To rejoice SLAM’s thirtieth anniversary, we’re spotlighting the 30 most influential males’s faculty groups from our previous 30 years. Stats, data and chips aren’t the primary issue right here, it’s all about their contribution to the sport’s cultural material.
For the subsequent 30 days—Monday by means of Friday— we’ll be unveiling the full list here. We’ve additionally bought an unique retro collegiate assortment, out now, that pays homage to every squad’s threads. Shop here.
It’s no secret that Kentucky is likely one of the most prestigious faculty basketball packages of all time and has some of the demanding fan bases we’ve seen. Kentucky isn’t glad with SEC championships and NCAA Event berths; at Kentucky, the usual is nationwide title competition. Closing 4 and Nationwide Championship banners are the one ones hanging within the rafters at Rupp Enviornment. So, after one other unsuccessful season, which ended with a loss within the NIT, they have been able to undergo hell or excessive water to get again on monitor. Kentucky wanted a change, and so they wanted one quick.
The primary domino that wanted to fall was discovering a head coach who not solely understood the expectations however wasn’t intimidated by the day by day pressures of teaching at Kentucky. There was just one man to do the job; forward of the ‘09-’10 season, Kentucky introduced in a fiery John Calipari–a transfer that modified not solely the trajectory of Kentucky’s basketball program however faculty basketball on the whole.
Coach Cal didn’t come alone; he introduced within the nation’s prime recruiting class–the most effective recruiting courses ever–highlighted by John Wall and Demarcus Cousins. Kentucky’s roster was loaded with expertise that made these Wildcats a must-watch for any basketball fan (except you’re a Louisville fan or a fellow SEC foe). Having expertise is one factor, however getting a bunch of 5 and four-star recruits to play as a unit is the true problem for any coach. However the 2010 Wildcats have been on one accord. Cal applied the dribble-drive offense, which solely works when you’ve got a number of guys who can beat their man off the bounce. Wall and Eric Bledsoe had no points doing so. Add elite bigs like Cousins and Patrick Patterson to the fold, and there you’ve got it: some of the thrilling faculty groups you might think about.
At any time when the 2010 Wildcats hit the courtroom of their contemporary white and Kentucky-blue threads, two-tone Nike capturing sleeves and Nike elite socks, they’d the nation’s consideration. If Kentucky had a sport, you’d schedule your day round it.
For a squad led by a freshman core, Kentucky was mature past their years. Nothing rattled them; no second was too huge. They steamrolled by means of the always-tough SEC, sweeping each the common season and match championships, together with a bunch of particular person accolades.
Wall was SEC Participant of the 12 months. Cousins was SEC Freshman of the 12 months. Cousins, Patterson and Wall have been first-team All-SEC. Coach Cal was SEC Coach of the 12 months.
Kentucky hadn’t had a season like this in years; the job wasn’t completed, although. From the teaching employees to the final man on the bench to the crew managers, everyone who was part of that program embraced the duty at hand–elevating Nationwide Championship banner quantity eight.
“The last word objective was to win a nationwide championship, that’s all we needed to do,” stated John Wall in a 2016 interview, recapping the 2010 season. “So what we did all season didn’t imply something.”
Kentucky earned a No. 1 seed within the NCAA Event. They obliterated East Tennessee State, Wake Forest and Cornell, respectively, on their strategy to an Elite Eight berth the place they’d face No. 2-seed West Virginia. By each metric, and most notably the attention check, Kentucky was the higher crew. West Virginia is at all times a troublesome out, nevertheless it by no means crossed Kentucky’s thoughts that they’d lose that sport. Sadly for the Wildcats, they picked the flawed day to have an off-night. They couldn’t purchase a 3, at one level lacking 20 in a row. That’s a tough stretch for any crew to beat, particularly in March Insanity. They’d nonetheless find yourself in a detailed sport, however fell seven factors wanting advancing to what would have been this system’s first Closing 4 since 1998.
Speak about devastated–there wasn’t a dry eye within the locker room after the sport. “‘Til at the present time we nonetheless discuss that sport and all the things we might’ve executed in a different way,” stated DeMarcus Cousins in the identical 2016 interview talked about earlier.
Regardless of not residing as much as the expectations they set on themselves, there’s not a single one that wouldn’t name their season successful. They completed the season 35-3, and Wall and Cousins added first-team All-American honors to their lengthy record of accomplishments. They will not be remembered as nationwide champions; there will not be a 2010 banner hanging at Rupp Enviornment; however this crew revolutionized faculty basketball.
5 gamers (4 of them freshmen) from this squad would enter the NBA Draft, and all 5 of them have been drafted within the first spherical. Wall was chosen No. 1, Cousins was chosen No. 5, Patterson was chosen No. 14, Bledsoe was chosen No. 18 and Orton went at No. 29. This 2010 Kentucky crew, cultivated by Coach Cal, laid the inspiration for the way forward for the game; the ripple impact remains to be felt at present over a decade later.
If you happen to might solely choose one faculty basketball crew from the previous 30 years to characterize the current technology, each on the courtroom and off, it’d be powerful to not choose the 2010 Kentucky Wildcats.
Pictures by way of Getty Photographs.
