Asbury might stir memories of Kentucky basketball’s ‘Bombinos’

For Kentucky fans of a certain age, Asbury’s playing style will bring back memories of a brief time when pure joy reigned supreme in Rupp Arena. Believe it or not, UK basketball once set aside its greatest-program-in-the-history-of-history proclamations … and had fun.

Three-point shots filled the air. Wildcats pressed and trapped with a kamikaze zeal that validated the fans’ faith that playing for Kentucky was special.

And that was enough. The annual task of making sure everyone recognizes Kentucky’s hegemony over all of college basketball (and that means you, too, Duke) had to wait for another season.

It was 1989-90. A two-year ban on playing in the NCAA Tournament prompted the best players to transfer. A roster of eight players, none taller than 6-foot-7, none weighing more than 210 pounds, remained to try to keep the UK flag from hitting the ground.

Pitino’s Bombinos, as new coach Rick Pitino’s team was known, set an unbreakable record: Most happiness produced in a .500 season (14-14). Among those happy UK fans was Asbury Coach Will Shouse, then a 12-year-old living in Lawrenceburg.

His description of Asbury’s playing style all but pays homage to that Kentucky team. “We live and die by the three,” he said.

Asbury, which plays Kentucky in an exhibition game Sunday night, makes the Bombinos look like the epitome of patient, seven-pass-rule basketball. In its first two games, Asbury took 92 three-point shots (or one every 52.2 seconds). That average of 46 three-point shots per game dwarfs the Bombinos’ 28.9 and surpasses the Division I record for a season (41.9 by VMI in 2006-07).

Now, for the bad news. Asbury made only 18 of those 92 three-point shots (19.6-percent accuracy). But Asbury beat Bob Jones University and Bluefield College. The Eagles averaged 103 points and a shot from either inside or outside the arc every 24.1 seconds.

“I don’t expect those numbers against Kentucky,” Shouse said. “But in order for us to get better, we can’t change up the way we play.”

Shouse comes by his dependence on the three-point shot honestly. “I was a shooter,” he said. “I put up a lot of threes.”

Shouse, 36, was a 1,000-point scorer for Asbury. He made 11 threes in a game against Johnson Bible and 131 threes one season (which would tie for 27th most by any college player if he had played in Division I).

Like the Bombinos did, Asbury also tries to deny the inbounds pass and traps full-court. Bob Jones University made a whopping 35 turnovers, Bluefield 23.

“It can get dangerous,” Shouse said of the all-out pressing and trapping. “I can’t lie. Because you’re opening up the basket a lot.”

To drive home the point, Shouse mentioned the Bombinos’ 150-95 loss at Kansas. The vastly superior Jayhawks beat the pressure and coasted again and again to layups.

“You’re playing with fire a little bit,” Shouse said. “But you have to instill in your guys that mentality, that fearless mentality.

“Now, it’s inevitable there’s going to be fear going into this game. We’ll have to manipulate it, obviously, against Kentucky because trying to trap De’Aaron Fox is a lot different than trapping in our conference.”

‘I’m a Kentucky fan’

UK’s 108-51 victory over Clarion last Sunday made Asbury Coach Will Shouse appreciate how good the Cats are.

“Immediately, you look at the size and length and athleticism,” Shouse said. “Guys like Malik Monk, he’s just so athletic at that position. Bam (Adebayo) is just a monster.

“I’m a Kentucky fan. So I’m looking to see where do I see them in the future of the (NCAA) Tournament. And, gosh, I’m excited about their year.”

Shouse listened to UK Coach John Calipari’s postgame radio show last Sunday. Calipari pointing out that Clarion made a high number of three-point shots (nine of 20) did not make the biggest impression.

“The thing that stuck with me after the game was he said Clarion just continued to play hard, and they played with some swagger without looking at the scoreboard,” the Asbury coach said. “I kind of took that to my guys and said, ‘Listen, we’ve got to play as hard as we can no matter what the outcome is.’ And I expect that from my group.

“I really wish we wouldn’t worry about the outcome and just play loose and play hard and enjoy the moment.”

