March 31, 201610 yr Just flipped the channel and saw that ESPN is showing the '66 game. It's the first time I have seen it since I cried as soon as it ended when I was 11 years old. It's in the second half at this time. UK has already made 4 turnovers in the short time I've been watching. Sad ended but Texas Western was a worthy champion. Very good team.
March 31, 201610 yr You would need a room full of people to have enough fingers and toes to count how many times I uttered "terrible shot."
March 31, 201610 yr Watched a lot of the game last night. Man...Oscar Robertson was 100 miles off on his comments. :ohbrother: :greyalien:
March 31, 201610 yr I can say with 99.9% certainty that my dad did not watch this game again yesterday. I'll call him later and ask and I can almost guarantee he'll say no and talk about how one of our best players was sick with the flu and could barely get on the floor for a couple minutes.
March 31, 201610 yr What is ironic is that at the time little was said, written or even noticed by the players themselves. It was a game for the title. The Rupp story was later that Conley had the flu which was pretty evident in the Duke game. Also, Riley had injured his foot and told no one. After having watched it a couple of years ago it just seemed that KY fouled way too much and never hit their shots. Texas Western was a very good defensive team and hit their FT's well. Also of note is the old rules. Any foul granted an automatic free throw. One. And then when the bonus kicked in they were granted two. Interesting rules concept compared to todays game.
March 31, 201610 yr I watched a good portion last night. It appeared UK's weave / high post offense was getting them only 8 to 12 foot, off balance, jumpers. Whereas, I bet they were more accustom to getting to the rim in prior games. TW didnt run them out of the gym, it was pretty much a half court game & TW (especially the PG Hill) shot the ball very well.
March 31, 201610 yr The officials interpretation of the traveling call has changed drastically over time.
March 31, 201610 yr Author What is ironic is that at the time little was said, written or even noticed by the players themselves. It was a game for the title. The Rupp story was later that Conley had the flu which was pretty evident in the Duke game. Also, Riley had injured his foot and told no one. After having watched it a couple of years ago it just seemed that KY fouled way too much and never hit their shots. Texas Western was a very good defensive team and hit their FT's well. Also of note is the old rules. Any foul granted an automatic free throw. One. And then when the bonus kicked in they were granted two. Interesting rules concept compared to todays game. I saw an interview with Dampier on a WKYT special about the game and he said there wasn't any pre-game or post-game talk about racial issues. He said all that came about several years later. Also, I read Deford's Sports Illustrated article about the game from a Twitter link and it didn't have a racial angle to it, just a basketball championship game story. It was years later that the national media turned it into part of the Civil Rights movement, and while they were doing it painted Rupp and Kentucky as the bad guys. The movie based on the game had someone waving a rebel flag in the UK crowd. I'd bet the family farm that didn't occur. Dramatic license at it's best. That's one among several inaccurate depictions. Also the movie portrayed Rupp using racial slurs in his pregame speech, and not one UK player says they recall him doing that. But once it's in print or on film the legend becomes the truth, just like the man said at the end of "The Man Who Shot Liberty Vallance" about Jimmy Stewart's character.
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