UK to Honor ‘96, ‘97, ‘98 Teams

[matt colvin]

UK announced yesterday that they will honor the ‘96, ‘97, and ‘98 teams on February 18th against Tennessee. Believe it or not, it’s been 25 years since the 1998 Comeback Cats raised number 7. UK enjoyed a three stretch as good as any and hoisted two national championships in ‘96, ‘98, losing to Arizona in 1997.

Here’s the KSR write up on it:

https://www.on3.com/teams/kentucky-wildcats/news/kentucky-mbb-set-to-honor-96-97-98-teams-against-tennessee/

[Will Lavender]

My son, who was born in 2004, was asking questions about the 1996 team the other night.

The only thing I could tell him was that I basically sat there and laughed at the television screen while I was watching them. They were that ludicrously good.

The '97 team was my first year in college and my first true obsession. That year was the first year I watched every game without missing one because of my own sports. Can distinctly remember watching in my dorm room in a way I never had before: with an intense, emotional connection to the team. They laid the groundwork for something that's really still going on to this day, a quarter-century later.

I remember how devastated I was when Anderson got hurt and how blown away I was by how they played without him.

[matt colvin]

I remember so fondly getting to "sit in" on the Saturday morning conversations my dad and his buddies would have. Hardware stores on Saturday mornings when you're out "tying up some loose ends" or addressing small jobs...well that's where all of the good conversations were prior to the internet.

Cats Pause was the primer for the next season that couldn't arrive soon enough. Would we nail down the PG position? Would Prickett finally turn into the next Larry Bird? Who's this Heshimu Evans kid?

Man, those were the days. There was essentially no direct access to the players and we thought that Rick Pitino literally had the Wildcat Lodge bugged/taped off to ensure total control, to ensure that no detail could go without attention. The team held a noticeable advantage over many others in terms of conditioning and the style of play helped that play out in some absolute, instant-classic basketball games. We recruited well, make no mistake, but Pitino was awesome at recruiting the right guys to fit into our system, our style of play. He didn't set out trying to necessarily "get the best 4-5 recruits" and figure it out after the fact, these guys had to be able to fit in to a tough, aggressive style of play and have the emotional fortitude to withstand his coaching style (Rod Rhodes???).

I can't believe it's been 25+ years already, time flies. My first memory of UK basketball was getting a high-five from Walter McCarty at the Midnight Madness or Blue & White game in fall of 1993. Mashburn had just gone pro.

[Will Lavender]

Heshimu Evans is my favorite Kentucky player ever.

Was watching the '98 championship game after we lost to South Carolina recently. You know, as a palette cleanser.

There's a play in there where we get down 17 in the second half and Evans comes down and hits a 3. That's a forgotten shot because of all that happened later, but I swear we don't win that game if he doesn't hit that shot.

(Mark Pope also has a tricky little 9-foot jumper in the championship game against Syracuse in '96 that was clutch. We were only up 4 IIRC when he hit it and that shot sort of knocked the wind out of them.)

[matt colvin]

Evans' dunk against Indiana that year was a jaw-dropper.

Derek Anderson's my favorite UK player. He was awesome on both sides of the court and had just enough panache to be fun all of the time.

[Dwight Schrute]

Anderson and Mercer were my favorites in that era. I used to lower my basketball goal and do that side dunk that Anderson did against Louisville. I also got pretty good at that alley-oop that Mercer pulled from the concession stand in the '97 year.

All of these dunks were performed in my UK blue denim converse shoes.

[Will Lavender]

Evans' dunk against Indiana that year was a jaw-dropper.

Derek Anderson's my favorite UK player. He was awesome on both sides of the court and had just enough panache to be fun all of the time.

I liked Anderson much better before my son took several beatings against his AAU team lol.

Anderson had an elite AAU program in Louisville and in one tournament both the 8th and 9th grade teams of this program made the championship game. They had to play against each other, mind you. Anderson's wife had to take the 8th grade and coach against his 9th grade. They had a new baby so she held the baby for most of the game while she coached.

And she won. IIRC the 8th grade dominated the 9th. I'm sure she talked serious smack when they got home.

[KentuckyWild2020]

Once you got a taste of early to mid 90's Kentucky basketball, everything beyond that is magnified and critiqued ,hard to live up to those standards, been a tough act to follow even in 2012...

[Will Lavender]

Once you got a taste of early to mid 90's Kentucky basketball, everything beyond that is magnified and critiqued ,hard to live up to those standards, been a tough act to follow even in 2012...

Hot take, but I think the 2012 team would pound the '98 team.

The '96 team would obviously smash them all.

[matt colvin]

^ I’m not sure about pound them but they’d definitely win a 7 outta ten.

Anderson and Mercer wore #’s 23 and 33 for a reason. They were an awesome tandem in college basketball.

[KCKUKFan]

Hot take, but I think the 2012 team would pound the '98 team.

The '96 team would obviously smash them all.

The 96 team wouldn't smash 2012. If 96 Syracuse, UMass and Mississippi State could play them competitively, so could 2012. And 2009. And 2015. And 2017, probably, too.

Might not win but those would all be games.

[Spiritof96]

This was my era and the 96-98 run sort of brainwashed me into thinking this is our "normal", that "this is the standard". I thought it would go on forever. 11-15 had a similar effect.

I still say 2015 broke something in the cosmos about UK Basketball.

[Will Lavender]

The 96 team wouldn't smash 2012. If 96 Syracuse, UMass and Mississippi State could play them competitively, so could 2012. And 2009. And 2015. And 2017, probably, too.

Might not win but those would all be games.

Dude. Using the rule of Both Teams Playing Their Absolute Best, I've never seen a team like '96. Maybe one of those early '90s UNLV teams.

At their pinnacle there was nothing like them outside the NBA.

The '98 team is far more interesting to think about because there was a time that year when not many UK fans thought they were great. They just got hot late.

2003 is also an interesting team. I think they could play with most all those teams.

[KCKUKFan]

Dude. Using the rule of Both Teams Playing Their Absolute Best, I've never seen a team like '96. Maybe one of those early '90s UNLV teams.

At their pinnacle there was nothing like them outside the NBA.

The '98 team is far more interesting to think about because there was a time that year when not many UK fans thought they were great. They just got hot late.

2003 is also an interesting team. I think they could play with most all those teams.

Well yeah, if we're talking about Both Team Playing Their Absolute Best, then yes; 1996 was a juggernaut on another level, rivaled in my basketball watching lifetime by only maybe one of those early 00s North Carolina teams. And certainly the UNLV teams you mention, although I was too young to watch them in person.

But if we're talking about Both Teams Playing At Their Averages, then all of those Kentucky teams could be at least competitive with 1996.

You're showing maximum disrespect to the 2012 team, at the very least. At its best, that team was nearly unbeatable. And in a game with 1996, 2012 would still have the best player on the court.

[Dwight Schrute]

Both teams playing at their averages would still result in the 96 team winning over most other national champions by 10-12 points.