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Paul Ables@@PaulAblesBRTwitter LogoContributor IIIMay 8, 2012
Why UK Is College Basketball's Greatest Program Ever
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After taking home the 2012 NCAA National Championship trophy, the Kentucky Wildcats are yet again the kings of college basketball. It had been 14 seasons since the school won its previous championship, but head coach John Calipari has put the Wildcats back on top of the basketball mountain, and he does not appear to be changing that trend anytime soon.
However, this 2012 championship is not the only reason why Kentucky is college basketball's greatest program. Over the course of the sport's grand history, no other team has achieved more on-court success than the University of Kentucky.
The Wildcats are the leaders or near the lead in nearly every major category of team success, including wins, championships, Final Four appearances, NCAA Tournament success and even fan attendance. The following pages will use statistical and factual reasoning to determine why the University of Kentucky Wildcats are the single greatest program in college basketball history.
2,092 Wins and Counting
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As of the 2011-12 basketball season, the University of Kentucky is the all-time wins leader in college basketball with 2,092 victories. Kentucky is also the all-time leader in winning percentage, winning at a .763 success rate. Kansas and North Carolina follow closely behind with 2,070 and 2,065 victories, respectively. Kentucky was the first team to reach the 2,000 victory plateau, and they have extended their lead in this category since then.
This is an impressive statistic to say the least, but simply having 2,092 wins in school history does not tell the full story of Kentucky's dominance over time. They are the all-time winningest school in college basketball, but the most amazing aspect of their wins record is how consistently excellent the Wildcats have won during each era of basketball.
For example, the University of Kentucky was also the first college program to win 1,000 games in school history. They achieved this feat during the 1968 season, which is remarkable considering the fact that Kentucky was fourth overall in the wins list just 10 years prior to reaching the 1,000 mark. For an excellent illustration of Kentucky's rise up the all-time wins list, be sure to visit the page at BigBlueHistory.net.
With Kentucky being the first program to achieve 1,000 victories and the first to reach the 2,000 victory mark, there is little doubt that the Wildcats have been the most successful program over time. No other university has matched Kentucky's ability to win year in and year out, and even decade to decade.
This is further illustrated by taking a look at the official NCAA record book and examining the winningest programs by decade. The record begins in the 1930-39 decade, and Kentucky has finished among the top 10 winningest programs in every decade on the list except for the 2000-09 decade.
In fact, here is a list of Kentucky's rank per decade:
1930-39: 2nd-best winning percentage (.827)
1940-49: 1st in winning percentage (.851)
1950-59: 1st in winning percentage (.872)
1960-69: 5th-best winning percentage (.741)
1970-79: 5th-best winning percentage (.764)
1980-89: 9th-best winning percentage (.731)
1990-99: 2nd-best winning percentage (.817)
2000-09: 19th-best winning percentage (.712)
With the exception of the 2000-09 decade, Kentucky has consistently won games at a more successful rate than any other basketball program. Below is a list that totals the number of decades that the following schools have finished in the top 10 winning percentage:
As you can see, Kentucky is not only the wins leader in college basketball. They have been the standard of excellence since the dawn of the sport, and no school has matched their rate of success over the span of basketball history.
8 NCAA Championships & 15 Final Fours
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Kentucky is not a one-trick pony. In addition to winning more games than any other college program, they have also won an impressive eight NCAA national championships and made 15 appearances in the Final Four.
Although these totals do not place Kentucky at the top of each respective list, they are very close to the top.
UCLA is the all-time leader in NCAA championships, having won a record 11 titles in their school's history. There is no disputing the fact that the Bruins lead the pack when it comes to championships. However, Kentucky's total of eight championships is well ahead of the other rival schools in the sport.
In fact, here is an updated list of the programs with the most NCAA championships in college basketball:
UCLA: 11
Kentucky: 8
North Carolina: 5
Indiana: 5
Duke: 4
Kansas: 3
Connecticut: 3
As you can see, UCLA and Kentucky have pulled away from the rest of the pack at the moment. Although UCLA is the leader, here is one interesting fact: the Wildcats are catching up.
The Bruins won 10 of their 11 NCAA titles under coach John Wooden. Without a doubt, the Bruins put together the most impressive championship run of any men's basketball program. It is a feat that is unlikely to ever be repeated and should be commended.
However, those 10 championships occurred during one span, beginning with the 1963-64 title and commencing with Wooden's last championship in 1975. The Bruins did not take home another championship trophy until Jim Harrick's 1995 squad won it all, and they have yet to win another since.
