It's fair to say that Kentucky Basketball isn't what it used to be, at least not right now. I'm not one of the "Kentucky is becoming Indiana" folks, by any means, but the longer the program goes without a Final Four, the harder it is to keep all the pessimistic noise like that at bay.
And if Big Blue Nation doesn't think the sky is falling, every one of our many rival fanbases will do the jeering and yelling for us. In times like these, it helps to reflect on better days.
We've just been given the perfect excuse to do so, too. Yesterday, Kentucky Men's Basketball announced the induction of Michael Kidd-Gilchrist into the UK Athletics Hall of Fame on X. A national champion first, and now, a Hall of Famer forever entrenched into Lexington's hoop history.
A round of applause for one of the greats, BBN, and a little reminiscing for the road.
All-SEC, All-American, National Champion, and now a UK Athletics Hall of Famer.
— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) June 26, 2026
Congrats, @MKG14! pic.twitter.com/cM50wfm4vi
Reminiscing on MKG's Time as a Wildcat
The All-American Kidd-Gilcrhist, in his lone year with Kentucky, played a pivotal role on the 2012 title team. I don't have to tell you that the Cats have yet to return to that podium, but that fact certainly does more to tell just how dominant MKG and that bunch were all the way through.
Alongside Anthony Davis, Terrence Jones, Marquis Teague, Doron Lamb, Darius Miller, and others, MKG helped facilitate one of the best runs in college basketball history. In a near-perfecr 38-2 season that culminated in a 67-59 win over the Kansas Jawhawks in the championship game, Kidd-Gilchrist averaged 11.9 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 1.9 assists, shooting nearly 50% from the field and adding a steal per contest on his way to All-SEC honors.
Much like the aforementioned Davis and Teague both, MKG would then go on to the NBA after just one season in the blue and white. Gone too soon, without a doubt, but that was a foregone conclusion at the peak of John Calipari's one-and-done formula.
Making League History
You know the rest, Cats fans. Davis and MKG would go No. 1 and No. 2 overall in the NBA Draft, to the (then) Hornets and Bobcats respectively); that feat still stands as the only time in league history that two players from the same school were taken with the first two picks in the draft.
His tumultuous time in the NBA aside, Kidd-Gilchrist was "one of them ones," and absolutely deserves his spot in Kentucky Basketball's hallowed halls.
Since MKG left Lexington, we've missed a well-rounded wing willing to go out and do the dirty work on both ends of the floor. He was, and still remains, the rarest sort of contributor, and that's the exact sort that can make all the difference when a ring is on the line.
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