Bluegrassrivals

An NCAA men's basketball championship should produce rampant giddiness. Even at Kentucky, with all the resources and emphasis the school puts on men's hoops, there have been only four NCAA crowns since 1958.

Kentucky's 2012 NCAA champs were an appealing crew. As John Calipari has pointed out, there are "teach your children" lessons that can be drawn from the way a team packed with individual stars sublimated personal goals for the greater good of the team.

With the entire Kentucky starting five turning pro before any reached their junior year, many of the top Cats did not wear the UK uniform for long — but they did wear it well.

Yet in the justified euphoria since Kentucky cut down the NCAA's nets for the eighth time in school history, I've been a little surprised by the number of people who want to anoint the 2011-12 Cats as the greatest team in school history.

As a former Louisville football coach is wont to say, not so fast, my friends. Has the present so crowded out even the recent past that people have forgotten how good Kentucky's 1996 NCAA championship team was?

Now, there are some similarities between Rick Pitino's one UK championship team and Calipari's one (so far).

Both teams were considered the most talented in the country in their respective seasons.

Both lost only two games, and one of those for each came in the finals of the SEC Tournament.

However, the two teams that beat Pitino's 1996 champions, Massachusetts and Mississippi State, were better than the two teams that beat the 2012 Cats. Both UMass and MSU went on to make the 1996 Final Four.

The two teams that defeated the 2012 Cats were a good-not-great Indiana (which lost to UK in a rematch in the NCAA tourney round of 16) and a talented but underachieving Vanderbilt (lost in the round of 32).

It is partly a function of tempo, but the '96 Wildcats had far fewer close calls. In the 34 wins amassed by Kentucky in 1996, only four teams played UK closer than 10 points. The 2012 Cats won 11 games that were decided in single digits.

If there could be a head-to-head matchup between 1996 and 2012 UK champions, Anthony Davis from the '12s would be the most physically talented player on the floor and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist might be second.

But the '96 team would overwhelm the current Cats with experience and depth of talent.

This year's UK champions started two sophomores (Terrence Jones and Doron Lamb) and three true freshmen (Davis, MKG and Marquis Teague) with senior Darius Miller as sixth man.

The 1996 Cats had experienced talent, starting two seniors (Tony Delk and Walter McCarty), a fourth-year junior (Ohio State transfer Derek Anderson), another junior (Anthony Epps) and a sophomore (Antoine Walker).

Yet what made the 1996 Kentucky Wildcats one of college basketball's all-time great teams was a remarkable level of talent up and down the roster.

In the 1996 Final Four showdown with No. 1 U-Mass, UK star Delk cramped and had to leave a tense game at crunch time. Junior Jeff Sheppard, a starter the season before, took his place and scored seven points in the final six minutes.

When Kentucky was struggling to score against Syracuse in the 1996 national finals, true freshman forward Ron Mercer — one of the most recruited high school players in the country in 1995 — came off the bench and rifled in 20 points.

So deep was that '96 team, that many of that squad's reserves — Sheppard, Wayne Turner, Allen Edwards, Nazr Mohammed, Cameron Mills — came back two years later and were the nucleus of a team that won the national title in 1998.

So as impressive as it is that the top six players on the 2012 Kentucky team are likely to be chosen in the 2012 NBA Draft — maybe all in the first round — there were six players on the '96 team that ultimately went in the first round of NBA Drafts (a seventh eventual first-round pick, Scott Padgett, was sitting out academically ineligible in 1995-96).

Overall, nine players on the 1996 Cats (not counting Padgett) played in the NBA.

Bottom line: Experienced talent, and lots of it, trumps youthful talent.

So if, through time travel, Kentucky's 2012 champions could face UK's 1996 NCAA Tournament winners, it would not be a hard game to handicap.

The '96 Cats would smoke the present champs.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/04/26/21659...rylink=cpy

Once again.....THE 1996 CATS ARE THE BEST OF ALL TIME.

All you that bring up these UNLV, UCLA, and UNC teams can just keep that to yourself.

There will never be another team like this one, period.