Put this in perspective: UCLA has won one title in the previous 37 seasons. Since that 1975 championship, Kentucky has won four championships, Duke has won four championships, North Carolina has won four championships, Indiana has won three championships and Connecticut has won three titles. For a program that leads the nation in NCAA titles, it is interesting to note that they have not been nearly as successful or as relevant in the sport since the days of John Wooden.
In contrast, Kentucky has won their eight national championships in five different decades, starting with the 1948 NCAA Championship and commencing in this past season's 2012 NCAA Championship. The Wildcats have also won championships in 1949, 1951, 1958, 1978, 1996 and 1998.
Even though Kentucky may not have the number of titles that UCLA has, they have won them more consistently over a broader period of time. The Wildcats have continued their tradition of excellence beyond the Rupp era, whereas UCLA has not continued their tradition that John Wooden left in his departure.
In addition to NCAA championships, Kentucky is also near the lead in Final Four appearances. Playing in the Final Four is used to determine how often a program has finished the season as one of college basketball's elite. Here is the list of current leaders in Final Four appearances:
UCLA: 18
North Carolina: 18
Kentucky: 15
Duke: 15
Kansas: 14
Ohio State: 11
Louisville: 9
Indiana: 8
Michigan State: 8
Yet again, UCLA leads the pack and this is to be expected because of their championship tally. The big surprise here is that the Bruins are tied for the lead with the North Carolina Tar Heels, who are ahead of Kentucky and every other school in college basketball history. Kentucky follows up closely in third place, having gained two of these appearances in the past two seasons under John Calipari.
Although the Tar Heels can certainly brag about making the Final Four more often than Kentucky, it can also be used as a counter-argument against UNC. If a program has advanced to the sport's final weekend three more times than another school, you would expect that school to have appeared in the national championship game more often, let alone having won the title more often.
This is certainly not the case when comparing the two schools. Kentucky has three fewer appearances in the Final Four, yet they have appeared in the NCAA National Final 11 times, which is two more than the Tar Heels' nine appearances. Also, Kentucky has won the NCAA National Championship three more times than North Carolina, as evidenced above.
Kentucky's collection of championships and Final Four appearances rivals that of any other school, and they have the Bruins' top spot in sight.
5 Championship-Winning Coaches
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This statistic is arguably the most impressive in determining Kentucky's reign as the greatest program in college basketball history.
As a result of winning the 2012 NCAA National Championship, John Calipari claimed his first national championship as a head coach. More importantly, he became the fifth head coach of the University of Kentucky to win a national title at the school. Following is the list of coaches who have reached the pinnacle of the sport during their time at UK:
No other NCAA Division I program can match this feat. What this proves is that for whatever reason, the combination of resources, tradition, funding, geography, conference affiliation, and education provided by the University of Kentucky surpasses all other schools in terms of providing a head coach with the best opportunity to succeed and win a championship.
There is no clear reason for this, but what is clear is that Kentucky is unique from nearly every other college program in this regards: the majority of their success is not tied up by one dominant coaching run.
In fact, nearly every other top-flight basketball program achieved most, if not all, of their success during one coaching regime. Here is a quick look at how Kentucky compares to other programs:
Kentucky: Five head coaches have won an NCAA Championship (Rupp, Hall, Pitino, Smith, Calipari)
North Carolina: Three head coaches have won an NCAA Championship (Roy Williams, Dean Smith, Frank McGuire)
Kansas: Three head coaches have won an NCAA Championship (Bill Self, Larry Brown, Phog Allen)
UCLA: Two head coaches have won an NCAA Championship (John Wooden, Jim Harrick)
Indiana: Two head coaches have won an NCAA Championship (Bob Knight, Branch McCracken)
Duke: One head coach has won an NCAA Championship (Mike Krzyzewski)
Connecticut: One head coach has won an NCAA Championship (Jim Calhoun)
As you can see, only three universities have won a championship with three head coaches. Kentucky stands alone at the top with five coaches owning a championship ring, and this is yet another defining reason why Kentucky is the greatest college basketball program of all time.
1st Overall in NCAA Tournament Appearances, Wins, Sweet 16's and Elite 8's
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The University of Kentucky is college basketball's all-time leader in wins, and that success extends to the NCAA tournament.
Kentucky is the all-time leader in the following categories pertaining to "March Madness":
NCAA tournament appearances: 53
NCAA tournament wins:111
Sweet Sixteen appearances:39
Elite Eight appearances:34
The school's dominance in these categories should not be overstated. Their record of 53 NCAA tournament appearances is nine ahead of any other school. In other words, they have nearly one decade's worth of appearances more than any other program!