Culture shock

Asbury’s program is in Division II of the NAIA. Its games against Bob Jones University and Bluefield (Va.) College were part of the Pikeville (Ky.) Classic and had official attendances of 150 and 350.

So Asbury Coach Will Shouse was not kidding when he said the game at Kentucky would be a culture shock “being in Rupp Arena playing in front of more fans than we’ll probably play in front of this whole year.”

Asbury’s total attendance for 14 homes games last season was 5,333.

Fund and games

Kentucky paid Asbury a $20,000 guarantee to play. Asbury Athletics Director Mark Perdue said part of the money would be used to buy new scoreboards for the campus gymnasium.

The guarantee will also help fund educational opportunities on road trips. Asbury will travel to Indianapolis, Gary, Ind., and Chicago on a six-day trip later this month, then go to Pittsburgh on a two-game trip in January.

Asbury Coach Will Shouse said the guarantee can upgrade food options on road trips, allow the team to travel on buses rather than vans and improve hotel accommodations (players won’t have to sleep four to a room).

For instance, while in Chicago for a game against Governors State on Nov. 21, Shouse is trying to arrange a tour of Wrigley Field and Soldier Field.

The $20,000 guarantee “allows us to venture beyond the hotel,” Shouse said, “and make some memories.”

UK and NBA

In his blog for the Sacramento Bee, Kings’ beat writer Jason Jones wrote about former UK players DeMarcus Cousins and Karl-Anthony Towns competing against each other in the Kings-Timberwolves game last weekend.

Kentucky Coach John Calipari couldn’t have asked for a better plug going into the fall signing period, which begins Wednesday. Of course, both Cousins and Towns played at Kentucky for Calipari. This prompted Minnesota Timberwolves Coach Tom Thibodeau to quip, “Calipari is a good recruiter, I guess.”

More seriously, Thibodeau said the Kentucky experience helped both Cousins and Towns.

“I think that obviously going to Kentucky, they have played a lot of big games,” Thibodeau told Jones. “I think that helps prepare them (with) their talent and their drive.”

Versatility marks both Cousins’ and Towns’ playing styles.

Of Cousins, Thibodeau said, “You don’t expect him to be able to handle the ball, make plays, shoot the three, put it on the floor, dominate inside. If he gets to his spot, he’s impossible to stop. He’s got great hands and he was terrific for us defensively. There’s nothing that he can’t do, and his basketball IQ is very, very high. He’s a load to deal with.”

As for Towns, he won the Skills Challenge at the All-Star Weekend in February. It’s an event usually staged for guards.

‘One & Done’

A documentary on the one year Ben Simmons spent at LSU premiered on Showtime Friday. Titled “One & Done,” it shows how college and an education meant little to Simmons.

He stopped going to classes when the second semester began. “I’m here to play,” he says in the documentary. “I’m not here to go to school.”

Columnist Joe Nocera of The New York Times previewed the documentary on Monday. He wrote, “Everyone — the NBA, the players’ union and the NCAA — ought to be searching for ways to reduce the one-and-dones.”

(Yes, Nocera briefly mentions Kentucky’s John Calipari as “among the first college coaches to openly recruit one-and-ones.”

Nocera added, “Now, even former critics, like Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, understand that to get the best players, they have to recruit athletes who intend to leave after a year.”)

Nocera quotes Donna Lopiano, a member of the reform-minded Drake Group, as calling for freshman ineligibility as a way to separate those like Simmons who see college as merely a means to prepare for the NBA from athletes who are truly interested in higher education.

Freshman ineligibility might close the college door for some players, but other options would remain open. Nocera wrote that players waiting a year to enter an NBA Draft “would gravitate to Europe or the D-League.”

Happy birthday

To Chuck Verderber. He turned 57 on Thursday. … To Trey Lyles. He turned 21 on Saturday. … To Doron Lamb. He turns 25 on Sunday (today). … To Jonny David. He turns 20 on Monday. … To former UK Coach Billy Gillispie. He turns 57 on Monday. … To Dwight Perry. He turns 29 on Wednesday.

This story was originally published November 5, 2016 at 5:10 PM with the headline "Asbury might stir memories of Kentucky basketball’s ‘Bombinos’."