UNLV 91 was better.

UCLA, UNC...................

^ Agreed, UNLV is the best team I have ever seen. I have no idea how good those UCLA teams were.

FBALL Wrote:UNLV 91 was better.

UCLA, UNC...................

I agree. The 91 UNLV team was the best I had ever seen.

Stardust Wrote:^ Agreed, UNLV is the best team I have ever seen. I have no idea how good those UCLA teams were.

I think the 84-85 Georgetown team is the best I have ever seen.

96 Cats. No argument.

Only from you. Everybody else seems to be in agreement that you are wrong.

I'm sure you're used to that by now though.

I don't know that '96 Kentucky was the best team ever, but I have trouble believing that a team that lost the last game to an 8 seed and a team that lost the last game to the best team they played all year were the best ever. Just my take.

66 UTEP(27-1)
96 UK (34-2)
91 UNLV(34-1)
57 UNC (32-0)
84 georgetown(34-3)
69 UCLA(29-1)
67 UCLA(30-0)
74 UNC(30-1)
72 UCLA(30-0)
92 DUKE (34-2)
56 san francisco (29-0) Bill Russell was on this team
82 UNC (32-2)
76 Indiana (32-0)
54 UK (25-0)

A lot of people forget about the 1954 team at Kentucky. While it's obvious that the 1996 cats and the 2012 cats would bury this team, I always like to put them in the group when talking about the best team to come through Kentucky. Led by Frank Ramsey, Cliff Hagan, and Lou Tsioropoulous, all seniors, the 1954 team went 25-0 but was ruled ineligible to compete for the national championship by the NCAA. The three players got their degrees in 1953 and took graduate courses in the 1953-54 school year since they were granted the extra year of eligibility due to the point shaving scandal that prevented Kentucky from playing basketball in the 1952-53 season. The 1954 team flat out dominated their opponents. This team holds the second or third highest scoring margin in NCAA history in games, around 27 points per game. They beat the national champion that year, LaSalle, quite handily. However, due to having already graduated, Hagan, Ramsey, and Tsioropoulous were ruled suddenly ruled ineligible for the tournament and Kentucky declined the invitation to play. This rule was eventually changed. An example that would apply to this time would be Patrick Patterson. He got his degree in 3 years, and would have been able to play an extra year and get his master's had he decided to stay. However, back then he would have been ruled ineligible. But had this team played in the NCAA tournament, there is no doubt they would have won. Adolph Rupp called this team his best team during his time at Kentucky. And again, I know this team would not be able to dominate like they did in today's world. Their tallest player was Cliff Hagan at 6'5. Doron Lamb would have been playing power forward for them! But for their time, they were really, really good and I feel should at least be mentioned when it comes to talking about the best UK teams. I feel that they were screwed by the NCAA.

RoShamBo Wrote:I don't know that '96 Kentucky was the best team ever, but I have trouble believing that a team that lost the last game to an 8 seed and a team that lost the last game to the best team they played all year were the best ever. Just my take.

Won the national championship in 84 and it took an unconscious, once in a lifetime, 70% shooting performance by Villaniva to knock them out in 85. I could have just said 84 but they were just as dominant, if not more so, in 85 despite that final game.

1985 Georgetown team a juggernaut
Bob McClellan
Rivals.com College Basketball Editor

Top 10 Profile
1985 GEORGETOWN
Final record: 35-3
Non-conference record: 17-0
Double-digit victories: 28
Average victory margin: 18.6
NBA first-round picks: Two (Patrick Ewing, Reggie Williams)
THE TOP 10 COUNTDOWN
The Patrick Ewing-led Georgetown teams of the 1980s played for the national championship three times.

They lost twice - by a total of three points - and won once, in 1984.

The Hoyas were heavy favorites to repeat in Ewing's senior season in 1985, the year the NCAA Tournament field expanded to include 64 teams, up from 48. They spent most of the season ranked No. 1.

