THE VANDERBILT GAME - JAN. '50: Leaping high for a score is Kentucky's mighty midget Bobby Watson, who will face Vanderbilt again.	THE TENNESSEE GAME - JAN. '50: Kentucky's Watson in action again. Despite his and Bill Spivey's effort, Tennessee won 53-66.

KENTUCKY was considered to be in the throes of a "building year" at the start of the 1949-50 season. It responded to this estimate by winning twenty-five games, losing five, taking its seventh straight Southeastern Conference championship and qualifying for the National Invitation tournament. It apears now that the other teams of the Southeasten Conference - perhaps all the teams in the nation as well - have missed the boat.

Now Kentucky is stronger, perhaps as strong as in the Groza-Beard-Wah Wah Jones era. The "untried" sophomores of last year have grown up and the team looks set and hard. By graduation it lost Capt. Dale Barnstable and Jim Line, the left-handed forward. By accession from the sophomore ranks and by development of second-stringers, it has more thanmade up for these defections.

Kentucky's greatest asset, of course, is Bill Spivey, the seven-foot-plus center who broke numerous all-time records of the Southeastern Conference last year and even excelled his illustrious predecessor, Alex Groza. The second outstanding individual is Bobby Watson, small but fiery guard, who occupies the same position on this team Ralph Beard did on the championship aggregation of two years ago. It is now considered good taste in Lexingto to mention Watson in the same breath with Beard.

It looks as if Coach Adolph Rupp, Machiavelli of the Blue Grass, may go with one sophomore. As the season start Frank Ramsey, a guard standing six-three, appears likely to be the boy chosen to work with Watson. Ramsey, a native of Madisonville, Ky., has great drive and speed and popped in 109 field goals in sixteen freshman games last year. There is another first-class man in this position, Lucian Whitaker, a junior from Sarasota, Fla., who did considerable duty last season. He is fast and scores with a one-hand push shot.

No one came close to Spivey's 578 points last year, but both reigning forwards, Walt Hisch and Shelby Linville, a pair of Ohioans, are effective scorers. Hirsch, an excellent ball-handler and push-shooter, wrapped up 127 field goals. Linville played only briefly, being ineligible the whole of the first semester, but he turned out to be an unusally effective point-getter in late season.

THE ST. JOHN'S GAME - DEC. '49: Inspired play by St. John's Zawoluk dumped the Kentuckians 58-69 last season. They'll meet him again in '51

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