By LARRY VAUGHT
He’s best remembered by University of Kentucky basketball fans for being the 1998 Final Four Most Outstanding Player when the Cats won the national championship in Tubby Smith’s first year as head coach.
However, there’s always been another side to Jeff Sheppard that not everyone sees.
“I am a crier. I cry all the time,” said Sheppard. “I cried at my wedding. I cried after we beat Duke (in the 1998 NCAA Tournament regional final). I cried after we won the national championship. Crying is not a big deal for me.”
Sheppard certainly cried last week after his son, Reed Sheppard, scored 37 points on 12-for-22 shooting from the field and 10-for-10 at the foul line in the 13th Region Tournament title game win over Knox Central. That win sent Reed Sheppard, a junior, and his teammates to this week’s state tournament at Rupp Arena.
“Getting to the state tournament is such a special event here in Kentucky,” Jeff Sheppard said. “So many kids in Kentucky dream of playing in the state tournament. It makes it even more special being in Rupp Arena. There are only a few states that have one state champion like Kentucky does.
“For us personally, we are from a small town. Every year there are great stories about teams making the state tourney and now we get to be one of those stories. Our boys have played together their whole lives. They have grown up together and have been together for this whole run.”
North Laurel (28-5) plays Pikeville Wednesday night and that will give Reed Sheppard the chance to do something his father never did.
“When I reflect on my basketball days the greatest moments are my high school memories,” Jeff Sheppard said. “It’s just different playing for your town with your friends. I never made the state tournament (in Georgia). We had a great team in the region that knocked us off every year. My junior year we had a state championship caliber team. I missed the front end of the bonus that would have won the region. The team that beat us went on and won the state championship. I still remember that.”
Jeff Sheppard hopes there will be a “huge crowd” at the state game.
“We have a wonderful opponent and Pikeville won’t be afraid to travel, either,” the former UK star said. “I hope we have a good showing so the crowd can be excited.
“This is so special for our family. Our daughter, Madison, played and her teams could not beat the Maci Morris teams, the Blair Green teams in the regional semifinals and finals. Now our boys played in the eighth, ninth and 10th grades and kept getting beat up. This year our boys played with the toughness they had to play with.”
Numerous Kentucky fans who have yet to see Reed Sheppard play in person likely will get a chance to see him play in Rupp Arena but the North Laurel junior is used to eyes being on him.
“He’s recognized wherever he goes and does a good job handling it. His teammates have enjoyed the ride, too,” Jeff Sheppard said. “They have been with Reed since kindergarten. They knew he could be a college recruit.
“To them, he is just Reed. They paint themselves and go to football games. When the game is over they go to Waffle House. He has a future at Kentucky, but that is not today. Today is enjoying his teammates and enjoying getting to play in the state tournament.”
Reed Sheppard is averaging 25.5 points and 6.8 rebounds per game and shooting 54.7 percent overall from the field, 38.5 percent from 3-point range and 90 percent at the foul line.
No matter what happens in the NCAA Tournament, Oscar Tshiebwe is not going to complain.
Kentucky coach John Calipari talked numerous times during the season about Tshiebwe never complaining no matter how many times he might be fouled during a game when nothing is called.
“Complaining is wasting time,” Tshiebwe said. “You are wasting your energy. For me, I don’t complain about anything. Just stay positive. That’s the best thing you can do in your life is stay positive.
“Sometimes in a game I am going to get beat up, get pushed. I don’t complain. I don’t say anything. I just go out there and fight. When you stay positive in negative situations, you are going to be a champion.
It’s a simple philosophy that works well for Tshiebwe, the Sporting News Player of the Year.
“One thing I do is control what I can control,” the Kentucky junior said. “Things I cannot control, I will not say anything about.”
Obviously he cannot control what others say but rival players and coaches just continue to praise him and obviously respect his play and demeanor based on what LSU players said at the SEC Tournament.
“He is a strong, physical guy. He is aggressive on the rebound. He has a high motor. It can be difficult at times to box him out. He is just kind of a problem down low at times,” Tari Eason said. “I think just trying to put a lot of bodies on him, trying to throw as many bodies as you can at him kind of down low to get him out of the paint and out of the rebounding situation. You have to just kind of do that as best as you can and manage it.”
Darius Days said it’s hard to understand what playing Tshiebwe is like until you do it.
“He takes a toll on your body throughout the game, and at the last six minutes of the game, you know, you are just dead tired,” Days said. “You’re like, ‘Wow, he continues going to the glass.’ So he is a problem. It’s fun playing with him down there.”
Another LSU player, Efton Reid, has known Tshiebwe since he was 14 years old because they played with the same AAU team.
“I’ve been watching him since I was 14, so I wasn’t really surprised what he was doing. I already knew he could do that, and I was happy to see him being successful,” Reid said.
Still, not sure anyone could have expected a season where Tshiebwe has not been outrebounded by any opposing players going into NCAA Tournament play (including the SEC Tournament semifinal loss to Tennessee when fouls limited him to only 25 minutes). The only time he has been outrebounded was by teammate TyTy Washington who had 12 against Ohio on Nov. 19 when Tshiebwe had 10.
