walt Hirsch. A few seconds later J.L. Parks committed his fifth foul and went to the bench for good. This all but sank any real chance Oklahoma A&M had, outside of a total collapse by the UK team. The two teams exchanged a series of free throws during the next couple of minutes, then Dale Barnstable hit a long shot to put Kentucky ahead 38-26 with 10 minutes to go. The Aggies added three free throws, two by Shelton and one by Pilgrim. Groza re-entered the game replacing Jones. Line hit a charity shot, then Shelton scored from the side. It was the first field goal of the half for A&M and came 13 minutes after the start of the period.

       Groza hit two free throws and a fielder, but was sent to the bench when he picked up his fifth foul guarding Shelton. Shelton hit the charity toss and with five minutes to play the score was Kentucky 43 A&M 33. The UK bench was called for a technical foul a few seconds later. Shelton missed the shot, but hit another seconds afterward when he was fouled by Line. Walt Hirsch threw in a running one-hander and Yates scored on the Aggies next possession to make it 46-36 with just under three minutes remaining. The Wildcats gave A&M a dose of their own medicine so to speak, as they held the ball for the final two minutes to capture their second NCAA title in a row.

       It was unanimous, the Most Valuable Player of the tournament was Alex Groza and it was equally unanimous that this Kentucky Wildcat team was one for the ages. Groza and his fellow senior teammates had appeared in the blue and white for the last time and time would prove that indeed another team of this caliber would never again be assembled. Alex led the scoring with 25 points, the only Wildcat in double figures. Barker and Line were next with five points each and Beard, Barnstable and Jones had three. Walter Hirsch finished the UK scorecard with two points. For the Aggies Shelton led with 12, while Harris and Parks added seven points each. Groza’s 25 gave him a total of 82 points for the tournament, which broke the record held by former A&M star Bob Kurland. “He got 25 points,” declared Rupp. “I guess that’s an answer to these guys that said Bob Harris would stop him.” The Wildcats also set a new team scoring record with 207 points in all three games.

       As expected the Kentucky locker room was the scene of a rousing celebration, even to the point of inspiring coach Adolph Rupp into an impromptu victory dance. The UK coach stood beaming a huge smile as he kicked up one leg and draped his arm around his star Alex Groza. “Look,” said Beard, “Adolph’s dancing.” Such was the mood as players milled about the dressing room congratulating one another with hugs and back slaps. For the four remaining members of UK’s Fabulous Five it was the end of a brilliant, almost storybook college career. They had not only become fan favorites in Kentucky, but had captured the fancy of basketball followers nationwide.

       It was strange that their final game should be won in a most un-Kentucky-like manner, with the high scoring, run and gun Cats putting a mere 46 points on the board. “Well we weren’t playing our style of ball.” Said Coach Rupp. “We like to run and shoot.” It was a tribute to the team’s versatility that they could adapt their game to a slower style and continue to be successful. This was not lost on Rupp either. “It was a tough game all the way. We had to play this one the hard way, almost to the finish. We beat a good team and we’re mighty happy about it.” For Oklahoma A&M a promising beginning turned sour after they jumped ahead 5-2, and then could not hold off the Wildcats. Sometimes luck plays a roll and who knows what may have happened had the Aggies shots been falling at the start of the game.

       “I thought we were off.” Said A&M coach Hank Iba. “Particularly in the second half. The boys weren’t running off their plays properly. If we had connected on a few of those early tries, it might have been a different story. As it was, we got behind; we had to play the uphill game, which is not our type of play.”

       The Kentucky seniors had now finished their careers as Wildcat basketball players. The Fabulous Five would become legendary not only in the annals of UK Basketball, but in the history of the game itself. They should have been ready to embark onto equally stellar careers as professional players, but circumstances at the moment known to only a few would prevent them from pursuing their careers further. One can only imagine what effect they would have had on professional basketball and what they could have achieved had they been given the chance. The punishment they received seems extremely unjust considering what we see in the professional ranks today, but one must consider the times these incidents occurred. Still, from this admittedly subjective person’s view, complete banishment from the game seems very unfair, even in those innocent days of the Fabulous Forties.