Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball

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). The Wildcats are currently coached by John Calipari.

Kentucky leads all schools in total NCAA tournament appearances (59), NCAA tournament wins (131), 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 (third place all-time behind North Carolina and UCLA), 12 NCAA Championship games (tied for first all-time with 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.

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 5 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.

History

Early history (1903–1930)

During this early era Kentucky was unstable in that the school went through multiple coaches, most staying only one or two seasons.

Records indicate that the first head coach of the Wildcats was W. W. H. Mustaine, who in 1903 called together some students, took up a collection totaling $3 for a ball, and told the students to start playing. The first recorded intercollegiate game at the college was a 15–6 defeat to nearby Georgetown College. The team went 1–2 for their first "season", also losing to Kentucky University (later Transylvania University) but defeating the Lexington YMCA.Nelli, p. 14

Through 1908, the team did not manage a winning season, and had an all-time record of 15–29. In the fall of that year a full-time head coach was hired, Edwin Sweetland. This made him the first paid coach in Kentucky's basketball history. That year, the team went 5–4, and only three years later, boasted their first undefeated season with nine victories and no losses.Nelli, p. 15 The 1914 team under Alpha Brummage, led by brothers Karl and Tom Zerfoss, went 12–2 and defeated all its Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association opponents.

George Buchheit and the "Wonder Team" (1919–1925)

In 1919, George Buchheit became the new head coach of the Wildcats. An alumnus of the University of Illinois, he brought with him a new system of basketball. The "Buchheit system" or "Illinois system", focused on defense and featured one player standing under each basket, while three roamed the court. Buckheit varied the system he learned in Illinois in one important way. While the Illinois system employed a zone defense, Buchheit's system used an aggressive man-to-man scheme. On offense, he used a complicated system of passing called the "zig-zag" or "figure eight" offense.

Although the team had a losing season in Buchheit's first year, they won the first-ever Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association