Former LSU Coach Dale Brown on Sam Bowie, Kyle Macy, Kenny Walker

Former LSU basketball coach Dale Brown had some bitter battles with Kentucky during his legendary 25-year career that included two Final Four berths but probably respects UK basketball as much as any coach who competed against UK.

“I liked Sam Bowie a great deal,” said Brown, who won 448 games at LSU and made 10 straight NCAA Tournaments from 1984-93. “But they had so many great players, and we were so far behind them when I first started.  The average loss at Kentucky for LSU was like 25 or 26 points when I took over.”

He said former UK All-American Kyle Macy was always a “thorn in our side” but still vividly remembers a game UK won because a foul was not called on Bowie.

“We had won 17 league games in a row and had one game left at Kentucky. We called a timeout to set up a shot for Howard Carter on the last play to win the game,” the former LSU coach recalled. “Howard went up for a shot, and he could really shoot, and Sam Bowie came over and fouled him and the ref did not blow the whistle.”

Years later Brown was at an event with Bowie when the coach asked Bowie if he did indeed foul Carter.

“He said, ‘Yes I fouled him twice. I hit him in the head and then on the arm. I thought for sure the foul would be called.’ But Sam was a sweetheart and gentleman so you couldn’t be mad at him.”

Brown admits his favorite Kentucky was Kenny “Sky” Walker.

“He always played his heart out. We had a great game with them for the right to go to the Final Four (in 1986) after they beat us three times during the season,” Brown said. “We beat them and I saw he had tears in his eyes after the game, so I gave him a big hug because he played great. Kentucky probably would have won the national championship that year if we had not beat them.”