<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1gOX00_0w4WIu8g00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1gOX00_0w4WIu8g00" width="611" height="320" >For the past few decades when the name <a href="https://247sports.com/Coach/rick-pitino-1458/">Rick Pitino</a> surfaced in discussions amongst <a href="https://247sports.com/college/kentucky/">Kentucky</a> basketball fans a variety of highly descriptive adjectives were sure to be tossed out, many not suitable for children under 85.But all that changed Friday night with Mark Pope's first Big Blue Madness as new Kentucky basketball coach. An event that had become stale was alive and fresh as more than 20,000 fans packed into Rupp Arena will eagerly attest.It was also surreal.Late in the evening, a gaggle of former players were introduced and among them members of Pope's 1996 national championship team. Leading the way was none other than coach Pitino, hoisting the trophy.It was a risky venture. Would he be cheered out of respect for Pope? Would he be ceremoniously booed as the villain? A mixture perhaps?The response was surprising, a thunderous, drawn out ovation that even brought Pitino, who had to wonder himself, nearly to tears as his eyes watered, his voicing cracking a bit.Pope, who nearly became a doctor, has just healed Kentucky's deepest wound. It's about time because one fact has also rang true throughout his years in purgatory – Pitino saved Kentucky basketball.Argue if you want. Be indignant if you must.After all, it was Pitino who scorned UK by leaving for the NBA following the 1997 season with the Cats poised to possibly replicate UCLA's dynasty run. Imagine Jack Nicklaus exiting Augusta with his ball still resting on the 18th green. Or Pete Rose stepping away one hit shy of Ty Cobb.It was also Pitino, when that NBA job went bust, who solidified his villain role by becoming the new coach at arch rival Louisville. Regardless, no amount of venom spewed toward Pitino can diminish what the man accomplished at Kentucky. Convicted in 1989 for violations under former coach Eddie Sutton, the NCAA hammered UK like Sarge after Beetle Bailey. The NCAA's unspoken goal was simple and sinister – administer the "death penalty" without the governing body getting its hands dirty. There would be no NCAA Tournament appearance for two years. Additionally, only three scholarships could be extended each year over that same period. But the penalty that jolted college basketball was that Kentucky would be suffer a crushing one year television blackout. No TV exposure, the NCAA knew full well, would cripple recruiting efforts and enable that formal two-year ban to result in decade-long purgatory.Kentucky's response? Hold my beer.On the way to the gallows, athletics director C.M. Newton personally stalked and swayed the 38-year-old Pitino to leave the <a href="https://247sports.com/nba/new-york-knicks/">New York Knicks</a> for the ultimate rebuilding quest.Pitino's first season, the one played under a TV blackout but in a sold out Rupp Arena each night, ended at 14-14. Instead of being mediocre as the won-lost slate might suggest, the 1990 season proved to be a bizarre blast that set the tone for how his teams would play and the success possible for those who dared to dream.Just two weeks in, UK surrendered 150 points in a loss at <a href="https://247sports.com/college/kansas/">Kansas</a> when Pitino refused to call off the full-court press and up-tempo style. They would also allow 116 and 121 in consecutive losses to Southwest <a href="https://247sports.com/college/louisiana/">Louisiana</a> and <a href="https://247sports.com/college/north-carolina/">North Carolina</a> over Christmas.But on Feb. 15 Kentucky shocked <a href="https://247sports.com/college/lsu/">LSU</a> 100-95. Its stars having jumped ship, a team with a bunch of in-state kids and a rapid-fire 3-point specialist upset an LSU squad with three NBA players – <a href="https://247sports.com/Player/shaquille-oneal-80183/">Shaquille O'Neal</a>, <a href="https://247sports.com/Coach/chris-jackson-5028/">Chris Jackson</a> and Stanley Roberts.At the same time, Pitino was debunking the desired "death penalty" by successfully recruiting Jamal Mashburn out of New York City. "Without C.M. Newton and Jamal Mashburn, I'm not sure we could have gotten through those tough times the way we did. Mashburn, obviously, cut the building time in half," Pitino said in 2017. "Imagine Jamal Mashburn choosing the school when there's no TV and he can't play in the NCAA Tournament." The rest was pure Pitino brilliance.While in the final year of probation