A little bit of a Roundball lore drop here: I used to live in Lexington, Kentucky. I lived about 10 minutes away from Rupp Arena and I spent a lot of a post high school youth sneaking into the arena to watch some Wildcat hoops. I was there during the 2014-2015 season where the Wildcats went 38-1 and ultimately lost to Wisconsin in the Final Four. I got to see Karl-Anthony Towns turn himself into a #1 pick, I got to see Devin Booker go from a bench player to a lottery pick, and I even got to hoop with the Harrison Twins on the Blue Courts once (all I did was pass, so I don’t have a lot of cool stories there).
As some of you know I am a West Virginia University fan, but I am also a student and historian of the game. Kentucky is potentially my favorite non-WVU school (there might be a mid-major or two I prefer more), so I’ve always kept tabs on them. In doing so, along with studying the school’s history, I’ve been able to witness a lot of greatness. In that vein, I’m going to give you the University of Kentucky All-Quarter Century Team much like I did for WVU. The format is going to be the same so I won’t spend time explaining it here. I also don’t have the same emotional attachment to UK as I do WVU so this one will be shorter for sure.
Honorable Mentions
Oscar Tshiebwe
Oh you KNEW I had to get a former Mountaineer on this list somehow. I would usually say “that’s a cop out!” if someone else were to try and do something similar, but you can’t deny that Oscar earned his spot on the list. After 2 years (really 1 and 1/4 years) at WVU he transferred to Kentucky to play for Coach Cal, and he never looked back.
In 66 games for the Wildcats Oscar was a man amongst children. He averaged 16.9 points, 14.4 rebounds, 3 stocks a game, and he collected ALL of the hardware you’d expect a dominant force like him to collect. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award winner, All-American, rebounding leader (twice), SEC Player of the Year, Pete Newell Big Man Award, and the 2022 Naismith College Basketball Player of the Year. In his two short years in Lexington he made his mark as one of the most dominant players in school history. The only reason he isn’t higher on this list is because of the team’s success during his tenure.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Seems weird to see the reigning MVP be on this list as an honorable mention, right? Well, that’s just how good Kentucky players have been over the last 25 years. It was just kind of a strange year for Shai. His stats were decent: 14/4/5, 2.1 stocks, with 48/40/81 shooting splits, but for whatever reason he didn’t find his stride until January of that year.
Up until that point Kentucky’s starting backcourt was Hamidou Diallo and Quade Green. Even after he got the starting spot he wasn’t wowing anyone with his box score stats: 30 points here, 19 there, 21 against Georgia. The biggest thing that lands him on this list was his maturity and leadership he displayed. You could argue that this was also an underperforming Coach Cal team, but SGA was able to bring the team together to win the SEC Tournament and make it to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. Certainly not the best Kentucky player on this list, but let’s cut him some slack. He has some stiff competition.
Tyler Ulis
During the 2015-2016 season, Tyler Ulis was the Kentucky Wildcat. It wasn’t like it was a weak class, either. Weak-er, sure, but this team still had 7 players who played NBA minutes. On a team that had Skal Labissiere and Jamal Murray, Tyler Ulis was arguably the most important player on the team.
This was Tyler’s Sophomore season and he showed out. On the year he averaged 17.3 points and 7 assists a night on 43/34/85 shooting splits. He was able to help lead Kentucky to a 4-seed in the NCAA Tournament, and he also earned All-American honors for his efforts. While he might be the one name on this list with the least “star value”, what you can’t deny is his impact as a Wildcat.
Reserves
Julius Randle
By every metric, this was a down year on paper for Coach Cal and the Kentucky Wildcats. Kentucky went 13-5 in conference play and earned an 8-seed in the NCAA Tournament which was the lowest seeding of a Kentucky tournament team under Coach Cal. If it wasn’t for Randle’s play this year, including the postseason, we wouldn’t be talking about this team at all.
Randle averaged 15/10 a night while shooting 50% from the floor. He earned Third Team All-American Honors, physically dragged this team to the National Championship game with his consistent play throughout the tournament, and helped bolster the draft stock of a few teammates that shouldn’t have made the league in the first place.
