Kentucky basketball: 5 best seasons in Wildcats history, ranked

NEW ORLEANS, LA - APRIL 02: The Kentucky Wildcats celebrate after defeating the Kansas Jayhawks 67-59 in the National Championship Game of the 2012 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on April 2, 2012 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images) /

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Kentucky basketball (Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images) /

2. 2011-12 Kentucky basketball season

Final Record: 38-2 | Finish: National Champions (def. Kansas, 67-59)

John Calipari made an expected impact on the Wildcats when he arrived in Lexington. After 13 seasons away from the Final Four, he took Kentucky basketball back to that point in the 2010-11 season but they fell short of a title. With another loaded recruiting class featuring the likes of Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Marquis Teague joining Terrence Jones, Doron Lamb and Darius Miller, the 2011-12 team was ready to better that result.

Kentucky started the season at 8-0 before suffering their first loss of the season to Indiana. However, that was the only loss this iteration of the Wildcats suffered in the regular season. They went undefeated in conference play and continued to look like the best team in the country, bar none. They didn’t suffer their second loss of the year until the SEC Tournament championship game as they lost by seven points in a shocker against Vanderbilt.

Once in the NCAA Tournament, though, the full talents of this team that was gelling were on display. Davis looked like the eventual two-way superstar he would become in the NBA while all of the rest filled their roles to perfection. They rolled through Western Kentucky, Iowa State, Indiana and Baylor before beating rival Louisville in their first Final Four match. For good measure, they took on another blue blood in Kansas and won by eight points, cementing their legacy as an elite team in Kentucky and college basketball history.