However, this is not just because of the longevity of Kentucky's basketball program, which was established in 1903. While they certainly have longevity on their side, other historic programs such as Kansas (established in 1899), Syracuse (established in 1899) and Indiana (established in 1901) have been around longer than the Wildcats.
Also, Kentucky has played in thousands of games, but they are not the leader in that category. In fact, Kansas, Duke and North Carolina have all appeared in more games than the Wildcats. However, Kentucky still has more appearances in the NCAA tournament than any other school. That in itself is remarkable.
There is one statistic that is worth noting in the above list: out of Kentucky's 39 appearances in the Sweet 16, they have advanced forward to the Elite Eight 34 of those 39 years. No other program has consistently put itself within striking distance of the Final Four than Lexington's finest.
In addition to Kentucky's success in the NCAA Final Four, National Final and National Championship categories, no other school can match the year-in-and-year-out success of the Wildcats in the NCAA tournament.
52 SEC Regular Season Championships & 29 SEC Tournament Championships
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The Kentucky Wildcats have won at the highest level during the regular season and the NCAA Tournament over the course of its history. Naturally, this tradition of excellence has extended to conference play as well.
The 2011-12 Wildcats completed a rare and impressive feat this season by winning the SEC Regular Season Championship with a perfect 16-0 record. Going undefeated in the SEC has only happened a few times in school history, and it is one factor of many that showcases the dominance that Kentucky has over the rest of the Southeastern Conference.
In fact, Kentucky is second all time with 52 conference regular season championships. Only the Kansas Jayhawks have won more, tallying 55 conference titles.
However, the Wildcats take the lead with their record of 29 conference tournament championships. They hold a small lead over bitter ACC rivals North Carolina (25 titles) and Duke (24 titles), and the fourth-place team in this category is actually Kentucky's in-state rival, the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers with 18 conference tournament titles.
It can be said that Kentucky has enjoyed overwhelming success in the SEC because of the lack of other rivals in the conference. Although it is probable that the Southeastern Conference is not college basketball's best conference, it is still a competitive conference with tough arenas to play in that feature some of the most raucous road environments in college basketball.
Regardless of the conference's reputation, Kentucky has completely dominated the SEC conference since the days of Adolph Rupp and they have been as successful against their conference as any other program in college basketball history.
Whether you choose to measure a program's success via NCAA titles, Final Four appearances, NCAA tournament victories, conference championships, Sweet 16 appearances or regular season wins, Kentucky is either at or near the top in every category. In addition, the Wildcats have been among college basketball's elite in nearly every decade of play.
Regardless of how you choose to rank the greatest teams of all time, the University of Kentucky Wildcats are the greatest program in college basketball history and that trend does not appear to be stopping anytime soon.
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How UK basketball lost its all-time wins lead over Kansas
With the victory by Kansas and Coach Bill Self over Creighton in Saturday’s NCAA Tournament round of 32, the Jayhawks have tied Kentucky for the most all-time victories in men’s NCAA Division I college basketball history with 2,353. Tony Gutierrez AP
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 morewins 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 5:42 PM.
Mark Story
Mark Story has worked in the Lexington Herald-Leader sports department since Aug. 27, 1990, and has been a Herald-Leader sports columnist since 2001. I have covered every Kentucky-Louisville football game since 1994, every UK-U of L basketball game but three since 1996-97 and every Kentucky Derby since 1994. Support my work with a digital subscription
90,000 NBA. Seven players from Kentucky will go to the draft - Basketball
The head coach of the University of Kentucky John Calipari said that seven of his wards will put forward their candidacies for the 2015 NBA draft, according to Sportando. Brothers Aaron and Andrew Harrison, who announced their decision earlier, were joined by Carl-Anthony Towns, Willie Coley-Stein, Devin Booker, Trey Liles and Dakari Johnson.
According to Calipari, the eighth player forward Alex Poythress has not yet decided.
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The Russian national basketball team will miss the Olympic Games for the second time in a row
The Russian men's national basketball team suffered a second defeat in the group stage of the Olympic qualification tournament in Croatian Split from not-the-most-star rivals and lost her chances of getting to the Olympic Games in Tokyo based on the results of the competition. Gazeta.Ru about why the national team will miss the main start of the four years for the second time in a row.
The Russian basketball team started at the qualifying tournament for the Games in Japan with a defeat in the match against the Mexican team (64:72), which seriously complicated their lives, being left without the right to make a mistake in the game with the German national team.
