Ranking the best sports dynasties of the last 25 years
By Jason Parker
Men’s Basketball – Kentucky Wildcats (1994-95-1997-98 season)
When you think of college basketball’s best teams, one common thing sticks out for all the squads: the color blue. It changes in shade, but schools like Duke, Kansas, UCLA and North Carolina have been the best of the best while wearing the color. But, just one team can call themselves “Big Blue” and it’s the program that had the best run during the middle of the 1990’s.
After leading the team to the Elite Eight the year before, head coach Rick Pitino got them back to hoisting a trophy in the 1995-96 season, defeating Syracuse for the national title after an epic Final Four game against UMass.
The following season, Kentucky would be shocked by the Arizona Wildcats in the national title game that would end up being the final game for Pitino as head coach before his return to the NBA. In taking over the program, there wasn’t much thought that new coach Tubby Smith would be able to get back to the Final Four.
Smith did one better and led Kentucky to a national championship, something the Wildcats wouldn’t do again for 14 more seasons. For a four-year period in the mid-1990s, there was just one team in blue that mattered.
Next: “UConn