Can they do it?
Kentucky continued its march toward an unbeaten season with a win against Arkansas in the SEC championship on Sunday. The Wildcats are 34-0 and looking to become the first team to complete an unbeaten season with a national championship since 1976.
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Where is Kentucky’s place in history? Here’s a look at the numbers inside Kentucky’s pursuit toward perfection.
2
Only two teams have reached the NCAA championship game with an unbeaten record and lost. Ohio State (1960), led by John Havlicek and Jerry Lucas, lost to Cincinnati in the championship game. Indiana State (1979), led by Larry Bird, lost to Michigan State in the title game.
4
This marks the fourth time a John Calipari-coached team enters the NCAA tournament with two losses or less. Calipari took one-loss UMass to the Final Four in in 1995-96, one-loss Memphis to the national championship game in 2007-08 and two-loss Kentucky to the national championship in 2011-12.
5
Kentucky is the fourth team in the 64-team era to enter the NCAA tournament with an undefeated record. UNLV (1991) lost in the Final Four. Saint Joseph’s (2004) lost in the Elite Eight, and Wichita State (2014) lost in the second round to Kentucky last season.
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7
The number of teams that have completed a perfect regular season and won the NCAA tournament. That list includes San Francisco (1956), North Carolina (1957), UCLA (1964, 1967, 1972-73) and Indiana (1976). Will Kentucky be the eighth team on that list?
8
Kentucky has won eight national championships, and five of those teams had just two losses. That includes Adolph Rupp’s championship teams in 1949 and 1951, along with Joe B. Hall’s team in 1978, Rick Pitino’s team in 1996 and Calipari’s team in 2012.
1954
Kentucky finished the 1954 regular season with a perfect 25-0 record, but the Wildcats turned down a chance to play in the NCAA tournament because Frank Ramsey, Cliff Hagan and Lou Tsioropoulos were ruled ineligible because they already graduated from school. It’s taken 71 years, but Kentucky has another chance.
