Blue Blood Program: Kentucky is Ultimate Mount Rushmore Hoop Power

Choose any combination of categories (victories, national team records, winning streaks, final Top 20 or 25 polls, total of All-Americans, conference championships, etc.) and one basketball program has consistently stood above them all. It's the University of Kentucky, which is ranked #1 by CollegeHoopedia.com as the all-time premier basketball school! However, excellence and Kentucky didn't co-exist at the beginning.

Basketball at UK reportedly started in 1903 when W.W.H. Mustaine called together some students, took up a collection totaling $3 for a ball and told them to start playing. There was no official coach the first seven seasons when managers guided the squad to a 21-35 record (.375). Centre (KY), the state power in the early years, defeated Kentucky (87-17 in 1909-10) and Louisville (61-7 in 1919-20) by more than 50 points, handing each perennial power its most lopsided loss in history.

Believe it or not, the mighty Wildcats lost their first six games against Georgetown. And the 'Cats didn't have Hoya Paranoia. The nemesis was Georgetown College (KY), not Georgetown University (DC).

At the time, Lexington wasn't the place to be. Eleven of Kentucky's first 13 coaches through 1927 coached just one campaign. But in-state Georgetown was whipped by the Wildcats, 67-19, in legendary coach Adolph Rupp's college debut in 1930. Rupp's first two seasons as Kentucky's coach were the Wildcats' last two years as a member of the Southern Conference before they joined the SEC. His salary was $2,800 in 1930-31 and $3,000 in 1931-32. Current coach John Calipari probably earns that much per tweet.

Over the decades, UK's program evolved to the pressure point that, buttressed by so many loyal supporters, it seems as if it is managed by three million "coaches." Although Kentucky was late in embracing African-American players and boasts a booster culture of suspect off-the-court shenanigans, it is difficult for any program to measure up to the success enjoyed by the Wildcats' fans in Big Blue Heaven since an inauspicious start.

In the aftermath of Kentucky's eighth NCAA championship, it seems like an appropriate time for a history lesson acknowledging the following timeline capturing the Wildcats' illustrious history since the introduction of national postseason competition in the late 1930s:

1937-38: Joe Hagan's 48-foot shot with 12 seconds remaining enabled Kentucky to edge Marquette, 35-33. Showing the state's obsession with hoops success after the game, Gov. Happy Chandler pounded a nail into the floor to mark the spot of the decisive shot. Hagan went to Kentucky to play football, tried out for the basketball team uninvited by coach Adolph Rupp and was captain of the Wildcats' 1937 football squad.

1939-40: Kentucky began a streak of 19 consecutive victories over Vanderbilt that ended in 1951.

1941-42: Kentucky lost to Notre Dame for the seventh consecutive time, including the last four years by an average of three points. UK's first game in an NCAA Tournament resulted in a 46-44 verdict over Big Ten titlist Illinois. Wildcats forward Ermal Allen, who scored 10 points in two playoff games, went on to intercept four passes as a defensive back for Cleveland (AAFC) in 1947 before becoming a longtime assistant coach and front office staff member of the Dallas Cowboys. Allen competed in the pros under coach Paul Brown after playing football in college under Paul "Bear" Bryant. Forget about Butler's bumbling and stumbling last year because Kentucky's output in a 47-28 loss to Dartmouth in the national semifinals is an all-time Final Four-low.

1943-44: Kentucky freshman center Bob Brannum was an NCAA consensus first-team All-American. He was one of three UK freshmen named to the SEC's All-Tournament first team. Eventual champion Utah entered the NCAA Tournament through the back door after losing to Kentucky in the first round of the NIT.

1944-45: In a gigantic mismatch, Kentucky overwhelmed Arkansas State, 75-6, although Alex Groza, the Wildcats' standout freshman center, did not play in the game. Groza led Kentucky to an 11-0 start with an average of 16.5 points per game before he was inducted into the Army.

1945-46: Kentucky (28-2) captured the NIT in coach Adolph Rupp's 16th of 41 seasons with the Wildcats. Rhode Island's Ernie Calverley was named NIT Most Valuable Player although Kentucky freshman Ralph Beard outscored him, 13-8, when UK won the final, 46-45. Beard had played freshman football for the Wildcats, starting three games at fullback behind quarterback George Blanda.

