Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball
NCAA Division I Men's Basketball team representing the University of Kentucky / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team is an American college basketball team that represents the University of Kentucky. Kentucky is the most successful NCAA Division I basketball program in history in terms of all-time winning percentage (.765) and is 2nd in all-time wins. The Wildcats are currently coached by John Calipari.
| Kentucky Wildcats | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| University | University of Kentucky | ||
| First season | 1903 | ||
| Athletic director | Mitch Barnhart | ||
| Head coach | John Calipari (15th season) | ||
| Conference | SEC | ||
| Location | Lexington, Kentucky | ||
| Arena | Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center (Capacity: 20,545) | ||
| Nickname | Wildcats | ||
| Student section | eRUPPtion Zone | ||
| Colors | Blue and white[1] | ||
| Uniforms | |||
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| Pre-tournament Premo-Porretta champions | |||
| 1934 | |||
| Pre-tournament Helms champions | |||
| 1933 | |||
| NCAA tournament champions | |||
| 1948, 1949, 1951, 1958, 1978, 1996, 1998, 2012 | |||
| NCAA tournament runner-up | |||
| 1966, 1975, 1997, 2014 | |||
| NCAA tournament Final Four | |||
| 1942, 1948, 1949, 1951, 1958, 1966, 1975, 1978, 1984, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015 | |||
| NCAA tournament Elite Eight | |||
| 1942, 1945, 1948, 1949, 1951, 1952, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1961, 1962, 1966, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1978, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2003, 2005, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2019 | |||
| NCAA tournament Sweet Sixteen | |||
| 1951, 1952, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1961, 1962, 1964, 1966, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988*, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019 | |||
| NCAA tournament appearances | |||
| 1942, 1945, 1948, 1949, 1951, 1952, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1961, 1962, 1964, 1966, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988*, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023 | |||
| Conference tournament champions | |||
| 1921, 1933, 1937, 1939, 1940, 1942, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1952, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2010, 2011, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 | |||
| Conference regular season champions | |||
| 1926, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1938, 1941, 1943, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1954, 1955, 1957, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1966, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1991, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2010, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2020 *vacated by NCAA | |||
Kentucky leads all schools in total NCAA tournament appearances (59), is tied in NCAA tournament wins (131) with North Carolina, NCAA tournament games played (184), NCAA Sweet Sixteen appearances (45), NCAA Elite Eight appearances (38), total postseason tournament appearances (68), and are second in regular-season conference championships (53, of which 51 are Southeastern Conference (SEC) regular-season championships). Furthermore, Kentucky has played in 17 NCAA Final Fours (tied with Duke for third place all-time behind North Carolina and UCLA), 12 NCAA Championship games (tied for first all-time with North Carolina and UCLA), and has won eight NCAA championships (second only to UCLA's 11). In addition to these titles, Kentucky won the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) in both 1946 and 1976, making it the only school to win multiple NCAA and NIT championships. Kentucky also leads all schools with sixty-three 20-win seasons, sixteen 30-win seasons, and six 35-win seasons.
Kentucky was the first school to 1000 wins in 1968 and 2000 wins in 2009. From 1967 to 1990 and 1996 to 2022, Kentucky led all schools in all-time wins. Between 1990 and 1996 and since March 25, 2022, Kentucky has ranked second in all-time wins.[2]
Throughout its history, the Kentucky basketball program has featured many notable and successful players, both on the collegiate level and the professional level. Kentucky holds the record for the most overall NBA Draft selections (128) and three Wildcats have been selected as the first overall pick (John Wall, Anthony Davis, and Karl-Anthony Towns). The Wildcats have also been led by many successful head coaches, including Adolph Rupp, Joe B. Hall, Eddie Sutton, Rick Pitino, Tubby Smith, and John Calipari. Kentucky is the only program with five NCAA Championship coaches (Rupp, Hall, Pitino, Smith, Calipari). Four Kentucky coaches have been enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame: Rupp, Sutton, Pitino, and Calipari. Former Wildcat players that have gone on to become head coaches include C. M. Newton, Pat Riley, Dan Issel, Dwane Casey, John Pelphrey, Scott Padgett, Steve Masiello, Mark Pope, and Travis Ford.
The Kentucky Wildcats represented USA Basketball, at Globl Jam 2023, and defeated Canada to win the Gold Medal.