Big Blue Articles: Kentucky Basketball in the 2012 NCAA Tournament

But it starts with Sullinger. The immovable forward came back to win a national title. And if he continues to produce at this level, he might accomplish that feat in New Orleans. The Jayhawks are bigger than Thomas Robinson. The national player of the year candidate is the heart of the program, but he doesn't handle the workload alone. Jeff Withey , a player whose tenacity had been questioned prior to this season, has become one of the top interior defenders in America 3.

The explosive Tyshawn Taylor Elijah Johnson has scored in double digits in all four tourney games and dished out five assists against the Heels. Every team the Jayhawks encounter will have trouble with Robinson But Withey has blocked 20 shots during March Madness. He's a vital part of that talented frontcourt, too. This team competes on both ends of the floor. They're ranked 19th in Pomeroy's tempo-free offensive efficiency ratings and fourth in defensive efficiency. The Tar Heels were 2-for from the 3-point line against KU. Harrison Barnes went 5-for from the field.

And North Carolina failed to score in the final four minutes of the game. Some doubted Bill Self's ability to lead the Jayhawks to this juncture prior to the start of the season. He'd lost some talented players from last season's roster, including the Morris twins. Robinson had reportedly excelled on the summer camp scene, but had still just been a reserve and few knew what to anticipate. Taylor was solid during the season, but would he become a star? And the last time the Jayhawks reached the Final Four, they won the national title.

This group has the potential to duplicate that feat. It can do it with Robinson leading the charge and a strong supporting cast continuing to fill in the gaps necessary to make this a complete squad. You might not want to drive through Kentucky on Saturday.

Everything in the state might be shut down for the weekend. This Bluegrass battle will take place on the greatest stage in college basketball.

The storylines, however, shouldn't mask the details of the matchup. This is not about Calipari versus Pitino. It's Dieng versus Davis, two of the best shot-blockers in the country. Both players will be challenged by the threat of early foul trouble. But it's also about the Louisville backcourt's ability to force turnovers.

The Cardinals' opponents average But Louisville's now playing one of the country's best backcourts. The Cardinals might need their best defensive effort of the year to have a chance against the Wildcats. On paper, Davis and Co. But Louisville has exceeded expectations since the start of the Big East tournament. When these two teams met Dec.

But Sullinger was unavailable that afternoon due to a back injury. Evan Ravenel , Sullinger's replacement, recorded nine points and five rebounds. This is a completely different matchup, however, with Sullinger in the mix. Robinson versus Sullinger might be the best individual battle in the Final Four.

Craft and Smith against Johnson and Taylor is a great backcourt pairing. The Jayhawks and Buckeyes are both in the top 10 in Pomeroy's defensive efficiency ratings. And they're both versatile offensively. This should be a great game. Plus, this is a rare matchup. This is just the second Final Four meeting between two No. North Carolina and Arkansas met in the Final Four in The Cardinals didn't have an easy road to New Orleans.

During their current eight-game winning streak, five of their opponents have failed to record more than 56 points. The Buckeyes defeated Loyola Md. The Buckeyes scored at least 73 points in each of those four victories. The Jayhawks defeated the Boilermakers and Wolfpack by three points each. This is the ninth Final Four appearance for the Cardinals. It's the team's second appearance under Pitino , who is one of three coaches Roy Williams, Jack Gardner who have led multiple programs to multiple Final Fours. UL hasn't advanced to the title game since winning it all in The Buckeyes lost to Florida in the national title game.

Their only championship came in The Wildcats are making their 15th Final Four appearance. Calipari led the Wildcats to last season's Final Four, too. But Kentucky hasn't won a national championship since Tubby Smith earned a title in Retrieved March 11, Selection process Venues No. Champions Most Outstanding Player.

All-time team records Bids by school Bids by school and conference Consecutive appearances Final Four appearances by school Final Four participants Final Four appearances by coach Upsets. Retrieved from " https: All articles with dead external links Articles with dead external links from June Articles with permanently dead external links Articles needing additional references from March All articles needing additional references.