From their scowling 6-foot-10 coach, to the equally imposing Ewing, to a freshman Gold Gloves champion from New Orleans, this was perhaps the most intimidating team in the history of college basketball. It had size and speed, and it choked the life out of teams on the defensive end. It certainly is deserving of a spot in the Rivals.com Top 10 Teams Since The NCAA Field Expanded To 64.



Patrick Ewing was one of the most dominant centers in history.
"My freshman year, that had to be one of the best defensive teams we had," said Perry McDonald, a 6-4 guard. He was the scrappy left-hander out of New Orleans, one of only four players to appear in all 38 of Georgetown's games that season. "We had good perimeter defense and Patrick in the middle. We had Horace (Broadnax), who played good 'D', and Bill Martin."

The wing defenders could be as aggressive as they wanted. Ewing was behind them to erase any mistakes. The Hoyas led the nation in field-goal percentage defense, holding opponents under 40 percent. They held opponents to fewer than 60 points 21 times that season. They trapped relentlessly and dictated tempo from the opening tip.

"They're one of the best defensive teams that I've ever seen," said former Villanova guard Harold Pressley, who now works in the front office for the Sacramento Kings. "I still look back and think, 'wow, those guys were truly amazing.' We'd sit and watch film and watch them on TV and were in awe of how quick they were and how they could trap you. They always seemed to have everybody covered."

The Hoyas took their cues from the All-American Ewing.

"Patrick definitely was the leader," said Broadnax, a senior guard who appeared in all 38 games along with Martin and David Wingate. "He could play at such a high physical level.

"He was unbelievable as a college player. He had so much energy and brought it every night. He ran hard from one end to the other. It was a beautiful thing to see. He was no prima donna. He didn't cut corners. He really worked, and if you were gonna be part of that team you had to work, too."

The Hoyas entered the season ranked No. 1 and gave no reason for anyone to believe otherwise. They won their first 18 games, including a 20-point December blowout of then-No. 2 DePaul.

Georgetown looked on the verge of invincible, but don't forget these were the glory days of the Big East. Chris Mullin-led St. John's was near the top of the polls, too, as were the Orangemen of Syracuse.

Another Big East team also spent some time in the top 20 that season - Rollie Massimino's Villanova squad. It was a senior-laden team that controlled the tempo and also played stifling defense. The Wildcats were led by center Ed Pinckney, one of the few post players in the Big East who held his own against Ewing. They also had some talent around Pinckney in Gary McClain, Harold Pressley and Dwayne McClain.

1984-1985 Georgetown roster
10 Perry McDonald, Forward/Guard
12 Kevin Floyd, Guard
24 Bill Martin, Guard
30 Michael Jackson, Guard
32 Horace Broadnax, Guard
33 Patrick Ewing, Center
34 Reggie Williams, Forward
40 David Wingate, Forward
41 Tyrone Lockhart, Guard
44 Ronnie Highsmith, Forward
51 Grady Mateen, Center
52 Ralph Dalton, Center
Head coach: John Thompson
Getting through the Big East in 1984-85 was like negotiating shark-infested waters in an inner tube. Somewhere along the line somebody was going to take a chunk out of you.

"St. John's had a good offensive team," McDonald said. "They had Chris Mullin and Walter Berry, and Bill Wennington was a pretty good center. Syracuse, they were one of our biggest rivals. They were both really good teams."

The Hoyas lost consecutive games to the Redmen (66-65) and the Orangemen (65-63) at the end of January, and fell from No. 1. But they came back and beat them both in the regular-season rematches, ripping then-No. 1 St. John's 85-69 at Madison Square Garden and routing then-No. 12 Syracuse in their next game, 90-63.

As if that weren't convincing enough, Georgetown beat them both again in the Big East tournament. Syracuse fell 74-65, and St. John's got beat 92-80.

The one team the Hoyas played more than once that season that they never beat soundly was Villanova. Their first meeting, at the Spectrum in Philadelphia, went to overtime before Georgetown pulled it out 52-50. The Hoyas prevailed in the second meeting, but only 57-50.