1946-47: Utah won the NIT as 5-8 Wat Misaka restricted unanimous first-team All-American Ralph Beard to one point in a 49-45 triumph over Kentucky in the championship game. Kentucky standout center Alex Groza saw limited action in the SEC Tournament because of a back injury, but the Wildcats cruised to victories over Vanderbilt (98-29), Auburn (84-18), Georgia Tech (75-53) and Tulane (55-38). The all-tourney team (considered the All-SEC team that season) included five Wildcats on the first five - forwards Jack Tingle and Joe Holland, center Wallace "Wah Wah" Jones and guards Ken Rollins and Beard. Sophomores Beard and Groza are the only set of underclassmen teammates named NCAA consensus first-team All-Americans in the same year since the start of the NCAA Tournament. Tingle, a four-time All-SEC selection, died in 1958 at the age of 33 because of cancer. A reason UK may have failed to repeat as NIT champion was Converse All-American guard Jack Parkinson was serving in the U.S. Air Force.

1947-48: Kentucky's winningest team in school history (36-3 record despite a mid-season stretch featuring 10 road contests in a 12-game span) had an excessive amount of maturity since Ken Rollins, Alex Groza, Dale Barnstable, Jim Line and Cliff Barker were World War II service veterans. Barker, a defensive specialist, was in a German prisoner-of-war camp for 16 months after the Army crewman's B-17 was shot down in Europe. He improved his ballhandling skills by filling idle time in prison camp bouncing and passing a volleyball, the only ball he could find. Kentucky's victory total set an NCAA record that stood for 39 years until 1987. Guard Jack Parkinson, a former All-American, didn't participate in the playoffs for the Wildcats because he was a fourth-year varsity player.

1948-49: Kentucky, unbeaten in SEC competition for the third consecutive season en route to becoming the first school to win more than 30 games overall in three consecutive campaigns, finished sixth nationally in both team offense and defense to successfuly defend its NCAA crown. Wildcats coach Adolph Rupp needed every single one of the victories to finish one win ahead of Harold Anderson (248 with Toledo and Bowling Green State) for most triumphs in the decade. The UK trio comprised of Ralph Beard, Alex Groza and Wah Wah Jones were All-Americans for the third straight year. Despite returning seven of his top eight scorers from an NCAA titlist, Rupp experimented with the Wildcats' lineup until he achieved the chemistry he sought. Cliff Barker was moved from forward to guard and forward Dale Barnstable also played some guard. After an early-season defeat to St. Louis on a last-second tip-in, Kentucky won all of its games until bowing in the NIT to eventual finalist Loyola of Chicago. A couple of years later, Groza, Beard and Barnstable admitted in sworn testimony that they accepted $1,500 in bribes to throw the NIT game against Loyola. There was also testimony that bribes from gamblers were accepted to shave points in other contests. Each received a suspended sentence in return for cooperating with federal officials and were banned by the NBA. Beard, who appeared on the cover of the very first issue of Sports Illustrated, and Groza are the only two of the 10 players who started the first NBA All-Star Game in 1951 not to be in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Beard admits to taking $700, but not even the gambler, a student who sat on Kentucky's bench, said Beard agreed to shave points. "It's like I told the grand jury," Beard said. "I said, `I would like to know what constitutes guilt. If taking money constitutes guilt, I'm guilty. But if influencing the point spread constitutes guilt, I'm as innocent as anybody ever was.' I was too selfish as a player, too proud of who I was, to ever play less than my best."

1949-50: Kentucky claimed its seventh consecutive SEC Tournament title. The Wildcats sustained just 15 defeats a five-year span. Georgia's 71-60 success over UK was the Bulldogs' lone victory in a 31-game stretch of their series from 1940 through 1966. The Wildcats (25-5) were embarrassed by CCNY, 89-50, in their NIT opener.

1950-51: The only regular-season defeat for NCAA champion-to-be Kentucky was against St. Louis (43-42) in the opening round of the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. The Wildcats also bowed to Vanderbilt in the SEC Tournament final (61-57) at Louisville although the championship trophy already had "Kentucky" engraved on it. A scandal surrounding college basketball had not yet focused intensely on Kentucky when the Wildcats captured their third NCAA title in four years. The Wildcats were the only NCAA champion to have six players finish the season with scoring averages higher than nine points per game until UCLA duplicated the feat in 1995.

1951-52: Kentucky boasted three of the five-man All-SEC AP first-team selections for the third time in four seasons. UK first-team All-American Cliff Hagan established SEC Tournament records for most points in a single game (42 against Tennessee) and in an entire tourney (110 in four games). Kentucky (29-3), the first school to lead the nation in scoring with an average of more than 80 points per game (82.3), claimed its ninth consecutive SEC regular-season title. The Wildcats' two regular-season defeats were in non-league play (61-57 at Minnesota and 61-60 vs. St. Louis in the Sugar Bowl final in New Orleans). It was the third time in four years for SLU to defeat a top-ranked Kentucky club. No other school beat the Wildcats more than twice in an eight-season stretch from 1946-47 through 1954-55. Kentucky humiliated St. John's by 41 points (81-40) early in the season when the Catholic institution became the first to have a black player on the floor at Lexington, Ky. Solly Walker played only a few minutes. St. John's, sparked by center Bob Zawoluk's 32 points, avenged the rout by eliminating the Wildcats (64-57) in the East Regional, ending their 23-game winning streak.

