Sports in Kentucky

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1 College sports
2 Professional sports teams
3 High school sports
4 References

[edit] College sports

Despite a recent surge in the quality of the Louisville Cardinals football team, college basketball remains the sport of choice in most of Kentucky. Western Kentucky University's men's basketball program is one of the ten most winning in the history of the NCAA, and has one Final Four appearance (1971). Murray State University is a perennial threat to win the Ohio Valley Conference and appear in the NCAA Tournament, having done so 13 times. However, the question in Kentucky college athletics is most often "Red or Blue?" referring to the primary colors of its two flagship universities - the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville.

[edit] The Battle for the Bluegrass

See also: Kentucky Wildcats and Louisville Cardinals

The rivalry between the North Carolina Tarheels and the Duke Blue Devils is perhaps the only in-state basketball rivalry that compares to the rivalry between the Kentucky Wildcats and Louisville Cardinals. A 2002 Sports Illustrated poll found that 63% of Kentuckians are Kentucky Wildcats fans, while 16% are Louisville Cardinals fans.^[1] However, in recent years the gap has closed considerably.

A 2006 Lexington Herald-Leader article stated that interest in U of L sports is surging across the state of Kentucky, especially in Hopkinsville and Owensboro.^[2] An October 21, 2006 Louisville Courier-Journal article also stated that the total sales of U of L merchandise has tripled since 2001 and that the school now ranks 32^nd nationally in sales, up from 41^st in 2001. U of L ranks 2^nd in the Big East Conference and the 3^rd highest among all urban universities (to Southern California and Miami) in merchandise sales. UK's merchandise sales have steadily remained around 14^th in the nation, by far the best in the state. U of L now has more registered collegiate license plates than the University of Kentucky (18,300 to 17,000); a four-fold increase since 2004. In 1995 UK had a 15,000 plate lead on U of L.^[3]

Fuel was added to the fire of this rivalry when Rick Pitino, the UK coach who led the Wildcats to their 1996 National Title before leaving to become coach of the NBA's Boston Celtics, returned to the Bluegrass State to coach the Cardinals in 2001. Many in the state compared the move to the treachery of Benedict Arnold. The situation was exacerbated by the transfer of underachieving Wildcat power forward/center Marvin Stone. Stone's best season with the Cats was his sophomore season, when the former McDonald's All-American averaged 6.0 points and 4.6 rebounds per game.^[4] Under Pitino, however, Stone averaged 10.7 points and 7.3 rebounds for the Cards, including a 16 point, 7 rebound, 2 block performance against the Wildcats in an 81-63 Louisville win on December 28.^[5]

[edit] College basketball

UK has dominated the basketball rivalry, winning 70% of games in the modern series which began in 1983

It is perhaps impossible to overstate the importance of college basketball in Kentucky. At least three college coaching legends have been associated with programs in the state of Kentucky: Adolph Rupp (UK), Denny Crum (U of L), and Rick Pitino (both UK and U of L). Also, several successful NBA players played in the state, including Pat Riley, Wes Unseld, and Dan Issel. Only the UCLA Bruins have won more NCAA championships than the Kentucky Wildcats, with the Wildcats ranking first in almost every other significant measure of a successful program.

Team	Kentucky Wildcats	Louisville Cardinals
All Time Win-Loss Record (Rank)	1,926-596 (1^st)	1,505-806 (15^th)
All Time Winning Percentage (Rank)	76.3% (1^st)	65.1% (12^th)
NCAA Tourney Appearances	46	32
NCAA Tourney Wins (Rank)	96 (1^st)	53 (7^th)
NCAA Final Fours	13	8
NCAA Titles	7	2

[edit] Eras of dominance

The impressive history of college basketball in Kentucky has been punctuated by a few notable eras of dominance by the two flagship schools.

[edit] UK: Rupp's early years

Under Adolph Rupp, the Kentucky Wildcats were the most dominant team in the early history of the NCAA Tournament. From 1942 to 1958 the Wildcats won four national titles (1942, 1948, 1951, 1958), with an additional Final Four in 1949.

[edit] U of L: The Team of the 1980s

The Louisville Cardinals were dubbed "The Team of the 1980s", winning their only two national titles during that decade (1980 and 1986). (Only the Indiana Hoosiers equaled this number during the 1980s.) Under coach Denny Crum, U of L was the only team to go to four Final Fours during the decade, and had more wins than any other team over that span. Darrell Griffith won the John Wooden Award in 1980 and in 1986 "Nervous" Pervis Ellison became the first freshman to ever be named NCAA Final Four MVP, a feat equaled only by Syracuse's Carmelo Anthony.

[edit] UK: The Team of the 1990s

The Kentucky Wildcats were the most dominate team of the 1990s, winning two national titles (1996 and 1998), with three straight trips to the NCAA Championship game and four total trips to the Final Four. UK's 1996 team National Championship team is considered one of the best NCAA teams of all time, as evidenced by the nine players on the roster who played in the NBA.

[edit] College football

U of L has dominated the football rivalry, winning 70% of the games in the Modern Series which began in 1994

For all their success in basketball, the Kentucky Wildcats have been unable to remain consistently competitive in football. Playing in the very competitive Southeastern Conference, the Cats won their only conference title in 1950 under legendary coach Paul "Bear" Bryant. Bryant left the school in 1953 after concluding that the football program's popularity would always remain a distant second to the basketball program, at that time coached by Adolph Rupp, a legend in his own right.

As recently as the 1980s, the Louisville Cardinals were considered one of the worst D-1 football programs in the NCAA, and seriously considered disbanding the football program altogether. However the school hired ledendary coach Howard Schnellenberger in 1984. The team has continued to rise under coaches John L Smith and Bobby Petrino. On November 2, 2006, the 5^th ranked U of L football team defeated the 3^rd ranked West Virginia Mountaineers in what was dubbed "The Dream Game", the second time in Big East history that two top-5 teams had ever met. The game was ranked as the most-viewed ESPN Thursday night football game ever.^[6] The game marked a new high in a program that had been on the rise for several years.

Only one week later the Cardinals were defeated by a third undefeated Big East team, upstart and 15th ranked Rutgers Scarlet Knights, in what was billed as the biggest college football game in the New York City Metro Area in over 60 years; with the Empire State Building even being lit with the Rutgers team colors. The games was also one the the highest rated ESPN Thursday Night games ever as a record crowd in Piscataway, New Jersey stored the field in celebration. The loss ended the Cardinals' national title hopes and BCS Bowl hopes.

[edit] Professional sports teams

The state is home to several minor league sports teams. The Louisville Bats of the International League are the AAA affiliate of the Reds. The Lexington Legends are a Class A minor league baseball team affiliated with the Houston Astros in the South Atlantic League.

[edit] High school sports

Despite the national steortype that Kentucky is a die hard basketball state, at the high school level the state produces many times over more top nationally ranked football players than basketball. In the past ten years the state has produced many players ranked among the top 20 in their position, notably Tim Couch, Chris Redman, Dennis Johnson, Eric Shelton, Michael Bush, Brian Brohm, Mario Urrutia, Earl Heyman, and Micah Johnson.

UK has had practically a monopoly on the state's top players, although U of L has made modest in roads in the past five years. The football Cardinals have historically depended on the states of Florida and Georgia for a majority of their talent, and currently over 65% of the team's starters are from those two states.