Happy together - and winning

Sporting News, The, Feb 19, 1996 by Steve Harrison

The Kentucky Wildcats were coming, that was the big news on Sunday in Owensboro, Ky. Well, not exactly the Wildcats. There were no Tonys, Walters or Antoines, but 2,500 fans still flocked to the Sportscenter, a dark, dreary, antique gym where Rex Chapman once dribbled basketballs for Apollo High.

There were no Rex Chapmans playing this day, either, just some guys named Dustin, Rick and Art. But they were wearing Kentucky uniforms, so everyone could pretend this was an epic of Blue against Evil. As college basketball games go, this meeting of the Kentucky junior varsity, resurrected this season after a 19-year hiatus, and St Catharine, a junior college in central Kentucky, wasn't exactly UCLA vs. Houston in the Astrodome. The two teams combined for 51 turnovers, missed more shots than they made and raised the question as to why anyone would brave the cold and pay $8 to watch. But hey, this is Kentucky. Need more be said?

Four varsity players play on the JV team, which recently finished its season 9-4, but two of them, freshmen Oliver Simmons and Nazr Mohammed, carry the load, just as their coach expects. Simmons, a 6-foot-8 forward from Nashville, Tenn., scored 21 points and, more important, willed his wiry 210-pound body to grab 16 rebounds. Mohammed, a 6-10, 250-pound behemoth from Chicago, dominated the paint and, more important, loped up and down the court the entire game, sweating away pounds and gaining stamina.

The men and women of Owensboro were happy watching this and seemed happy watching the other Wildcats who were chosen to play from open tryouts, players such as Dustin, Rick and Art. The children were happy, too, for not only did the Wildcats win, 106-87, but after the game, the children stormed the court shouting, "We want Nazr! We want Nazr!" (This must be a first. A guy averages 2.4 points and is mobbed for his authograph. But remember, this is Kentucky.

"At first it was hard,' says Simmons, who was a two-time Tennessee Class AA Player of the Year. "Some of the guys didn't know the Plays, and we used to be pretty bad. But we're better now. And I'm getting better."

The junior varsity team's contribution to the Wildcats, varsity success has been minimal, of course. Instead, the team is a reflection of Kentucky's staggering depth, and a perfect example of Coach Rick Pitino's quest for perfection. He created the JV squad this season not only to handle his prodigious overflow of talent, but also to develop Simmons and Mohammed in hopes of them playing a few solid minutes in the NCAA Tournament this March. So in addition to mop-up duty and regular varsity practice -- always a hellacious track meet -- Simmons and Mohammed, along with varsity walk-ons Jason Lathrem and Cameron Mills, swallow hard and ride Pitino's JV bus.

Sending two assistant coaches and a team 200 miles to Owensboro might seem excessive when it's for the benefit of two guys who rarely play for the varsity. But then again, with the Wildcats 19-1, riding an 18-game winning streak and leading the nation in winning margin (23.1), there is little else to do but worry about niggling details.

Take Walter McCarty's weight for instance. "It's 225,' Pitino says, clinically, "but we'd like to get him to 230." And that ho-hum 77-63 victory over Florida on February 3? The Wildcats had the gall to fall behind, 2-0, and Kentucky had only 10 first-half "deflections," a season low. (That the UK coaching staff keeps a tally of "deflections" is frightening enough.) And don't forget the rebounding disaster against Florida, in which the Wildcats only prevailed by 36-33. Derek Anderson, a 6.4 transfer guard from Ohio State, had zero boards, and McCarty, a 6-10 forward, had one. After the game, Pitino was very, very concerned.

So it should come as no surprise that Kentucky may be the first team to go unbeaten in the SEC since Alabama ran the table in 1955-56, and why the Wildcats are the finest team in the nation, even better than top-ranked Massachusetts, which defeated UK, 92-82, in November. Fans in the Bluegrass, who have waited 18 years for another national championship, seem anxious, even neurotic. This team is too good, too talented. Something, somewhere, somehow might go wrong. "I know they'll be disappointed if we don't win it all," sighs senior center Mark Pope.

Two days after Kentucky's second game, the Massachusetts loss in Auburn Hills, Mich., the Wildcats gathered in the locker room of Memorial Coliseum, the on-campus gym where Kentucky once played and now practices. Antoine Walker, a 6-8 sophomore forward who has become the Wildcats' most valuable commodity, called for a team meeting. The doors were closed. No coaches were allowed.

Everyone, including freshmen, spoke about what it would take to win a championship and why they had lost. They talked mostly about playing time, how there wasn't enough for everyone, and how some guys would have to sacrifice for the common good. Two games into the season, the Wildcats hit the panic button. They haven't lost since.