1952-53: Kentucky was barred from playing a competitive schedule as the result of an NCAA ruling regarding improper payments to players.

1953-54: Undefeated Kentucky finished among the top 10 in team offense and won at least 25 games for the eighth consecutive season that it participated in. Cliff Hagan and Frank Ramsey combined for 43.6 points per game and either one or both of them led the Wildcats in scoring in each of their 25 contests. "I am the leader of my team," Rupp said. "I know how to win. The players will do it my way, or they won't do it for me." After a one-year schedule boycott, Kentucky's undefeated squad declined a bid to the NCAA playoffs because its three fifth-year (postgraduate) stars - Cliff Hagan, Frank Ramsey and Lou Tsioropoulos - were ineligible. The Wildcats defeated national champion-to-be La Salle by 13 points in the UK Invitation Tournament final on their way to being ranked 1st by AP and 2nd by UPI. UK had just two games tighter than a 12-point decision (77-71 over Xavier and 63-56 over Louisiana State). Sandwiched between those two contests were 16 victories by an average margin of 33.7 points.

1954-55: David slew Goliath twice in a 23-day period. Kentucky's NCAA-record 129-game homecourt winning streak was snapped by Georgia Tech, 59-58, on January 8. Tech guard Joe Helms scored a game-high 23 points, including a one-handed, 12-footer with 11 seconds remaining to end the Wildcats' 54-game regular-season winning streak and 16-year unbeaten streak at home in the SEC. The Jackets, 2-22 the previous season and 22-73 the previous four years, had lost to Sewanee (TN), 67-66, one game prior to venturing to Lexington, where they had lost 10 times during UK's streak by an average margin of 35 points. Later in January, Tech became the first team to twice defeat Kentucky coach Adolph Rupp in the same season, leading the Wildcats all the way in a 65-59 decision. Georgia Tech, coached by Whack Hyder, used only five players in both upsets after losing its previous 28 games to UK. Despite the pair of setbacks to a team that finished with a losing record (12-13 with homecourt defeats against SEC foes after both UK victories), Rupp improved his career mark to 520-86 (85.8 winning percentage) as the Wildcats went 23-3.

1955-56: Alabama's squad, dominated by Midwest recruits who didn't survive tryouts to receive scholarships from Notre Dame, became the first opponent to score 100 points against Kentucky. The 20-6 Wildcats, the SEC's representative to the NCAA Tournament, were whipped by 24 points (101-77 in the Massacre in Montgomery) as 'Bama went on a 27-2 second-half spurt en route to finishing the season with 16 consecutive victories. It was Alabama's lone victory over UK in a 23-game stretch of their series from 1943 through 1963. UK's Bob Burrow (34 in a loss to Temple) set a school single-game rebounding record.

1956-57: Mississippi State's Jim Ashmore (28.3) and Bailey Howell (25.9), the first set of teammates in NCAA history to average more than 25 points per game in a single season, combined for 61 points in MSU's first victory over Kentucky in 33 years (89-81) as the Wildcats missed their first 13 field-goal attempts. UK, ranked No. 3 entering the NCAA tourney, blew a 12-point halftime lead at home in an 80-68 setback to Michigan State in the Mideast Regional final. It was only the Wildcats' fifth defeat on their homecourt since 1943. They compiled a modest .500 record (4-4) in NCAA playoff competition between national titles in 1951 and 1958.

1957-58: Would Kentucky's storied "Fiddlin' Five," a team equaling the most defeats (six) of any Wildcats squad in the previous 15 seasons, snared the title if it didn't enjoy a home-state edge throughout the playoffs (Mideast Regional at Lexington and Final Four at Louisville)? A highly-partisan crowd give them an emotional lift in the national semifinals when they trailed Temple by four points and the Owls had the ball with less than a minute and half remaining. UK benefitted from a sub-par performance by Seattle's Elgin Baylor in the national final, where he went 9 for 32 from the floor. Baylor was named Final Four Most Outstanding Player although the award could have gone to UK's Johnny Cox, who collected 22 points and 13 rebounds in a 61-60 victory over Temple and 24 points and 16 rebounds in an 84-72 triumph over Seattle. Cox, a 6-4 forward, is the shortest player to lead an NCAA Tournament champion in rebounding (12.6 per game) since the NCAA began keeping rebounding statistics in the early 1950s. Kentucky center Ed Beck (5.6 ppg, 11.6 rpg) is the only championship team member averaging more than five points per game to also post a rebounds-per-game average at least twice as high as his scoring.

