Sunday, March 19, 2000
KENTUCKY NOTEBOOK
Is Tubby headed for Hawks?
BY NEIL SCHMIDT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
CLEVELAND — The rumor persists: The Atlanta Hawks would fire coach Lenny Wilkens after the season and hire Kentucky's Tubby Smith. Smith has mostly no-commented when asked his interest in the NBA. But the Wildcat closest to him says the scenario is far-fetched.
“I'm not worried about that,” son Saul Smith said. “I think his heart is here at UK, without a doubt. I don't see him leaving.
“He has never mentioned (the NBA opportunity) to me. No one around us has mentioned it. No one at UK has mentioned it. I'm not worried about that. He's very happy and honored to be the coach at UK.”
Many experts doubt he'd leave with his son entering his senior season. Yet he did so once before, leaving eldest son G.G. behind at Georgia with two years of eligibility left.
If Tubby left?
“I'd have to deal with that when it came around,” Saul Smith said. “I haven't put that much thought into it.”
Jules rules
UK's finest performance Saturday came from sophomore forward Jules Camara, who totaled 10 points, a career-high six assists, four rebounds, three blocks and a steal. In the last three minutes, Camara scored UK's last four points on two dunks and also blocked a shot.
“I was trying to make some big plays, get the crowd in the game,” he said.
The assist total was eye-popping for a 6-foot-11 player.
“Jules really passed the ball well,” Tubby Smith said. “He's very active and a hard-to-guard player.”
Magloire's stats
UK senior center Jamaal Magloire played in his 145th and final college game Saturday. That total is tied with UNLV's Stacey Augmon (1987-91) for the fourth-most in NCAA history and is second in school history to the NCAA-record 151 games of Wayne Turner (1995-99).
With three blocked shots Saturday, Magloire's school-record total of career blocks ends at 268, fifth-most in Southeastern Conference history. Magloire finishes with 1,064 career points, 42nd-most in school history, and 789 rebounds, 11th on UK's career list.
'Cat tales
UK is 21-3 in its last five NCAA Tournaments. ... UK's last second-round tournament loss came against Marquette in 1994. ... Tubby Smith is 0-2 against Syracuse. His Georgia team lost 83-81 to the Orangemen in the 1996 NCAA Tournament.
Sibling rivalry
Pepperdine defensive specialist Tommie Prince was disappointed after Kentucky was eliminated.
Tommie Prince is the older brother of UK's Tayshaun, and the two were hoping their paths would collide this month — although that could have happened only in the national championship game.
“I was kind of disappointed to see that they didn't pull it out,” Tommie Prince said. “I was pulling for them all the way.”
They last spoke Thursday, after the Wildcats needed double overtime to beat St.Bonaventure, a game in which Tayshaun hit a critical 3-pointer to send the game into OT.
“We talked about the shot he shot, and I was just giving him a lot of positive comments about how he played and the things that he did and how to try to take it to the next game,” Tommie Prince said.
Tournament game coverage at Cincinnati.com/madness
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