NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!!!

UK Basketball is huge in Lexington! And not only is it huge in Lexington, it is HUGE in my family. My dad played UK Basketball in 1974-75. He was a freshman walk on, who had a great three point shot! The only problem was that college basketball didn't recognize the three point shot until 1980. So he ended up marrying my mom instead of continuing to play ball...which I am pretty glad he did.

My Dad

A little history on the Three Point Shot...

"The three-point rule was first tested at the collegiate level in a 1945 National Collegiate Athletic Association game between Columbia and Fordham. However, professional basketball was the first to adopt the rule on a permanent basis. The short-lived American Basketball League did so in 1961, and the Eastern Professional Basketball League followed in its 1963–64 season. The three-point shot later became popularized by the original American Basketball Association after its introduction in the 1967–68 season. During the 1970s, the ABA used the three-point shot, along with the slam dunk, as a marketing tool to compete with the National Basketball Association (NBA). In the 1979–80 season, the NBA adopted the three-point shot.

The NCAA's Southern Conference became the first collegiate conference to use the three-point rule, adopting a 22-foot (6.7 m) line in 1980. The first collegiate team to score a three-pointer was Western Carolina University. Over the following five years, NCAA conferences differed in their use of the rule and the distance they required for a three-point shot. The NCAA adopted the 19-foot, 9-inch line nationally in 1986. In 2007, the NCAA lengthened the men's three point distance to 20 feet 9 inches, with the rule coming into effect at the beginning of the 2008–09 season.
During the 1994–95, 1995–96, and 1996–97 seasons, the NBA attempted to address decreased scoring by shortening the distance of the line from 23 feet, 9 inches (22 feet at the corners) to a uniform 22 feet (6.7 m) around the basket. From the 1997–98 season, the NBA reverted the line to its original distance of 23 feet, 9 inches (22 feet at the corners).

In 2008, FIBA announced that the distance would be increased by 50 cm to 6.75 m (22 ft 2 in), with the change being phased in, beginning in October 2010." Wikipedia


Back to the story....Needless to say, I grew up loving, breathing, and cheering for UK Basketball!!

Me, age 7?

My family at the UK game

Since Calipari came to UK, everyone has been desperately hoping, he would bring us home a National Champion Title. And after 3 short years....he did it!! And with such a great group of guys. I have enjoyed watching these guys play all year long. Miller, Davis, Kidd-Gilchrist, Lamb, Jones, Teague, and Wiltjer are all amazing players and deserve this win! They have fought hard and finally its time to hang another banner in Rupp Arena. Hopefully our strike will continue and we won't have to wait another 14 years for title #9. Congrats CATS!!

New banner hanging up in Rupp

Steve and I meeting Calipari at his call-in show before the Tournament