Views Read Edit View history. In other projects Wikimedia Commons. This page was last edited on 1 November , at By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Kentucky Wildcats 8th title, 11th title game, 15th Final Four. Kansas Jayhawks 9th title game, 14th Final Four.

Midwest Regional — St. South 16 seed March Midwest 16 seed March West 14 seed March Midwest 12 seed March First round March 15— Second round March 17— Regional semifinals March Regional finals March First round March Second round March National Semifinals March National Championship Game April 2. Louisville Cardinals 61, Kentucky Wildcats Ohio State Buckeyes 62, Kansas Jayhawks Rupp's and Kentucky squads were also awarded the Helms National Championship, and his and teams were retroactively recognized as the national champion by the Premo-Porretta Power Poll.

One of Rupp's early successful teams, he would give the '44 team the nickname "the Beardless Wonders" and "Wildkittens" because according to Rupp, "It was like running a Kindergarten. The Beardless Wonders would win nineteen of their twenty-one games, enough to be invited into the NIT. There they would be matched up with an equally young and talented Utah team nicknamed the "Blitz Kids.

Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball

Kentucky would lose the next game to home town Saint John's. Of these three losses, all were either away or at neutral sites, keeping Kentucky undefeated at home throughout the entire season. Kentucky started off the beginning of the season with a 7—0 record heading into their away game at Temple. However, Temple was able to give the Cats their first loss by one point, 60— Still, this loss was not enough to keep the Wildcats down, as they rolled off an win streak before playing at Notre Dame, where they lost 55— They would not lose a game for the rest of the regular season.

Kentucky won its first NCAA title in a decisive 77—59 victory. This was performance enough to represent the United States in the Olympic Games. Despite only being a college team, the starting 5 of Kentucky would defeat all of its competition in London, making Kentucky the only team to win both a NCAA title and an Olympic gold medal. Adolph Rupp soon gave this team the nickname "The Fabulous Five", in honor of their accomplishments. For the season Kentucky had high expectations with most of the Fabulous Five returning. Big Blue Nation's expectations were met as the team won one more game than the previous year including both a SEC regular season and SEC tournament championship, while also getting back to the Final Four that March.

Kentucky was the second program in NCAA history to win back-to-back championships there have been six other schools since. With a returning star player like Bill Spivey, Kentucky hoped to carry their success into the new decade. All didn't look well after the Wildcats lost their first game by 11 to Saint John's at home, but they would pull it together for the Sugar Bowl Tournament which they won beating NCAA runner up Bradley. Heading into rival Tennessee now No. After losing to Tennessee, Kentucky would struggle to chain two wins together, losing every other game.

They would defeat their next fourteen opponents, including getting revenge in SEC tournament championship over Tennessee. Heading into the post-season, No. They are the only team in college basketball history to accomplish this feat. Coming off a successful but titleless season, the Wildcats continued their dominance into the new decade. Over the season Kentucky would defeat four top 10 teams, and would be ranked in the top 5 the entire season. And with only one loss heading into the SEC tournament it looked like Kentucky would once again claim both SEC championships and their dominance over their conference.

Vanderbilt had a different idea however, and would knock off the top ranked Wildcats in the SEC tournament finals denying them an eighth straight SEC tournament title. Adolph Rupp was the head coach at Kentucky during the year of the point shaving scandal of In former Kentucky football player Nick Englisis met Kentucky basketball legend Ralph Beard while the two played football at Kentucky. Englisis entered the gambling business when he left the football team in , then approached three Kentucky basketball players Ralph Beard, Alex Groza , and Dale Barnstable with his associates in late about potentially point shaving fixing the score of games during the upcoming season in exchange for money.

The three players agreed to point shave and successfully shaved points in several games during the — season until an effort to point shave caused the Wildcats to lose to the Loyola Ramblers in the National Invitation Tournament. Groza, Beard, and Barnstable attempted to win the game under the point spread but kept the score too close, allowing the Ramblers to win the game with an impressive performance at the end of the second half. Kentucky faced Villanova in their first game of the NCAA Tournament following the loss to Loyola and the three players attempted to win over the point spread.

