To celebrate 30 years of SLAM, we’re featuring the 30 most influential men’s college teams of the past 30 years. Stats, records and chips are not the main factor here, it’s all about their contribution to the cultural fabric of the game.
Over the next 30 days, Monday through Friday, we’ll be featuring full list here. We also have an exclusive retro collegiate collection out now that pays homage to the threads of each squad. Shop here.
Despite a young roster filled with talented stars, the 2017 Wildcats will be questioned at every corner. Well Aaron Fox, Malik Monk, Bam Adebayo and Derek Willis. These are just a few of the names that glued this team together and allowed them to go on the crazy run they did this season.
Fox was a driving and harassing defender who averaged 17 points per game and matched his social media handle, swipathefox. Meanwhile, Monk brought intensity and determination from start to finish of each game, and Bam left opponents stunned in the paint. Collectively, this group celebrated at the start of every game. From going into the paint to Bam, Monk’s pass and dunk, or Fox’s pass and crazy move, this Kentucky team will take you up and down the court like no other. And because they were so young, they never got tired or at least didn’t show it. There was always some fight and goal left between them in every game. Running teams out of the gym, the Wildcats have had more than 15 games in which they have outscored their opponents by at least 10 points during the regular season. They were, after all, a meritorious asylum.
Led by the one and only John Calipari, their athleticism, drive and determination carried them all the way to the postseason; first by winning the SEC Championship and then the NCAA Tournament, where they swept past Northern Kentucky, Wichita State and UCLA; in which Fox dropped 39 points against Bruins star Lonzo Ball.
The Elite Eight matchup against UNC was, well, elite. The pressure was on, especially for Fox and his Wildcats, who ended up losing to the Tar Heels. Later the emotional fox revealed to us that summer“Just knowing that it was my only chance to win a national championship. the competitiveness spilled over,” Fox told SLAM. “Just knowing we’re up by 5 with two or three minutes left, knowing we could have won that game, it really (hurts). We just lost that game the way we were. It was hard to lose like that. It’s not the same when you have another chance to win it. That was the part that hurt the most.”
Despite the season that might have been, the 2017 Wildcats helped cement Kentucky’s legacy as one of the most dominant and competitive programs. Fox, Bam and Monk are all on L today and never hesitate to support BBN when they get the chance. That’s just what happens when you rock the Kentucky blue…
Photos via Getty Images.
