A Billy Gillispie-era UK player is making a triumphant return to Rupp Arena
As a little boy growing up in Paintsville in the 1990s, Landon Slone idolized Kentucky Wildcats basketball standout Jeff Sheppard.
When Slone became a First Team All-State basketball player at Paintsville in 2008, he turned down scholarship offers from Marshall, Evansville and East Tennessee State to walk on with Billy Gillispie’s Wildcats.
One year later, when a new UK coach, John Calipari, chose to jettison many Gillispie-era holdovers in a roster revamp, Slone publicly lobbied in a failed attempt to stay a Wildcat.
Even as an adult, when Slone and his wife, Cynthia, were preparing to have their first child, his ardor for Kentucky Wildcats basketball remained so strong that he was determined they name their little boy after his favorite ex-Cat.
That’s how “Cameron Slone” got his name.
Wait a minute. Shouldn’t that have been “Jeff Slone”?
“I had to come to an agreement with my wife. She really liked the name ‘Cameron,’” Slone explains, laughing. “I said ‘Hey, Cameron Mills, that’s probably my second-favorite UK player of all time. I can live with that.’”
Late Thursday afternoon, Slone, now 31, will make a triumphant return to Rupp Arena.
The former Paintsville star is now the head coach who has led his alma mater to its first Boys’ Sweet 16 appearance in 13 years. Paintsville (15-8), the 15th Region champions, will face 12th Region champ Boyle County (21-4) at 5 p.m.
It’s hard to imagine anyone competing in this year’s state tournament is more stoked to be in Rupp Arena than Slone.
“It’s been a dream of mine, always, to coach in Rupp Arena,” he says. “To be able to do that this year, it’s unbelievable.”
In 2008, the last time a Paintsville team earned a state tourney trip, Slone was the team’s star. A 6-foot-3 guard, Slone rifled in 35 points to lead Coach Bill Mike Runyon’s Tigers to a 93-87 upset of Jeffersontown in the first round.
The dream of doing what Runyon’s 1996 Paintsville team did — win the state championship — died in a 61-53 quarterfinals loss to Holmes as Slone was held to 11 points.
Still, Slone made the Sweet 16 All-Tournament Team and his play in Rupp may have helped earn him the chance to walk on at UK.
He spent 2008-09, the final season of the chaotic, two-year Gillispie coaching tenure, on the Wildcats’ roster.
Asked if he had any wild stories involving Gillispie, Slone laughed.
“A million. I’ve got a million,” he said. “I don’t know that you can put them in the newspaper.”
As a Kentucky Wildcat, Slone played in 15 games, logged 104 minutes and scored 22 points with 17 rebounds, nine assists and two turnovers.
Though UK went 22-14, ended up in the NIT and Gillispie got fired, Slone says the year he spent as a Cat was “an awesome experience.
“When you go through that kind of hard year, you develop relationships that last a lifetime,” he said, mentioning friendships with ex-UK teammates such as Patrick Patterson and Darius Miller. “That was true even if it wasn’t the best of seasons by Kentucky standards.”
After his one season playing for Kentucky, Slone transferred to Morehead State, but decided he’d lost his passion for playing basketball. He came back to UK as a regular student, only to realize he still wanted to play college hoops.
Slone then spent two seasons playing for Kelly Wells at the University of Pikeville. He gave up his final season of eligibility, however, to launch his coaching career.
That soon paid off. At the ripe old age of 26, Slone was hired as head coach at Paintsville.
“Twenty-six is young,” Slone says, “but I knew the school, I knew the system, I knew what needed to be done for us to be successful. But it took time. It wasn’t easy.”
After going 8-20 in his first season (2016-17), Slone has produced four straight winning years. His building efforts culminated this season with the Tigers beating archrival Johnson Central in both the 57th District and 15th Region finals.
Runyon, the coach for eight of Paintsville’s 10 all-time trips to the Boys’ Sweet 16 and now the town’s mayor, says Slone has the essential qualities needed for enduring high school coaching success.
“As a high school basketball coach, if you can get your kids to believe in what you are doing and put out a great effort for you, that’s what it’s all about — and Landon has that,” Runyon says.
Paintsville’s return to the Sweet Sixteen after 13 years has ginned up quite a buzz in the town. “The people in this city are in a tizzy,” Runyon reports.
That excitement is cresting in the Slone household. For the trip to Lexington, the Paintsville coach reports that his 4-year-old daughter, Maci, is “most excited about watching the cheerleaders.”
Now 6, Cameron Slone is “tore all to pieces about seeing Rupp Arena,” Landon Slone says. “He hasn’t ever been in Rupp Arena yet.”
Yet even Cameron is probably not as excited as his dad.
“I’ve been telling my team, I want them to be able to experience playing in Rupp and have the feeling,” Landon Slone says. “For them to get that opportunity to play there, it makes me the happiest person in the world.”
