With the 2010's winding down Cats Illustrated's staff continues to press forward in our task of identifying the biggest moments and brightest stars for UK football and basketball over the last ten years.
Here are three takes on the biggest UK basketball wins of the last decade.
Jeff Drummond
1. Kentucky 67, Kansas 59 (2012 NCAA championship)
2. Kentucky 78, Wichita State 76 (2014 NCAA Sweet 16)
3. Kentucky 102, Indiana 90 (2012 NCAA Sweet 16)
Justin Rowland
1. Kentucky-Kansas (2012)
2. Kentucky 76, North Carolina 69 (2011 NCAA Elite Eight)
3. Kentucky 69, Louisville 61 (2012 Final Four)
Travis Graf
1. Kentucky-Kansas (2012)
2. Kentucky-Louisville (2012 Final Four)
3. Kentucky-Wisconsin (2014 Final Four)
The easy choice for the biggest Kentucky basketball win of the last decade was the only game that was followed by the presentation of an NCAA championship trophy. That win for the team led by Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, over Kansas, was John Calipari's first national championship and Kentucky's first since 1998.
The Kentucky-Wichita State game in 2014 had fascinating dynamics, with a loaded freshman class for the WIldcats that struggled more than expected during the regular season before landing in the 8/9 game. Against the No. 1 Shockers it was a back-and-forth affair in the second round. The two teams traded big shot after big shot down the stretch with UK outlasting Gregg Marshall's undefeated team. That UK team would go on to lose in the 2014 NCAA championship game to UCONN.
The 2012 Kentucky-Indiana game was a rematch of one of college basketball's more memorable regular season games of the last decade. Kentucky lost on a buzzer beater in Assembly Hall, a shot that has been replayed time and again since. But in the tournament, in an up tempo game with a frenetic pace, Kentucky would not be denied on its march to a championship.
UK's 76-69 win against North Carolina in the 2011 Elite Eight was a form of delayed payback for North Carolina's upset win against Kentucky in the 1995 regional final, but more importantly it sent Kentucky to its first Final Four since 1998, the longest drought in program history.
Before UK won the 2012 national championship, there was the biggest game in the history of the Kentucky-Louisville rivalry. North Carolina and Duke have never met in the NCAA tournament, but Kentucky and Louisville have faced off several times in the Big Dance, none of those games bigger than this one, which sent the 'Cats to the title against Kansas and eventually their 8th national championship.
The Kentucky-Wisconsin Final Four game in 2014 sent the Wildcats to the national championship game where the Wildcats lost. While that team did not cut down the nets, the last in the line of Aaron Harrison long three-pointers late in the game will go down as one of the biggest shots in UK basketball history. The teams would meet again in the 2015 Final Four, with the Badgers eliminating UK after the Wildcats started 38-0.
