Yes, Indeed , We are the 7th Best BBall Program of All-Time
Posted by frankpos on December 6, 2008
After all that nonsense with football,
shall we strut a bit now?
As a knowledgeable Card fan, you probably already know the following:
Street & Smith and a few other publications over the years have concurred that U of L is the 7th best program in college basketball history.
But…it’s always nice to see the latest-greatest confirmation by a major news outlet — this time NBC:
http://beyondthearc.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/08/26/1295578.aspx
Great story with some good links–including to…moi. (*Small self-congratulatory pat on back*–or on Charlie Springer’s for giving me that great pic of Griff.)
Also…a small trivia tidbit for Card fans to win that bar bet: Who has the best winning % in college? Rick Pitino, Denny Crum, or Peck Hickman?
Take a pec…errr…peek at the article and find out:
Last year’s team’s Top Ten finish was great, and together with the 2005 team is helping to restore our Top Ten tradition (#7 out of 338 Division I teams teams–top 2%) . This info for this summary of mine all came from Wikipedia:
Bottom-Line Performance by Card Teams:
| Tradition | Number | National Rank |
|---|---|---|
| All-time NCAA Tournaments | 34 | 6th |
| All-time NCAA Tournament Wins | 57 | 7th |
| All-time NCAA Final Fours | 8 | 7th |
| All-time Winning Percentage | 65.4% | 11th |
The Cardinals have been ranked on 429 occasions in the AP poll, seventh most all-time.
Louisville has 59 1000-point career scorers, edging out North Carolina by one for most all time.
UofL is second all-time in the NCAA with 46 consecutive winning seasons (not current). The Cards played winning basketball from 1944-45 through 1989-90.
Top ten fans and support : Louisville has ranked among the top 10 nationally in average home attendance each of the last 27 years, including the last 22 straight in the nation’s top five.
UofL had the most profitable college basketball program in the nation in 2004-2005[2] and 2006-07[3] and was named the third most valuable college basketball team of 2007 by Forbes Magazine[3].
Coolness: We are generally known in the BBall world as the number one program of all time in dunking. (T -Will and Earl certainly helped restore that in a big way last year–and this year Samardo Samuels is contributing immensely with his power jams.
It’s for all the reasons above that UofL basketball has been named the seventh best all-time basketball program by Street and Smith’s, The Sporting News, and CBS Sportsline.
And, it all explains why long-time fans–accustomed to such success– so strongly want to see that tradition continue. (It also doesn’t hurt that we’re basketball-crazed Kentuckians by birth, who demand excellence in our teams.)
| NCAA Tournament Champions | |
| (2) 1980, 1986 | |
| NCAA Tournament Final Four | |
| (8) 1959, 1972, 1975, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1986, 2005 | |
| NCAA Tournament Appearances | |
| (34) 1951, 1959, 1961, 1964, 1967, 1968, 1972, 1974, 1975, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008 |
Why we revere Denny: Under Denny Crum, Louisville posted the highest NCAA tournament record of the 80’s, going to four Final Fours, and winning two NCAA championships.
Strange fact all Card fans know: Surprisingly, with all of their success, the Cards have never held the number one ranking in either of the two major polls.
Other Indications of Program Greatness: Louisville has two representatives in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame: Cardinal All-American and former Washington Bullets All-Star Wes Unseld, who was inducted in 1988, and former coach Denny Crum, who was inducted in ‘94. (And hopefully a third one in Rick Pitino.)
Eighteen Louisville players have earned All-America status, the latest being Francisco Garcia in 2005. The Cardinals have had 57 players taken in the NBA Draft, the latest of whom was also Garcia–at least so far.
The table below shows the consistency of talent through the decades since the mid-50’s. It also shows the great history of home-grown, stay-at-home Louisville talent– and why we have missed it now for a decade, since DeJuan. The 60’s and 70’s were amazing times for local BBall talent…
| Player | Hometown | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Charlie Tyra | Louisville, Kentucky | 1955-57 |
| Dan Goldstein | New York, New York | 1958-59 |
| John Turner | Newport, Kentucky | 1960-61 |
| Wes Unseld | Louisville, Kentucky | 1965-1968 |
| Butch Beard | Hardinsburg, Kentucky | 1968-69 |
| Jim Price | Russellville, Kentucky | 1971-72 |
| Junior Bridgeman | East Chicago, Indiana | 1974-75 |
| Allen Murphy | Birmingham, Alabama | 1974-75 |
| Phil Bond | Louisville, Kentucky | 1975-76 |
| Wesley Cox | Louisville, Kentucky | 1976-77 |
| Rick Wilson | Louisville, Kentucky | 1977-78 |
| Darrell Griffith | Louisville, Kentucky | 1978-80 |
| Lancaster Gordon | Jackson, Mississippi | 1983-84 |
| Pervis Ellison | Savannah, Georgia | 1988-89 |
| Clifford Rozier | Bradenton, Florida | 1993-94 |
| DeJuan Wheat | Louisville, Kentucky | 1996-97 |
| Reece Gaines | Madison, Wisconsin | 2002-03 |
| Francisco García | Bronx, New York | 2004-05 |
It’s worthwhile to note: Last year’s basketball’s team success (around a #5-7 final national ranking) is our norm — this is where we need to be every year. Somewhere in the Top Ten –or lurking near by.
It is a high bar we’ve set, but it’s certainly worth striving for.
To excel–in the sport we worship the most. It feels good.
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