in 1991, Kentucky finished 22-6 and had the best record in the Southeastern Conference. The league refused to recognize the feat, but Lexington threw a parade just the same.Once free of NCAA shackles in 1992, but at a point when the talons of the desired "death penalty" would sink deepest, Kentucky instead put together an "Unforgettables" season. The run ended with the crushing 104-103 overtime loss to eventual national champion <a href="https://247sports.com/college/duke/">Duke</a> one game shy of the Final Four.Few may remember, but Duke coach <a href="https://247sports.com/Coach/mike-krzyzewski-1509/">Mike Krzyzewski</a>, the beacon that illuminated the NCAA's lighthouse, asked permission of Cawood Ledford and addressed the Kentucky radio fan base afterwards."I wanted to seek you guys out because all the Kentucky fans would be listening just to say how much empathy we have as a staff and team for the Kentucky kids," Krzyzewski said. "They were absolutely sensational. I feel bad for them. I hope you believe that. I just want to congratulate them on a truly fantastic year."The ball was rolling now.In 1993, behind Mashburn and Travis Ford, Kentucky reached the Final Four with one of the most phenomenal postseason runs in school history. UK won the SEC Tournament by an average 29.7 points per game and then reached the Final Four with four NCAA Tournament victories by an average 31-point margin.In 1994, Kentucky was upset in the second round, but returned in 1995 to once again reached the Elite Eight. But that only whetted the appetites for veterans like Tony Delk, Walter McCarty and Jared Prickett, who returned the Cats to a place the NCAA never intended – 1996 national champions and the '97 repeat champion if not for an overtime loss in the finals.One story that gets lost to time is that Kentucky could have won the 1997 championship, too, had Pitino permitted star <a href="https://247sports.com/Player/derek-anderson-48848/">Derek Anderson</a> to play in the Final Four. It turns out Pitino was mimicking a <a href="https://247sports.com/Coach/john-calipari-189/">John Calipari</a> move by thinking players first.Anderson, an eventual first round NBA Draft pick, suffered a torn ACL on Jan. 18. Incredibly, he was able to return to the practice court ahead of Kentucky's NCAA Sweet 16 game on March 20 in San Francisco.The news swept over Big Blue Nation, but Anderson never played. He was never going to play."Every person in that locker room would have loved for Derek to play after what we saw in San Francisco and how he practiced," Scott Padgett said. "But we knew what San Francisco was all about. Coach told us, 'I'm bringing in all these scouts and I want them to see Derek.'"Padgett said Anderson never practiced with the starters."Every NBA scout came in for two days," Padgett said. "And when those two days were up, he was shut down. He didn't practice again. It essentially was a Pro Day for Derek."Having secured Anderson's NBA future, Pitino then pushed Kentucky as best he could to win the '97 championship, which UK lost in overtime. The coach then left, as many feared, to pursue his own lifelong dream to coach the <a href="https://247sports.com/nba/boston-celtics/">Boston Celtics</a>."I come to Kentucky and the equipment manager is Bill Keightley and the way he talks about <a href="https://247sports.com/college/louisville/">Louisville</a> it's like Lucifer with horns. I thought Denny Crum had horns coming out of his head," Pitino said. "Then I met Cawood Ledford and he would tell me about the early days and what it meant. People on a hillside in eastern Kentucky listening to the radio just to get the last play of the game."When you get educated by Bill and Cawood and all the people, you realize it's a symbol of pride. It's their life," Pitino added. "What I witnessed from my years at Kentucky was something to behold."No, what Pitino did to save Kentucky basketball was something to behold, something to be revered as the years pass by, something to be celebrated during Pope's first Big Blue Madness.</div></body>

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Welcome home Rick Pitino, the man who saved Kentucky Basketball

For the past few decades when the name Rick Pitino surfaced in discussions amongst Kentucky basketball fans a variety of highly descriptive adjectives were sure to be tossed out, many not suitable for children under 85. But all that changed Friday night with Mark Pope's first Big Blue Madness as...

Welcome home Rick Pitino, the man who saved Kentucky Basketball

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