The Kentucky Wildcats are the 2011-12 National Champions. After knocking off rival Louisville in the Final Four and then topping Kansas in the championship game, the Wildcats took home title number eight. It was an incredibly impressive season for the Cats. They began the 2011-12 campaign as the co-favorite (along with North Carolina) to win the title. With the Tar Heels stumbling in the early going, John Calipari's squad was pretty much the best team in the country from beginning to end. Kentucky dropped a game at Assembly Hall in Bloomington to the Hoosiers in December and lost a second game in the SEC tourney against a Vanderbilt team it had already beaten twice before. Outside of those two hiccups, UK was dominant from start to finish. Anthony Davis was the best player in the country and one of the best defenders the college game has ever seen. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, one of the country's fiercest competitors, had a spectacular freshman year in his own right. Terrence Jones failed to live up to his preseason accolades but put together a very solid season. Doron Lamb continued to be one of the craftiest scorers in the NCAAs. Darius Miller provided savvy veteran leadership, became one of the college ranks' most dependable crunch-time performers, and proved to be a player capable of playing at the next level. While Marquis Teague struggled in the early part of the season, he finished the year as the National Champions' very capable floor general. And Calipari, regardless of what his detractors may say about his methods and his vacated trips to the Final Four, put together one of the five best coaching jobs of the 2011-12 season. Sure, he had a ton of talent, but he also molded a group of freshmen and sophomores into a championship caliber team in about eight months. And he had this group of future first-round picks playing selfless, ego-less basketball. The Wildcats' chemistry was undeniable. They put forth as much effort on defense as on offense. They deferred to one another, seemed to genuinely enjoy playing with each other, and improved as the season progressed. And then, after the Cats put the finishing touch on their masterpiece of a season, Lexington went
apeshit.
The Kentucky Wildcats are the 2011-12 National Champions. After knocking off rival Louisville in the Final Four and then topping Kansas in the championship game, the Wildcats took home title number eight. It was an incredibly impressive season for the Cats. They began the 2011-12 campaign as the co-favorite (along with North Carolina) to win the title. With the Tar Heels stumbling in the early going, John Calipari's squad was pretty much the best team in the country from beginning to end. Kentucky dropped a game at Assembly Hall in Bloomington to the Hoosiers in December and lost a second game in the SEC tourney against a Vanderbilt team it had already beaten twice before. Outside of those two hiccups, UK was dominant from start to finish. Anthony Davis was the best player in the country and one of the best defenders the college game has ever seen. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, one of the country's fiercest competitors, had a spectacular freshman year in his own right. Terrence Jones failed to live up to his preseason accolades but put together a very solid season. Doron Lamb continued to be one of the craftiest scorers in the NCAAs. Darius Miller provided savvy veteran leadership, became one of the college ranks' most dependable crunch-time performers, and proved to be a player capable of playing at the next level. While Marquis Teague struggled in the early part of the season, he finished the year as the National Champions' very capable floor general. And Calipari, regardless of what his detractors may say about his methods and his vacated trips to the Final Four, put together one of the five best coaching jobs of the 2011-12 season. Sure, he had a ton of talent, but he also molded a group of freshmen and sophomores into a championship caliber team in about eight months. And he had this group of future first-round picks playing selfless, ego-less basketball. The Wildcats' chemistry was undeniable. They put forth as much effort on defense as on offense. They deferred to one another, seemed to genuinely enjoy playing with each other, and improved as the season progressed. And then, after the Cats put the finishing touch on their masterpiece of a season, Lexington went apeshit.
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