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As expected Mashburn Jr. picks Pitiner Jr.

What was it like when we found out Mashburn was coming to UK? Was it like John Wall coming?

No, but he was legit.

Mashburn was a high level recruit. Some recruiting services had him as a top 10 kid (Hoop Scoop, to their credit, had him top 5), others had him in the 20s. He wasn't a Mickey D All-American, but he should have been one (I can't remember if he was injured that year, but I think he was just slighted and not selected). Here's an article on the crappy way Mickey D players were selected back in those days and how they changed the system by actually allowing for recruiting experts to start having a voice in the selection process: http://www.grassrootshoops.net/2014/01/mcdonalds-overlooked-all-americans/ .

That '93 team should have won it all. Dale Brown's injury messed a lot up when UK was playing Michigan in the Final Four. So did Mashburn fouling out in OT after he started the OT by slicing Michigan's defense into pieces and giving UK an early 4 point lead in OT with a 5-out offense that Pitino had been saving in his back pocket.

Then, the inexplicable hip hold foul on Juwan Howard. Until my dying day, I'll never understand why Mashburn committed that silly hold. In part, it helped cost UK the game, and maybe the title that year. UK was something like an 8.5 point favorite against Michigan.

With Mashburn out, a 4 point lead eventually became a 3 point lead going into the final minute, leading up to the Ray Jackson "and-one" drive that cut the lead to 1 (I also wonder what would have happened if UK just conceded the layup - they'd be up one, with the ball, with about 40-45 second left). Then, because Mashburn wasn't in the game to rebound, leaving guys like Martinez in there instead, Webber got the offensive rebound and scored off the missed free throw. A 3 point UK lead was now a 1 point Michigan lead with about 35 to 40 seconds left.

Mashburn being fouled out basically ended up being a +7 for Michigan.

UK didn't score the rest of the way from what I remember. A sucky finish altogether that Final Four, as UNC ended up winning another title for Dean Smith and his corrupt program.
 
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Saved the program???? Kentucky made pitino
But Pitino did save the program.

We were dog crap back in '89. Coming off a 13 win season, facing multiple years of sanctions, the laughing stock of college basketball.

Pitino turned that around and in our first year off probation, was a Laettner miracle away from the Final Four and a potential national championship.

A year later, he was an OT away from the national title game. A few years later, he won it all with the greatest collection of talent any coach has put together in the modern era. Then he almost did it again the next year even after his All-American guard went down with a season-ending injury.

I get the whole "he betrayed us" narrative; but I will never buy that stained stock about how anyone ole coach could have taken us off the probation the same way Pitino did.

It isn't and will never be true, no matter how many times we try to tell ourselves the fairy tale.

Pitino did for UK what no other coach could have done at the time. Our fans don't have to love the man, but the revisionist history stuff regarding his time at UK is utter rubbish.

I would add that he also set up a NC and E8 for Tubby. If the program makes the coach, as the other poster said, why did Tubby manage only 2 E8's in the next 8 years?
 
As for little Mash, he's better off going there and playing rather than coming here not playing that much. I'm sure Mash thought about that and knew little Mash would be better off at Minnesota.
 
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