< Previous8 @KentuckyMBB Thirty Years Later The UNFORGETTABLES By Corey Price@UKSportsNetwork 9 TTABLES10 @KentuckyMBB L et us go back to Tues- day, April 7, 1992. On the radio, “Save the Best for Last” by Vanessa Williams is dominating the airwaves as the Billboard No. 1 hit. On the silver screen, "Basic Instinct" is the No. 1 movie in U.S. theaters. On the small screen, "Roseanne" is the top-rated non-news TV show in America. Just the day before, on April 6, Mic- rosoft released its latest ver- sion of software, Windows 3.1, and the TV show "Bar- ney & Friends" premiered on PBS. And just two days later, on April 9, future national champion Terrence Jones would be 3 months old. But, at Rupp Arena on that Tuesday, something truly unprecedented and special took place with thousands of Big Blue Nation in the stands to witness it firsthand. Then, I am reminded of the saying, “It’s not the destination, it’s the journey.” So, we’ll get back to this later on, but let us take a look at what led to this momen- tous occasion. This journey can really start all the way back on March 22, 1985, when on that same Rupp Arena floor, the quarterfinals of the Kentucky High School Athletic As- sociation Boys' Sweet 16 tournament were taking place. Playing that day were eight Kentucky high school teams vying for the coveted state championship, but three teams in particular – Clay County, Mason County and Paintsville – had some special players that would play together on that court a few years later. Those players were Richie Farmer (Clay County), Deron Feldhaus (Mason County) and John Pelphrey (Painstville). Those guys had illustrious high school careers, with all three being named to the All-State Team multiple times, with back-to-back Ken- tucky Mr. Basketball winners – Pelphrey (1987) and Farmer (1988). What made that trio so special was that they all decided to keep their talents in- state for college, signing with the Univer- sity of Kentucky. Feldhaus was the first to do so on Nov. 14, 1986, with Pelphrey fol- lowing shortly thereafter on April 14, 1987. Farmer was just a junior when Feldhaus and Pelphrey were seniors, so he waited a little longer to sign with the Wildcats, on April 13, 1988. But, even before Farmer signed, another key component to future Kentucky teams signed with the school. Farmer did get to be on the same court as this player, in the 1988 Kentucky-Indiana All-Star Series. The player was Sean Woods, from Cathe- dral High School in Indianapolis. That quartet of players would later be known as “The Unforgettables,” for the trials and tribulations that they would en- dure throughout their collegiate careers. Through their first three seasons of play, they had to overcome probation, a post- season ban and the first losing season for the school since 1926-27. From the time of Feldhaus and Pelphrey’s redshirt season of 1987-88 to the quartet’s final season of 1991-92, 14 players who had played at least one game with Kentucky had left the program prior to their senior seasons. In the current climate of one-and-dones and transfer portals, that is commonplace. But, back in that time, that was almost unheard of. Heading into that 1991-92 season, that senior quartet had already captured the hearts and minds of the Big Blue Nation, but there was a sophomore who was put- ting the entire college basketball landscape on notice. He was Jamal Mashburn, from Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx, New York. As important as the seniors were to the program, Mashburn was just as inte- gral to the success of future teams to come. When new head coach Rick Pitino arrived on cam- pus in 1989, he knew that he would need to bring some of the nation’s top talent to the Bluegrass to build a foun- dation, to let future players know that the University of Kentucky was a premier program once again. Piti- no didn’t waste his time, having Mashburn, a New York Mr. Basketball and Pa- rade All-American, verbally commit to the Wildcats on October 26, 1989. Even though they were unable to participate in the post- season, the 1990-91 team finished in the Top 10 of the final Associated