Travis Ford with UK freshman Travis Perry. (Chet White/UK Athletics Photo)
Former Kentucky guard Travis Ford helped the Wildcats reach the 1993 Final Four under coach Rick Pitino. The Cats lost in the national semifinals but Ford had 12 points, six assists, five rebounds and three steals in the loss.
Ford was a Kentucky prep standout at Madisonville who signed with Missouri but transferred to Kentucky after one season to play for Pitino. He was the starting point guard his junior and senior years and set school records for single-game assists (15), single-season 3-point field goals (101) and consecutive free throws made (50).
Ford was named to the All-SEC team his junior and senior years, and was the Southeast Region’s Most Outstanding Player in the 1993 NCAA Tournament.
He ranks in the top 10 in UK history in career 3-point field goals made (No. 6, 190), career assists (No. 9, 428), and assists per game (No. 6, 4.28). He is in the top five in career 3-point field goal percentage (No. 3, .445) and single-season 3-point field goals made (No. 4, 101, 1993).
He has been the head coach at Campbellsville University, Eastern Kentucky, Massachusetts, Oklahoma State and most recently Saint Louis.
Ford was the analyst on the SEC Network when UK beat Lipscomb Tuesday night in Rupp Arena. Even though he never played with UK coach Mark Pope, the two certainly know each other because Ford hosted Pope on his official visit to UK before he transferred from Washington to Kentucky.
“How great is Travis Ford. I love him. He was a great mentor to me. Coming to Kentucky, it’s kind of like TP (Travis Perry) and Trent (Noah) with our guys. Travis Ford was a guy that helped me understand Kentucky really, really fast,” Pope told Tom Leach on the UK Radio Network postgame show after the Lipscomb win.
“Travis Ford, if you remember, was an unbelievable point guard. He’s only like 5-2 and his arms are probably shorter than his body. He’s probably minus length. And he was an assassin and the toughest kid ever, man, and was so good on that Final Four team as he played such a major role with coach (Rick) Pitino and restoring Kentucky basketball to where it was supposed to be and will always be greatly indebted to Travis. He’s an all-time great here.”
Ford was the “Y” earlier this season when Kentucky beat Kentucky Wesleyan in an exhibition game.
Former UK guard Jay Shidler, who was on UK’s 1978 national championship team, liked what he heard from Ford.
“A total natural, and with your knowledge and experience as a player and coach you bring great depth & insight to the broadcast. Keep it going!” Shidler posted on social media in a message to Ford.
7 Responses
Great article about a Great player!
Ford is one of my all-time favorites, among the elites at the pinnacle.
I hope Perry & Noah get some “big” screens the way Travis Ford did. Big center Dent would set a big screen and Travis Ford would nail a 3 from downtown. Garrison & Williams would be awesome screens
One tough guard
Go BBN
Travis Ford & Jay Shidler are 2 of the best & played larger than their physical size.
Travis brought his EKU team to Laramie, WY. I asked him post-game to meet my little girls. He said, wait till I talk to team. When he came back he introduced himself to both Daughters, gave them some classy time
One of the most underrated PGs and most underrated players period, regardless of position, here at KY. He seems to be forgotten, for some reason, by alot of fans for how great he was, for everything he did here, the career stats and numbers he put up, and the TEAMS he was on! He came into KY while the Unforgettables were still here–the first year he could play was the Unforgettables’ senior year–he was the backup PG to Sean Woods and played alot–more than you would have thought. But he contributed right away when he was in, and gave that team invaluable depth and leadership. And it was the perfect team for him to get his start with KY, because he fit right in with the Unforgettables’ culture–another KY native who was short on size, talent, and athleticism. But he made up for all of that the same way those other guys did: with alot of hard work, determination, heart, and a lot of 3-pt shooting!!! The experience he got that year was priceless–then in 1993 it finally was his team that year–him and Mashburn’s. Those two were a two-man wrecking crew that entire year. Ford was just like Anthony Epps in 1996: he always knew where everybody else was going to be all the time. I remember Mashburn that year unselfishly calling Travis the most important and most valuable player on the team because of that. He was perfect for the Pitino offense and could run it blind-folded. I agree with Mashburn that Travis was the most important player on the team–AFTER MASH. LOL Those two and that entire team ran wild in 1993–that was the first KY team I ever got to see make the Final Four in my life, and i still remember it like yesterday. That season was the