"Fortunately for us we played them two or three times a year and we knew exactly what was coming," Pressley said. "They put fear into teams that never played in the Big East. But we'd seen them over and over and over again. We worked on breaking their presses and making something good happen after we broke the press.

"We completely knew them inside and out. There was not a play they could run that we didn't know. We heard them call the play, and we knew what they'd try to get out of it. Defensively we were set. Offensively we knew what their tendencies were - when they would trap and double and pick up the tempo. We didn't fall for all of that. We had chances in both regular-season games to beat them. Unfortunately we hadn't, but we absolutely knew we could."

Villanova sat at 19-10 after it had lost to St. John's in the Big East tournament. But six of those losses were to the Redmen, the Hoyas and the Orangemen.

Villanova received a No. 8 seed for the NCAA Tournament. Georgetown and St. John's were both top seeds. Syracuse was a seventh seed. Pittsburgh and Boston College also got invites out of the Big East.

Season Results
Overall: 35-3; Big East: 14-2
11/23 at Hawaii-Hilo W 81-47
11/26 at Hawaii-Loa W 74-45
12/1 S. Conn. State W 80-46
12/5 St. Leo W 76-56
12/8 Nevada-Las Vegas W 82-46
12/12 American W 86-64
12/15 DePaul (#2) W 77-57
12/19 Morgan State W 89-62
12/22 at New Mexico W 69-61
12/28 vs. Tennessee W 77-64
12/29 vs. N.C. A&T W 61-56
1/2 Seton Hall W 73-56
1/5 Boston College W 82-80(OT)
1/8 at Seton Hall W 90-70
1/12 at Villanova W 52-50(OT)
1/16 Providence W 85-44
1/19 at Pittsburgh W 65-53
1/23 Connecticut W 79-66
1/26 St. John's L 65-66
1/28 at Syracuse L 63-65
2/3 Arkansas W 56-39
2/6 Florida Southern W 71-39
2/9 at Boston College W 78-68
2/11 Villanova W 57-50
2/16 at Providence W 87-73
2/19 Pittsburgh W 70-46
2/23 at Connecticut W 68-47
2/27 at St. John's W 85-69
3/3 Syracuse W 90-63
3/8 vs. Connecticut W 93-62
3/9 vs. Syracuse W 74-65
3/10 vs. St. John's W 92-80
3/15 vs. Lehigh W 68-43
3/17 vs. Temple W 62-46
3/21 vs. Loyola, Ill. W 65-53
3/23 vs. Georgia Tech W 60-54
3/29 vs. St. John's W 77-59
4/1 vs. Villanova L 64-66
The Hoyas smothered four opponents to reach the Final Four. They didn't yield more than 54 points in any of those games.

The Redmen and the Wildcats also crashed the Final Four. It was the first and only time three teams from the same conference made the national semifinals. Georgetown and St. John's squared off for the fourth time in one game, with Villanova taking on Memphis State in the other.

The Redmen left red-faced. The Hoyas destroyed them for the third consecutive time, prevailing 77-59. The Wildcats upset the Tigers 52-45 to make it an All-Big East final.

Conventional wisdom said hand the crown to Thompson's bunch. Since the January hiccup the Hoyas had looked every bit like the defending national champion. But they knew the Wildcats weren't going to roll over, even if the rest of the nation believed they'd go out meekly.

"When people talk about Villanova, we knew it wasn't going to be a cakewalk," said Broadnax, now the head coach at Savannah State. "We knew we had to play hard to win. Massimino played a controlling style. They would try to keep it in the 50s or 60s."

Villanova knew it had to value each and every possession.

"We had lost those two (regular-season) games because they got us to play their tempo," Pressley said. "They forced us into quick shots - not bad shots, but quick shots. Once you started doing that you were doomed."

Georgetown was able to grab six-point advantages a couple of times early, but Villanova hung with the Hoyas. When Pressley got a putback off his own miss, the Wildcats grabbed a 29-28 halftime lead.

Villanova's first-half shooting percentage was eye-popping. Pinckney and Co. had hit 72.2 percent (13 of 18). Surely they couldn't keep that up.

