The first Kentucky recruiting class for coach Calipari was a home run and has been ranked 1st in the Nation by Scout Magazine, Rivals Magazine and ESPN. The signees include Raleigh Guard John Wall who starred at Word of God High, Mobile Alabama Forward DeMarcus Cousins out of LeFlore High, Center Daniel Orton from Bishop McGuinness High in Oklahoma City, Guard Eric Bledsoe out of Parker High in Birmingham, Guard Jon Hood out of Madisonville North Hopkins in Kentucky, and Small Forward Darnell Dodson out of Miami Dade Community College via his hometown of Greenbelt, MD.
Coach Calipari entered the season and his teams took reached a number of milestones. Firstly, after defeating the Drexel Dragons, the university became the first men’s college basketball program to reach 2,000 wins. When Coach Calipari lead his team over Arkansas (his 19th consecutive victory), he surpassed Hall of Fame coach Adolph Rupp’s record (11) for most consecutive wins by a first year Kentucky Coach and also extended their existing records for most wins-all time, most regular season SEC Championships, Most SEC tournament Championships, most NCAA tournament berths, and most NCAAA tournament wins.
The Wildcats completed the season with a 35-3 record (14-2 in the SEC) and entered the SEC Tournament as the #2 seed against Alabama defeating them 73-67. As the #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament the team defeated #16 East Tennessee State in the Eastern first round, met #9 Wake Forrest in the Second Round defeating them 90-60. In the East Region semi’s, the Wildcats met up against the Cornell Red Men and defeated them 62-45. Moving on to the East Region finals, the Wildcats met the #2 seeded Mountaineers of West Virginia who defeated the Wildcats by 7 points, 73-66.
Coach Calipari was the spearhead of an effort to raise $1.5 million for the victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake.
A SHORT HISTORY
The Kentucky Wildcats are the most successful NCAA Division I basketball teams in the history of the sport. They hold the most all time victories in the history of College Basketball in terms of all times wins and all time winning percentage .757 (1988-635-1). They rank second in NCAA Championships with 7 and second in NCAA Tournament wins.
The team plays in Rupp Arena, named after famed Kentucky Coach Adolph Rupp, who was one of the most successful coaches in American college basketball behind Bob Knight and Dean Smith. Rupp won 876 games in 41 years of coaching and was enshrined in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 1969. Other notable Kentucky Coaches were John B. Hall (1972-1985) Rick Pitino (1989-1997) and Orlando “Tubby” Smith (1997-2007).
The Wildcats have won seven NCAA Championships and were runner up three times. They have made it into the Final Four thirteen times, the Elite Eight thirty-two times and the Sweet Sixteen thirty-six times. They have been Conference Tournament Champions twenty-six times and Conference Regular Season Champions forty-four times.
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