Getting to know the 2014 Final Four: Kentucky
This week, The Dagger takes a deeper look at each of the four schools participating in the 2014 Final Four. We start with the Midwest Regional champion, Kentucky.
Location: Lexington, Ky.
Enrollment: 29,410
Mascot: Wildcats
Must Follow on Twitter: Willie Cauley-Stein (@TrillGeta15)
Find them here: Official team site or Twitter
How they got to Arlington: d. No. 9 Kansas State, d. No. 1 Wichita State, d. No. 4 Louisville, d. No. 2 Michigan.
[NCAA tournament: Full bracket | Check out Instant Reactions | Buy team gear]
Greatest basketball moment: With nine future NBA players on the roster and Rick Pitino as coach, the 1996 Wildcats defeated four of their six opponents in the NCAA tournament by at least 20 points and defeated Syracuse for the sixth championship in the program’s storied history.
Reason to root for them: There are nine freshmen and two sophomores on the roster with five freshmen generally in the starting lineup. If the Wildcats earn the title, they will among the youngest champions in history along with the 2012 Wildcats, who beat Kansas to win the trophy.
Reason to root against them: The Wildcats are already the winningest program in college basketball history with 2,139 wins, 115 NCAA tourney wins, eight national titles, three national runner-up finishes and 16 Final Fours. Every year coach John Calipari routinely signs some of the nation’s most talented recruits. You might say Kentucky can afford to share the wealth.
Famous alumni: U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, astronaut Story Musgrave, chemist William Lipscomb, actress Ashley Judd
Noteworthy: The Wildcats haven’t won more than five games in a row all season and they only won five straight once way back in November and early December. A win over Wisconsin in the national semifinal would give them five straight wins.
Quote to note: "We've been through so much and been doubted so much that we just came together at the end of the season, just got better, and I don't know how many teams are mentally strong enough to do something like that. We proved a lot to the world - even to ourselves." Aaron Harrison on advancing to the Final Four
Must see video: See Calipari address his team after its victory over Michigan in the Elite Eight.
Check out more NCAA tournament coverage on Yahoo Sports:
- - - - - - -
is the assistant editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at kyle.ringo@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KyleRingo