Malik Monk
There is going to be a theme in this list and it’s Coach Cal One-and-Dones. There will be a few exceptions but the general rule is if you really showed out in your one year at Kentucky, you probably ended up on this list. Enter: Malik Monk. He kind of gets lost in the shuffle when you think about a John Calipari guard, but I won’t allow that to happen here.
During the 2016-2017 season he was an absolute FLAMETHROWER for the Wildcats averaging 19.8 PPG and shot 39% (!!) from 3 on 7 attempts a game. Coach Cal didn’t really have players like this on his roster, and that’s why he stood out so much to me. He’s been a really solid role player in the NBA, but there were times that year in Lexington where it was a question who was the best player on that team which included Bam Adebayo and De’Aaron Fox. That’s how good Malik was.
Bench Unit
PJ Washington
PJ Washington may be a strange selection to some of you reading if you’re only familiar with him as the NBA player, but let me assure you, he belongs on this list. He’s one of the rare two year guys but the jump he made during his second year in Lexington proved beneficial as he averaged 15 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 2 stocks a night while shooting 52% from the field and 42% from 3 which was good enough to earn him Third Team All-American honors.
The team went 30-7 on the year and eventually lost in the Elite 8, but if it wasn’t for PJ Washington, they wouldn’t have gotten there in the first place. He was without a doubt the best player on a team which also had Tyler Herro, Keldon Johnson, Immanuel Quickley, and Nick Richards. That’s how good PJ was as a Wildcat.
Devin Booker
Book may also seem like a weird selection here, but do you have any idea how good you have to be to average 10 PPG in a Power 5 conference and STILL end up a NBA Lottery pick? He didn’t start one single game in his college career and he was still able to stand out in a crowd of NBA teammates including Willie Cauley-Stein, Trey Lyles, and Karl-Anthony Towns.
That year the Wildcats nearly ran the table going 38-1 but lost to Wisconsin in the Final Four. That year Kentucky was SO stacked that Andrew Harrison was leading the team in scoring with 11 PPG. The team also rostered 9 guys who would eventually make their way to the NBA. This was arguably the most socialist the program had ever been under Coach Cal because everyone was getting in on the action. Booker was the 3rd leading scorer on this team, and as someone who got to watch this team live, I’d say if he had more shots we’re probably talking about this crew getting a ring before they made their way to the league.
Bam Adebayo
Bam was the defensive anchor on the 2016-2017 Wildcat squad which was LOADED with NBA talent including Malik Monk and De’Aaron Fox. When you have a guy in Monk who averaged 20 a night, and Fox who is the fastest player in the country (maybe ever), it’s easy to be overlooked. As you can see by his placement on this list he wasn’t overlooked, at least not by me.
Bam helped lead the team to a 32-6 record while averaging 13 points, 8 rebounds, and 2.2 stocks per night. There was a very fleeting moment where Bam was considering coming back for his Sophomore year, but looking at his career earnings in the NBA I think he made the right call.
De’Aaron Fox
Speaking of Fox, he was also a clear candidate for this list. He drew comparisons to John Wall due to his blinding speed and he used that speed to his advantage. He averaged 16.7 points, 4.6 assists (which led the SEC), and 1.5 steals a night for the Wildcats.
When you had that trio of Fox/Bam/Monk, there wasn’t anything the opposing teams could do really. You had to pray they had an off night and sometimes that didn’t even work. Outside of the 2014-2015 team, I think that this was the team that I expected to win a title the most. Much like Bam, I’m sure that Fox’s career earnings help reduce the pain of never getting a National Championship.
Karl-Anthony Towns
It hurts me A LOT to not make KAT a starter on this team, but when we get to the guy who took his place you’ll understand why I had to move him to the bench. Getting to see KAT put up 10 points, 7 rebounds, and 2.3 blocks a night in person was a real treat, especially since we don’t associate him with great defense in the NBA.
