By Neil Schmidt
The Cincinnati Enquirer

UNION - The NCAA's repeal of the basketball scholarship limitation known as the "5/8" rule may pay Kentucky large dividends.

Large, as in 6-foot-11, 250-pound Randolph Morris, whom UK is now free to offer a scholarship.

Yet rescinding that rule, part of a package of academic reforms the NCAA announced last week, also puts the onus on UK. The school's men's basketball players have graduated at a 23 percent rate over the past four classes surveyed, well below the Division I average of 42 percent. And the football team's average of 32 percent over that span ranks it 110th of 117 Division I-A schools.

Though UK's current coaches and administrators weren't here when those athletes were recruited, the school clearly must improve its figures before the 2005-06 school year, when the NCAA begins handing out penalties for poor performance.

"We've got two coaches (Tubby Smith in basketball, Rich Brooks in football) that make academics a priority," UK executive associate athletic director Rob Mullens said. "We've got an athletic director (Mitch Barnhart) that wants to make sure we have a first-class student-athlete experience. We have a great structure, spending over $1.5 million a year on academic support for student-athletes.

"I think we'll see it improved."

Several UK coaches and administrators were on hand Monday for a "Big Blue Caravan" stop at Triple Crown Country Club. Smith hailed the defeat of the 5/8 rule, which allowed no more than five new scholarship players in any one year and eight in a two-year span.

UK was at that limit and would have had to get creative to get Randolph aboard.

The basketball team's graduation figures were hurt by numerous players leaving early for the NBA or transferring.

None of Smith's recruits have been accounted for, though a rash of transfers early in his tenure means UK's rates won't improve soon. Yet Smith and Barnhart have mentioned a desire to recruit more four-year players.

"Then again, how do you know a guy's a four-year player when you recruit him?" Smith said.

The football team's rates are primarily the result of past turmoil: a 1-10 season in 1994, numerous player departures and four different coaches since 1996.

"You'll see a much higher rate at the end of the five-year term (of his first recruits) than you do now," Brooks said.

RANDOLPH NEWS: Morris, the McDonald's All-American from Atlanta, has said he'll announce his decision Thursday. He will pick between UK and Georgia Tech and reportedly is favoring the Wildcats.

DELAY: Fund-raising for UK's proposed $28 million basketball practice facility has been slow enough for Barnhart to move the target date for completion back from fall of 2005 to fall of 2006.

TUBBY RETURNS: Smith will speak at an 8 a.m. breakfast today at the Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce's business-to-business trade show at the Albert B. Sabin Convention Center. Cost: $30 for members, $40 for nonmembers; call 579-3111 to register.

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E-mail nschmidt@enquirer.com