UK Athletics Photo
The University of Kentucky Athletics Department will celebrate the 1974-1975 men’s basketball team, which finished as the national runner-up and captured the Southeastern Conference regular-season crown, with festivities surrounding today’s game vs. South Carolina at Rupp Arena.
The ceremony will take place during halftime of the game on Saturday, which tips off at Noon ET and will be televised on ESPN2.
Limited quantities of a poster commemorating the 1975 team will be distributed for free before the game on the concourse behind section 11 while supplies last.
Head coach Joe B. Hall’s 1974-75 Wildcats went 26-5 overall (15-3 SEC) and finished the season ranked No. 2 nationally.
The season began on Nov. 30 with a 97-70 home win over Northwestern. UK earned wins over No. 9 North Carolina, No. 18 Kansas, No. 13 Notre Dame, No. 18 Tennessee and had two wins over No. 5 Alabama during the regular season. The Wildcats and the Crimson Tide tied for the conference crown, with UK garnering the SEC’s NCAA Tournament bid based on those two victories, as there was no league tourney in those days.
The Wildcats opened their NCAA Tournament quest with a win over No. 10 Marquette in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The Cats then took down Central Michigan in Dayton, Ohio, before nipping No. 1 Indiana by a 92-90 score to move on to the Final Four, which was held in San Diego, Calif. Kentucky then topped Syracuse by a 95-79 score to reach the national final.
Prior to the game, legendary coach John Wooden announced his retirement following the title game. Motivated by that announcement, the Bruins claimed a 92-85 victory and their 10th NCAA title under Wooden.
Hall was named the SEC Coach of the Year, while senior Kevin Grevey earned consensus second-team All-America honors and he was the SEC Player of the Year. He led the Wildcats in scoring with 23.5 points per game.
Grevey was joined on the All-SEC Team by fellow senior Jimmy Dan Conner and freshman Rick Robey, both of whom were third-team selections. Conner averaged 12.4 points per game and tied for the team lead in assists with 3.4 per contest. Robey averaged 10.3 points per game and paced the Wildcats in rebounding with 6.9 per game.
Grevey scored 34 points in the championship game, while Bob Guyette (16) and Mike Flynn (10) also reached double-digit scoring.
In the Mideast Regional final, Flynn went 9 of 13 and had a team-high 22 points in the upset of top-rated and the favorite to win the title, Indiana, who had won 34 straight games.
7 Responses
Very well remember that season, Bob Knight came to Rupp arena during that season and his team smack us pretty good. The thing is Bob knight hit back of Joe Hall head after that game. Going forward the cats caught fire from mid season and on to the regional finall to match up against unbeaten Indiana again that game was a classic cats pull it off winning the game. I remember the celebration that occurred across the state when the horn went off. Even in my hometown Corydon ky were I was raise with a backyard basketball court wi lights I had house full of people wanted to play hoops to Celebrate the cats win. Will never forget it.
Actually the regular season loss to IU was in Bloomington.
Three fraternity brothers ( all freshman in my senior year ) on that team. All three All American human beings !
That must have a been a good frat basketball team to be on
Thank you, UK ATHLETICS, for honoring what I feel has become a forgotten team in KY history as the years have gone by–this is one of the best teams in KY BBALL history, and maybe the best team to never win a championship at KY. First, think about the fact that Bob Knight was building a dynasty at IU that was trying to be the Midwest answer to UCLA, right at the time that their dynasty of the mid 60s to early 70s was coming to an end. IU lost one game over two full bball seasons from 1974 to 1976, and it was to KY in that Mideast Regional Final in ’75. This 1975 KY team was special because it reflected the crossover point of the last great recruiting class that came at the end of the Adolph Rupp era, and the first great recruiting class of the Joe Hall era. The 1975 seniors were freshmen during Adolph Rupp’s last season at KY in 1971-72, and were known in KY lore as THE SUPERKITTENS, because it was a freshman class filled with multiple Mr Basketballs from their respective states, and other all-staters–and it was the last season in college bball that freshmen were not eligible to play on the varsity their first season–so THE SUPERKITTENS proceeded to put together a 22-0 record on a "jay-vee" team, playing against teams of other college freshmen. So right away, these freshmen, in Rupp’s final season, were setting the stage for everything that was to come during the 70s for Joe Hall: an SEC championship in his first season with a 19-7 finish, two Final Fours, two trips to the championship game, one NCAA title and an NIT title sandwiched in between, plus another trip to the Elite 8. It all began with Rupp’s SUPERKITTENS who would go on, as seniors, to combine with the freshmen class that would bring Hall