When Groza, Beard, and Barnstable failed to win over the point spread, it caused Englisis to lose all of his money and ended the point shaving deals between Englisis and these three players. At the conclusion of this scandal, a subsequent NCAA investigation found that Kentucky had committed several rule violations, including giving illegal spending money to players on several occasions, and also allowing some ineligible athletes to compete.

Years later, Walter Byers , the first executive director of the NCAA, unofficially referred to this punishment as the first de facto NCAA death penalty , despite the current rule first coming into effect in , thus the NCAA having no such enforcement power previous to that.

Byers' view, the NCAA's official stance is very much the same, and they now state in hindsight, "In effect, it was the Association's first death penalty, though its enforcement was binding only through constitutional language that required members to compete against only those schools that were compliant with NCAA rules.

Despite fears that it would resist, Kentucky accepts the penalty and, in turn, gives the NCAA credibility to enforce its rules. The team returned with a vengeance the next year, posting a perfect 25—0 record Rupp's only undefeated season , for which it was awarded the Helms National Championship. In addition, Kentucky also finished ranked No. On the team were three players who had graduated at the conclusion of the previous academic year. Early into the season it was obvious that the "Fiddlin' Five" were not like Rupp's teams earlier in the decade.

They played around and made mistakes, which Rupp described as fiddling. In fact the Fiddlin' Five still has the most losses out of any Kentucky's championships, with six, three of those were in four games. Unlike the Fab Five or the teams, the Fiddling Five would yoyo in the rankings with their lowest a No. Kentucky would catch fire through the tournament though and would win their fourth title over No. Texas Western won the game 72—65, on the night of March 19, Contrary to popular belief, this game was not a huge "upset" as while Kentucky entered the tournament with only one loss and ranked No.

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Kentucky was a 6. This game, and the result of it, were especially significant as the game came at a time when the civil rights movement was coming into full swing around the country. In , after actively recruiting black players for over six years his first formal scholarship offer was to Wes Unseld in , despite most of the other SEC teams threatening to boycott if a black player took the court , Rupp finally signed his first black player, Tom Payne , an athletic 7'-1" center out of Louisville.

The late Rupp years looked promising with Dan Issel's commitment to the Wildcats in Over the next four years Issel would score an average of This made Issel the player with the most points to ever play at Kentucky, a feat that has not been matched to this day.

Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball - Wikipedia

This included his 53 points scored against Mississippi State in , the most by a Kentucky player in a single game and breaking the previous record of 51 points held by Cliff Hagan. Issel would not capture the national championship in his college years, but would go on to make a name for himself in the ABA. After Rupp would see continued success, but the Final Four eluded him. The Wildcats would end with a season and miss the tournament all together in , then reach the Elite Eight and Sweet Sixteen in the next two years.

Ranked 1 in the nation with a record overall, Kentucky nearly missed a Final Four birth in a shootout against Jacksonville. Rupp was forced into retirement in March , after reaching age At the time, this was the mandatory retirement age for all University of Kentucky employees. Further, since , the Adolph Rupp Trophy , considered one of the nation's premier basketball awards, has been given by Commonwealth Athletic Club to the nation's top men's college basketball player. In addition, the University of Kentucky retired a jersey in his honor in the rafters of Rupp Arena , a 23,seat arena named after him, dedicated in Hall was the head basketball coach at Kentucky from to Although he had been an assistant at Kentucky since , Coach Hall was given a difficult task: His record at UK was —, and — over his career.

Coach Hall would win the title once in as well as making the final four in and , and the elite eight in , , , The only others to achieve this feat are:. After a year of playing in the freshman league and a disappointing sophomore season, Hall's Super Kittens returned with hopes of finally bringing Kentucky its fifth title. Despite losing in the championship game, it would give freshman Jack Givens a taste for success that would help propel Kentucky to the title three years later. It had been twenty years without a championship in Lexington, and along with pressure of following a hall of fame coach, Hall would nickname the season the "Season Without Celebration.

