1991–92 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team

1991–92 Southeastern Conference men's basketball standings
	East
	West
	† 1992 SEC Tournament winner ; Rankings from AP Poll

1991–92 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball
1991–92 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball
SEC East Division and tournament champions
NCAA Men's Division I Tournament, Elite Eight
Conference	Southeastern Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 9
AP	No. 6
1991–92 record	29–7 (12–4 SEC)
Head coach	Rick Pitino (3rd season);
Assistant coaches	Herb Sendek; Billy Donovan; Bernadette Locke-Mattox;
Home arena	Rupp Arena
	Seasons ← 1990–91 1992–93 →

Jerseys honoring the team's four seniors—"The Unforgettables"—hang in Rupp Arena

The 1991–92 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team represented the University of Kentucky in NCAA competition in the 1991–92 season. The team was coached by Rick Pitino.

This season's team is one of the most fondly remembered in UK's long basketball history. Due to major recruiting violations committed by Pitino's predecessor Eddie Sutton, the 1991-92 Wildcats were coming off a three-year postseason ban where the team was not allowed to compete in tournament play.^[2] (Note the NCAA did not find Sutton personally liable.) The violations had mainly centered on alleged cheating by 1987-89^[3] player Eric Manuel on the ACT college entrance exam and cash payments to the guardian of another former player, Chris Mills.

The 1991-92 season was the first year after probation when the Wildcats were allowed to compete and the only opportunity for the team's four seniors, who remained loyal to the program as opposed to transferring to teams allowed in the tournament. Three of these seniors were Kentucky natives. Together, all four would enter Kentucky basketball history as "The Unforgettables":

Richie Farmer, a 6'0"/1.83 m shooting guard from Manchester, a small town in the commonwealth's eastern coal fields.
Deron Feldhaus, a 6'7"/2.01 m forward from Maysville, a small Ohio River town in the Bluegrass region, about an hour's drive upriver from Cincinnati.
John Pelphrey, a 6'8"/2.03 m forward from another eastern coal town, Paintsville.
Sean Woods, the only non-Kentuckian "Unforgettable," a 6'2"/1.88 m point guard from Indianapolis.

Although the seniors were the heart and soul of the team, its biggest star was sophomore Jamal Mashburn, who would go on to become a consensus first-team All-American the following season and have a successful 12-year NBA career; he is now an NBA analyst for ESPN.

The Wildcats' run in the NCAA Tournament would end in a regional final against Duke that is often cited as the greatest college game ever played. The heavily favored Blue Devils survived an overtime thriller on Christian Laettner's last-second shot at the buzzer.

Team legacy[]

The legacy of "The Unforgettables" was so great within the university that the UK program decided to retire the players' jerseys (but not their numbers) almost immediately after their final tournament game. (While jersey retirement is not uncommon, it is rare for a school to bestow this honor so soon after a player's career ends.) The team also went on a post-tournament all-county exhibition tour, where thousands of Kentuckians gathered in high school gyms across the commonwealth to meet and express pride in the team.

National and local sports news outlets continued to cover the players in "where are they now" and similar features for at least 25 years after the tournament.^[4]^[5]^[6] In 2005, a documentary film about the team, "Beyond the Glory," was released.^[7]

NCAA basketball tournament[]

East
- Kentucky (2) 88, Old Dominion (15) 69
- Kentucky 106, Iowa State (10) 98
- Kentucky 87, Massachusetts (3) 77
- Duke (1) 104, Kentucky 103 (OT)

^[8]

Team players drafted into the NBA[]

Not one member of the Wildcats was claimed in the 1992 NBA Draft. ^[9]

References[]

^ sports-reference.com 1991-92 Southeastern Conference Season Summary
^ ASSOCIATED PRESS (1989-05-19). "Kentucky Put on 3 Years' Probation : NCAA Bans Postseason Play 2 Years, Orders Limited Wildcat Scholarships". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2021-09-16.
^ "UK Career Statistics for Eric Manuel". www.bigbluehistory.net. Retrieved 2021-09-16.
^ Howlett, Ken (2012-03-28). "Kentucky Wildcat Basketball: The Unforgettables 20-years ago today". A Sea Of Blue. Retrieved 2021-09-16.
^ "From immortal to quite mortal, Kentucky's Unforgettables face midlife challenges 25 years after their greatest moment". sports.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2021-09-16.
^ "The Unforgettables 25 Years Later". www.on3.com. Retrieved 2021-09-16.
^ "Beyond the Glory" The Unforgettables (TV Episode 2005) - IMDb, 3 April 2005, retrieved 2021-09-16
^ "RotoWire Fantasy Football, Baseball, Basketball and More".
^ "1992 NBA Draft on". Databasebasketball.com. Archived from the original on 2012-06-03. Retrieved 2012-04-30.

[1] sports-reference.com 1991-92 Southeastern Conference Season Summary

[2] ASSOCIATED PRESS (1989-05-19). "Kentucky Put on 3 Years' Probation : NCAA Bans Postseason Play 2 Years, Orders Limited Wildcat Scholarships". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2021-09-16.

[3] "UK Career Statistics for Eric Manuel". www.bigbluehistory.net. Retrieved 2021-09-16.

[4] Howlett, Ken (2012-03-28). "Kentucky Wildcat Basketball: The Unforgettables 20-years ago today". A Sea Of Blue. Retrieved 2021-09-16.

[5] "From immortal to quite mortal, Kentucky's Unforgettables face midlife challenges 25 years after their greatest moment". sports.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2021-09-16.

[6] "The Unforgettables 25 Years Later". www.on3.com. Retrieved 2021-09-16.

[7] "Beyond the Glory" The Unforgettables (TV Episode 2005) - IMDb, 3 April 2005, retrieved 2021-09-16

[8] "RotoWire Fantasy Football, Baseball, Basketball and More".

[9] "1992 NBA Draft on". Databasebasketball.com. Archived from the original on 2012-06-03. Retrieved 2012-04-30.

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1991–92 Southeastern Conference men's basketball standings
v t	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
East
No. 6 Kentucky †	12	–	4	.750	29	–	7	.806
	9	–	7	.563	19	–	14	.576
	8	–	8	.500	19	–	15	.559
	7	–	9	.438	15	–	14	.517
	6	–	10	.375	15	–	15	.500
	3	–	13	.188	11	–	17	.393
West
No. 9 Arkansas	13	–	3	.813	26	–	8	.765
No. 25 LSU	12	–	4	.750	21	–	10	.677
No. 13 Alabama	10	–	6	.625	26	–	9	.743
	7	–	9	.438	15	–	13	.536
	5	–	11	.313	12	–	15	.444
	4	–	12	.250	11	–	17	.393

† 1992 SEC Tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll^[1]

v t Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball
Venues	State College Gymnasium (1903–1914) Buell Armory Gymnasium (1910–1924) Alumni Gymnasium (1924–1950) Memorial Coliseum (1950–1976) Rupp Arena (1976–present) Joe Craft Center (practice)
Rivalries	Centre College (historical) Florida Indiana Louisville North Carolina Tennessee Transylvania (historical)
Culture & lore	History under Adolph Rupp Basketbowl Champions Classic Fabulous Five "The Shot" The Unforgettables 2011 Indiana game The Rivalry: Red v. Blue
People	Head coaches Honorees NBA draftees Players Recruiting history Statistical leaders
Seasons	1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1913–14 1920–21 1932–33 1933–34 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1957–58 1960–61 1965–66 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22
Helms and Premo-Porretta national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics; NCAA championships in bolded italics