1958-59: Forward Johnny Cox was Kentucky's only All-SEC AP first-team selection in a four-year span from 1956-57 through 1959-60. Second-ranked UK (24-3) hit less than one-third of its field-goal attempts in blowing a 15-point lead and absorbing a 76-61 setback against Louisville (19-12) in the Mideast Regional semifinals. The Wildcats' other two defeats were by a minimum of eight points at Vanderbilt and Mississippi State. Kentucky clobbered Marquette, 98-69, in the Mideast consolation game to become the first school to win at least one game in five consecutive NCAA Tournaments.

1959-60: Kentucky's streak of 20-win seasons ended at 14 when the Wildcats finished with an 18-7 record after losing two of their last four games by a total of three points. Excluding the 1952-53 campaign when the Wildcats were banned by the NCAA from competing, it was the first time they didn't finish among the top 10 in a final wire-service poll. It was also the first time they lost more than twice to SEC opponents (10-4) in regular-season competition since 1940.

1960-61: Louisiana State posted a losing record (11-14), but the Tigers managed their lone victory over Kentucky (73-59) in the first 36 games of their series from 1933 to 1972. UK (19-9) incurred four two-point defeats in a nine-game, mid-season span. Ohio State's Jerry Lucas outrebounded Kentucky by himself when he retrieved a tourney-high 30 missed shots in an 87-74 triumph over the Wildcats in the Mideast Regional final.

1961-62: Scotty Baesler, the former mayor of Lexington, Kentucky, represented Kentucky's Sixth District in the U.S. House of Representatives before running for governor in 1994. He scored a total of 13 points in four NCAA Tournament games for the Wildcats' Mideast Regional runners-up in 1961 and 1962.

1962-63: Kentucky's streak of consecutive season-opener victories ended at 34 when the Wildcats bowed to visiting Virginia Tech, 80-77. Dean Smith, in his second year as North Carolina's coach, won at Kentucky, 68-66. The 12th victory of his career came against UK legend Adolph Rupp, who was bypassed by Smith as the all-time winningest major-college coach 34 seasons later.

1963-64: Kentucky's five starters had an average height of a modest 6-3 1/2, but they each grabbed more than 10 rebounds when the Wildcats established an NCAA single-game record by retrieving 108 missed shots in a 102-59 mauling of Mississippi. All-American Cotton Nash tied his career high by hauling down 30 rebounds, the most ever by a UK player against a Southeastern Conference opponent. Kentucky, ranked No. 3 by UPI and No. 4 by AP entering the NCAA tourney, dropped its opener to Ohio University, 85-69, when the Wildcats fell behind by 16 points at intermission.

1964-65: Florida defeated Kentucky, 84-68, for the Gators' first victory over the Wildcats since 1934. Florida lost 18 games to Kentucky in that span. UK also was defeated by St. Louis for the fifth time in six seasons, 80-75, although the Billikens' average record in that span was just 16-11.

1965-66: Texas Western, featuring an all-black starting lineup with three players 6-1 or shorter in the NCAA final, stunned top-ranked and all-white Kentucky (72-65). Junior college transfer Bobby Joe Hill, one of the Miners' tiny trio, converted steals into layups on consecutive trips down the floor by flustered Kentucky guards to give them a lead they never relinquished. Six of Kentucky's top 11 scorers 12 years later in 1978 when the Wildcats captured the NCAA title were black athletes. Larry Conley, a starting forward for UK national coach of the year Adolph Rupp, didn't eventually achieve the name recognition of Dick Vitale. But Conley was the other hoops analyst with ESPN from the cable network's inception.

1966-67: Kentucky, despite returning its top three scorers from an NCAA finalist, suffered its only non-winning record in coach Adolph Rupp's 41 seasons at the helm when the Wildcats went 13-13. They were 8-10 in league competition for their only losing SEC mark in history until UK duplicated that record under Eddie Sutton in 1988-89. Kentucky's defeats included a 92-77 setback to visiting Cornell, the only Ivy League team to beat the Wildcats since 1942. Adding insult to injury for UK was that 37 of Cornell's points were scored by junior guard Gregg Morris, the first African-American to be honored with an All-Ivy first-team selection. The Cornell contest was one of a school-record seven homecourt defeats for Kentucky. Georgia's 49-40 success over UK was the Bulldogs' lone victory in a 29-game stretch of their series from 1950 through 1971. Bigotry was costly to the 'Cats as in-state African-Americans Butch Beard (Louisville), [Clem Haskins](coaches/clem-haskins) (Western Kentucky) and Wes Unseld (Louisville) were All-Americans who combined for 61.8 points and 38.2 rebounds per game.

