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Kentucky Wildcats, 19nine

By A Mystery Man Writer

Kentucky Wildcats x Legacy Collection 19nine’s Legacy Collection dives inside the archives to bring back some college basketball classics. Like the originals, we crafted each Legacy pair of retro shorts with the materials and details to honor the original designs. It was a labor of love in our pursuit to provide an era specific keepsake that celebrates the most iconic styles in college basketball history. '96 Wildcat Legacy The rumor in college basketball circles coming into the 1995-1996 season was that Kentucky's non starters were good enough to be ranked the #2 team in the country. No. 1, of course, would be Rick Pitino's 5 starters. Unfortunately for the rest of college basketball all 9 future NBA players were on the same roster. Tony Delk, Anthony Epps, Antoine Walker, Walter McCarty, Derek Anderson, Mark Pope, Jeff Sheppard and Ron Mercer ate up most of the minutes and provided more depth than a college coach could ever dream of. After an early season slip up against #5 UMass the Cats ripped off 27 straight wins before losing to #25 Mississippi State in the SEC Tournament Championship game. As the #1 seed in the Midwest Region of the NCAA Tournament UK marched to the Final Four after beating 4th seed Utah by 31 and 2nd seed Wake Forest by 20. A rematch with #1 UMass awaited the Wildcats in the Final Four. This time it was Kentucky's night thanks in large part to Tony Delk and Antoine Walker combining for 34 points in a 81-74 victory. Two nights later UK clinched the schools 6th National Championship, beating Syracuse 76-67 in Monday nights title game. The 1996 Kentucky Wildcats go in down in history as one of college basketball's best. "Coach Pitino did a tremendous job of meshing talent as well as the egos. You look at it collectively as a team, guys had to sacrifice and understand everyone had a role on the team. Everyone couldn't be the star, take all the shots and play all the minutes. You had to share in some of your successes in order for the team to be successful." -Tony Delk