From Staff Reports

Call them “The Kentucky Gang,” four star high school players lured from the Bluegrass to the Blue Ridge by Terry Holland in the late 1970s as he built Virginia into a college basketball powerhouse.

Jeff Lamp, Lee Raker, Jeff Jones and Terry Gates comprised that recruiting coup by Holland, who stole these bluechippers out from under Kentucky’s Joe B. Hall, Louisville’s Denny Crum and Indiana’s Bob Knight.

The foursome will be special guests on this week’s “The Hootie & JJ Show” Thursday evening, hosted by state of Virginia Sports Hall of Famer Jerry “Hootie” Ratcliffe and former UVA player and coach Jeff “JJ” Jones, who is part of the Kentucky stars.

The group will talk about how Holland landed the quartet, three of them — Lamp, Raker and Gates — out of Ballard High School, along with Jones, who played for Apollo High School in Owensboro. Should be a blast listening to the players discuss the fabulous ride at Virginia, which was ranked No. 1 in the nation for much of their careers and playing with Ralph Sampson.