In the 1967 recruiting class for Western Kentucky, Jim McDaniels recalls that six of the Kentucky All-Star team agreed among themselves to go to Western, because they all wanted to go to the same school. That is pretty remarkable considering the domination of the University of Kentucky in college basketball in those days, and since. McDaniels said that he never really considered going anywhere else except WKU. They had a great team back then, of course, culminating in their double-overtime loss to Villanova in the 1971 Final Four.
All of us Little Rock fans live in hope that someday – soon – we will have a top-level Arkansas high school player who will go to UALR because that is where he has always wanted to go – his favorite team. He grew up a Trojan fan and always wanted to play there. By “top-level” I mean one that Fayetteville and comparable programs were pulling out all the stops to sign.
The SBC is a long ways from being Univ. of Kentucky, and so for WKU to get that kind of a recruiting class was a real coup. They have been among the class of the SBC for a long time, but for a brief time they moved up into the national elite.
We were a double-overtime win from moving into the Sweet 16 one time, but as anyone can tell you, even from being in the Top 16 is a long step from the Top 4. WKU got there with a huge recruiting class. It can be done. Maybe I will live to see it at Little Rock.
Getting a program to the next level is usually a series of incremental steps. WKU took a huge step forward with one great class. We may not get there like that, but we are coming off the first 20-win season in a long time. We can’t let that fall to the ground, but must take it and run with it.
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