Kentucky would hardly lose its composure all season or break under pressure, winning 30 of 32 games and defeating eight ranked teams along the way. By the time Kentucky reached the tournament finals they seemed bound to win the title, though Duke would give Kentucky their all. With the help of senior Jack "Goose" Givens' 41 points, Kentucky defeated the Blue Devils 94—88, and finally won their fifth title and first in 20 years.

In , Eddie Sutton succeeded Joe B. Two seasons later, Sutton and the 25—5 Wildcats captured their 37th SEC title and were ranked as the 6th college basketball team in the nation by the Associated Press and UPI [28] [29] before losing to Villanova in the Tournament. Kentucky entered the —89 season with a gutted roster.

Additionally, sophomore standout Eric Manuel was suspected of cheating on his college entrance exam and voluntarily agreed to sit out until the investigation was finished. Potential franchise recruit Shawn Kemp transferred out of Kentucky after signing with the school early that year. The two underclassmen struggled to fill the talent vacuum on the court and the Wildcats finished with a losing record of 13—19, the team's first losing full-season record since Casey was not in Lexington when the envelope was supposedly mailed and the father of Mills said they received no money.

Whether Manuel was directly involved has been questioned. The Wildcats were slapped with three years' probation, a two-year ban from postseason play and a ban from live television in — Kentucky would be banned from the and post season, with the season suffering a 14—14 record. Despite their record of 22—6, Kentucky was still banned from the post season and would have to wait another year to see the Unforgettables succeed in the tournament. Beginning with the season, Kentucky was free of post season bans. Though they lost one more game than last season, this team was most memorable for going to the Elite Eight for the first time since Sutton's team with many returning upperclassmen from Kentucky.

The team is also known for playing in what could be considered one of the greatest games in NCAA tournament history against Duke. In this game defending champion Duke were looking to return to the Final Four once again, Kentucky for the first time in almost a decade. The game was hard fought and physical on both sides all game including Laettner's infamous stomp on Aminu Timberlake, which resulted in a technical.

The teams took the lead back and forth until the final minute of the game which resulted in a first buzzer beater shot by Kentucky's Sean Woods to take the lead —, and then Laettner's shot to win the game for the Blue Devils in the final seconds — This team came to be known as the "Unforgettables" for helping put Kentucky back on the path to success in the s and because the team was made up of home grown Kentucky kids.

They were expected to reach the Final Four for the first time since Joe B. The expectations were right, as Kentucky would head into the post-season with only 2 losses and a No. As talented as Kentucky was they would fail to reach the championship game with a 78—81 overtime loss to the Wolverines. But this would be the just a glimpse of a run Kentucky would have later in the decade.

Kentucky started the next season ranked 1 but would underachieve, falling short of the Elite Eight for the only time under Pitino. The following year, Pitino's Kentucky team made it back to the national title game, losing to Arizona in overtime in the finals of the NCAA Tournament. Pitino's fast-paced teams at Kentucky were favorites of the school's fans.

It was primarily at Kentucky where he implemented his signature style of full-court pressure defense. By the end of the Pitino era, Kentucky went from banned from the post season to going to three of the last five Final Fours and five of the last six Elite Eights. For this the team was dubbed the "Unbelievables" for taking a team that was not expected much of to return the Wildcats back to the championship game for a second time.

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Newton as the Wildcats' 20th head coach on May 12, , charged with the unenviable task of replacing popular coach Rick Pitino. The Wildcats were at the top of the basketball world at the time, having won a national title in and, according to many, missing a second straight title in by the torn ACL of shooting guard Derek Anderson. The team Smith inherited sported seven players from the Arizona loss, and five from the championship team.

However, since most of the players who had left after the and seasons were high NBA draft picks, his team had the lowest pre-season ranking since Kentucky came off probation in