Who can identify these two gentlemen?LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – Amazing what surfaces when you go
through 30 years of old newspaper clippings, media guides and magazines.
Lots of Bob Knight. Some Howard Schnellenberger. A good bit
of Denny Crum. Too many press passes to count.
But the one magazine that stopped my cleaning effort was
this one
Cawood Ledford's Fan Guide To SEC Basketball, featuring C.M.
Newton and Rick Pitino on the cover.
It was a preview to the 1989-90 season when Pitino took
control of a Kentucky program trying to rise from NCAA probation. Kentucky was
picked to finish ninth in the league. The Wildcats finished 10-8, which would
have been worth a tie for fourth if they had been eligible for the league
title.
Chris Jackson, Gerald Glass, Alec Kessler and the late
Dwayne Schintzius were expected to be the best players in the league.
Whatever happened to Chris Jackson anyway? He was as quick
as any guard I've seen in the SEC. He changed his name to Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf,
bounced through the NBA and foreign basketball and disappeared.
Any updates on where he is today?
Ledford was asked for his opinion about the selection of
Pitino as the next UK basketball coach. This was his answer:
"I genuinely believe Rick Pitino is the perfect man for the
time … It will be some rough sledding for a while, but he is one of the bright
young coaches in the game."
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