For 30 years, the last 22 with buddy Larry Conley, Tom Hammond spent his winters traveling the South announcing SEC basketball games on television.

That ended after last season when ESPN acquired the rights to SEC basketball telecasts. So the Lexington-based Hammond finds himself this winter with a bit of SEC basketball withdrawal.

"I was talking to Larry a couple of weeks ago," Hammond said of his longtime broadcast partner, "and told him it seems strange not to be driving the back roads of the South, calling a ball game and then eating in some barbecue joint."

Yet if there had to be a year when Hammond's long-running gig with SEC hoops ended, this was likely a good one.

In his "day job" with NBC Sports, Hammond called play-by-play for the New York Jets-Cincinnati Bengals NFL playoff game earlier this month.

When we talked on the phone Friday, Hammond was in Spokane, Wash., where he is broadcasting the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. Next month, he will head to Vancouver for the Winter Olympics where he will also provide the play-by-play for all figure skating events.

This will be the ninth Olympics, the third Winter Games, which Hammond has covered.

He says that some of his male buddies give him a hard time about calling figure skating.

"I tell them there isn't anything more pressure-packed in all of sports than than the ladies' long-program finals in the Olympics," Hammond said.

"You're out there all by yourself for four minutes, knowing you've probably got one chance only and it's the culmination of all your life's work up to that point. And you know that with even one bobble, it's probably all over."

While Conley has kept a hand in college hoops by working as an analyst for games on Fox Sports South, Hammond's contract with NBC prohibits him from working for competing networks.

"I miss the basketball," Hammond said. "More than that, I probably miss Larry's company. We really had a good time."

Still, at least this winter, Hammond is otherwise occupied.

"Next year, when I won't have an Olympics, is probably when I'll really feel the basketball withdrawal," he said.

Zollo rising

Like Scott County's Dakotah Euton, Vinny Zollo of Clark County committed to Kentucky and former coach Billy Gillispie before his sophomore year of high school even began.

As with Euton, that early pledge by Zollo left him open to a lot of fan ridicule and message-board abuse when he wasn't a dominant high school player right out of the gates.

Zollo, however, seems headed toward having the last laugh on many who judged his ability level prematurely. As a junior, the Clark County big man is having a breakout year.

"He's taken a huge step up," Clark Coach Scott Humphrey said Friday. "He's playing fantastic."

Going into games this weekend, Zollo was averaging 17 points and almost 13 rebounds a game.

"And his numbers are distorted some because we've had some blowouts and I haven't played him much in the second half," Humphrey said. "You pretty much can count on a double-double from him every night."

Fueling Zollo's improvement, Humphrey said, is the fact that he's now a full year removed from a broken leg he suffered in AAU play before his sophomore season.

That and the fact he's grown an inch to 6-foot-9 while reshaping his body through weight training.

"He's dropped about 15 pounds," Humphrey said. "He's just more athletic now. A lot of times, big kids just take a little longer."

Like Scott County's Euton, Zollo's commitment to UK eventually ended when Gillispie was replaced by John Calipari.

The Clark coach says he thinks Zollo has a chance at the college level to be a better version of Ross Neltner. The former Highlands standout, Kentucky's 2003 Mr. Basketball, emerged as a quality SEC big man after transferring to Vanderbilt from LSU.

This time around, Zollo is being extremely patient with the recruiting process, Humphrey said.

"I've never seen a more diverse recruiting situation," Humphrey said. "There are high-major schools calling; there are mid-major schools calling. And I tell everyone, this time, Vinny has a completely open mind."

Among those interested, Humphrey said, are Notre Dame, Oklahoma State, Dayton, Miami (Ohio) and Western Michigan.

'Boogie Man' missing?

Darren Moscoe, the Frankfort man who became a Rupp Arena folk hero last year as local Dancing Harry, has not been seen at many UK games this season.

There are two reasons for that, Moscoe said Friday.

Earlier in the season, he was working a night job and missed five games as a result.

Then for some contests he has tried to attend, the cost has proven prohibitive for a guy who often buys his UK tickets from strangers/ticket scalpers at Rupp.

"For the Louisville game and the North Carolina game, they wanted $250 or $300 for a ticket," Moscoe said. "There was no way I was going to pay money like that."

He was hoping to attend Saturday's Arkansas game, Moscoe said.