ESPN has came up with a scoring season to list the [URL=”http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=3501739″]most prestigious basketball programs [/URL]since the 1984-85 season.
Kentucky is ranked at #4 even though they had to go through not playing in 2 NCAA tournaments because of NCAA violations.
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4. KENTUCKY WILDCATS, SEC
Positives: 20 conference titles (8 regular-season, 12 tourney); 6 30-win seasons; 21 NCAA berths; 7 No. 1 seeds; 14 Sweet 16s; 4 Final Fours; 1996 and ’98 national titles; 52 NCAA tourney wins; 10 All-Americans; 5 NBA top-10 picks
Negatives: 1 losing season (13-19 in 1988-89); 2 NCAA sanctions; has not advanced past the NCAA tourney first weekend since 2005
Total points: 378
Did you know? The premier program in the SEC cracks the Top 5 despite being banned from the NCAA tournament twice. The Wildcats dominated the conference tournament, earning 12 automatic berths (tied with Penn for the most). UK hasn’t been too shabby in the Big Dance either, making three straight national title games from 1996-1998 and winning twice. However, the Wildcats haven’t made the Final Four since.
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The top 5 is pretty much expected, but if you take out the Eddie Sutton era at Kentucky, there is no question who #1 on that list would be.
Update: This story was originally published in 2008….I am sure these have changed if they were updated.