"We were drilled that it's a 40-minute game, and eventually we'd get it done at the end based on conditioning and pressuring people," Broadnax said. "But they shot it well, and they kept making shots.

"A lot of times teams would start to fall short in the second half because of the tempo and type of game. The final was a chess match between Massimino and Coach Thompson."

The teams exchanged the lead several times in the second half. The Hoyas used a 6-0 run to gain a 54-53 advantage with 4:50 to play, and they decided to try and run some clock. But Dwayne McClain came up with a steal, and it was the Wildcats' turn to manage the clock. With 2:36 to go, freshman Harold Jensen buried a 16-footer, and Georgetown never led again.

The final score was Villanova 66, Georgetown 64.

Improbably, the Wildcats had shot the ball even better in the second half. They hit 9 of 10 from the floor in the final 20 minutes, giving them 78.6 percent for the game. It remains far and away the best any team has shot while playing for the national title.

The Hoyas had shot 54.7 percent. Still, they had nothing to show for it.

"We were beating a lot of teams by double digits," Broadnax said. "We were beating top 10 teams by 20-30 points. We just didn't seal the deal in the end."

Bob McClellan is the college basketball editor for Rivals.com. He can be reached at [email]bmcclellan@Rivals.com[/email].

FBALL Wrote:Won the national championship in 84 and it took an unconscious, once in a lifetime, 70% shooting performance by Villaniva to knock them out in 85. I could have just said 84 but they were just as dominant, if not more so, in 85 despite that final game.

I dont remember UK getting knocked out in the 96 tourney though.
How can a team be better when they cant even finish the season....

FBALL Wrote:Only from you. Everybody else seems to be in agreement that you are wrong.

I'm sure you're used to that by now though.

From the looks of many of your post throughout the entire site, it appears your the one thats getting disagreed with on multiple occasions.

As for my statement, im entitled to my own opinion and that remains the 96 cats.
None better. Period.

Glad to see you get so angry though. Its quite refreshing.

You can't even be wrong right. Read some more. Maybe you'll get it.


But I doubt it.

I don't think the 1996 UK team played anyone that was even close to the 2012 UK team on the defensive end. I been watching UK basketball since 1976 and this was IMO the best defensive team to suit up in the Blue and White. In 96 UMass team was a good defensive team with Camby but that team didn't have a MKG and a TJ to go along with him. Plus if the 96 team was to play the 2012 team at the same age as the 2012 team is now, meaning as 18 and 19 year olds the 2012 team would win BIG. The 96 team was deeper and had a bunch of guys go pro but this 2012 team has more than one guy that can become NBA hall-of-famers! Looking back I am not sure the 96 team is that much better than the 98 team. Last time I checked Nazr Mohammed and Jamaal Magloire have had longer NBA careers than anybody form the 96 group. The 78 team sent a lot of guys to the NBA too, and people forget about the 109-75 beat down they put on a USSR team that had won the bronze metal in the 1976 Olyimpic games many of those same Russian players were part of the Gold medal winning team of 1972.

96 Cats:1:

RunItUpTheGut Wrote:Once again.....THE 1996 CATS ARE THE BEST OF ALL TIME.

All you that bring up these UNLV, UCLA, and UNC teams can just keep that to yourself.

There will never be another team like this one, period.

You would be correct sir. 96 UK stands alone atop at least the 64 team era.
The 1990(or 91 that didn't win) Vegas team just coldn't match up to
them on an overall basis. Vegas was too dependent upon its pressure
D and couldn't play halfcourt D as well as the 96 Cats. ANd form an
offensive standpoint, there's just no comparison in team cohesiveness.
Vegas had some very talented players, but they weren't in the same
league when it came to running a halfcourt offense, and the 96 UK
team was every bit as adept as Vegas at scoring off pressure.