1967-68: Kentucky boasted more All-Americans than any school in the 20th Century. But a player who never earned A-A status set the school record for most points in his first varsity game. He is guard Mike Casey, who debuted with 28 at Michigan. Unranked Ohio State won at fifth-ranked Kentucky, 82-81, in the Mideast Regional final on Dave Sorenson's short bank shot with three seconds remaining. The Wildcats hadn't loss at home all season.

1968-69: Kentucky became the first school to win 1,000 games.

1969-70: Louisiana State's Pete Maravich (64) and Kentucky's Dan Issel (51) each scored more than 50 points in the same game when the Wildcats won, 121-105. It was one of eight times in Issel's senior season that he scored at least 40 to help Kentucky become the most prolific scoring team in SEC history (96.8 points per game). Issel set a school single-season scoring record with 33.9 ppg. Teammate Mike Pratt, an All-SEC first-team forward, went on to coach UNC Charlotte for four seasons from 1978-79 through 1981-82. UK, after absorbing just one regular-season defeat (at Vanderbilt), was ranked No. 1 in the nation entering the tourney although starting guard Mike Casey missed the entire campaign because of injuries suffered in an auto accident. But UK lost to eventual NCAA Tournament runner-up Jacksonville, 106-100, in the Mideast Regional final. Casey was the Wildcats' leading scorer as a sophomore in 1967-68 with 20 points per game and their second-leading scorer as a junior the next year with a 19.1-point average.

1970-71: Senior forward Larry Steele, an All-SEC second-team selection, coached the University of Portland for seven seasons from 1987-88 through 1993-94. Tom Payne, who broke the color barrier at Kentucky, led the Wildcats in rebounding (10.1 rpg) and was their second-leading scorer (16.9 ppg) in his only varsity season before turning pro. The All-SEC first-team selection had a 39-point, 19-rebound performance vs. Louisiana State. Payne, the son of an Army sergeant, went from pioneer to pariah in the wake of incurring rape convictions in three states (Georgia, Kentucky and California). Some might contend that his view is a convenient crutch. But after growing up in the integrated atmosphere of Army bases, he says that the racism he experienced during his one tumultuous season with UK led him to detest white people and abuse women. Threatening phone calls, broken car windows and eggs smashed on his front door became routine. "That's the kind of abuse I went through," Payne said. "And people think that's not supposed to affect you? Before I went to college, nothing in my life said I was going to be a criminal. My whole life took a turn going to UK and getting damaged so much. My anger and hatred toward white society came up, and I lashed out."

1971-72: Adolph Rupp, called the "Baron of the Bluegrass," retired after a 41-year coaching career with a 875-190 record. Rupp won four NCAA Tournament championships but had a losing NCAA playoff record (10-12) after capturing his last national title in 1958. "Every boy who puts on a Kentucky uniform just plays a little better than he would in one of another color," Rupp said. Rupp's final game was a 73-54 defeat against Florida State in the Mideast Regional final. Reminiscent of the 1966 NCAA title contest against Texas Western, UK started an all-white lineup while FSU's starters all were black. In a subplot, FSU coach Hugh Durham and three of his players (Ron King, Otto Petty and Larry Gay) were Kentucky natives who had been largely ignored by "The Baron." Rupp sustained eight regional final losses from 1952 through 1972 by an average margin of 10 points. He also incurred a national quarterfinal reversal in 1945 when the first round of the eight-team event was identified as the regional semifinals. Six of Rupp's first seven "field of eight" defeats were against Big Ten Conference teams, including Ohio State four times.

1972-73: In Joe B. Hall's first season at the helm, Kentucky captured its sixth consecutive SEC regular-season championship. Mississippi lost 39 straight games to UK in their series until Ole Miss prevailed, 61-58.

1973-74: Ted Owens-coached Kansas (23-7), the nation's most-improved team, posted its only victory over Kentucky (71-63) in the first 17 meetings of their series from 1950-51 through 1984-85. UK (13-13) didn't participate in a national postseason tournament for the only time in a 21-year span from 1968 through 1988. Rick Pitino, who led Massachusetts in assists with 6.5 per game, would later coach the Wildcats to the 1996 NCAA title.