I remember early in the year people were calling for Coach Cal’s head because he was playing KAT at the 5, but I do think that the move helped his playing career in the long run. He was able to develop skills that I don’t think he would have if he was strictly playing the 4; just another example of Coach Cal playing the long game.
Starting 5
Tayshaun Prince
As the only four year player on this list and one of the biggest defensive DEMONS, Tayshaun Prince was the easy call for my starting Small Forward. He earned the starting spot for the Wildcats during his Sophomore year and never really looked back.
Over his career he averaged 13.1 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 1.9 stocks a game, including a career high 17.5 PPG his Senior year, and a Second Team All-American nod his Junior year. He was always ready to take on the other teams best player, he really showed out when the team needed him the most, and he was the blueprint to the modern wing. One of Kentucky’s finest if you ask me.
Jamal Murray
There is only one way to describe Jamal Murray during his one year in Lexington: FLAMETHROWER. After the near perfect season the year prior, the new batch of Wildcats had big shoes to fill. They did not fill those shoes, and Jamal received a lot of the blame for “only” going 27-9, but I don’t think that was very fair.
This team had 7 players who would go on to play in the NBA and Jamal led the team in scoring averaging 20 PPG. He wasn’t just a one trick pony, either. He rebounded well for a guard (5.2), he facilitated a little bit (2.2), and he was a 40% shooter from deep on 7 attempts a game. Needless to say, he carried that flamethrower ability to the pros, but I won’t ever forget Wildcat Jamal Murray.
DeMarcus Cousins
Now we’re really getting into the heavy hitters. DeMarcus Cousins was, and still is, viewed as one of the most dominant forces in college basketball history. It’s as if he was created in a lab and his sole purpose was to put defenders into the rim.
He helped lead the Wildcats to a 35-3 record (they lost to WVU in the Elite 8 but who’s counting?), he averaged 15.1 points, 9.8 rebounds, and 2.8 stocks night, and that was good enough to earn him Second Team All-American honors. He was able to stand out on a team with 8 future NBA players (5 who were drafted in the first round), and the only person who outshined him on that team was the next entry on the list.
John Wall
Of course John Wall was going to be here, what did you expect? John Wall came into prominance in the basketball landscape during the early days of social media. His Ball is Life Mixtape hit the YouTube algorithm and it seems like everyone you know has seen it. With that much buzz coming into the 2009-2010 season it was going to be hard to live up to the hype, but I’d say he did that and then some.
Wall did a bit of everything that year: 16.6 PPG, 6.5 APG (led the SEC), 4.3 RPG, and 1.8 SPG. It shouldn’t come as a surprise to you that this kind of play earned him both First Team All-American honors AND he became the #1 Pick in the NBA Draft that year. He was able to use his blazing speed to make the college game easy for him, and for a time in the NBA he was doing the same thing.
Anthony Davis
You see now why I couldn’t make KAT a starter? Anthony Davis was obviously going to be on this list, and in my opinion, he the best player that Kentucky has ever had. The stats don’t lie: 14.2 points, 10.4 rebounds, and a STAGGERING 6.1 stocks per night including a monstrous 4.7 blocks per game. The craziest thing about the blocks number is the sheer amount. During the 2011-2012 season he blocked a total of 186 shots in 40 games. That sounds insane by itself, but if he was a school ALL BY HIMSELF he would have tied for 12th in the entire country. BY HIMSELF he blocked more shots than 331 schools. Insanity.
What really solidifies him as THE best Wildcat in school history, outside of his defensive dominance, is the fact that he was THE guy to lead them to a National Championship. He had some help, sure; there were 6 other guys who had some time in the NBA, but I think it’s fair to say that if this team doesn’t have AD they’re just another decent team in the country. AD was the difference maker in this season; the team went 38-2, 16-0 in SEC play, and of course cut down the nets. If all of that wasn’t impressive enough, maybe this image of the award winners for the year will convince you.
Who’d I miss? Let me know in a comment. If you’re interested in seeing my face or hear me speak instead of the words I wrote, please consider checking out my social links on this website or searching me on your favorite platforms.
Be kind. Tell somebody you love them. I’ll see you in the next one.
Round The Game 
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