How has Kentucky fared as a No. 2 seed in past NCAA Tournaments? A look at UK’s history.
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John Calipari’s Kentucky Wildcats landed a 2 seed in this year’s NCAA Tournament. It’s a spot that has delivered one national title — but plenty of nail-biters and heartache, especially in recent years — for UK fans.
Since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985, the Cats have earned a 2 seed on seven previous occasions. Here’s a look at how Kentucky has fared in each of those seasons:
1988
Season record: 27-6 (13-5 SEC).
Leading scorers: Rex Chapman (19.0 points), Ed Davender (15.7), Winston Bennett (15.3).
Season recap: Coached by Eddie Sutton, the Cats were ranked No. 1 at one point during the 1987-88 season and took a seven-game winning streak into the NCAA Tournament after winning the Southeastern Conference tourney. Kentucky defeated Southern and Maryland in the Southeast Regional before falling to 6-seeded Villanova in the Sweet 16. Rex Chapman scored 30 points and five assists in that game, but it wasn’t enough to prevent the 80-74 loss.
Chapman left UK that offseason as the No. 8 overall pick in the NBA Draft. It was also the final game for seniors Winston Bennett, Ed Davender, Cedric Jenkins, Rob Lock and Richard Madison. The 1988 tournament appearance was ultimately vacated by the NCAA following an investigation into the program. Sutton was ousted a year later, and Rick Pitino was named the new coach of the Wildcats.
1992
Season record: 29-7 (12-4 SEC).
Leading scorers: Jamal Mashburn (21.3 points), John Pelphrey (12.5), Deron Feldhaus (11.4).
Season recap: This was actually the first NCAA Tournament appearance for the Wildcats since that 1987-88 season, a drought that included a 13-19 record in the final season under Sutton and two years of probation that resulted from the NCAA investigation.
With Rick Pitino as coach, super sophomore Jamal Mashburn and The Unforgettables — seniors Richie Farmer, Deron Feldhaus, John Pelphrey and Sean Woods — led the Wildcats to one of the most memorable postseasons in program history. UK defeated Old Dominion, Iowa State and Massachusetts — the Minuteman were coached by a 33-year-old John Calipari — before a matchup with defending national champion Duke in the Elite Eight.
Every UK fan knows what happened next. The Blue Devils — led by Christian Laettner — defeated the Wildcats, 104-103 in overtime, in arguably the greatest college basketball game ever played, as well as the last UK game called by legendary broadcaster Cawood Ledford.
Thirty years later, the shot that won it is still played on a loop in March, and Kentucky fans still hate Laettner.
1998
Season record: 35-4 (14-2 SEC).
Leading scorers: Jeff Sheppard (13.7 points), Nazr Mohammed (12.0), Scott Padgett (11.5).
Season recap: This is the No. 2 seed result Kentucky fans will be hoping to replicate.
In their first season following Rick Pitino’s departure to the NBA, the Wildcats — under new head coach Tubby Smith — lost just four times, but three of those defeats happened in Rupp Arena, one to an unranked Louisville team.
A UK squad with no superstars, the Cats still entered the NCAA Tournament as SEC champions and with a No. 5 national ranking. Kentucky won its first three tournament games — against South Carolina State, Saint Louis and UCLA — by an average of 23 points, setting the stage for an Elite Eight rematch with top-seeded Duke.
This time, it was the Wildcats that came out on top. UK trailed by 17 points with less than 10 minutes left before making a remarkable rally punctuated by late three-pointers from Cameron Mills and Scott Padgett that are still shown in Rupp Arena highlight reels today.
The “Comeback Cats” — as they would ultimately be known — then defeated Stanford in the national semifinals and Utah in the title game, erasing a 10-point halftime deficit against the Utes to earn the program’s seventh national championship.
Going into this year’s tournament, that UK team is one of five No. 2 seeds to win the national title since the field expanded to 64 teams in 1985. The others are Louisville (1986), Duke (1991), UConn (2004) and Villanova (2016). The past four national champs have all been 1 seeds.
2001
Season record: 24-10 (12-4 SEC).
Leading scorers: Keith Bogans (17.0 points), Tayshaun Prince (16.9), Jason Parker (8.6).
Season recap: This campaign got off to a rough start. The Cats began the season with back-to-back losses in the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic in New York, then dropped a shocker to Penn State — led by the three-point shooting Crispin brothers — in Rupp Arena. Two more early losses to Georgia Tech and Michigan State had the Cats sitting at 4-5 in mid-December.
