Kansas ties Kentucky: Tracking how UK lost the all-time men’s basketball wins lead
A moment that many Kentucky Wildcats basketball fans have been dreading became reality Saturday.
When No. 1 seed Kansas defeated No. 9 seed Creighton 79-72 in the NCAA Tournament Midwest Region round of 32, it moved the Jayhawks into a tie with UK for the all-time wins lead in college basketball.
Both programs now have 2,353 all-time victories.
Kansas (30-6) began the 2022-23 season four victories behind Kentucky (26-8).
KU’s catching UK capped a relentless march toward the all-time wins lead by Bill Self’s program.
When Self was hired as the head coach at Kansas before the 2003-04 season, the Jayhawks were 47 victories behind Kentucky, seven behind North Carolina and stood third in all-time wins.
With Saturday’s victory, Self has now led the Jayhawks to 10 seasons with at least 30 victories in his 19 seasons as the Jaywawks’ head man.
Two seasons have been particularly damaging to Kentucky in the all-time wins race.
The first was the 2007-08 season, when UK went 18-13 in Billy Gillispie’s first year as Wildcats coach while Self and Kansas were going 37-3 and winning the national title.
Last season, when John Calipari and UK went 9-16 and Self and KU were 21-9, also significantly eroded Kentucky’s all-time wins lead.
Overall in the 13-year Calipari coaching era, Kentucky has won 365 games — an average of 28.1 victories a season.
Yet in the same time frame, Self and Kansas have won 383 games — an average of 29.5 victories a season.
Seasoned UK backers will recall that Kentucky once before lost its status as college basketball’s wins king — only to wrest that title back.
When the Wildcats had back-to-back seasons of 13 (13-19) and 14 (14-14) wins in 1988-89 and ‘89-90, it opened the door for North Carolina to supplant UK as the winningest program.
On March 17, 1990, Dean Smith’s Tar Heels beat Oklahoma in the NCAA Tournament’s round of 32 to assume the all-time wins lead, 1,479-1,478 over Kentucky.
When North Carolina, Kentucky and Kansas all made the 1993 Final Four, the all-time wins totals entering the national semifinals stood 1. Tar Heels 1,568; 2. Wildcats 1,560; 3. Jayhawks 1,515.
However, after Rick Pitino fully rebuilt UK from the ashes of the Eddie Sutton-era NCAA probation, the tide turned back toward Kentucky.
During 1995-96, as Pitino’s best UK team went 34-2 and won the national title, the Wildcats gained 13 victories over North Carolina (21-11 that season) and ended the year back on top in all-time wins by three victories.
The following season, Pitino’s last as UK coach, Kentucky gained seven more wins on North Carolina (35 to 28).
The UK program had been the all-time wins leader ever since.
Long term, the wild card in Kansas catching and, perhaps, soon passing Kentucky is that the NCAA has alleged the KU program has committed five Level One rules violations.
Obviously, Kansas vacating prior wins or receiving sanctions of such severity that its future competitiveness is compromised could have implications in the all-time wins battle.
Making the outcome more uncertain than normal, Kansas has chosen to have its case tried via the NCAA’s new Independent Accountability Resolution Process rather than in front of the traditional Committee on Infractions.
So stay tuned there.
UK ended the current regular season with the same four-win advantage it held over KU at the year’s start.
However, Kansas won three games and the title in the Big 12 Tournament, while UK won only one game and was eliminated by Tennessee in the SEC tourney semifinals.
In the NCAA Tournament, UK was shocked in its opening game by No. 15 seed Saint Peter’s, while Kansas has beaten Texas Southern and Creighton.
Kentucky’s all-time record now stands 2,353-720, while Kansas is 2,353-877. The Jayhawks have played 157 more games than the Wildcats.
With North Carolina’s upset victory over NCAA Tournament East Region No. 1 seed Baylor on Saturday, the Tar Heels remain 33 wins behind Kentucky and Kansas with an all-time mark of 2,320-827.
Kansas can supplant Kentucky as the all-time wins leader when the Jayhawks face Midwest Region No. 4 seed Providence on Friday night in the Sweet Sixteen in Chicago.
This story was originally published March 19, 2022 at 5:42 PM.