culmination of 4 years hampered by NCAA probation and the nightmare memories from that past year of POS Laettner. Unfortunately, MICH created a Part 2 of those painful nightmare memories (I still say we beat MICH and win the championship that year if MASH doesn’t foul out and Dale Brown doesn’t injure his shoulder diving into the press tables for a loose ball–we has kept MICH at bay up to that point before all those things happened). Nevertheless, that team went on a run that year that honestly could challenge the 1996 team in terms of just complete domination. And they had similar talent and depth to the ’96 team too–their roster that year was absolutely loaded–and they could bring multiple weapons off the bench, be it talented freshmen like Rhodes, Delk, and Prickett, or utility guys like Dale Brown, Rodney Dent, Andre Riddick, Jeff Brassow, and Junior Braddy, and they would wear teams down with that pressure defense and running out in transition constantly. By the time March came, they were playing like a machine, and they went on a run in the postseason like nobody had ever seen. They played and won the very last SEC Tournament that was ever played in Rupp Arena, and absolutely destroyed TN in the first round 101-40. Then they beat ARK in one of the biggest games ever played in Rupp history, and destroyed LSU for the championship. And Travis won the first of his two consecutive SEC Tournament MVP awards that year. Their NCAA Tournament run was even more shocking: they won the Southeast Regional by winning every game by an avg margin of 31 points. Ford and MASH saved their best ball for both tournaments that year, and just shot lights-out. In the Regional semifinal, they were up 60-26 at halftime against Wake Forest and won 103-69. In the final, they destroyed a strong FLA ST team, led by Heisman winner Charlie Ward and several other future NBA stars, 106-81. And little-used walk-on Todd Svoboda hit his only 3-pointer of the entire season at the buzzer in that game to send the Cats to their first Final Four in 10 years. Bad luck once again robbed UK of yet another championship. But that was an awesome season, one of my personal favorites in my life, one that I feel like is forgotten alot for some reason, but Travis Ford was one of the biggest reasons for all the success that team had. The next season, Ford was the team leader of a very up-and-down group who went through a very rocky, roller-coaster season–Pitino always said it was the most difficult team he ever had to coach, and he was never able to get them to gel or get on the same page. Replacing a generational talent like MASH had alot to do with that, as did losing their best big man, Rodney Dent, for the season to a torn ACL. But even with all that, that team had some big wins and some memorable moments in 1994–they just weren’t a team that was built for a Final 4. But they did win the SEC Tournament again by upsetting ARK and FLA back-to-back, who both made the Final 4 that year, and ARK won the championship. And they won the Maui Invitational by beating AZ on a Jeff Brassow tip-in at the buzzer. They beat John Calipari’s UMASS team in the Meadowlands, and they beat TN on the road with only 8 scholarship players available after being down by 15 at halftime. Travis Ford also broke the school record for consecutive free-throws made that season in a blowout win against Notre Dame, and he made the two free-throws at the end of the game to seal the greatest NCAA road comeback in history at 31 pts for the win at LSU. And one other important nugget happened that year: Mark Pope transferred into the program from Washington, and sat out his first season in 1993-94 (in the days before the transfer portal). Pope sat on the bench that season and took his turn, among many others, at watching and learning the Pitino system, practicing with the team every day, learning about KY Basketball, making himself familiar with the program and the KY culture, and working and grooming himself with his other young incoming freshmen and sophomores who would go on two years later to form the nucleus, and the heart and soul of, The Untouchables, who would win Pitino’s first national championship of his career and the sixth for KY, and go down in history as one of the greatest teams in college basketball history. And then Pope, who was the Captain and one of 3 seniors on the Untouchables, would go on 28 years later to become the 8th head coach, since Adolph Rupp, of the KY BBALL program! And it all began for Pope way back in 1993 with a great mentor who was also a legendary homegrown player, and one of the best point guards in program history: Travis Ford. Two members of the Big Blue Nation who will always hold a special place in UK lore and in the hearts of UK fans. U gotta love, always, the history and tradition of KY BASKETBALL–where the past always connects to the present!! Thanks for allowing me to share my memories!!
Travis was great