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COLLEGE BASKETBALL : Kentucky, Louisville Go Different Ways

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Not long ago, they used to hang championship banners at Kentucky with the same practiced ease as someone hanging sheets on a clothesline. The rafters groaned from the weight of the things.

Then Eddie Sutton arrived.

Sutton won games, too. But his staff had this disturbing knack of forgetting key passages in their NCAA rule books. Put it this way: the fellas had their own interpretation of the recruiting process.

The rest you know about: The Wildcats were hit with three years of probation (1989-91), banned from live television during the 1989-90 season, prohibited from appearing in postseason play during the 1989-90 and 1990-91 seasons and granted only three new scholarships for each of those two academic years. Sutton left in disgrace.

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Chosen to replace him was none other than Rick Pitino, the former New York Knick and Providence College coach who boldly pledged to cram a five-year rebuilding program into three. So ridiculous was the plan that Kentucky followers didn’t even bother laughing out loud.

Now listen to them; they’re giddy with optimism.

For the first time since the 1987-88 season, the once-dominant Wildcats have squeezed into the Associated Press top-25 poll. By normal Kentucky standards, a No. 25 ranking and 3-0 record would create all the excitement of a layup drill. But these aren’t normal circumstances. Pitino has done wonders with a program nearly ruined by scandal.

Reasons for the turnaround:

--Depth. Under ideal conditions, Pitino wants to play nine or 10 players and have them each average 30 or fewer minutes a game. Last year, when the Wildcats finished 14-14, he had three players average 31 or more minutes and two who averaged more than 25 minutes. This season, nobody averages 30 minutes.

--Recruiting. Little by little, Kentucky is gaining strength. Street & Smith’s basketball magazine rated this season’s Wildcat recruiting class 20th in the nation. Next year’s class could crack the top five, especially if Pitino finds another scholarship for Chris Webber, a high school All-American from Birmingham, Mich.

--Schedule. Pitino didn’t change a thing. The Kentucky schedule features the usual collection of Southeastern Conference opponents, as well as Indiana, Cincinnati, Notre Dame, Kansas, North Carolina and Louisville. Georgetown’s John Thompson, who watches his team get fat with victories over St. Bob’s Bait and Tackle Night School, would cringe at the thought. But according to Pitino, it’s the perfect schedule for a team ineligible for postseason tournaments.

--Television. The Wildcats are on ESPN seven times, ABC twice and CBS once. The rest of their games will be shown on regional or local networks.

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Meanwhile, things aren’t so peachy keen at Louisville, where Coach Denny Crum is being criticized for a variety of indiscretions, including the Cardinals’ dismal academic record in the 1980s, as well as his recent remarks concerning the university’s plans for Fiesta Bowl football profits.

Late this summer, the Louisville Courier-Journal published a series of stories detailing the woeful graduation numbers of Crum’s players. Nor did it help when university President Donald C. Swain all but publicly reprimanded Crum for the disappointing academic performances. Swain also called a recent Cardinal basketball recruiting class, of which four of six signees were academic non-qualifiers, “an embarrassment to the University of the Louisville.”

Worse yet, CBS has assigned a “60 Minutes” crew to the story.

Next, Crum aligned himself with those athletic department officials who want proceeds from the coming Fiesta Bowl appearance to go to the school’s non-revenue-producing sports. Swain, who is sensitive to the controversy created by the Fiesta Bowl and the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday rejection by Arizona voters, has recommended that a good deal of the money be earmarked for the university’s minority scholarship fund.

Do you sense the makings of a power struggle?

Upset by the criticism, Crum dropped some not-so-subtle hints during a recent interview with Rick Bozich of the Courier-Journal.

Said Crum: “I don’t want to end my career on a down note. I might be receptive to other offers, depending on what it is. The whole atmosphere around here has changed. It’s not like it was. Everything seems to be going in a direction that will make it very difficult for us to have success and compete on the level we’ve been competing. If that’s the case and if it turns out that’s the way it really is, then a guy would be foolish not to look at other options, other coaching jobs, whatever, wherever he’d have the best opportunity.”

Crum’s 10-year contract expires in July, 1993. If he remains at Louisville until then and the Cardinals don’t violate any NCAA rules, Crum will receive a $1-million annuity. That might be enough incentive for Crum to end his pouting session and make the required academic adjustments in his program.

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Still, Crum is upset over a mandatory 2.0 grade-point average required of Louisville junior and senior players. And he isn’t crazy about Swain, either.

South Carolina forward Joe Rhett has been named Metro Conference player of the week. Big whoop, right?

Except that Rhett had a pacemaker implanted last February to correct an irregular heartbeat. Rhett played 22 games last season before the condition was detected and corrected by heart specialists. He received clearance to work out in September and since then has gone on to lead the Gamecocks, ranked 21st in the polls, to a 4-1 start. Rhett led the last-second fast break that beat North Carolina last Saturday.

Rhett is averaging 14.2 points and 9.4 rebounds a game, both team highs. He isn’t required to take any special medication, and no extra medical personnel attend the game on his behalf. Doctors can check the condition of the pacemaker over the phone, which they do once a month. And according to Rhett, he hasn’t felt the pacemaker kick in for the last six to eight weeks.

As of next June, the Metro Conference will include just Louisville, Southern Mississippi, Tulane and Virginia Tech. That is, unless replacements can be found for the teams that left the Metro to join the newly formed Great Midwest Conference. The Metro wants to retain its automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. A six-member committee formed by the NCAA will present its recommendation no later than March 1, 1991.

Game to watch: Kentucky plays Kansas Saturday at Lexington, Ky. Last season, the Jayhawks beat Kentucky by 55 points. Pitino wasn’t pleased with Kansas Coach Roy Williams. . . . Colorado, led by former Cal State Long Beach coach Joe Harrington, recently won consecutive road games for the first time since the 1982-83 season. . . . Watch Oklahoma State in the Big Eight. It gets Mattias Sahlstrom, a versatile 6-foot-10 forward-center, back this week. Sahlstrom, the MVP of the Swedish national team, returns from a European tournament.

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Our top 10: (1) UNLV, (2) Arizona, (3) Arkansas, (4) Indiana, (5) UCLA, (6) Syracuse, (7) Georgia, (8) Duke, (9) Georgetown, (10) Southern Mississippi.

Our waiting list: Pittsburgh, North Carolina, Ohio State, Connecticut and Oklahoma.

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