Press Poll, so the Wildcats had some momentum going into that 1991-1992 campaign. Kentucky unfortunately had a rude awakening ear- ly on in the season, when unranked Pittsburgh, with future Arizona head coach Sean Miller and Kentucky assistant coach Orlando Antigua on the roster, came into Rupp Arena and stunned the No. 4 Wild- cats 85-67 in their second game on the schedule in the Preseason NIT. That loss ended a 22-game home-court winning streak for the program. To add insult to in- jury, junior Jeff Brassow injured his knee during the game and had to miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL. The Wildcats rebounded from that early defeat though, winning five straight games, including a convincing 90-69 victory over the UMass Minutemen on Dec. 4, with fu- ture Kentucky head coach John Calipari at the helm and future assistant coach Tony Barbee on the roster. Also included in that win streak was Kentucky’s annual border battle with Indiana. Played at the Hoosier Dome on Dec. 7, the No. 14 Wildcats squeaked by the No. 9 Hoosiers, 76-74. On Dec. 21, Kentucky suffered anoth- er setback when, after trailing by as many as 20 points, the Wildcats mounted a fu- rious comeback but came up one point short against No. 13 Georgia Tech, 81-80, in the Kuppenheimer Classic at the Omni in Atlanta. Kentucky responded from that heartbreak with great resolve, resulting in its longest winning streak of the season, eight games. During that win streak, the Wildcats took part in their annual intra- state clash with Louisville, on Dec. 28. No. 17 Kentucky ended the year with a bang, Richie Farmer grew to be one of the most beloved players in Kentucky basketball history.@UKSportsNetwork 11 defeating the No. 21 Cardinals 103-89 at Rupp Arena. Mashburn and Pelphrey scored almost half of the team’s points, combining to score 51 points. Farmer brought in the new year with a bang of his own, scoring a career-high 28 points in the No. 17 Wildcats’ 91-70 victory over Notre Dame on Jan. 2. Kentucky’s midseason momentum came to a screeching halt when it lost three out of four games, starting on Jan. 21 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Playing in front of a hostile crowd at Thompson-Boling Arena, the No. 8 Wildcats were humbled by the Volunteers with a 22-point defeat, 107-85. It was a proud moment for the Bluegrass State though as four former Kentucky Mr. Basketball award winners participated in the contest – Farmer and Pelphrey for Ken- tucky and Jermaine Brown and Allan Hous- ton for Tennessee. The next game, on Jan. 25, Kentucky was involved in its first Associated Press Top 25 matchup since Dec. 5, 1987, when the No. 8 Wildcats welcomed No. 9 Arkansas to Rupp Arena. The Razorbacks were not nice guests, handing Kentucky a 17-point loss, 105-88. The mini-slump ended with a 21-point loss at the hands of LSU in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on Feb. 2, 74-53. Future NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal domi- nated the contest, recording a double-dou- ble with 20 points and 20 rebounds. After starting the season ranked No. 4 in the AP Top 25, the Wildcats had fallen all the way to No. 19, with a 15-5 overall record. The Wildcats had been knocked down on the can- vas, but just like their senior quartet, they showed grit and heart and bounced back off the mat, racking up seven consecutive victories. Noth- ing showed that Kentucky was back more than on Feb. 12, when the No. 19 Wild- cats welcomed No. 16 Ala- bama to Rupp Arena. Ken- tucky dominated the Crim- son Tide from the tip, hand- ing Alabama a resounding 24-point drubbing, 107-83. The win streak ended on the Wildcats’ final road game of the regular season, a 79-62 defeat against the Florida Gators down in Gainesville, Florida on Mar. 4. Three days later, on Mar. 7, Kentucky held its annu- al Senior Day against Ten- nessee. It was certainly an emotional time for Farmer, Feldhaus, Pelphrey and Woods, as they knew they would never play in front of the devoted home fans ever again. The seniors only combined to score 37 points, but Mashburn picked up the slack, scoring 