Today on KSR: Former Kentucky basketball All-American Bob Burrow dies at 84

Photo: Big Blue History

Good morning, BBN. Hopefully everyone has had a great week celebrating Kentucky’s Citrus Bowl victory and is ready for the weekend.

Unfortunately, we have to open this Friday with a bit of sad news regarding one of our former Kentucky Wildcats.

Former Kentucky star Bob Burrow passes away

Bob Burrow, a former two-time All-American under Adolph Rupp, passed away at the age of 84 on Thursday.

The No. 1 available transfer in the nation out of Lon Morris Junior College in 1954, Burrow was the first JUCO player to start in Kentucky basketball history. After hearing of the 6-foot-7 forward’s history of leading his team to two consecutive junior college national tournaments, Rupp offered him a scholarship without even watching him play.

In two years at Kentucky, Burrow averaged 19 points and 17.7 rebounds per game, followed by 21.1 points and 14.6 rebounds per game his second and final season as a Wildcat (1954-56). Leading the Wildcats to a 43-9 overall record and back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances, Burrow’s No. 50 jersey hangs in the rafters of Rupp Arena:

To this day, Burrow shares the school record for most rebounds in a game (34) and he is No. 5 on the single-game scoring list following a 50-point performance against LSU in 1956.

He was also inducted into the UK Athletics Hall of Fame in 2005.

Rest in peace to a Wildcat legend.

In other news…

Karl Hess went after Scott Padgett

Last night during Samford’s matchup with ETSU, controversial college basketball official Karl Hess approached former Kentucky forward Scott Padgett like he had business to take care of. And it almost ended with the two throwing punches.

You can see it on the upper right-hand side of the video:

Here's Karl Hess going after Scott Padgett pic.twitter.com/hMAM9PgBTL

— Mid-Major Madness (@mid_madness) January 4, 2019

After the game, Padgett called out Hess’ antics, saying the official wouldn’t dare step up to him on the street like that.

"Are you stepping to me right now?" TENSE moment tonight between official and Samford head coach, leading to some great postgame sound pic.twitter.com/kAUNdmxeb8

— Kane O'Neill (@KaneONeill_) January 4, 2019

We here at Kentucky Sports Radio dot com don’t speak on controversial referee antics, but we’re also big fans of Mr. Padgett…

(Sic’ em, Scott)

Is Kentucky going to win the title? History seems to think so

The SEC Network released a pretty interesting graphic yesterday evening that certainly seems to play in Kentucky’s favor…

Just three times in Kentucky football history have the Wildcats finished with ten or more wins to close out the season: 1950, 1977, and 2018.

In the 1950-51 and 1977-78 seasons, the Kentucky basketball team ended the year with national championship trophies:

10 wins for @UKFootball is a good sign for @KentuckyMBB 👀 pic.twitter.com/KjOfnl53NZ

— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) January 4, 2019

Will history play in our favor once again?

UK Hoops defeated Vanderbilt 77-55

In their first SEC matchup of the season, the Kentucky women’s basketball team took home a convincing 77-55 victory at home against Vanderbilt.

Freshman guard Rhyne Howard led the way for the Wildcats with 16 points (5-12 shooting), while senior guard Maci Morris added 14 points on 5-10 shooting.

The win also marked the 300th career victory for Kentucky head coach Matthew Mitchell.

For more on the big victory, check out KSR’s Zack Geoghegan’s write-up from last night below:

http://kentuckysportsradio.com/main/uk-hoops-wins-first-sec-game-over-vandy-77-55/

Paul Finebaum put Kentucky in his post-bowl season top-10

SEC Network analyst Paul Finebaum released his post-bowl season rankings, and your Kentucky Wildcats came in at No. 10 overall.

The Wildcats were one of five total SEC schools listed, with Alabama (No. 1), LSU (No. 6), Georgia (No. 8), and Florida (No. 9) also representing the conference.

Take a look:

@finebaum

Could the Wildcats slide into the top-ten of all the final polls? We’ll find out here in a couple days.

UConn women’s basketball loses first regular season game since 2014

For the first time in 126 games, the No. 1-ranked UConn women’s basketball team lost a game in the regular season, falling to No. 8 Baylor by a final score of 68-57.

BREAKING: Top-ranked UConn women lose to No. 8 Baylor 68-57, ending regular-season winning streak at 126 games.

— AP Top 25 (@AP_Top25) January 4, 2019

To take it even further, it was UConn’s first road loss in regulation since December 18, 2011, which was also against Baylor.

How ridiculous is that?