As for 1984 Georgetown, they weren't as good as UK that year.
They may, MAY, have been a little better defensively,but don't forget
the Cats shut the Hoyas down in that first half, and only gave up
53 total. And UK was MUCH better on the offensive end, with the actual ability to execute and score. Georgetown was a poor offensive team.
UK just had the sad misfortune to have one of those nights
where they couldn't throw it in the ocean. Casual observers
wanted to attribute that to great Georgetown defense, but
that's kind of hard to do when UK kept getting, but missing,
wide open shots and weren't having them altered by Ewing.
Look at the tape.

As for the UNC teams, any team that had Worthy, Perkins and
Jordan, but only beat that Gtown team because Fred Brown
threw it to the other team, doesn't make the discussion.
They were a team much LESS than the sum of its parts.

Observing Wrote:You would be correct sir. 96 UK stands alone atop at least the 64 team era.
The 1990(or 91 that didn't win) Vegas team just coldn't match up to
them on an overall basis. Vegas was too dependent upon its pressure
D and couldn't play halfcourt D as well as the 96 Cats. ANd form an
offensive standpoint, there's just no comparison in team cohesiveness.
Vegas had some very talented players, but they weren't in the same
league when it came to running a halfcourt offense, and the 96 UK
team was every bit as adept as Vegas at scoring off pressure.

As for 1984 Georgetown, they weren't as good as UK that year.
They may, MAY, have been a little better defensively,but don't forget
the Cats shut the Hoyas down in that first half, and only gave up
53 total. And UK was MUCH better on the offensive end, with the actual ability to execute and score. Georgetown was a poor offensive team.
UK just had the sad misfortune to have one of those nights
where they couldn't throw it in the ocean. Casual observers
wanted to attribute that to great Georgetown defense, but
that's kind of hard to do when UK kept getting, but missing,
wide open shots and weren't having them altered by Ewing.
Look at the tape.

As for the UNC teams, any team that had Worthy, Perkins and
Jordan, but only beat that Gtown team because Fred Brown
threw it to the other team, doesn't make the discussion.
They were a team much LESS than the sum of its parts.

Finally a new poster with smarts.

Awwww. RIUTG found a friend.

Ah-Boys.....

FBALL Wrote:Awwww. RIUTG found a friend.

Don't know him. I'm just someone who has eyes that can see.

Hence the word found.

84-85 Georgetown were just as freakishly athletic as UNLV 91. Both were better than the 96 Cats.

That was a damn good Kentucky team that Georgetown completely shut down in the 84 final four. The Hoyas had them completely intimidated.

If not for the unconscious effort by Nova in the 85 title game Georgetown wins back to back championships and there is no debate.

The best team doesn't always win the national title, but the best team EVER certainly should.

FBALL Wrote:84-85 Georgetown were just as freakishly athletic as UNLV 91. Both were better than the 96 Cats.

That was a damn good Kentucky team that Georgetown completely shut down in the 84 final four. The Hoyas had them completely intimidated.

If not for the unconscious effort by Nova in the 85 title game Georgetown wins back to back championships and there is no debate.

Gtown WAS the best in 85. Freakish game allowed Nova to win.
Much like the freakish game in REVERSE that beat the Cats in 84.
Cats weren't intimidated by anyone. Mostly because they
were bigger and stronger than Gtown overall. Not to mention
that no man on god's green earth EVER intimidated Winston
Bennett.

But if you fall for that con job, ask yourself this. Gtown's pressure
defense was their intimidator, and Ewing's blocks. UK didn't turn
the ball over against their press, and weren't getting their shots
blocked. And UK SHUT GTOWN down in the first half and led
at the break. WHY would they then get intimidated? that's
just the MEDIA MYTH that was perpetrated. it was the story
they wanted to tell. It fit their gtown narrative unlike the
truth which was that UK just had an abysmal shooting performance.

RoShamBo Wrote:The best team doesn't always win the national title, but the best team EVER certainly should.

That's a very good point. In the era of the 64 team tnmt., more
years than not, the overall best team that year did NOT win the
title. parity, and the structure of the tnmt. make winning it
a matter of skill AND a little luck, unless you are just overwhelming
like '96 UK ot '76 IU were. And as you point out, IF you're going
to claim "best team ever" they CAN'T be a team that didn't win it
all.