The 1991–92 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team represented the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentu ...

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

competition Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, indivi ...

in the 1991–92 season. The team was coached by Rick Pitino. This season's team is one of the most fondly remembered in UK's long basketball history. Due to major recruiting violations committed by Pitino's predecessor Eddie Sutton, the 1991-92 Wildcats were coming off a three-year postseason ban where the team was not allowed to compete in tournament play. (Note the NCAA did not find Sutton personally liable.) The violations had mainly centered on alleged cheating by 1987-89 player

Eric Manuel Eric Manuel (born December 21, 1968) is an American former college basketball player. Born in Macon, Georgia; Manuel made the ''Parade'' and McDonald's All-America teams as a high school senior in 1987. The small forward/shooting guard signe ...

on the ACT college entrance exam and cash payments to the guardian of another former player, Chris Mills. The 1991-92 season was the first year after probation when the Wildcats were allowed to compete and the only opportunity for the team's four seniors, who remained loyal to the program as opposed to transferring to teams allowed in the tournament. Three of these seniors were Kentucky natives. Together, all four would enter Kentucky basketball history as "The Unforgettables": *

Richie Farmer Richard Dwight Farmer (born August 25, 1969) is an American former collegiate basketball player and Republican Party politician from the U.S. state of Kentucky. He served as the Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner from 2004 to 2012 and was the ...

, a 6'0"/1.83 m

shooting guard The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional positions in a regulation basketball game. A shooting guard's m ...

from

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, a small town in the commonwealth's eastern coal fields. *

Deron Feldhaus Deron Feldhaus (born December 16, 1968), is an American former basketball player. He is best known for his collegiate career with the Kentucky Wildcats. He is also one of four seniors on the 1991–92 team known as "The Unforgettables". During ...

, a 6'7"/2.01 m forward from Maysville, a small

Ohio River The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...

town in the Bluegrass region, about an hour's drive upriver from

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

. *

John Pelphrey John Leslie Pelphrey (born July 18, 1968) is an American college basketball coach, currently the head coach of the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles. After being named Kentucky Mr. Basketball in 1987, he became a star college player at the University ...

, a 6'8"/2.03 m forward from another eastern

coal town A coal town, also known as a coal camp or patch, is a type of company town or mining community established by the employer, a mining company, which imports workers to the site to work the mineral find. The company develops it and provides residen ...

, Paintsville. *

Sean Woods Sean Woods (born March 29, 1970) is an American former basketball player and former head coach for the Southern Jaguars basketball team. Playing career Woods attended Cathedral High School in Indianapolis before playing college basketball at ...

, the only non-Kentuckian "Unforgettable," a 6'2"/1.88 m

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the five Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run t ...

from

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

. Although the seniors were the heart and soul of the team, its biggest star was sophomore

Jamal Mashburn Jamal Mashburn Sr. (born November 29, 1972) is an American entrepreneur and former professional basketball player. Nicknamed the "Monster Mash", Mashburn was a prolific scorer as a small forward in his 12 seasons in the National Basketball Assoc ...

, who would go on to become a consensus first-team All-American the following season and have a successful 12-year

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

career; he is now an NBA analyst for

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

. The Wildcats' run in the NCAA tournament would end in a regional final against

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...

that is often cited as the greatest college game ever played. The heavily favored Blue Devils survived an overtime thriller on Christian Laettner's last-second shot at the buzzer.

Team legacy

The legacy of "The Unforgettables" was so great within the university that the UK program decided to retire the players' jerseys (but not their numbers) almost immediately after their final tournament game. (While jersey retirement is not uncommon, it is rare for a school to bestow this honor so soon after a player's career ends.) The team also went on a post-tournament all-county exhibition tour, where thousands of Kentuckians gathered in high school gyms across the commonwealth to meet and express pride in the team. National and local sports news outlets continued to cover the players in "where are they now" and similar features for at least 25 years after the tournament. In 2005, a documentary film about the team, "

Beyond the Glory ''Beyond the Glory'' is a documentary series that profiles some of the most legendary and controversial athletes in recent history. Executive produced by Steve Michaels and Frank Sinton and narrated by Jay Mohr, and later by Roy Firestone, the show ...

," was released.

Schedule and results

, - !colspan=9 style=, Regular Season , - !colspan=9 style=, SEC Tournament , - !colspan=9 style=, NCAA Tournament

NCAA basketball tournament

*East **Kentucky (2) 88,

Old Dominion Old Dominion most commonly refers to: *The Old Dominion, a nickname for the U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia ** Colony of Virginia *Old Dominion University, a public university in Norfolk, Virginia **Old Dominion Monarchs, the athletic teams represe ...

(15) 69 **Kentucky 106,

Iowa State Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...

(10) 98 **Kentucky 87,

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

(3) 77 **

(1) 104, Kentucky 103 (OT)

Rankings

Team players drafted into the NBA

Not one member of the Wildcats was claimed in the

1992 NBA draft The 1992 NBA draft took place on June 24, 1992, at Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Oregon. The draft is considered to be one of the deepest in NBA history. The top three picks (Shaquille O'Neal, Alonzo Mourning, Christian Laettner) were considere ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1991-92 Kentucky Wildcats Men's Basketball Team

Kentucky Wildcats The Kentucky Wildcats are the men's and women's intercollegiate athletic squads of the University of Kentucky (UK), a founding member of the Southeastern Conference. The Kentucky Wildcats is the student body of the University of Kentucky. 30,473 ...

Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball seasons

Wild Wild, wild, wilds or wild may refer to: Common meanings * Wild animal * Wilderness, a wild natural environment * Wildness, the quality of being wild or untamed Art, media and entertainment Film and television * ''Wild'' (2014 film), a 2014 A ...

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...