an NCAA championship–Givens, Robey, Phillips, Lee–and bring Hall his first Final Four appearance and trip to the national championship game in 1975 by taking down undefeated and #1-ranked IU 92-90 in the Mideast Regional Final–and IU would go on the next season to make that undefeated national championship season a reality. This KY loss was their only loss in two seasons of basketball. So this was a special KY team in 1975, and when u look at their roster today, u say how in GOD’s name did they NOT win a title–i think any circumstance in the final game other than John Wooden’s retirement game with UCLA, and they DO win the championship. That was one of those games where KY was having to beat THE ESTABLISHMENT for a championship, as well as beat a bball team, and no team should ever have to be faced with beating the ESTABLISHMENT for a title, nor will they ever BEAT the ESTABLISHMENT for a title, but every once in a great while, something like that happens in sports. Actually, that scenario exists today with this year’s SUPERBOWL–u don’t think the Eagles are partially faced with having to beat the ESTABLISHMENT when trying to beat the Chiefs? When u r faced with having to beat the ESTABLISHMENT, the question u have to ask yourself is "am I going to be ALLOWED to win this game?" The majority of America, except for true Eagles fans, will be cheering for KC to pull off this THREE-PEAT, and of course, u know that’s the outcome the crooked sports media and crooked news media wants to see–thats more air-time and story-time for Taylor Swift, and Travis Kelce, plus the increased likelihood they get a barf-worthy marriage proposal captured live on TV from Kelce to Swift in the case the Chiefs win, and the increased likelihood Kelce retires if they win. The media cares less about the game, and more about the stories behind the game. True sports fans just want to see the game. Although u do have to wonder if the media enthusiasm will be in any way affected since the President will be there, and seems to be in favor of KC, and the fact that the QB seems to be a big fan of the President–that could cause the media to barf instead! LOL If they could just get over their bias, they would realize even more of an opportunity for stories and increased viewership if they would embrace those storylines instead of rejecting them. OH WELL—no matter what happens with the Superbowl, I was thrilled to see the 1975 UK BBALL team honored yesterday, it was an honor very much deserved, especially for those seniors Grevey, Jimmy Dan, Jerry Hale, GJ Smith, Mike Flynn–those guys were the link between the end of the old era with Rupp to the beginning of the modern era with Hall–remember they were the first recruits to come in after Issel, Mike Pratt, and Mike Casey had graduated the program, which was the last great group and last great run that was made with Rupp as coach. So this group spanned a long time and saw alot of people go out and come in. It was a time of major change within the UK program, and within the country and society too. Also during that time, one Tom Payne signed with Adolph Rupp to play bball at the University of Kentucky, making him the first black player in history to sign a bball scholarship at UK. It was a history-making period of time overall for sports and for the country. I just remember my father, God rest his soul, telling me so many stories when I was growing up about the UK BBALL teams of the 70s, but specifically none more so than about this 1975 team that beat Indiana. I believe it was his favorite KY team of all-time in his life, and his favorite KY win of all-time. I’m sure it was for the majority of people in his generation. He hated Bobby Knight with a passion, and all those IU teams. Of course back then, IU and TN were KY’s biggest rivals because there was no LOU yet as far as KY’s biggest rivals. But Denny Crum was working quickly on establishing his empire there as LOU was on the quiet half of this 1975 Final Four, along with Syracuse. It was very very close to being a KY/LOU championship game in 1975, and who knows, we might have been better off. Its pretty clear that Wooden didn’t expect to make it back to having a chance at a championship that year with the fact he decided right after making it back there to announce his retirement. Makes u wonder how he would have handled that had they lost to LOU–if he still would have retired after the season was over, or if he would have tried to come back again. Thats one natl championship of Wooden’s that is pure garbage and belongs to KY instead–UCLA won that title thru the power of Wooden’s retirement announcement the day before the game–KY won that national championship the week before in Dayton, OH against undefeated and #1-ranked IU 92-90. Im sure UCLA, LOU, or Syracuse would have beaten IU that year. Thank you again, UK ATHLETICS, for honoring the best KY team to never win a championship–the 1975 National Runners-Up KENTUCKY WILDCATS. My father was one fan that this would have meant the world to were he still here to see it!!
Well said James
Yep to all of the above – plus Bobby was never right after that game !!