Things got mostly sorted out from there, and Kentucky ultimately won the SEC Tournament championship. The rest of March wasn’t easy, with the Cats barely defeating 15-seeded Holy Cross (72-68), getting past Iowa and then falling to Southern Cal in the Sweet 16 round. USC led UK by 21 points in the first half, but the Cats narrowed it to a one-point game in the final minute. Tayshaun Prince, who had a total of 58 points in UK’s first two NCAA Tournament games, had just six points against the Trojans, and UK ultimately fell by a score of 80-76.
Two days before that loss, Rick Pitino was hired as Louisville’s new head coach.
2005
Season record: 28-6 (14-2 SEC).
Leading scorers: Kelenna Azubuike (14.7 points), Patrick Sparks (11.0), Chuck Hayes (10.9).
Season recap: This was Tubby Smith’s last notable NCAA Tournament run with the Wildcats, who defeated Travis Ford and Eastern Kentucky in the first round, Bob Huggins and Cincinnati in the second round, and national player of the year Andrew Bogut and Utah in the Sweet 16.
Next up was 5-seeded Michigan State, which had knocked off 1-seeded Duke to prevent another 1-2 Elite Eight matchup between the Blue Devils and the Wildcats. A hectic final possession of regulation ended with a Patrick Sparks double-pump three-pointer that bounced around the rim before finally falling to tie the game. It only delayed the heartbreak, however, as the Cats eventually fell to the Spartans in double overtime.
Smith’s next two UK teams were 8 seeds in the NCAA Tournament, winning just one game each before exiting in the second round. He left for Minnesota after the 2006-07 season, and the brief Billy Gillispie era was next.
2017
Season record: 32-6 (16-2 SEC).
Leading scorers: Malik Monk (19.8 points), De’Aaron Fox (16.7), Bam Adebayo (13.0).
Season recap: With a stacked recruiting class — led by the big three of Adebayo, Fox and Monk — and some returning players (including in-state seniors Dominique Hawkins and Derek Willis), the Wildcats rolled through most of the season, largely dominated the SEC, and took an 11-game winning streak into the NCAA Tournament.
Once March Madness began, the Cats beat Northern Kentucky and Wichita State in the first two rounds, then avenged a regular-season home loss to UCLA with a convincing victory in the Sweet 16. That set the stage for a battle of the blue bloods — UK vs. North Carolina — with a trip to the Final Four on the line.
This was a wild one. Kentucky trailed by seven points with less than a minute left, before the Cats hit three three-pointers — two by Monk, one by Fox — in a span of 39 seconds to tie things up at 73-all. Then, unlikely UNC hero Luke Maye hit a jumper in the final seconds to set the final score, crush Kentucky’s rally, and end the Cats’ season.
Some UK fans took out their frustrations on referee John Higgins, who later filed a lawsuit against Kentucky Sports Radio saying he was harassed and threatened after comments made on the show. That lawsuit was dismissed, and Higgins has not officiated a Kentucky game in the five years since.
2019
Season record: 30-7 (15-3 SEC).
Leading scorers: PJ Washington (15.2 points), Tyler Herro (14.0), Keldon Johnson (13.5).
Season recap: PJ Washington returned for a second season, Reid Travis joined as a graduate transfer, and John Calipari welcomed in another stellar recruiting class led by Tyler Herro, Keldon Johnson, Ashton Hagans and Immanuel Quickley.
The Cats entered SEC Tournament play as the No. 4-ranked team in the country, but a loss to Tennessee in the league semifinals torpedoed their hopes for a No. 1 seed. They blew out Abilene Christian in the first round before surviving thrillers against Wofford and Houston in the next two games. Going into the second week of the tournament, the stage was set for another Kentucky-North Carolina meeting in the Elite Eight, but Auburn beat the top-seeded Tar Heels in the Sweet 16, and it was an all-SEC matchup for a trip to the Final Four instead.
The Cats jumped out to a 7-0 lead and never trailed in the first half, but Auburn evened things up shortly after halftime, and there wasn’t much to separate the two teams from there. The game went to overtime, where the Tigers came out on top, 77-71, to end UK’s season.
This game three years ago was the last time the Wildcats appeared in the NCAA Tournament, with the 2020 event being canceled due to COVID-19 and UK missing out last season with a losing record.
Kentucky basketball will return to March Madness on Thursday.
This story was originally published March 13, 2022 at 6:35 PM.
