Kentucky secured the 1998 national championship with a 78-69 win against Utah in San Antonio. Scott Padgett led the way for the Wildcats with 17 points and five rebounds. Watch the full game here.
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The 2nd to last year of the Kentucky 90s dynasty. In 8 seasons from 92-99 they made the elite 8 seven times, made four final 4s, three finals and won it twice... that's a great run spanning nearly an entire decade
Heck of a way to come back from those sanctions.
@@silverguard8105 sad little HATER...🙂 sanctions for all the losers that were allowed to leave and play other places...meanwhile THE CATS WON 2 AND A RUNNER UP. in the 90's
@@bluegrassreb1 it was a compliment you idiot
That was the good ole days. Now we can’t make it out of the first weekend with 3 times the talent.
@Brando-UK they definitely haven't had anywhere near 3x the talent the last few years that they had in the mid 90s. The 96 team is one of the greatest all time. 8 future NBA players.
If Derek Anderson played in 97 it would have been three in a row
Crazy that Tubby Smith basically won with Pitino's b-team. Those Kentucky teams from 95-97 were absurdly stacked.
not quite as stacked as the teams Cal puts on the floor, just better coached.
@@zackerytracy3197 tubby couldn't coach a snail to slow.
If Derrick Anderson doesn't get hurt they would have won 3 in row.
@@zackerytracy3197 in my opinion, a stacked team is one that is loaded with talent AND experience. Cal never had the experience. The 1990s teams were way more stacked. If Cal's players stayed as juniors and seniors, he would have 6 or 7 titles.
@hpbecraft of course he couldn't. He's a basketball coach, not a snail coach.
Rick Majerus was a dang good coach. May He R.I.P.
He really was. Much respect to his memory. He is missed.
Can't help but feel for those Utah teams. Had such great players and coach, couldn't stop running into Kentucky in tournaments lol
Just like the Jazz, who had great players and a great coach but had the misfortune of running into the Bulls twice. 1998 was a tough year for Utah basketball.
As a utah fan it was brutal.
Kentucky was Utah's Darth Vader
@@charlesconner9044 I know... I still sad about that loss. Brutal.
@@richcountyratrodsjrod2329 Rick Majerus deserved at least one ring. Keith Van Horn deserved to go to a Final Four
The 90’s were the glory days of college basketball
Without a doubt. No era since can compare to the fun basketball of the 90s. My personal favorite era of college basketball. Not sure what this 2020s version is, but it’s not comparable to 90s.
13:57 “A lot of kids-a kid from Germany by the name of Nowitzki was sensational.”
Loved it. Kentucky took back what should have belonged to them in '97 when Pitino refused to play their future NBA lottery pick against Arizona.
He was coming off ACL surgery earlier in the year. I believe he could have played tho.
'98 Utah is up there with '15 Wisconsin in terms of the caliber of teams they had to face to become the runner-up. Having to face defending champion Arizona (which basically had the whole team back), uber-stacked North Carolina and Kentucky in 3 straight games was just a bit too much. And don't forget they had to get past Arkansas, which was a Top 15 team that season, way back in the second round.
Glorious time 4 the utes
Great Comparison
This Kentucky team should be known for their comebacks two comebacks of 17 and 14 points against Duke 10 point comebacks against Stanford and Utah Tubby Smith doesn't get the credit he deserves for making the right moves at the right time.
I think the nickname for this team was either the comeback Cats or the cardiac Cats. Back in those days they had a new nickname for them every year.
Comeback cats was their nickname
RIP Billy Packer. Him and Nanzt the best College Basketball crew there ever was.
You are half right
Packer was a thorough going ACC apologist.@@tylerprice3068
@@tylerprice3068elaborate?
The 90s era UK teams were the best. The 98 team was incredible! The 96 team was the best ever. It was amazing to have lived in the 90s
At 5:30 Ref calls Wayne Turner for palming. Can you imagine if the zebras still called palming in today's game?
58:45 Sheppard with the steal, the dunk, and the lead after Mills tied it with a 3. That gave them the momentum then @ 1:03:45 Sheppard again for the lead, heavy D by UK, knocked down their free throws, and Big Blue held on to win the Championship. Comeback Cats earned their name yet again in 98.
@Jay Rogers Yeah he committed back in 2021 and just signed his name last week. I’m originally from London myself back when both Stacey and Shep played for UK. Go BBN!
Good memories watching this with my parents when they were married
Utah had their best program season ever and were very stacked
@Roger Edgerton yep
The next year they were undefeated in their conference but ran into a buzz saw in Wally Szczerbiak and his Miami of Ohio team.