30 points of his own in the No. 10 Wildcats’ 99-88 win over the Volunteers, avenging their earlier loss to Tennessee on the road. That Senior Day victory was the start of yet another seven-game winning streak for the Wildcats, which picked up in the South- eastern Conference Tournament down in Birmingham, Alabama. After a pedestrian win over Vanderbilt in the quarterfinals, Kentucky took on No. 23 LSU in the semifi- nals on March 14. The Wildcats got a break when LSU’s O’Neal had to serve a one- game suspension after a benches-clearing brawl in their previous game against Ten- nessee. No. 9 Kentucky took advantage of that hole down low for the Tigers, resulting in an 80-74 win and a spot in the SEC Tour- nament finals. The next day, on March 15, the Wildcats took on No. 17 Alabama with the conference title on the line. Just like the regular season meeting, Kentucky won in convincing fashion, defeating the Crim- son Tide 80-54 to win the SEC Tournament championship. In the regular season meet- ing, Alabama’s Robert Horry and Latrell Sprewell combined to score 53 points. In the tournament finals, Horry and Sprewell combined to score just 17 points. With a 26-6 record and an SEC Tour- nament title, the Wildcats were rewarded with the No. 2 seed in the East Region of the NCAA Tournament. Kentucky breezed through Old Dominion and Iowa State in the first two rounds of the tournament, set- ting up a rematch with UMass in the Sweet Sixteen. This matchup was much closer than the regular season meeting, with the Minutemen getting within two points of Kentucky late in the game. But a techni- cal foul called against John Calipari totally changed the momentum of the game, and the Wildcats went on to defeat No. 3 seed UMass 87-77. That victory gave Kentucky its first berth in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament since 1986, ending the pro- gram’s longest drought without a Regional Finals appearance at six years. What stood in the way of the Wildcats’ first Final Four since 1984 was defending national champion and the No. 1 team in the country, the Duke Blue Devils. On March 28, Kentucky and Duke played what many analysts and experts have declared to be the greatest NCAA Tournament game ever played. The Wildcats went toe to toe with the Blue Devils, erasing a 12-point second half deficit to force over- time. Mashburn unfortu- nately was not able to stick around to participate in the end of the game, fouling out with 28 points scored. A member of the senior quar- tet, Woods, made a clutch shot with only 2.1 seconds left to give the Wildcats a 103-102 lead in overtime. Unfortunately, that was too much time for the Blue Devils, and Christian La- ettner made a shot at the buzzer to end Kentucky’s hopes of a miraculous run to the Final Four at the Spec- trum in Philadelphia. The team was not over- flowing with pro talent, with only one player on the ros- ter, Mashburn, being select- ed in the NBA Draft. That squad joins the 2002-03 team as the only in program history to make it to at least the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament with only one player on the roster who Although he was from Indianapolis, Sean Woods was adopted by the Big Blue Nation as one of their own. 12 @KentuckyMBB would go on to be selected in the NBA Draft. The 1991-92 season was defined by Ken- tucky’s great players and their great battles on the hardwood, but it can’t be ignored that it was sadly the end of a great voice. Cawood Ledford, The Voice of the Wildcats for 39 seasons, decided to retire at the end of the season. For nearly four decades he was welcomed over the airwaves and into the homes of the Big Blue Nation, with count- less devoted listeners who would rather lis- ten to Ledford’s call than the announcers on TV. No greater example of Ledford’s reach as an announcer was more evident after his last game as The Voice of the Wildcats, when, after a heartbreaking defeat at the hands of Duke, the Blue Devils’ head coach Mike Krzyzewski made it a point to come over to the Kentucky broadcast team and congratu- late Ledford on his tremendous career while he was