80 percent of the forum were nothing but babies. No internet, cell phones, sbr, people in their early 20's didn't gamble. I was 195 pounds. Gas prices were cheap.
It was easily the greatest basketball game of all time. The state of depression here in kentucky was indescribable. People were walking around like zombies, major depression, suicide, people quitting school, getting divorced over the game, not going to work the next monday. Some places even shutdown work that monday.
The team's four seniors, three of whom were Kentucky natives, had remained loyal to the program throughout its probation, and would enter Kentucky basketball history as "The Unforgettables". They were:
Richie Farmer, a 6'0"/1.83 m shooting guard from Manchester, a small town in the state's eastern coal fields. (He served as the Kentucky Commissioner of Agriculture from 2004-2012 and was the Republican nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky in 2011.)
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. (Most recently the head coach at Arkansas.)
Sean Woods, the only non-Kentuckian, a 6'2"/1.88 m point guard from Indianapolis. (Now the head coach at Mississippi Valley State.)
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.
he legacy of "The Unforgettables" at UK was great enough that the UK program decided to retire their jerseys (but not their numbers) almost immediately after that 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.