ESPN has ranked all the college basketball national championships and of course Kentucky fans are wondering where do the 8 championship teams rank all time.
Well, the reason for the article is to rank Virginia after they won Monday night. The Cavaliers come in at #34.
Do we really feel that this year’s champion is 12 spots ahead of the 1998 team? Is there really 15 teams better than the 2012 champions? The Untouchables only at #13?
Check out the rankings and tell us what you think.
13. Kentucky Wildcats, 1996 (34-2)
They were called The Untouchables: Tony Delk, Antoine Walker & Co. dropped neutral-site games to John Calipari’s UMass squad and to Mississippi State in the SEC tournament title game. Nevertheless, Rick Pitino’s Wildcats breezed through that year’s NCAA bracket, winning six games by an average of 21 points. UK won its rematch against Marcus Camby and the Minutemen in the Final Four, and then defeated John Wallace and Syracuse to win the title.
16. Kentucky Wildcats, 2012 (38-2)
Only a miracle shot by Indiana’s Christian Watford and a desultory showing by the Wildcats in the SEC tournament title game against Vanderbilt prevented John Calipari’s group from becoming the first team in 36 years to go undefeated. In its six-game march through the bracket, UK won every contest by eight points or more. Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Terrence Jones and Marquis Teague were all first-round picks in the ensuing NBA draft.
20. Kentucky Wildcats, 1978 (30-2)
Jack Givens recorded possibly the finest title-game performance of any player not named Bill Walton, scoring 41 points on 18-of-27 (pre-3-point shot) shooting to give the Wildcats a 94-88 win over Duke. Joe B. Hall’s balanced rotation also featured Rick Robey, Kyle Macy, James Lee and Mike Phillips.
46. Kentucky Wildcats, 1998 (35-4)
It took six years, but the Wildcats extracted payback for the Laettner miracle of 1992. In an Elite Eight game that Duke led comfortably in the second half, Wayne Turner proceeded to slice the Blue Devils’ defense to ribbons. Steve Wojciechowski and his teammates couldn’t stay in front of Turner, and Tubby Smith’s team went on to defeat Rick Majerus and Utah in the title game 78-69.
48. Kentucky Wildcats, 1951 (32-2)
Other than a 76-74 squeaker against Illinois in the national semifinal, Adolph Rupp’s team was never seriously challenged on the road to a third national title for UK. On a Wildcats team that also included sophomore Cliff Hagan, MOP honors went to Bill Spivey.
64. Kentucky Wildcats, 1949 (32-2)
The Wildcats rode both the scoring and the defense of center Alex Groza, who recorded almost twice as many points as second-leading scorer Ralph Beard. After watching UK ring up a total of 161 points in wins over Villanova and Illinois, Oklahoma State attempted to slow things down in the title game. The result was a 46-36 victory for Rupp’s team.
67. Kentucky Wildcats, 1958 (23-6)
Led by Vernon Hatton and Johnny Cox and dubbed the “Fiddlin’ Five” for reasons that apparently satisfied Rupp (“We’ve got fiddlers, that’s all. … We don’t have any violinists.”), UK beat Elgin Baylor and Seattle 84-72 to bring a fourth championship back to Lexington.
72. Kentucky Wildcats, 1948 (36-3)
As he would be again in 1949, Groza was UK’s leading scorer in the paint. But in winning the first of what would be back-to-back titles he had help on offense from Beard. The Wildcats won by comfortable margins against Columbia, Holy Cross and Baylor to claim the program’s first national championship.
Read “Where does Virginia rank among all the national championship teams?” by clicking here.