1974-75: Indiana, undefeated entering the tourney (29-0), lost the Mideast Regional final against Kentucky (92-90) despite Kent Benson's 33 points and tourney-high 23 rebounds. Kentucky prevailed despite 6-of-19 field-goal shooting by leading scorer Kevin Grevey. UK guards Jimmy Dan Conner and Mike Flynn combined to outscore Indiana counterparts Quinn Buckner and Bobby Wilkerson, 39-22. It was IU's only setback in a 68-game stretch from March 15, 1974, until December 1, 1976. Incredibly, Final Four Most Outstanding Players-to-be Jack Givens of Kentucky and Butch Lee of Marquette were blanked in the same game in their freshman season when Kentucky mauled Marquette, 76-54, in the Mideast Regional. UK finished national runner-up after entering the tourney with an 11-13 NCAA playoff record in its first 11 appearances after capturing the 1958 title. Kentucky had four regulars shoot better than 50% from the floor during the campaign - forward Kevin Grevey, guard Jimmy Dan Conner, and centers Rick Robey and Mike Phillips. If only they combined to hit 44.2% of their field-goal attempts instead of 36.5% (19 of 52) in the championship game, the Wildcats could have defeated UCLA rather than losing 92-85.

1975-76: Kentucky (20-10) won the NIT title after finishing in a tie for fourth place in the SEC. The Wildcats probably would have participated in the NCAA Tournament instead of the NIT if forward-center Rick Robey didn't miss more than half of the season because of a knee injury. Georgia defeated UK, 81-76, for the Bulldogs' lone victory in a 21-game stretch of their series from 1972 through 1982.

1976-77: Guard Truman Claytor, who averaged a modest 6.6 points per game, erupted for a game-high 29 points in Kentucky's 93-78 triumph over Virginia Military in the East Regional semifinals.

1977-78: Jack Givens sank 18 of 27 field-goal attempts against Duke's zone defense and scored Kentucky's last 16 points of the first half en route to a 41-point performance in a 94-88 triumph in the final. Givens and three different teammates comprised the four different players to lead Kentucky in scoring in the four previous tourney games. It marked the vaunted Wildcats' lone NCAA championship in a 37-year span from 1959 through 1995. The basketball gods might have preordained the title as a tribute to former UK coach Adolph Rupp, who passed away early in the season (December 11, 1977). Neither of Kentucky's top two point producers - Givens or Rick Robey - led the Wildcats in scoring in any of their first three playoff victories propelling them to the Final Four.

1978-79: Kentucky (19-12 record) incurred its first second-division finish in the SEC (6th place) since the league's inaugural season in 1932-33 before losing at home in the first round of the NIT to Clemson before an NIT single-game attendance record of 23,522 spectators. The Wildcats bowed three times to Tennessee by an average of 11.3 points.

1979-80: Kentucky All-American guard Kyle Macy, a three-time All-SEC first-team selection after transferring from Purdue, eventually coached Morehead State for nine seasons from 1997-98 through 2005-06.

1980-81: Kentucky defeated eventual NCAA champion Indiana but Louisiana State became the first SEC member other than UK in 28 years to reach the Final Four.

1981-82: Mississippi, managing its first winning SEC record in 22 years (11-7), posted the Rebels' lone victory over Kentucky in a 28-game stretch of their series from 1975 through 1986. Middle Tennessee State (seeded No. 11) overcame an early 8-0 deficit to defeat the Wildcats (#6), 50-44, in the first round of the Mideast Regional. Missing center Sam Bowie (leg injury), no UK player scored more than eight points.

1982-83: The first meeting between in-state rivals Kentucky and Louisville in more than 24 years was memorable as the Cardinals outscored the Wildcats 18-6 in overtime in the Mideast Regional final to reach the Final Four. Kentucky (23-8) might have prevailed if center Sam Bowie didn't miss a second season because of a leg injury.

1983-84: In the first regular-season meeting in 61 years between in-state rivals Kentucky and Louisville, the Wildcats whipped the Cardinals, 65-44. Later, Kentucky's Melvin Turpin tied a SEC Tournament record with 42 points against Georgia. UK finished among the Top 10 in a final wire-service poll for the seventh time in the last 10 years under coach Joe B. Hall. UK's Sam Bowie became the only player ever to return to All-American status after being a medical redshirt. Georgetown, leading the nation in field-goal percentage defense (39.5%), exhibited its tenacity in the national semifinals when they harassed Kentucky into shooting a dismal 9.1% in the second half (3 of 33) en route to a 53-40 victory. Georgetown's Michael Jackson, a 6-1 guard averaging 1.4 rebounds per game entering the Final Four, retrieved 10 missed shots against UK's formidable frontline to help the Hoyas overcome a seven-point halftime deficit. The Wildcats went 13 minutes in one stretch without a basket.

