Kentucky Wildcats Basketball: Top 10 Teams in History
Oct 17, 2014; Lexington, KY, USA; Kentucky Wildcats banners are displayed during Big Blue Madness at Rupp Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports
#10 Fiddlin’ Five
This team won the Kentucky Wildcats their fourth National Championship in 1958. It wasn’t an expected National Championship title, but you know Kentucky fans surely loved it. This team had the most losses of any of Adolph Rupp’s championship teams. They were plagued with six losses, three coming within four games. As a team they slid in the rankings, which was unusual for Rupp’s championship teams, who stayed near or at the top. They also didn’t have a single player named an All-American, something extremely rare for a team coached by Adolph Rupp. The Wildcats were ranked #9 when they beat #18 Seattle 84-72 at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky. This was Adolph Rupp’s last National Championship.
One might consider the Fiddlin’ Five somewhat of a Cinderella team. That’s of course what Lexington Herald-Leader had to say,
"Kentucky lost two of its final five games and appeared an unlikely contender for the national championship. However, the team that would be known as the Fiddlin’ Five played sweet music as the Wildcats won their fourth national championship. Johnny Cox scored 23 points in UK’s 94-70 NCAA-opening victory over Miami of Ohio. The next night, the Wildcats won the Mideast Regional by handing Notre Dame one of the worst defeats in Irish history, 89-56. Vernon Hatton scored 26 points, and the Wildcats held Notre Dame’s Tom Hawkins to 15 and advanced to the Final Four in Louisville. In the semifinals, UK faced a Temple team it had beaten 85-83 in triple overtime during the regular season. Hatton, whose shot from midcourt sent the first game into a second overtime, was a hero again — his basket with 16 seconds left gave Kentucky a 61-60 victory over the Owls. Kentucky won the championship by defeating Seattle and Elgin Baylor 84-72 Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/sports/college/ncaa/article44018472.html#storylink=cpy"
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