still live on the air. So, we have come back to April 7, 1992 at Rupp Arena. The team was gathering for an end-of-season awards ceremony, with an estimated 10,000 fans in attendance. The event was going as planned, when University of Kentucky athletics director C.M. Newton called out the four seniors – Farmer, Feldhaus, Pelphrey and Woods – to stand together and be recognized. Newton then stated, “Many have scored more points than you have. They have gotten more in- dividual hon- ors. But no one can match what you’ve given us by putting your heart into the wearing of that Kentucky jersey. Look at the ceil- ing.” At that time, replica jerseys were revealed of all four seniors. They had joined an elite and select club of Kentucky players with their jersey retired. With tears in their eyes, they had just realized that they were forever immortalized in Ken- tucky basketball lore. No one would’ve blamed them if they, like the other 14 players during their time at Kentucky, de- cided to leave the program during the hard times for greener pastures. But they stuck around, and the fans of the Big Blue Nation have never, and will never, forget them for that. Speaking of that, the UK Alumni Associ- ation held a contest to give this team a nick- name, and they received 1,037 responses. Quite fittingly, the winning nickname was simply, “The Unforgettables.” So, 2,573 days after Farmer, Feldhaus and Pelphrey were on the Rupp Arena floor on the same day for the first time in the KHSAA Sweet Sixteen, they were on the Rupp Arena floor together one last time, along with Woods. Those four seniors, along with Mash- burn and Ledford, have all been inducted into the University of Kentucky Athletics Hall of Fame. And on Dec. 29, 2001, a little over three months after his passing, Ledford was immortalized at Rupp Are- na as well with the court being dedicat- ed in his honor, being named Cawood’s Court. Ironically this occurred at the Ken- tucky-Louisville rivalry game, with Pitino making his first return to Rupp Arena as an opposing head coach. Editors Note: This is dedicated to my father, Michael Price, Sr., who passed away earlier this year. Just like the 1991- 92 team, he was truly unforgettable. Deron Feldhaus and John Pelfrey cele- brated Senior Day with a 99-88 victory over the rival Tennessee Volunteers. 14 @KentuckyMBB Florida Lexington, Ky. 4 p.m. Saturday February Tennessee Knoxville, Tenn. 9 p.m. Tuesday February Alabama Lexington, Ky. 1 p.m. Saturday February LSU Lexington, Ky. 9 p.m. Wednesday February Arkansas Fayetteville, Ark. 2 p.m. Saturday February Ole Miss Lexington, Ky. 7 p.m. Tuesday March Florida Gainesville, Fla. 2 p.m. Saturday March SEC Tournament Tampa, Fla. TBA Wed.-Sun. March 9-13 NCAA Tournament Final Four® New Orleans | TBA March- April TBA LSU Baton Rouge, La. 7 p.m. Tuesday January Vanderbilt Nashville, Tenn. 7 p.m. Tuesday January Texas A&M College Station, Texas 8:30 p.m. Wednesday January Auburn Auburn, Ala. 1 or 1:30 p.m. Saturday January Mississippi State Lexington, Ky. 9 p.m. Tuesday January Kansas Lawrence, Kan. | Saturday January Vanderbilt Lexington, Ky. 7 p.m. Wednesday February Alabama Tuscaloosa, Ala. 8 p.m. Saturday February South Carolina Columbia, S.C. 7 p.m. Tuesday February Georgia Lexington, Ky. 6 p.m. Saturday January Duke New York Champions Classic Tuesday November Robert Morris Lexington, Ky. 7 p.m. Friday November Mount St. Mary's Lexington, Ky. 7 p.m. Tuesday November Ohio Lexington, Ky. 7 p.m. Friday November North Florida Lexington, Ky. 7 p.m. Friday November Central Michigan Lexington, Ky. TBA Monday November Notre Dame South Bend, Ind. TBA Saturday December Southern Lexington, Ky. 7 p.m. Tuesday December Ohio State Las Vegas | CBS Sports Classic | 5:15 p.m. Saturday December Louisville Lexington, Ky. 6 p.m. Wednesday December Missouri Lexington, Ky. 7 p.m. Wednesday December High Point Lexington, Ky. TBA Friday December UAlbany Lexington, Ky. TBA Monday November Home Neutral Away 2021-22 Basketball Schedule Tennessee Lexington, Ky. TBA Saturday JanuaryThank You to Our CORNERSTONE PARTNERS OFFICIAL BANK OF UK ATHLETICSNENext >