Homegrown talent

Kentucky has never won a men's basketball NCAA championship without at least one player from the commonwealth starting or serving as the team's sixth man. As you will see below, a Kentuckian has ranked among UK's top six scorers in all eight NCAA title seasons:

Player (Hometown) Scoring Average Rank on team

1947-48

Ralph Beard (Louisville) 12.5 ppg 1st (tie)

Wah Wah Jones (Harlan) 9.3 ppg 3rd

Kenny Rollins (Wickliffe) 6.6 5th

1948-49

Ralph Beard (Louisville) 10.8 ppg 2nd

Wah Wah Jones (Harlan) 8.6 ppg 3rd

1950-51

Bobby Watson (Owensboro) 10.4 ppg 2nd (tie)

Frank Ramsey (Madisonville) 10.1 ppg 4th

Cliff Hagan (Owensboro) 9.2 ppg 5th

1957-58

Vernon Hatton (Lexington) 17.1 ppg 1st

Johnny Cox (Hazard) 14.9 ppg 2nd

John Crigler (Hebron) 13.6 ppg 3rd

Adrian Smith (Farmington) 12.4 ppg 4th

1977-78

Jack Givens (Lexington) 18.1 ppg 1st

James Lee (Lexington) 11.3 ppg 4th

1995-96

Derek Anderson (Louisville) 9.4 ppg 4th

Anthony Epps (Lebanon) 6.7 ppg 7th

1997-98

Scott Padgett (Louisville) 11.5 ppg 3rd

2011-12

Darius Miller (Maysville) 9.9 ppg 6th

Compiled by Mark Story

This story was originally published October 21, 2014 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Homegrown talent."