In the Bluegrass State
known for thoroughbred
champions, UK has that championship
"pedigree"
Thirty-seven teams have tried to stop the Kentucky Wildcats
from making NCAA basketball history and none succeeded. In fact, since UK won their conference, then won
their conference tournament, they have been getting stronger and stronger.
In three rounds of the NCAA tourney as only the strong survive
from round to round, the amazing Kentucky Cats have won by a combined 75
points, an unheard of average victory of 25 points per game.
Well, to set the record straight, Kentucky already has the longest unbeaten
streak in tournament history. Indiana was the last unbeaten
national champion thirty-nine years ago, in 1976, and they were the team tied
for the most wins in history with a 32-0 record.
UCLA had four unbeaten teams during the John Wooden era from
1964-1973 when they won ten national titles, but they were 30-0 each time. Only two other teams in NCAA history finished
unbeaten, North Carolina in 1957 (32-0) and San Francisco in 1956 (29-0)
finished unbeaten.
In the jargon of the Bluegrass State
known for thoroughbred champions, the UK Wildcats have the "pedigree"
to pull off the impossible, finish off winning the national title with a 40-0
record.
Coach John Calipari should have been named NCAA coach of the
year, even his chief rival Rick Pitino from Louisville agrees. However, there is an anti-Kentucky bias
because of his "one and done" policy of recruiting and starting
freshmen, recognizing they would jump to the NBA at the earliest possible
moment.
Ironically, in this his sixth year at UK, so many freshmen
returned he incorporate a platoon system to give the top ten players equal
playing time, an act requiring the athletes to forgo personal statistics for
the good of the team. In this day and
age teaching college basketball stars to be humble, team oriented and unselfish
is rare indeed.
A "players-first" coach with a penchant for
helping people reach their dreams, John Calipari has guided five teams to the
Final Four, led one to a national championship and helped 31 players make it to
the NBA during his 22-year college coaching career.
Calipari reached the mountaintop in his third year in Lexington , guiding Kentucky
to its eighth national championship and his first national title. He is one of
only two coaches to lead three different schools to a Final Four (UMass-1996;
Memphis-2008; Kentucky-2011, 2012, 2014).
The Wildcats rode the trademark hard-nosed Calipari defense
to the 2012 title, finishing the season as the nation's top-ranked team in
field-goal percentage defense and blocked shots.
Following a 3.4 grade-point average in the 2013 spring
semester -- the highest in Coach Cal 's tenure at UK -- the Wildcats' scholarship
players posted a 3.11 GPA for the second consecutive semester in the 2014 fall
semester. It marked the seventh time in the last eight semesters Coach Cal 's
team earned a 3.0 or better.
As someone who prides himself on helping young men reach
their dreams, he has placed 31 players in the NBA during his college coaching
career, including 19 over his first five seasons at Kentucky . The 19 picks over that five-season
span is the most of any coach.
So here we are, UK may be playing for the national
title for the third time in three years, if only they can win three more
games. I say history awaits the Kentucky
Wildcats and that no one will stop the Kentucky
juggernaut.
.
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