@@davanmani556 fax. My dad’s Alana mater was Miami. He was the class of 90’
@@davanmani556 several years after. In fact Utah was a 3 and Miami was the 11 seed. In 1999
You are outside of your mind. Tell me you know nothing about basketball without saying you know nothing about basketball. We beat Utah for 3-4 years for practice. Rick Majerus and Utah never beat the Cats once in a tournament setting. This wasn’t even our best team of the 90s either. The 96 team would have beat the 98 team by 10 points or more.
I remember the 1998 national championship game
"A young German kid by the name of Nowitzki - incredible!"
Nazr had the softest hands for a big man that I ever saw play at UK, including AD. I saw him catch a pass thrown hard at his knees.
This is the only year in which I picked all the Final Four teams correctly. My friends thought I was crazy to pick Utah and Stanford (even though they were both 3 seeds).
I picked utah to win it all. Had a chance to win 500$..... will never forget this game. Utes were up 10 at half.
In 1996, the Tampa Tribune had a bracket contest starting with the Sweet Sixteen. I picked all 15 games correctly and won $500.00 and dinner for eight people.
Crazy I also picked all final 4 teams this season and won my fathers work bracket contest. In fact, I’m pretty sure we had the top 2 brackets at his work lol!
I love Andre Miller! Thank you the movie's.
My fav nba of all time!
"A kid by the name of Nowitzki"...
Yep Dirk was awesome on those Kentucky teams. Won the title at Kentucky in 96, almost had it in 97, but Bibby beat him, won it again in 98 before heading to the league; then of course won it in 2011 for the Mavs. King Dirk!
@@bosmith1820 🤨
@@bosmith1820 are you serious?
@@jonisafreak3 Yeah look it up. Kentucky won in 96 and 98. Almost won 3 in a row, lost in OT in 97. I assume that is what you meant. Everyone knows about the Mavs title beating the Kobe, Durant and Lebron in back to back to back series for the title in 2011.
@@bosmith1820 he never played in college though, he was drafted to the nba at 18...
Hanno Mattola was slick, never improved tho.
From Mallory McMallard Class of '92, through Gia Mahan, Mark Foster, Steve Burnside, Doug Funnie Class of '99.
Wish they would have showed the post game activities like in the 1996 title game.
Just to be clear, one of the announcers suggests that Alabama was the 1st in the SEC to have a black (basketball) player which is NOT true. Vanderbilt was 1st and Kentucky was 2nd. Adolph Rupp wanted to recruit black players but the SEC wouldn't let him. Also, the other idiot announcer keeps trying to make racial issues where there were none.
No. Billy said first black player for Alabama in all sports not SEC.
REST IN PEACE, COACH RICK MAJERUS
03/30/1998 - 26 years ago
I'm a nervous wreck watching this in 2024.
Can you post the Duke and Gonzaga Elite 8 game from 2015?
Nope, this is a Kentucky channel. The rest of college basketball does not matter! Go Cats!
Wayne should have played 40 minutes
Our storied program will be back atop the mountain soon.
Will Reed Sheppard join pops in the ring club?
Not if he goes to the league after this past nightmare of a season. I know the rumors from Lexington are that he don’t feel comfortable when he is there because him and his girlfriend can’t go out to eat or do anything because he is all the time surrounded by fans wanting autographs and pictures. I understand it from both sides but I wish they would leave him alone when he is in Lexington.
THE COMEBACK CATS CANNOT BE DENIED.........KENTUCKY WINS THE CHAMPIONSHIP
Oh my god when they called that over the back for evans I knew it was over I was crying like a baby
We need 9 now !!! BBN
Mark Pope can do it! BUT we need the players
Great game
Wow I never seen this season or playoffs of the game of UTAH vs KENTTUKEY I don't know who I really like in this game but I think Kentucky is favorite but I know of like Utah too upset the wildcats
Go Big Blue!!! #BBN
Let go big blue nation woo woo go big blue nation
Having lived in Arizona for a long time, and being a huge U of A fan, I was glad when Utah lost the final.
I’m young so I don’t remember this but how was utah in the championship lol
It's weird for sure. For some reason I always think Utah is in the PAC 12. Intuition says large "state" schools are in one of the Power conferences. Arizona, Michigan, Kansas, Florida, Kentucky etc.
@@rootsmanuva82 Utah was real good in Basketball in the 90s. Could have made the final four in 97 as well but ran into Kentucky
They were good that year, I think they beat my tarheels to get there
Scott Worley go heels
Doleac and Andre Miller--and shooter Henson--brilliant coach Majerus.
Where’s Ven horn
He went to the NBA after the 97 season
@@velocitydaemon just wish vanhorn was on this team.
Legend 4 sure
I thought it was like Lisa Bonet leaving Different World. All the other cast members stepped up. Same thing with Utah.
We beat Van Horn too!
360P.................Really
Utah luvs em some whiteboys lol
3 nba players
they refs stole this one for kentucky...utah won!!