Eight Banners: Kentucky's National Championship Teams, Ranked

Kentucky has won eight NCAA championships, second only to UCLA, and it's the only school where five different coaches have cut down the nets. Ranking them is a fun argument with no wrong answers, so here's ours. We weigh how dominant each team was, how hard the path was and how much the title meant to the program.

**8. 1958: The Fiddlin' Five (23-6)**
Adolph Rupp's fourth and final title came from his most unlikely group. They got the nickname because Rupp said they "fiddled" around too much, and their six losses are still the most of any Kentucky title team. They dropped as low as No. 13 at one point. But they got better every week in March and beat Seattle 84-72 at Freedom Hall in Louisville. It's last on this list because it wasn't dominant, not because it lacked charm.

**7. 1951 (32-2)**
Bill Spivey's team stayed in the top five all season and beat Kansas State 68-58 for the title. It ranks lower than its record suggests for two reasons. Vanderbilt beat it in the SEC tournament final, and the point-shaving scandal that broke that fall cost Kentucky the 1952-53 season. Those events are now part of how this title is remembered.

**6. 1998: The Comeback Cats (35-4)**
Tubby Smith won it in his first season. His team had no first-team All-American and no future lottery pick, yet it came from behind against Duke in the Elite Eight, against Stanford in the Final Four and against Utah in the final, winning that game 78-69. No Kentucky champion had more grit.

**5. 1978: The Season Without Celebration (30-2)**
Joe B. Hall had to follow a legend. His senior-heavy team was expected to win and carried that pressure all season. It beat eight ranked teams, then Jack "Goose" Givens scored 41 points in a 94-88 win over Duke in the final. It was Kentucky's first title in 20 years, and Hall became one of the few men to win an NCAA title as both a player and a coach.

**4. 1949 (32-2)**
The Fabulous Five returned and did it again. They won the SEC regular season and tournament, then beat Oklahoma A&M 46-36 to make Kentucky only the second program to win back-to-back NCAA titles. It ranks below 1948 only because it was the second time.

**3. 2012 (38-2)**
John Calipari's group went 16-0 in the SEC, earned the tournament's No. 1 overall seed and beat Louisville in the Final Four before defeating Kansas 67-59 for the title. Anthony Davis was national player of the year, and six players were drafted that June, with Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist going first and second. It's the most talented team Kentucky has ever put on the floor.

**2. 1996: The Untouchables (34-2)**
Rick Pitino's best team lost only twice and had nine future NBA players. It pressed opponents into submission and beat Syracuse 76-67 in the final. Tony Delk was the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. Measured by depth and margin, it's one of the best teams of the modern era.

**1. 1948: The Fabulous Five (36-3)**
The first title gets the top spot. Rupp's team went unbeaten at home and beat Baylor 58-42 for the championship. Then its starting five went to London and helped the United States win Olympic gold. No other college team has won an NCAA title and Olympic gold in the same year. That's what earns 1948 the No. 1 spot.

**The common thread**
Kentucky's champions don't share one style. Rupp's teams ran, Pitino's pressed, Smith's ground teams down and Calipari's overwhelmed opponents with talent. What they share is a building full of expectation and a fan base that treats anything short of a banner as unfinished business. Mark Pope, a member of the 1996 team, knows that better than most.

**Our Take:** Argue all you want about the order, but 1948 sets the standard. Feel free to push 2012 or 1996 into the top spot in the comments. Mark Pope already has a ring from 1996, and the next banner is the one that will define his tenure.

Sources: Wikipedia, Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball · UK Athletics, Mark Pope hire)