Cats Illustrated's offseason roundtable question of the day is one that Kentucky fans frequently discuss.
What are your favorite "what ifs" in Kentucky basketball history? (Note: In this case we're excluding the cases of injuries, a topic in and of itself)
Jeff Drummond: The old sports adage suggests fans always remember the sting of a bitter loss even more than the thrill of winning a championship. That definitely rings true for my personal Kentucky basketball “What if...” choice. There are quite a few candidates, but I always go back to my favorite UK squad from my youth, the 1985-86 Cats. It was Eddie Sutton’s first year at UK, and Joe B. Hall had left him a championship contender, a roster that included senior big man Kenny Walker, rugged forward Winston Bennett, and a dynamite trio of guards in Roger Harden, Ed Davender, and James Blackmon. As expected, that team rolled into March Madness with a 28-3 record, the No. 1 seed in the Southeast Region, and the No. 3 AP ranking.
There was little doubt in my kind that the Cats were going to win it all. There was just one big problem. In order to reach the Final Four, they would have to play two familiar SEC foes — Alabama and LSU — for a fourth time that season. You likely would not find that type of seeding these days, but it was more common back then with regions that looked more like their geographic makeup. Making matters even worse, the regional semifinals and finals would be played in one of those rare houses of horrors for UK, The Omni in Atlanta, which sent the Cats home a loser in four of the last five times they played at the venue.
Kentucky successfully navigated four wins over Bama, but could not pull off the super sweep of Dale Brown’s Tigers, falling 59-57. LSU is still tied for the highest seed (11) to ever reach a Final Four. The upset also denied what would have been the first Final Four matchup between UK and Louisville, a game that would have to wait another 26 years to materialize. Kentucky had already beaten the Cards earlier that season, but it was Denny Crum’s squad that ultimately cut down the nets with wins over LSU and Duke, adding salt to the Cats’ wound.
Kentucky had three or four elite teams in the decade but was unable to hang a banner while its arch-rival posted two. But who knows how that history would have unfolded if not for a fourth matchup with LSU?
David Sisk: This may be a popular take, but what if Rick Pitino had stayed at Kentucky. He admitted that leaving was the biggest mistake of his life, and later warned others "Don't mess with happiness." He left in the middle of three straight NCAA Championship Games. Although I am a Tubby Smith fan, the recruiting dropped and he soon took on the nickname of "Ten Loss Tubby." Of course, fans would have loved to have had Tubby back after the next coach came in.
There is little doubt that the strong run would have lasted well into the next century. In fact, he might still be at the helm today, thirty years after it began. Kentucky is in great shape with John Calipari, but Pitino left at the height of success, and we all would definitely like to have those ten years back.
Travis Graf: For me, the biggest “what if” of Kentucky basketball during my lifetime is what if Jodie Meeks returned to Kentucky in 2010? Would Kentucky go 40-0 in Calipari’s first year? Let’s think about it. The ‘Cats lost just three games that year while ranking 227th in the country in 3-point field goal percentage, shooting 33-percent as a team. Jodie Meeks averaged 23.7 points per game a season before, shooting just under 41-percent from the outside with little to no help surrounding him outside of Patrick Patterson. Could you imagine his offensive freedom in 2010 with guys like John Wall, Eric Bledsoe, Patrick Patterson and DeMarcus Cousins? Meeks was also a great defender, and that 2010 team was known for its defense as well. That team doesn’t lose a game — or possibly have a team come within double-figures of them, seriously — if Meeks returns.
Justin Rowland: Growing up there was always a part of me that wished Kentucky competed in the Atlantic Coast Conference as opposed to the SEC. I no longer feel that way because the SEC is far and away the nation's gold standard among conferences, all things considered, but it's still fun to think about how exciting basketball season could be if Kentucky were playing Duke, North Carolina, Syracuse, Louisville, etc., as league foes, sometimes multiple times a season, in conference tournament action, and competing in standings against those teams every year.
Years ago before I was the publisher of this website I was living in Alabama. Driving home one day listening to the Paul Finebaum radio show C.M. Newton came through my car radio as a guest. On a whim I picked up the phone, dialed in, and asked the former UK athletic director a question.
"I've always heard that Kentucky seriously entertained the idea of leaving the SEC for the ACC during the Rick Pitino years," I asked Newton. "How much truth was there to that?"
I remember Newton pausing, taken aback by the question. Finally he said he hoped he wasn't breaking confidentiality or trust before acknowledging that it was a serious topic of conversation and research at UK during those years, primarily for the basketball appeal and the belief that the football program could better compete in the league. But they never could muster enough support to make such a drastic change as a charter member of the SEC.
