The House of Blue

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TheProfessor said...

Mike,

The way my mind words is I develop a sense of the discussion as I read along, and in this case, the sense was a suggestion that UK chooses to ignore the Helms Championship and the NIT championships. However, I probably should not have quoted your post in my post, and did so only because it was the most recent in a string of posts by more than one person contributing to the impression I had developed.

I have no problem with your points that the 1933 team (and the 1954 team) were designated by the Helms foundation as the national champions in those years. I also have no problem with anyone who wants to promote the significance of those early NIT championships. I believe that all UK fans know these details, and the University puts them up front in their media guide and other places.

Those are as legitimate national championships to me as the "mythical" national champions crowned each year by the polls for college football, or the national championship that UK Football likes to claim for 1950. In college basketball, since the late 1930s to the present, the sport has elected to designate its annual champion by on the court victories at the end of the year in a post season tournament. Many years, the #1 ranked team at the end does not win that tournament. Yet, nearly everyone concedes that team X was still the best team that season, but that it simply fell short in a tournament that is so difficult to remain standing.

Should we also hang banners in Rupp for those years, e.g. 1966, 1970, 1975, and so forth?

I think not. I believe the Banners in Rupp are fine as they are, even though all UK fans understand that those banners are not the full definition of this program's achievements.