Posted on Sun, Feb. 03, 2008

UK BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK

Coach's mission trumps winning

By Jerry Tipton

HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER

Jerry Tipton

This just in. Apparently official: Some things are more important than basketball. Some things are more important than basketball recruiting.

IUPUI Coach Ron Hunter not only says that. He'll back up his words with action.

Hunter plans to skip the July recruiting period this year in order to travel to Africa on a mission. He and his team will deliver shoes to poor children.

"I think it's more important for me to do that, to give a child some hope than worry about recruiting in July," he said in a telephone interview.

Hunter asked his assistant coaches to go on the trip to Kenya, Cameroon and Nigeria rather than stay behind to recruit.

"No matter how many times we go to the NCAA Tournament, no matter how many games we win, we'll get more out of trying to make a child's life better than any recruiting trip in Vegas or Orlando," he said.

In Kentucky, basketball seems all consuming. So to relegate the sport (and even recruiting!) jars the mind.

"I would tell the people of Kentucky: imagine not having shoes," Hunter said. "Imagine waking up and your child does not have shoes. Then you get perspective on how recruiting becomes such a small part of things. ...

"If it means I'm going to lose a recruit, then when it's all said and done, my life's over with, I think I'll be OK."

Hunter became aware in late December of charities that provide shoes to children. He became active. "I've got children of my own," he said.

To bring awareness of the issue, Hunter decided to coach in his bare feet when IUPUI played Oakland on Jan. 24. He set a goal of finding 40,000 pair of shoes by the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination.

"No way I'd be a head coach without the sacrifices he made," Hunter said of King.

IUPUI, which had a 16-5 record going into this weekend, has met his goal and then some. More than 100,000 pairs of shoes have been donated, including 15,000 pairs from Converse, 25,000 from Wal-Mart, 10,000 from the Department of Homeland Security and 40,000 from the charity Soles4Souls.

Coaching barefoot made Hunter even more aware of the problem. His feet hurt. So he could think of children who must go barefoot each day.

"I think every coach in America who has a platform should do something worthwhile," Hunter said. "It's not just about winning and losing basketball games."

Hunter and Kentucky basketball have crossed paths. UK opened the 2003 NCAA Tournament by beating IUPUI 95-64 in Nashville.

"That was probably the best moment of my career," Hunter said of coaching against Kentucky. "Then I took my shoes off and that became the shining moment of my life. (Coaching against UK) was trivial to what I'm doing now. It doesn't even come close."

Coaching tactic

As Tennessee clung to a lead at Alabama last week, JaJuan Smith made a steal and broke free on a fast break. Rather than take the layup, Smith threw the ball off the backboard in anticipation of a teammate catching the ricochet and dunking.

One problem: Smith did not see an Alabama defender, who grabbed the rebound and headed downcourt.

Tennessee Coach Bruce Pearl noted how Smith's mistake generated a lot of buzz. Fans wanted to know why Pearl did not punish Smith.

"He knew it was a bad play," Pearl said. "I felt no need to bring any more attention to it. The play spoke for itself. Even if we completed the play, it was not the right time and right place. We learn from it.

"If I climbed on him and made a bigger deal (of it), does he make five three-pointers? Does he close out the game? It happened. Close the page. Move on to the next play."

'Unrelenting speculation'

Sadly, rumor-mongering is not unique to Kentucky.

Georgia Coach Dennis Felton noted the widespread speculation that surrounded Dave Odom's retirement announcement at South Carolina.

"It speaks to where our game is ... ," Felton said. "The unrelenting speculation (about) everyone's job status doesn't make much sense. No one just gets to be where they are. Everyone wants to speculate and gossip on whether somebody wants to leave someplace or whether someone should be allowed to stay in one place."

Felton suggested that such rumors are usually loosely tied to reality, at best. He gave Odom high praise by noting, "He always put the good of the game above any competitive thought."

Yet, Odom simply didn't win enough games to keep a widespread support of fans. Thus the rumors began.

"Folks tend to manufacture something out of thin blue sky," Felton said. "I don't think it's limited to just the coaching profession. But anybody in the public eye, like coaches are, it's gotten to be the way it is."

By week's end, we learned that Felton's viability at Georgia has become the subject of speculation.

Big East/SEC

Kentucky will get its turn to participate in what's being called the SEC/Big East Invitational in 2009.

That became clear last week when the organizers announced the sites and participating teams for December, 2008. On Dec. 16 in Nashville, Vanderbilt will play South Florida and Tennessee will face Marquette.

On Dec. 18 in Cincinnati, Mississippi State will play Cincinnati and Mississippi will play Louisville.

The event involves two doubleheaders each season. In the inaugural 2007 event, Villanova overcame a 21-point deficit to beat LSU in the first game in Philadelphia. In the second game, South Carolina outlasted Providence.

The other 2007 site was Birmingham, Ala., where Georgetown beat Alabama and West Virginia whipped Auburn.

The format calls for the SEC to rotate four different teams each year. That makes Kentucky, Florida, Georgia and Arkansas the four SEC teams slated for 2009.

Organizers will pick opponents from a group of eight Big East teams yet to participate. The eight are Rutgers, Syracuse, St. John's, Pittsburgh, Notre Dame, DePaul, UConn and Seton Hall.