After the first fight, the head coach Sergei Bazarevich complained about the weak teamwork and lack of concentration at the most crucial moment.
“We made ten turnovers in the third quarter, some players couldn't handle the pressure. One thing is friendly matches, another is a tournament in which so much is decided. And some small things make a big impact. For example, the Mexicans won the rebound under our basket 18 times, and five of those rebounds are team rebounds. And this is what we had to take, but the ball fell out of our hands or something else, ”the specialist complained in an interview with the press service of the Russian Basketball Federation (RBF).
“We controlled the game, and then we sank like that in the second five-minute period of the third quarter. .. Perhaps I should have taken a time-out earlier. We didn't play as individually as we could. The rebounds of the Mexican national team under our hoop are 18 extra attacks. Opponents attacked even with the worst percentage, but managed to win. And we had too few of these attacks,” added Bazarevich.
After a sudden defeat from the Mexicans, in order to overcome the group stage and reach the semi-finals of the qualifying tournament, the Russian team had to not only beat the German national team, but to do it with a certain difference.
The Bundesteam's victory over the Mexicans with a score of 82:76 determined that Sergei Bazarevich's wards needed to beat the opponent with a seven-point advantage.
And during the game, the Russian team succeeded! In the first quarter, the Russians led with a score of 17:7, in the third - 51:41, but the team failed to keep this advantage. By the end of the third game segment, the Germans had won back seven points, and under the curtain of the meeting they took the lead and brought the matter to victory - 67:69.
It is curious that this time the coach of the Russian team was more favorable to his players, noting the progress in their game compared to the match against the Mexicans.
“This is not the result we wanted to achieve in Split. But the way we played today was better than the day before. Bad, of course, but a bad experience is also an experience. Sometimes it’s even more useful than victory, ”TASS quotes Bazarevich.
“Everyone in Russia thinks that basketball is dead. I don’t think so: we have young players who are able to perform at a high level, ”the specialist emphasized.
The main star of the Russian national team, Timofey Mozgov, who this season took to the floor for the first time in three years, was extremely annoyed by his failure to qualify for the Olympics.
“It's sad that we lost. We wanted to go further. We were nervous in the first match, we could have played better. As for the meeting with the Germans, I am proud of it, there are no questions for the team. I don’t care about the personal result, the main thing is the victory, which we never achieved. I tried to do what I can, ”said Mozgov.
“I still don’t understand what will happen next with my career. But I want to play basketball, that's why I'm here," the athlete added.
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The Russian national team at an unexpected moment began a cycle of generational change, having already abandoned attempts to persuade experienced players (Alexey Shved, Vitaly Fridzon, Sergey Karasev and others) to play for the national team, but had not yet grown a new generation of basketball players capable of independently taking the initiative on the floor in hands and get results.
World champion Vladimir Tkachenko blamed the very refusal players for the unsuccessful performance at the qualifying tournament.
They are the all-time winningest school in college basketball, but the most amazing aspect of their wins record is how consistently excellent the Wildcats have won during each era of basketball.
The record begins in the 1930-39 decade, and Kentucky has finished among the top 10 winningest programs in every decade on the list except for the 2000-09 decade.
They have been the standard of excellence since the dawn of the sport, and no school has matched their rate of success over the span of basketball history.
Although UCLA is the leader, here is one interesting fact: the Wildcats are catching up.
The big surprise here is that the Bruins are tied for the lead with the North Carolina Tar Heels, who are ahead of Kentucky and every other school in college basketball history. Kentucky follows up closely in third place, having gained two of these appearances in the past two seasons under John Calipari.
What this proves is that for whatever reason, the combination of resources, tradition, funding, geography, conference affiliation, and education provided by the University of Kentucky surpasses all other schools in terms of providing a head coach with the best opportunity to succeed and win a championship.
Kentucky stands alone at the top with five coaches owning a championship ring, and this is yet another defining reason why Kentucky is the greatest college basketball program of all time.
While they certainly have longevity on their side, other historic programs such as Kansas (established in 1899), Syracuse (established in 1899) and Indiana (established in 1901) have been around longer than the Wildcats.
5 victories a season.
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.. Perhaps I should have taken a time-out earlier. We didn't play as individually as we could. The rebounds of the Mexican national team under our hoop are 18 extra attacks. Opponents attacked even with the worst percentage, but managed to win. And we had too few of these attacks,” added Bazarevich. 
I don’t care about the personal result, the main thing is the victory, which we never achieved. I tried to do what I can, ”said Mozgov. 
