Kentucky Wildcats

From Hoopedia

Men's Basketball

The University of Kentucky men's basketball team is one of the elite NCAA basketball programs, having earned a total of seven NCAA titles. Its seven titles were won by four different coaches - Adolph Rupp - 1948, 1949, 1951 and 1958; Joe B. Hall - 1978; Rick Pitino - 1996; and Tubby Smith - 1998. Four coaches with national titles is a record for men's Division I basketball; North Carolina (3) is the only other school with more than two. UK is also the winningest men's college basketball program in the nation. Through the completion of the 2006 NCAA basketball tournament on 04/03/06, the Wildcats have a total of 1926 wins (North Carolina is second with a total of 1883 wins, and Kansas is third with a total of 1873 wins). UK's Rupp Arena has attained legendary status as one of the most difficult venues in the country for opponents to play.

Several Wildcats teams have reached legendary status within the state, and even among basketball fans elsewhere:

• The Fabulous Five: The 1948 team not only won the NCAA title, but provided the core of the USA team that won the Olympic gold medal that summer in London.

• NIT Scandal: 1952-53 - UK's season is suspended by the NCAA after a point shaving scandal.

• The 1954-55 Undefeated Team, which went 25-0 in the regular season and defeated LSU in a playoff to earn the Southeastern Conference bid to the NCAA tournament. However, several of the team's players had technically graduated during the 1953-54 season (when Kentucky was banned from intercollegiate play due to the point shaving scandal) and were prohibited from tournament play. Despite the wishes of the players, Rupp refused to allow the team to play in the tournament, thus leading to the team being called one of the best teams to not win the national title.

• The Fiddlin' Five: The 1958 team was given its nickname by Rupp due to his perception that they tended to "fiddle" early in games. However, they would right their ship in time to give Rupp his fourth and last national title.

• Rupp's Runts: The 1966 team, with no starter taller than 6'5" (1.96 m), was arguably the most beloved in UK history. Despite its lack of size, it used devastating defensive pressure and a fast-paced offense to take a 27-1 record and top national ranking into the NCAA final against Texas Western. However, the Miners would deny Rupp another title. For more details on the game, see the articles for Rupp and the Miners' coach, Don Haskins. Future NBA coach Pat Riley was a starter on this team.

• "The Season Without Celebration": Going into the 1977-78 season, the Wildcats faced perhaps the most suffocating expectations of any UK team. That year's senior class had, as freshmen, lost in the 1975 final to UCLA in John Wooden's final game as Bruins coach. The seniors had an outstanding supporting cast, and most Kentucky fans would have accepted nothing less than a national title. Despite its successful run to the title, the team was widely criticized, especially by its own fans, for being too serious and focused, giving rise to the "season without celebration" catchphrase.

• Kentucky's Shame: March 19, 1989 - In the wake of an NCAA investigation, Eddie Sutton resigns as UK basketball coach. On May 19, 1989 the NCAA placed Kentucky's basketball program on probation prompting the infamous Sports Illustrated cover.

• The Unforgettables: This refers to the 1992 team—more specifically, to the team's four seniors, Richie Farmer, Deron Feldhaus, John Pelphrey, and Sean Woods. They chose to stay with UK despite a major scandal, involving academic fraud and improper payments to a recruit, that engulfed the program in their freshman year of 1988-89. In their senior year, after a two-year absence from postseason play due to NCAA probation, they led the Cats to a deep run in the NCAA tournament, losing in the East Regional final to Duke in an overtime game often called the greatest in college basketball history. Making the group even more beloved was the fact that three (Farmer, Feldhaus, Pelphrey) were from small towns in the eastern half of Kentucky. The quartet's jerseys (not their numbers) were retired by UK immediately after the Duke loss; it is very unusual for any team to retire a jersey so quickly after a player's career is finished.

• The Untouchables: The 1996 team was arguably one of the most talented teams in college basketball history, with nine players who would eventually play in the NBA:
  • Derek Anderson
  • Tony Delk
  • Walter McCarty
  • Ron Mercer
  • Nazr Mohammed
  • Mark Pope
  • Jeff Sheppard
  • Wayne Turner
  • Antoine Walker

Since the Sagarin ratings have been in use, the 95-96 Kentucky ranks first among the all-time best teams:

• Kentucky (34-2) 1995-96 103.26
• Indiana (32-0) 1975-76 102.36
• UNLV (34-1) 1990-91 101.14
• Indiana (31-1) 1974-75 101.06
• North Carolina (34-4) 1992-93 100.10

This team became the first SEC team in 40 years to go through the conference regular season unbeaten. After stumbling in the SEC tournament final against Mississippi State, they would make a dominating run into the Final Four. They avenged an early-season loss to UMass in the semifinals, and defeated Syracuse in the final. Many of these players, including Scott Padgett, another future NBA player who was academically ineligible in 1996, would be back for an encore with...

• The Unbelievables: The 1997 team that just missed repeating as national champions when they lost to Arizona in overtime in the NCAA championship game. The nickname comes from the fact that early on in the season, few Wildcats fans gave Kentucky much of a chance of repeating their magical 1996 season. It also gained in importance as (due to injury and people leaving the school) the team only had nine total players for the 1997 NCAA Tournament. Mohammed, Padgett, Sheppard, and Turner would be back the following season to play on...

• The Comeback Cats: The 1998 national champions earned this nickname in their last three games. In the South Regional final against Duke, they gained a measure of payback against Duke for the 1992 defeat, coming back from a 17-point deficit with 9:38 remaining. In the national semifinal, they came back from a double-digit halftime deficit again, this time against Stanford. In the final against Utah, they became the first team to come back from a double-digit halftime deficit in the final game.

The current Head Coach is Billy Gillispie. Local press are struggling to find a nickname for the 2007-08 Cats due to their slow start, continuous adversity (due to injuries) and strong finish in the SEC. One suggestion has been "The Unbreakables".