1985-86: Eddie Sutton, guiding Kentucky to more than 30 victories for the first time in 20 seasons, became the first individual to be named national coach of the year for two different schools since wire services began issuing such awards in the mid-1950s. He captured the honor in back-to-back seasons with Arkansas in the late 1970s. First-team All-American Kenny Walker hit all 11 of his field-goal attempts in a 71-64 victory over Western Kentucky in the second round of the Southeast Regional. Walker was the game-high scorer in all four of the Wildcats' playoff contests this year and supplied the team-high total in each of their seven tourney assignments over the last two seasons. He is the only player to be the game-high scorer in back-to-back NCAA contests between schools from the same conference (vs. Alabama and Louisiana State).

1986-87: Ohio State defeated Kentucky for the fifth time in as many NCAA playoff matchups.

1987-88: Kentucky became the fourth different SEC school in four years to have its NCAA Tournament participation vacated. The previous SEC offenders were Georgia '85, Alabama '87 and Florida '87.

1988-89: Kentucky's NCAA-record streak of consecutive non-losing seasons was stopped at 60 when the Wildcats compiled a 13-19 mark in Eddie Sutton's last year as their coach. They lost their home opener, 85-82, to a rag-tag squad from Northwestern (LA) State that finished the campaign with a 13-16 mark. The following indiscretions left UK's program in turmoil: (1) Chris Mills transferred to Arizona in the wake of a Los Angeles newspaper reporting that Emery Worldwide employees had discovered $1,000 in an accidentally opened package sent to Mills' father by Wildcats assistant Dwane Casey. Teammate LeRon Ellis, another product from California, transferred to Syracuse; (2) prize recruit Shawn Kemp, a Proposition 48 casualty, dropped out of school after an alleged theft, and (3) starter Eric Manuel's ACT score was questioned when it doubled from the second time he took the test to the third. Manuel eventually transferred.

1989-90: Kentucky had eight different players hit a three-point basket in a 104-73 victory over Furman on December 19, 1989. Four days later, Kentucky (53) and Southwestern Louisiana (31) combined for 84 three-point field-goal attempts when USL upset UK, 116-113. The Wildcats averaged an NCAA-record 28.9 three-point attempts per game during the season.

1990-91: UK was on NCAA probation.

1991-92: Duke's Christian Laettner hit a dramatic decisive last-second shot against Kentucky in overtime after receiving a long inbounds pass in the East Regional final. The game is acknowledged as one of the most suspenseful in NCAA history. UK coach Rick Pitino was criticized in some quarters for leaving Grant Hill unguarded for his approximate 80-foot pass to Laettner with 2.1 seconds remaining in overtime. Swingman John Pelphrey, averaging more than 12 points per game for the third straight season, went on to become coach at South Alabama and Arkansas. Teammate Sean Woods eventually coached Mississippi Valley State in the NCAA playoffs.

1992-93: Kentucky's longest All-American drought (four years) since World War II ended when Wildcats forward Jamal Mashburn was honored. Junior guard Travis Ford of the Final Four-bound Wildcats was their leader in assists (4.9 apg), steals (1.6 spg), field-goal percentage (52.7%) and free-throw percentage (88.1%). He went on to become coach at Eastern Kentucky, Massachusetts and Oklahoma State.

1993-94: Kentucky tied an NCAA record by overcoming a 31-point, second-half deficit in a 99-95 victory at Louisiana State. The Wildcats trailed 68-37 with 15 1/2 minutes remaining before rallying. Neither Kentucky, North Carolina nor UCLA won at least two playoff games for the first time in 31 tournaments. Arkansas became the first SEC member other than Kentucky ever to win a Final Four game.

1994-95: A school-record 11 blocked shots by freshman center Samaki Walker helped Louisville nip Kentucky, 88-86, for the Cardinals' first victory over the Wildcats since 1989.

1995-96: Kentucky became the first SEC team in 40 years to go undefeated in league regular-season competition. The Wildcats won all but one of their regular-season SEC games by double digits but lost in the SEC Tournament final to Mississippi State. UK quickly regrouped, however, and the Big Blue showed clearly in the NCAA playoffs that it was the nation's premier team. Kentucky's dominance in the Midwest Regional led some observers to again believe the Wildcats were untouchable, but two rugged games at the Final Four revealed that the principal difference between the Wildcats and the remainder of the field was roster depth brimming with high school All-Americans. UK, entering the Final Four with an opportunity to become the first NCAA kingpin to win all of its playoff games by at least 20 points, won both Final Four games by a single-digit margin. Freshman Ron Mercer gave Kentucky a big boost with 20 points in the final after scoring just four points in the regional. The Wildcats won the final despite shooting 38% from the floor, the lowest for a winner in 33 years. Kentucky's Tony Delk tied a championship game record with seven three-pointers. "I want us to play mother-in-law defense: constant nagging and harassment," said UK coach Rick Pitino.