What will it be like for new Kentucky offensive line coach Zach Yenser to now have to help recruit players after being in the National Football League with the San Francisco 49ers the last four years?
“I loved the recruiting process when I was coaching in college and building relationships and getting to hand pick your guys that fit in your room and you want to coach and develop,” Yenser said. “I am excited about recruiting.”
Not long after Yenser was hired Kentucky got a commitment from 6-8, 280-pound all-state lineman Malachi Wood of Madison Central.
“College players are younger than NFL players but they still want to be coached,” Yenser said. “You don’t coach differently. They want to know techniques. They want discipline and to be held accountable. You don’t get to spend as much time with college kids as NFL players. NFL guys don’t have to go to school and are not pulled in as many directions, so you just have to be more creative with the time you do have with the college guys.”
Yenser won’t change his physical approach to offensive line play.
“One thing I learned from the 49ers is that it is not just the system but it is the mentality you have every time you step on the field. We knew every time we stepped a foot on the field that we were the most physical team,” the UK offensive line coach said.
“We did it best because of the mentality we had and what I loved here is that coach (Mark) Stoops is dedicated to this scheme. We are going to try and be the most physical offensive line every day we step on the field. It is the mentality of how you run those plays. We just want to be the most physical.”
TyTy Washington, like a lot of players, grew up dreaming of having a chance to play in the NCAA Tournament.
“My junior year in high school our history teacher always would throw on the SEC Tournament and March Madness,” Washington said. “I am sure she will be back home watching and putting it (March Madness) on for her students again. When I was in her class, watching it on TV and now actually to be the one on TV playing and she’s watching is just a huge blessing.”
Washington said he no longer feels like a freshman after going through a full season and feels NCAA-ready.
“Playing with a lot of older guys you have to mature faster and I feel like that is exactly what I did,” he said. “I know they all believe in me. We’re a pretty smart team, so it’s just like we have depth. When I’m hurt, I’m not going to just sit there and try to make it about me. I know my teammates have my back.
When I was hurt, Davion, Kellan, they both stepped up tremendously, so it’s just like I’m not going to make it about me. I know my teammates got my back.”
Calipari knows Washington is a difference-maker for UK going into NCAA Tournament to play. He had 17 points, six rebounds and four assists in the SEC tourney loss to Tennessee.
“His ability to make shots and make free-throws and make floaters, he is skilled. The defense that he can play because he has got some physical toughness and size makes him where he is on both sides of the ball,” Calipari said.
“It’s hard to explain to guys all the time that it’s your passion, your energy, your fight, and, well, what about my skill, and I can shoot and all — well, you know, this thing that they want to do, in most cases, it’s going to be the team that wants it the most, that plays with the most energy, that plays with the spirit about them (in NCAA play.)
Washington also credits assistant coach Orlando Antigua for pushing him to improve and mature.
“He is very animated. He wants to get us all going,” Washington said. “He really wants what is best for us. We can all tell he really loves us. He pushes us all to the max.”
Kentucky sprinter Abby Steiner’s goal was to defend her 200-meter indoor national championship and not only did she do that but she also broke the meet record with a time of 22.16 seconds last weekend in Birmingham.
Steiner’s performance — she was also second in the 60-meter dash with a school record and personal best time of 7.1 seconds — helped the Kentucky women finish third in the team competition equaling the best team finish in school history.
Steiner was also on the 4×400 relay team that finished third.
Steiner broke the 200 record she tied last year that had been set by Harvard’s Gabby Thomas — a two-time Olympian.
“It’s so surreal (winning her second NCAA title), especially because this is the track I started my NCAA indoor career at. I was here freshman year and didn’t even make finals, so just seeing the growth at this place has been incredible,” Steiner said.
Her run was also the second fastest collegiate run ever. She ran a 22.09 to set a collegiate and American record at the recent SEC Championships.
A future Kentucky football player — and likely track team member — also had a big weekend on the track. Kentucky signee Jordan Anthony of Mississippi won the 200 at the Nike Indoor Nationals in 20.64 seconds — just .01 behind the fastest high school time ever. He also won the 60-meter dash.
Anthony now has two national titles and has the 17th best U.S. time ever in the 60-meter dash and third best in the 200.
Quote of the Week: “I don’t really spend time with a lot of different people I think can change my mind. I spend time with good people who want to see you succeed in what you do and want you to do better,” Kentucky center Oscar Tshiebwe on how he avoids outside clutter.
Quote of the Week 2: “Great crowd, great fans. Someone said there was a school that got more tickets and people (than us). Are you smoking crack? You can say that stuff over and over and think it is true, but it isn’t,” Kentucky coach John Calipari on UK fans at the SEC Tournament in Tampa.
Quote of the Week 3: “She will probably never forget that her entire life. To make that big shot at the end of a game is incredible,” Oscar Tshiebwe on the game-winning shot UK’s Dre Edwards hit to beat No. 1 South Carolina in the NCAA Tournament.