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My freshman year at the University of Kentucky, I was fortunate to witness, up close and personal, one of the best college basketball teams ever, the 1995-96 Wildcats win the National Championship. My sophomore year, the 1996-97 Cats weren’t quite as talented, but still came within an overtime period of repeating. My second sophomore year (like I’m the only one), the Wildcats had to replace an outstanding coach and had to deal with an exodus of talent from Lexington to the NBA. Not many people, especially those in blue gave the 1997-98 squad a chance at continuing Kentucky’s dominance.
Rick Pitino, the man that had returned the Kentucky Wildcats to the top of the college basketball mountain left to turnaround another storied basketball team after the 1997 NCAA Runner-Up finish. I’ve never personally blamed him for leaving. It’s hard to turn down a $100 million contract and a chance to coach the legendary Boston Celtics. And with Ron Mercer, Derek Anderson and steady point guard Anthony Epps leaving Lexington as well, it was obvious, to many, that Kentucky was going to have a, by its own lofty standards, a rebuilding year.
Orlando “Tubby” Smith was brought in to do the near impossible, succeed a wildly popular and extremely head coach. Not only that, but Pitino was the man that brought the program back from the near program killing NCAA sanctions suffered under the previous coach. With Smith being a one time assistant at UK, he knew the lay of the land. He understood the fan base and the outsized demands of the head coach position. Knowing the demands and meeting those demands can be two very different things.
Even though the Cats started the 1997-98 season in the top 10 (#9), not many gave the team a real shot at the title. There was a new coach and a group of players that while battle tested and very good ballplayers in their own right, didn’t have quite the sizzle as the two previous editions of Kentucky Basketball. Throw in an early season 15 point loss to Arizona in a title game rematch and it appeared that both coach and players weren’t quite ready for primetime. Throw in a dreadful loss to a horrible Louisville team and many in the Big Blue Nation became convinced this team didn’t have “it,” that championship level pedigree.
A funny thing happened after the Wildcats’ 73-64 loss, at home to Mississippi. It was the first time since 1988-89 that Kentucky had lost three home games. The Cats had 21 turnovers against the Rebels, 13 in the second half and generally looked listless on the way to the team’s 4th loss of the season. Coach Smith and the Wildcats rebounded the next game by handling the Florida Gators 79-54. As it would turn out, after the Ole Miss game, the Cats wouldn’t lose again.
Now, in retrospect, some Big Blue fans will tell you that Tubby Smith wasn’t all that great of a coach. They’ll say that his style was boring, his emphasis on defense came at the expense of offense. But, in March 1998, there wasn’t a better coach in the country. Period. Kentucky marched through the SEC Tournament in Atlanta like Sherman marching to the sea, culminating in a 86-56 defeat of 15th ranked South Carolina in the Tournament Final.
The best, however, was yet to come.