The Top Ten Sports Stories of 2017
From now until New Years eve we will be releasing two stories a day counting down the top ten stories of the past year locally.
Without further ado, here are numbers ten and nine.
10. UK Wildcats win SEC and fall in elite eight
The Kentucky Wildcats coming off a 27-9 season where they failed to reach the second weekend after losing to rival Indiana in the round of 32. The Cats were preseason number 4 USA today/#2 AP to begin the season. John Calipari had another top class coming in headlined by five star recruits De’Aaron Fox and Edrice “Bam” Adebayo. UK started the season 7-0 with a big win over Michigan State, they suffered their first loss to #11 UCLA at home on December 3rd. They get another big win over #7 UNC and then lose to bitter rival Louisville by three points in Louisville. In January the team suffers three losses in a two week span, losses to rivals Tennessee, Kansas, and Florida. The loss to Florida in early February would be the final loss until the NCAA tournament. UK rolls through the SEC tournament, winning the SEC regular season for the 48th time and the SEC tournament for the 30th time. Kentucky was a two seed in the east and avenging an early season loss to UCLA in the sweet sixteen before falling to the one seed North Carolina in the elite eight. UK led all of college basketball in home attendance for the 19th time in the past 22 seasons with an average of 23,461. Freshman De’Aaron Fox recorded the schools second ever triple double against Arizona State putting up 14 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists. The team once again had three players drafted in the NBA lottery, De’Aaon Fox #5 overall, Malik Monk #11, and Bam Adebayo #14.
#9 Berea College Women play for National Championship
The Lady Mountaineers played for a national championship and no one really talked about it. Since Berea is not a division one program they go unnoticed by too many people. The team went 21-7 overall, with a 12-2 record at home. The team started out 6-5, but in January the team only lost one more time in the regular season, going on a 13 game winning streak during the season. The team was led in scoring by sophomore Bethanie Williams at 15 PPG, and former Madison Southern Eagle freshman Bri Lanham at 14PPG, Lanham also average a 8 rebounds per game. Berea qualified for the USCAA national tournament as the second overall seed and won their first game and then had an overtime affair in which they won 72-70 over Rochester College. Waiting for them in the championship was the number one team Concordia College Alabama Hornets. Berea held a 17-10 lead after a quarter and the lady Mountaineers pushed out to a 21-12 lead before Concordia battled back to cut the lead to 31-25 at halftime with Berea on top. Berea led almost the entire third quarter until the Hornets knocked down a free throw to take a one point lead into the fourth. Concordia opened on a five point run to start the quarter and Berea could never retake the lead. Berea finished the season 21-7 in what was a magical season.