1996-97: Coach Pitino departed of his own volition after the season to return to the NBA. Pitino averaged 30 victories annually his last six years with the Wildcats. All-American Ron Mercer (18.1 ppg) had the lowest SEC-leading scoring average since Vanderbilt's Billy Joe Adcock posted a 17.2 mark in 1947-48. South Carolina's 68-66 success at Kentucky snapped the Wildcats' streak of winning on Senior Day at 32. UK might have been better able to combat Arizona's athleticism on the perimeter in the NCAA final if guard Jeff Sheppard didn't sit out the season as a redshirt.

1997-98: Old Miss posted its first victory at Kentucky in 71 years, 73-64, en route to the Rebels' only finish in a final wire-service Top 20 poll in the 20th Century. Kentucky and Utah reached the NCAA final although neither team had a player named a first-, second- or third-team All-American on the AP honor squad. No team ever had rallied from a double-digit halftime deficit to win the NCAA championship game until Kentucky erased Utah's 41-31 edge at intermission. The Utes had built their halftime cushion by outrebounding UK, 24-6, but they ran out of gas and missed 11 consecutive field-goal attempts in the last five minutes. The Wildcats also benefited from an experienced roster that combined for 49 points and 21 rebounds in a title-game defeat to Arizona the previous year. Kentucky's Jeff Sheppard scored a career-high 27 points against Stanford in a national semifinal overtime victory. Teammate Nazr Mohammed, a center who shed more than 60 pounds since attending high school, scored 17 second-half points against Stanford to help erase his 0-for-6 free-throw shooting in the 1997 final vs. Arizona. Wayne Turner had a splendid assist-to-turnover ratio during the playoffs and helped the "Rally Cats" come back from a 17-point deficit with 9 1/2 minutes remaining to beat Duke, 86-84, in the South Regional final. Kentucky not only had a new coach in Tubby Smith, but its roster was without a couple of outstanding players (Ron Mercer and Antoine Walker) who could have been eligible if they hadn't left early for the NBA. UK was 33-0 when leading with two minutes remaining.

1998-99: Tennessee swept Kentucky in SEC competition for the first time in 20 years. The defending NCAA champion Wildcats lost to Michigan State in the Midwest Regional final.

1999-2000: Kentucky became the first school to win 1,500 games despite scoring fewer than 70 points in each of its first five contests of the season. Louisville hit just one of its first 22 second-half field-goal attempts in a 76-46 debacle at UK.

2000-01: Kentucky became the first school to crack the 100-win plateau in national postseason competition. UK cut a 21-point second-half deficit to one before faltering against USC in the East Regional when All-American Tayshaun Prince didn't produce a field goal in the second half.

2001-02: Prince rebounded with a 41-point outburst in a second-round victory over Tulsa. In SEC play, Georgia posted its first victory at Kentucky in 17 years.

2002-03: Kentucky became the first SEC team in 50 years to go undefeated in league competition before winning the conference tourney. Marquette's Dwyane Wade posted a triple double (29 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists) when the Golden Eagles ended Kentucky's 26-game winning streak, 83-69, in the Midwest Regional final.

2005-06: Vanderbilt won at Kentucky for the first time in 32 years, 57-52, en route to sweeping the Wildcats in SEC regular-season competition for the first time in the same time frame. The Wildcats failed to have an AP first- or second-team All-SEC selection for the first time other than 1952-53 when they didn't compete intercollegiately because of problems with the NCAA.

2006-07: Kentucky (22-12 record) might have fared better in the NCAA playoffs if guard Rajon Rondo had exercised his remaining eligibility instead of defecting to the NBA.

2007-08: Coach Billy Gillispie got off to a rugged start with Kentucky, losing at home to Gardner-Webb by 16 points. The season could have been a major disaster if the Wildcats didn't win eight games by fewer than seven points.

2008-09: Jody Meeks set a school single-game scoring record with 54 points at Tennessee.

2009-10: Guard John Wall was an NCAA consensus first-team All-American as Kentucky became the first school to have five players (all undergraduates) selected in the first round of the NBA draft. They helped the Wildcats become the first school to reach the 2,000-win plateau.

2010-11: UK, after losing five SEC road assignments in a 10-game span by a total of 11 points, reached the Final Four before losing to eventual NCAA champion Connecticut by one point.

2011-12: Kentucky's well-balanced attack, featuring six players averaging from 9.9 to 14.2 points per game, enabled the Wildcats to become the first NCAA Tournament kingpin to have five different players pace the team in scoring during the playoffs. Anthony Davis, who set an NCAA freshman record for most blocked shots, became unanimous national player of the year despite posting the lowest scoring average (14.2 ppg) for a POY since the award was introduced in 1955.

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