Here's a guess: UK-UConn and Arkansas-Syracuse in New York, and Florida-Pittsburgh and Georgia-Notre Dame in Atlanta.

Vitale returns

The ebullient one, Dick Vitale, returns to the airwaves this week. He's working his first game since December on Wednesday's ESPN telecast of Duke at North Carolina.

Vitale, who last called a game on Dec. 4, had vocal cord surgery on Dec. 18 and has been recovering for the past several weeks.

The surgery to treat ulcers on his left vocal cord was performed by Dr. Steven Zeitels at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

Until the surgery, Vitale had not missed a game in his 29 seasons at ESPN.

Vitale will work the Duke-North Carolina game with play-by-play man Mike Patrick and sideline reporter Stacey Dales.

We'll get a double dose of Vitale this week. He's also scheduled to work the Georgetown-Louisville game on Saturday. He'll work with play-by-play man Dan Shulman and sideline reporter Erin Andrews in Freedom Hall.

Kentucky connection

If junior-college big man Josh Harrellson becomes a recruiting commodity, Kentucky will have a potential edge. His coach at Southwestern Illinois College has Kentucky ties.

Coach Jay Harrington played on the Breckinridge County team that won the 1965 state championship. The team's star was Butch Beard.

Going into last week's play, Harrellson, a 6-9 player, was averaging about 14 points and 7.5 rebounds for a 19-1 team. UK has expressed a recruiting interest, but no school can speak to Harrellson because the program that originally signed him, Western Illinois University, refuses to grant him a release.

Such schools as UK, Minnesota, Washington State, Indiana, Ole Miss and St. Louis would like to talk to him.

Title search

A reference to UK trainer Eric Fry last week aroused one reader.

"It may seem trivial to some, but when you speak to a certified athletic trainer, please refer to those of us in the profession as Certified Athletic Trainers," wrote Walker Terhune, a Certified Athletic Trainer for Woodford County High School. "When you use the term 'trainer,' it does a disservice to everyone that uses that term as a title, such as personal trainers, business trainers or horse trainers.

"Many people do not realize the depth of medical knowledge and training that it takes to earn a degree in Athletic Training, not to mention to pass the national certification exam. The profession strives to continually update our medical knowledge with research, symposiums and national conventions."

With his e-mail, Terhune attached a sheet of information on the profession and he pointed out the Web site www.kyats.com.

By the way, March is National Athletic Training month.

Family time

John Pelphrey's parents, Jack and Jennie, attended the Arkansas-Mississippi State game. They plan to stay in Fayetteville through the rest of a three-game homestand, which included Florida on Saturday and Ole Miss next Saturday.

The Pelphreys also plan to attend the Razorbacks' game at Tennessee on Feb. 13 on their way home to Paintsville.

Downey lauds fans

His first experience at Rupp Arena left South Carolina guard Devan Downey "kind of disappointed." He found the fans more docile and cordial than he expected.

"The stories I heard, I thought the fans were just gonna be so cruel and disrespectful. It's nothing like that," Downey said. "They boo but they're very respectful. Dwayne (Day) got hurt, they clap. After the game, people told me, 'Great game.' They've got great fans. I thought it was gonna be 24,000 crazy people throwing stuff at you."

Mark your calendar

UK-bound DeAndre Liggins and U of L signee Samardo Samuels will play in Louisville Gardens on Feb. 16.

Liggins' team, Findlay Prep, will play American Chrsitian School of Aston, Pa., at 8:30 p.m. American Christian features Tyreke Evans, a top-five national prospect who's considering U of L, UConn, Memphis, Villanova, Texas and Seton Hall.

Samuels' team, St. Benedict's Prep of Newark, N.J., will play New Creations Christian School of Richmond, Ind., at 7 p.m.

Tickets went on sale Friday at the Neutral Zone (117 Blankenbaker Parkway). Tickets also will be available online at www.game-seven.com. Reserved sideline tickets are $25 each with general admission tickets priced at $10 each (each ticket is subject to an additional arena usage fee). A limited number of courtside seats are available for $75 each.

For corporate or group packages, please contact Game Seven Sports Media at 859-317-2206. Complete event information can be found at www.game-seven.com

Happy birthday

To Jim Mathewson. The former UK player turned 88 on Saturday.

Mathewson, a UK reserve from 1938 to 1942, grew up in Vanceburg. UK's recruiting trip involved little more than Adolph Rupp coming to town and offering a scholarship. "I decided just as soon as I talked to them," Mathewson said. "I was pleased I was there. I stayed four years. I got along well with Coach (Paul) McBrayer.

"I got along as well as any player got along with Adolph. He would voice his opinion (chuckles) quite frequently."

Mathewson got along so well with McBrayer that he's still trying to persuade the school to recognize the former UK assistant coach with a retired jersey in Rupp Arena. McBrayer also was an All-American for Kentucky.

After graduating from UK, Mathewson served in the Navy during World War II and the Korean Conflict. He remained in the Naval Reserves and attained the rank of Lt. Commander.

Mathewson now lives in Richmond, Ind., with his wife, Mary. Their two daughters are teachers in Richmond.

Longevity runs in Mathewson's family. His father lived to the age of 80. His grandfather lived to 91.

Jerry Tipton covers UK basketball for the Herald-Leader. This article contains his opinions and observations. He can be reached at jtipton@herald-leader.com.