The Baron's Runts

Nobody has ever accused Adolph Rupp of being a nice guy. Rival coaches grumble that "life doesn't really hang on the result of a basketball game, but it seems like it when you play Rupp." In his 36 years at the University of Kentucky, "the Baron of the Bluegrass" has won more games (734), more conference titles (21) and more N.C.A.A. championships (four) than any other coach in the U.S. He has also antagonized more competitors, angered more referees, and annoyed more sportswriters than anybody else in the business--which may or may not account for his success. "Some people believe that the only reason I win is because I'm an s.o.b.," he says. "But I know a lot of losers who are s.o.b.'s, too, so that's not the answer."

The Baron is 63 years old now, and there are signs that he is mellowing. He gave the varsity four days off for Christmas--a far cry from the old days when he used to order the Wildcats right back on the court after the crowd left in order to iron out mistakes made in a game. Actually, Rupp admits, the length of the holiday wasn't entirely his idea: the floor at Kentucky's Memorial Coliseum was being refinished. "But there's no question about it," he says, "I've slowed down. I'm not out to conquer the world any more--just to win all the basketball games my team plays."

Anything but Impressive. So far this season, that is exactly what Rupp has done. On paper, this year's Wildcats look anything but impressive: they cannot be found among the nation's top 20 teams on either offense or defense, and the tallest man on the starting five is only 6 ft. 5 in. "Rupp's Runts," sportswriters call them--yet they win. Last week they whipped Louisiana State 111-85 and Auburn 115-78, ran their season's record to 14-0, to remain one of only two (the other: Texas Western) still unbeaten major college teams in the U.S.

Obviously, the Baron hasn't changed that much. Kentucky is currently ranked No. 2 (behind Duke) in the wire-service polls, and Rupp sees no reason why his team won't be No. 1 within the next week or so. That may sound pretty presumptuous, considering that four of his five starters are holdovers from a 1964-65 squad that won only 15 out of 25 games. But then they have all had another year of Rupp. Guard Louie Dampier has developed into a deadly outside shooter (21.5 points per game). Forward Larry Conley has found his calling as the team's playmaker, has 48 assists this season. Forward Pat Riley has boosted his scoring average 5.6 points to 20.8. And Guard Tommy Kron has turned into a tiger on the backboards--thanks to a Rupp-prescribed weight-lifting program to develop his pushing muscles. The big new addition is 6-ft. 5-in. Sophomore Center Thad Jaracz, a local boy from Lexington who put in an undistinguished year on Kentucky's freshman team last season. Rupp took a chance on Thad, and it paid off. By scoring 16.7 points a game, Jaracz has lightened the defensive pressure on Dampier and Riley.

Modest & Meticulous. The Wildcats owe their sharpest claws to the fact that they have finally learned what Rupp modestly calls "the Kentucky system." Freely translated, it means run, run, run and never, never miss. A perfectionist rather than an innovator, Rupp decries such newfangled tactics as the zone press defense which he sometimes uses but insists on calling a "stratified, transitional hyperbolic paraboloid." He relies on ten offensive plays, which his team practices with a devotion to duty unseen since the Spartans of ancient Greece.

Sessions start on the dot of 3:15 p.m., last an hour or longer, and nobody is allowed to talk except Coach Rupp. "We have a requirement," he explains, "that you only speak if you can improve on the silence." Every pass, every shot, every move is charted by the Baron and his assistants--so meticulously that after one recent 59-min. 47-sec. practice, he was able to announce that his team had handled the ball 3,308 times, had made precisely five "mistakes."

Mistakes are anathema to Rupp, even when his boys are hitting 72% of their shots--as they were at halftime against L.S.U. last week. "Goddam it. Get up on the boards!" he shouted. "Goddam it. Go!" Even when the game was over and Kentucky had won by 26 points, the Baron was not satisfied. "We've got to go back to work on our defense," he muttered, studying a list of twelve mistakes committed by his Wildcats.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.