Top 50 Kentucky Wildcats Prior to John Calipari Era

Sep 11, 2015; Springfield, MA, USA; Louis Dampier speaks with Dan Issel by his side during the 2015 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Enshrinement Ceremony at Springfield Symphony Hall. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

1. Dan Issel

My great uncle is 80 years old and can rattle off statistics about Dan Issel, he’s his favorite player. It warms my heart listening to him get so excited when talking about the past of Kentucky Basketball, but the name Dan Issel always lights up his eyes.

Issel played under coach Adolph Rupp.

Issel was with the Wildcats from 1966-1970 and scored 2,138 points (an average of 25.7 per game). He still leads all Kentucky Wildcats in scoring to this very moment.

Isle was named an All- American for two of the three seasons he was eligible for the award.

On February 7, 1970, Issel scored 53 points in a 120-85 victory over Mississippi, breaking Cliff Hagan’s single-game that I mentioned two slides ago. He beat Hagan’s record by a mere 2 points, that’s one shot.

Issel’s mark held for almost four decades, finally falling to Jodie Meeks’ 54 in a win against University of Tennessee on January 13, 2009. Meeks scoring one more point to break Issel’s 53 mark.

A three-year starter for the Wildcats, Issel led his team to three Southeastern Conference titles and set 23 school records in the process. Yes, you read that right 23. If that’s not complete and utter dominance, I don’t know what is. There was no way I could neglect Issel from the #1 spot. If anyone was deserving, it was him.

Issel, even with all these records with the Wildcats, was the 122nd overall pick of the NBA Draft.

He played and dominated with the Kentucky Colonels from 1970-1975, then moved to the Denver Nuggest from 1975-85.

After playing for the Nuggets, Issel was named coach in 1992. He was their head coach from 1992-94, then again from 1999-01.