By Keith Taylor
Kentucky Today
It didn’t take much to encourage Kentucky after the Wildcats lost to North Carolina in the 1995 Southeast Region finals. It was a problem that caused larger and much better things the list below season.
“That was a real disappointing loss,” previous Kentucky standout guard Tony Delk remembered.
It didn’t take wish for Kentucky to recuperate from what might have been its 2nd journey to the Final Four in 3 years. They rolled up their sleeves and went to work.
The following season the Wildcats ended up 34-2 and recorded the school’s 6th championship game, a team that will be honored Saturday when the Wildcats play host to Tennessee in Rupp Arena. The 1998 group, a few of which were members of the nationwide title 2 years prior, belonged to Tubby Smith’s 1997-98 team that brought home the seventh championship game.
Tony Delk was honored by UK in 2015. (AP file image, by means of Kentucky Today)
“Coach (Rick Pitino) did a tremendous job of meshing talent as well as the egos,” Delk said. “The players put in the hard work from the start of the season (to the end).”
In addition to a bulk of returnees from the previous season, the Wildcats included Derek Anderson and declared freshman Ron Mercer to the lineup, including much more depth to an already-experienced system.
“We knew our team had gotten better and added more depth,” Delk said. “We knew we were going to be good and the team chosen to cut down the nets. We just delivered.”
Delk credited Pitino for ensuring the Wildcats stayed dedicated to doing what it requires to be successful throughout the routine season. The Wildcats divided their very first 2 video games of the year, consisting of a loss to Massachusetts, coached by present Wildcats coach John Calipari. Following a 92-82 obstacle to Calipari’s Minutemen, Kentucky ran the table in the Southeastern Conference and won 27 straight prior to losing to Mississippi State 84-73 in the league competition finals.
“The collection of having depth and experience, a great coach as well as a great coaching staff to keep us focused and play tenacious defense,” Delk said. “Coach Pitino gave us freedom on offense, play to our talent and skill level. That’s what really helped us out.”
Although offense was a huge part of the group’s success, Delk said defense was a leading concern.
“Night in and night out, everybody was committed defensively, from the five guys on the court to the guys who came off the bench, we sacrificed a lot of our offense.” he remembered. “We believed in our defense, which is what really got us over the top to win by a large margin against most teams.”
Delk, among the group’s leading entertainers and Most Valuable Player in the championship game video game, said it took chemistry and team effort to attain the supreme objective of winning a championship game.
“You look at it collectively as a team, guys had to sacrifice and understand everyone has a role,” Delk said. “Everyone can’t be the star gamer, take all the shots and can’t play all of the minutes. You need to share in a few of your success in order to achieve success
“Even in a company, one person can’t run a company. It has to be all different parts and all different angles that people have to take. You have to let the star player do what he does and then the role player comes in and does his part. The role players are just as important as whoever the star player was on that team.”
Delk provided huge for the Wildcats in a 76-67 win over Syracuse in the national championship. Delk linked on 7 3-pointers and ended up with 24 points.
“Getting that far and playing a lot of big games in my Kentucky career, I just thought of it as just another game,” Delk said. “I had to go out and deliver.”
To attain that level of success, Delk included “you have to get lucky.”
“We knew coming into the (NCAA Tournament) with a long winning streak and being No. 1, there was going to be a lot of pressure. You’ve got to have guys tat have played in big games that understand, OK, just because there is pressure, you don’t fold under pressure. You embrace and we did a great job of embracing that.”
