Link http://www.bigbluehistory.net/bb/Statistics/roster1967-68.html looking at team photo, Cats had 18 varsity players (on scholarship) in 1967-68 season. There were 4 freshmen also on scholarship for a total of 22.

The year before (1966-67) UK had 12 varsity (scholarship) players and 11 freshmen on scholarship for 23 total.

From 1966 through 1971, UK signed 38 players to basketball scholarships for an average of just over 6 per year.

That was commonplace in the 1960's. UK (and others) fielded a varsity team and a freshman team. Most teams signed 5, 6, or 7 players per year. The varsity squad was usually around 15 players with 6 more on the freshman team.

Nowadays, UK has 10 or 11 scholarship players on its roster with a few walk-ons added.

F Rodney Williams (30 minutes) backed up by Oto Osenieks (5) and Charles Buggs (5).

F Trevor Mbakwe (30 minutes) backed up by Andre Ingram (10).

C Elliott Eliason (25 minutes) backed up by Maurice Walker (15).

G Austin Hollins (20 minutes) backed up by Joe Coleman (15) and Wally Ellenson (5).

G Dre Hollins (25 minutes) backed up by Julian Welch (10) and Chip Armelin or Maverick Ahanmisi (5).

Good depth. Good experience. Maybe 25+ W - perhaps even 27 or 28 W.

Next year should (could) see a 5 W improvement over this season.

Minimum 5 years as Div I coach. Ranked by career W-L (%) record.

SEC has 4 of them. Calipari # 8 at 75.7% and Donovan # 17 at 70.3% going into 2012. Also Anthony Grant # 22 at 69.4% and Mark Fox # 24 at 68.7% numbers.

Ex-UK coaches make the list, too. Pitino # 12 at 73.1% and Tubby # 20 at 70.2% are among the Top 25.

HOF coaches (on the list) include Roy Williams # 1 at 79.8% and Coach K # 7 at 76% overall. Others are Jim Boeheim # 10 at 74% and Jim Calhoun # 21 at 70% overall.

Big East has 5 coaches listed - Boeheim, Calhoun, Pitino (above) plus # 3 Jamie Dixon at 78.3% and # 11 Bob Huggins at 73.2% overall.

Big Ten has 4 coaches - Tubby (above) plus # 5 Matta at 76.8% and # 6 Bo Ryan at 76.3% as well as Izzo # 14 at 70.4% overall.

Surprise names (to me anyway) on the Top 25 list are Dave Rose (BYU) # 4 at 77.9% plus Mike Lonergan (George Washington) # 13 at 70.7% and Danny Kasper (Stephen F Austin) # 15 at 70.4% overall. 

It's a rarity in UK history but it has been done.

Adolph Rupp signed 4 in 1971 - Grevey, Conner, Flynn & Guyette were all HS A-A.

Joe Hall did it twice - Bowie, Hord, Minniefield & Hurt in 1979 and Davender, Madison, Jenkins & Lock in 1984.

Rick Pitino, Eddie Sutton, Tubby Smith & Billy Gillispie never did it.

John Calipari signed 4 HS A-A in 2011 - Davis, Teague, Kidd-Gilchrist & Wiltjer.

I think he is poised to do it (again) in 2012. Goodwin and Poythress are likely HS A-A in 2012. Cauley is possible HS A-A but doubtful in my view. Good player, just not HS A-A.

But UK is recruiting (and has 50-50 chances at) several others who are likely HS A-A in 2012 - Muhammad, Stokes, Bennett & Pollard. Odds are good Calipari will ink 2 of them in the spring.

http://www.bigbluehistory.net/bb/statistics/1971-72.html 

The UK Wildcats faced a season of transition going into 1971-72 season. Adolph Rupp would turn 70 in 1972 and face mandatory retirement. Who would replace him? Joe Hall was the frontrunner but nothing was for certain. Some of Rupp's UK players lobbied hard for the rule to be waived for Rupp to stay on as UK coach.

1970-71 was a pretty good year. Cats were 22-6 and SEC champs. Mike Casey, Tom Payne, Larry Steele, and Jim Dinwiddie were all drafted by NBA teams. Terry Mills also completed his eligibility at UK.

But there were promising players returning. Jim Andrews was a ready replacement for Payne. Tom Parker returned for what would be an SEC POY season for him. Stan Key was back at guard along with Kent Hollenbeck (who would suffer an injury a few games into the season). Redshirts Bob McCowan and Dan Perry added to the depth of UK veterans.

Promising frosh up from the 70-71 Kittens included Ronnie Lyons, Rick Drewitz, and Ray Edelman. The 71 recruits were on campus as the 1971-72 frosh team known as the Super Kittens, who went 22-0 that season. UK football players Darryl Bishop and Elmore Stephens joined the team as walk-ons in midseason to add depth to the team.

All-in-all, the 72 Cats were pretty decent. They finished 21-7 as SEC champions and defeated # 7 Marquette in the NCAA before dropping an Elite 8 contest against # 10 Florida State. The Wildcats finished as # 18 ranked team in the nation.

The spring of 1972 would bring about the forced retirement of Adolph Rupp and promotion of Joe Hall to head coach. Recruiting in 1972 would forever change the landscape of Div I hoops because freshmen would be eligible to play varsity basketball in 1972-73 season.

The Rupp Era at UK ended reasonably well (5 straight SEC titles) but nowhere near the Glory Years of the 1940's and 1950's. It would be up to Joe Hall to fully integrate the UK basketball program before the Cats returned to FF in 1975 and won NCAA again in 1978.
 

There was some discussion about Calipari and academics this week, to wit:

Academic Progress Rate no problem for Cats

The NCAA made a big splash this summer when it decided to bar teams from the postseason whose four-year average in the Academic Progress Rate isn’t at least 930. Under that rule, a dozen of last year’s NCAA Tournament participants wouldn’t have been eligible, including Kansas State, Ohio State and Syracuse.

So what does Calipari think of the change?

“It’s fine,” he said. “We had a 3.14 grade-point average last term. We had 10 scholarship players, had nine over a 3.0. We had two guys who had a 4.0. This summer it was a 2.8 grade-point average. We’ve established what we are academically. I’m not bothered by it. If that’s what they choose to do, that’s fine.”

UK’s most recent four-year APR average was 974. Its four-year averages for the three previous seasons were 954, 979 and 941 — all of which would’ve been above the NCAA’s new cut line.