Kentucky basketball: 5 best seasons in Wildcats history, ranked
3. 1997-98 Kentucky basketball season
Final Record: 29-4 | Finish: National Championship (def. Utah, 78-69)
There’s no question that, despite his many flaws, Rick Pitino knows how to coach and bring in high-end talent. So when he departed the Kentucky Wildcats after the 1996-97 season and Tubby Smith took over in Lexington, there were some big shoes to fill. But Smith was obviously ready to do just that considering the success he was able to enjoy right out of the gate.
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Make no mistake, there were plenty of other Kentucky basketball teams over the years that had more talent throughout the roster than this group, a team largely led by Wayne Turner, Jeff Sheppard and Nazr Mohammed, to name a few. However, they were a team with a never-say-die attitude that showed up and competed at a high level every night.
Kentucky lost early to No. 1 Arizona by 15 points, seemingly telling everyone they weren’t an elite group. After a 10-1 start, they dropped another to rival Louisville. And for as tough and good as this team was, they weren’t able to go perfectly through SEC play, registering a 14-2 record in the conference in the regular season and then winning the SEC Tournament as well.
That was enough to earn the Wildcats a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. However, it was in the tourney when they became legendary, largely for their ability to always come back. They erased a 17-point deficit against Duke in the Elite Eight and a 10-point hole against Stanford in the Final Four. Once they got to Utah in the title game, they were the team of destiny that ended up cutting down the nets.