Before the phenomenal run from the Wildcats this season, Kentucky reeled in one of the best freshmen classes in NCAA history. With key players leaving like Nerlens Noel, Archie Goodwin, and Ryan Harrow, John Calipari brought in the number one recruiting class to help bring Kentucky back on top like in the 2012 season. The key players in the freshman class includes: Andrew & Aaron Harrison, Julius Randle, Dakari Johnson, Marcus Lee, and James Young. There were also returning players on the Kentucky team including Alex Poythress and Willie Cauley-Stein. The main question was how was Coach Cal going to gel this group of talent together as a team.
Kentucky entered the 2013-14 season as the preseason favorites and was voted the number one team in the country. They started off the season 4-0 before going against the nation’s number two team in the country, Michigan State. The Spartans handed the young Kentucky team their first lost of the season. With many ups and downs during the season, the Wildcats finished the season 29-10 finishing second in the SEC behind the Florida Gators who was the number one team in the country. The Wildcats seemed to have problems against the Gators by going 0-3 against them before the NCAA Tournament. Finishing 12-6 in the SEC, Kentucky enters the tournament as a eighth seed.
2013-14 notable regular season stats:
Julius Randle: 15.1 ppg, 10.5 rpg, and 0.8 bpg
James Young: 14.2 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 1.7 apg
Aaron Harrison: 13.0 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 1.9 apg
Andrew Harrison: 10.9 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 3.9 apg
Willie Cauley-Stein: 6.8 ppg, 6.1 rpg,
Alex Poythress: 5.9 ppg, 4.5 rpg
Dakari Johnson: 5.2 ppg, 3.9 rpg
Marcus Lee: 2.5 ppg, 1.5 prg
Original Fab Five:
In 1991, the Michigan Wolverines brought in four McDonald All-Americans which was a record at the time until the 2013-14 Kentucky Wildcats broke it by bringing in six. Jalen Rose, Chris Webber, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King, and Ray Jackson looked to turn the Wolverines around.
The 1991-92 Wolverines finished the season 24-8 and started all five freshmen. They went 11-7 in the Big Ten and finished third in their conference. They entered the NCAA tournament as a sixth seed and made it to the national championship against the defending national champions, Duke. The Blue Devils defeated the young Wolverines in the championship after an incredible season.
NCAA Tournament
The first match-up that Kentucky would see was the ninth seed Kansas State. Both Wildcats faced off and Kentucky was just a slight favorite to win this game and Julius Randle led them to a victory. Randle led the team with 19 points and 15 rebounds as Kentucky wins 56-49.
The next game in the round of 32, the Wildcats faced off against undefeated Wichita State. Wichita State was a #1 seed in the tournament and was the clear favorites to win. Kentucky defeated Wichita State 78-76 and Andrew Harrison was the leading scorer with 20.
Entering the Sweet 16, Kentucky looks to go against the defending national champs. Louisville was the #5 seed in the tournament but loss to Kentucky in the regular season once before. After another close battle, the Wildcats pull off the victory by winning 74-69 with Aaron Harrison, Johnson, and Randle all leading with 15 points.
The young Kentucky squad defeated Michigan in the Elite 8 and Wisconsin in the Final 4 from big time shots in both games from Aaron Harrison. Just like the Fab Five, Kentucky made it to the national championship.
On April 7th 2014, UConn faced off against Kentucky. Starting all freshmen, first time since Fab Five, Kentucky came up short 54-60. With an incredible run, the Wildcats comparisons to the Fab Five is all but true after failing to win it all. Both teams were close to taking it as freshmen but weren’t close enough.
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