The hiring of George Buchheit was a turning point for the Kentucky Wildcats basketball program. For years, it was team helmed by a series of one-off coaches and inconsistent results. Buchheit’s hiring put the Wildcats on a path to future success.
It didn’t take long for Kentucky to win a conference tournament under their new coach, and they followed up with another good season, although the didn’t win the tournament this time.
Heading into the 1922-23 season, the Kentucky program was gaining momentum. They were coming off of back to back winning seasons, and hoped to make it a third, but things wouldn’t quite go the way they planned.
In the next in a series of articles going through the history of Kentucky basketball, we’ll take a look at the 1922-23 season. It was a difficult one, but one of the last losing seasons the Wildcats would have for quite some time
A season without stars
In the previous two seasons, the Wildcats were led by the likes of Basil Hayden, William King, and Paul Adkins. However, none of those three were present on the 22-23 squad. Instead, Kentucky had to rely on players who hadn’t been major contributors before, and while some would step up, it wouldn’t be enough. Their final record would reflect that.
A new leader
While Kentucky didn’t have any stars, they did find a new leader for the season in Junior Carl Riefkin. In his first season with the Wildcats, he would lead the team in scoring. Though he wouldn’t be a long-term star for the team, he was key to the 1922-23 team.
The roster and stats
- Carl Riefkin (Jun): 10.2 ppg
- Fred Fest (Sen): 7.2 ppg
- William Poyntz (Jun): 3.3 ppg
- Gilbert Smith (Sen): 1.5 ppg
- Karl Rohs (Soph): 1.3 ppg
- William Wilkenson (Soph): 1.2 ppg
- Marshall Barnes (Jun): 0.8 ppg
- A.T. Rice (Jun): 0.8 ppg
- William Blanton (Soph): 0.7 ppg
- Wayne Foust (Soph): 0.2 ppg
- Lawrence Burnham (Sen): 0.2 ppg
- Ralph Boren (Soph): 0 ppg
- Charles Spilman (Jun): 0 ppg
