Kentucky Wins National Title

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

March 29, 1998 / 4:54 PM EST / CBS Sportsline

They've been called Rupp's Runts, the Fiddlin' Five and the Fabulous Five.

Now they're the Comeback 'Cats -- and NCAA champions, too.

Kentucky capped a truly maddening March with an unprecedented second-half rally, beating Utah 78-69 Monday night to win its second national title in three years and seventh overall. The Wildcats did it this time with a new coach and without stars in their lineup.

In its third straight comeback of the tournament, Kentucky overcame the largest halftime deficit -- 10 points -- in a championship game.

"We always played poised and know never to give up," forward Heshimu Evans said. "We just come back. We're a fighting team. We're the Comeback 'Cats."

With Tubby Smith working the sideline instead of Rick Pitino and with former stars Antoine Walker, Ron Mercer and Derek Anderson in the NBA, Kentucky moved one trophy closer to UCLA's record total of 11.

It was the third straight year the Wildcats were in the championship game -- they lost to Arizona in overtime last season -- and the third straight year they ended Utah's season in the NCAA Tournament.

Kentucky's Jeff Sheppard soared past Utah with 16 points en route to winning most outstanding player honors. (Reuters)

"We were so close last year and not too many teams get a chance to play in the championship game three years in a row," said Scott Padgett, who missed the last national title while sitting out with academic problems. "But during the tournament I thought we were going to get it the whole time."

Utah's impressive run to what would have been the school's second title ended because Kentucky did what No. 1 seeds Arizona and North Carolina couldn't do against the Utes -- shoot well and wear them down.

Kentucky fell behind in the first half and trailed 41-31 at halftime.The deficit was as many as 12 points in the opening minutes of the second half before Kentucky started hitting its shots and Utah lost the edge it had the last two games.

"I just think it was fatigue," Utah coach Rick Majerus said. "I thought Kentucky made some difficult shots and I applaud them because we had a hand in their face on those shots. We take our hats off to Kentucky because they whipped us and they are number one but my guys are one-A."

In the South Regional final, the Wildcats (35-4) battled back from a 17-point second-half deficit against Duke and in the national semifinal they fell behind by 10 before rallying to beat Stanford.

"There are three points to the comebacks an coach Smith has stressed them all season," said Final Four MVP Jeff Sheppard, who sat out last season as a red-shirt. "The first is positive attitude, then hard work and then teamwork. That's about as simple as it gets, but it got us a national championship. We didn't have to be flashy, just fundamental and look where it got us."

Comeback 'Cats is just the latest nickname for Kentucky. The 1948 championship team was called the Fabulous Five and the 1958 champions were the Fiddlin' Five. Perhaps the most famous of them all were Rupp's Runts, Adolph Rupp's 1966 team that lost to Texas Western (later Texas El-Paso) in the title game.

Kentucky's comebacks were just part of what made the NCAA tournament special this year. It was filled with overtime games, buzzer beaters and surprises from the likes of Valparaiso and Rhode Island, Stanford and Utah.

But the Utes, who won the championship in 1944, couldn't pull off one more upset in the title game.

Utah, the second-best defensive team in the country this season, had held its five tournament opponents to 39 percent shooting and an average of 62.5 points.

Kentucky, which finished 29-for-57 from the field (51 percent), chipped away at the lead in the second half by scoring on seven of 10 possessions during one stretch.

"I think it's a mental approach," Smith said of the comebacks. "We do a lot of time-and-score situations. We do a lot of practicing in coming back. We teach them how to come back."

The Wildcats went on a 9-0 run and took the lead for the first time since early in the first half at 60-58 with 7:16 to play. Sheppard capped the rally with a breakaway dunk after he stole the ball from Hanno Mottola.

Utah got the lead back at 62-60 on a driving layup by Andre Miller with 6:16 left and even extended it by two more points when Miller fed Alex Jensen for a layup 23 seconds later.

But a 3-pointer by Cameron Mills, Kentucky's fifth of the game -- all in the second half -- and a driving jumper by Sheppard with 4:53 left gave the Wildcats the lead for good.

Sheppard's jumper was Kentucky's last field goal until a dunk by Wayne Turner with 12 seconds to play. The Wildcats went 11-for-12 from the foul line down the stretch and Utah's solid offensive game went to pieces as it scored on just two of its last 10 possessions.

"They did a good job defensively," Utah center Michael Doleac said. "I had a hard time finding the open man and I had my shot blocked a couple of times and I knew that would happen. They are a solid team and a good program and well coached."

Padgett led the Wildcats with 17 points, while Sheppard had 16.

Miller led the Utes with 16 points, while Mottola and Doleac each had 15 and Jensen 14.

As the trophy was presented by Selection Committee chairman C.M. Newton, who also happens to be the athletic director at Kentucky and the man who picked Smith to succeed Pitino, the crowd chanted "Tubby, Tubby."

It seemed implausible that any coach could be more popular in Kentucky than Pitino had been in leading the program back from one of its lowest points following probation. But Smith may have topped him in the one year since Pitino left to coach the Boston Celtics.

Smith was asked if he thought about the doubters who questioned his hiring in the game's final seconds.

"It never crossed my mind," said Smith, Kentucky's first black basketball coach. "I was happy for my players, my staff and our fans. This program is more than a basketball program. It is really a way of life, and people live and breath Kentucky basketball. I'm just happy to be a small part of it."

Kentucky is now 7-3 in NCAA championship games, and its record over Utah in the last three seasons is 3-0 with a regional semifinal win two years ago and a regional final victory last season.

Utah (30-4) had beaten defending national champion Arizona in the West Regional final in a 25-point laugher. The Utes had to hang on to beat North Carolina in the Final Four, but they couldn't do it against Kentucky as the Wildcats wore down the nation's top rebounding team.

Utah finished with a 39-24 advantage on the boards, but in the later possessions Kentucky didn't miss many shots.

In the first half, Utah went on a 10-0 run that Jensen started and ended with layups off long passes to take a 34-23 lead. Kentucky did get within 37-31, but the Utes scored the final four points of the half for the 10-point lead.

The largest halftime deficit overcome in a title game had been eight points. Loyola (Ill.) beat Cincinnati 60-58 in overtime in 1963 after trailing 29-21 at the half.