It was sad to hear about the passing of legendary UCLA coach John Wooden last night at age 99.  I never had the pleasure of meeting him but he's one of those people that you never heard anybody say anything negative about.  There's a podcast in the classic section elsewhere on the website with Kevin Grevey, talking about an encounter he had with Wooden at Pauley Pavillion and reliving the 1975 national title game (click here to listen to it).

Another story that comes to mind comes from UK's trip to Florida this past season.  I was sitting at press row watching the shootaround, just a few feet from coach Cal, and when his phone buzzed and he glanced at the ID, he was eager to show us who was calling him back--it was Wooden.  Cal had called him to talk about how to handle a team with these lofty expectations and he later said Wooden told him that he needed to shorten his rotation of players.  I'm sure Cal treasures that conversation now that Wooden has passed.

v. Louisville
September 2 / 3:30pm eastern
listen on UK-IMG Sports Network
See full schedule