Kentucky basketball is considered one of the true “blue blood” programs in college sports. They have won eight national championships in their existence, with four coming before 1960. Adolph Rupp, one of the first great coaches in college basketball history, brought those four championships to the program. Since then, four head coaches have won one championship a piece.

Interestingly enough, Kentucky hasn’t had the best run in the 21st century. Just one of their eight championships has come since the Y2K craze. They had a very interesting run with John Calipari, making the Elite Eight six out of eight years, including one championship and another Championship Game appearance.

To get this kind of success, even relative to the eras, you have to have great players. There have been dozens of All-Americans at Kentucky. They’ve had at least one All-American every decade since the 1920s. That’s 100 years of All-Americans. Now, we’re looking at the best of the best. Who makes it on Kentucky’s all-time list?

10. Tayshaun Prince, 1998-2002

A rarity for this university, Tayshaun Prince played all four seasons with the Kentucky Wildcats. He had a bench role in his freshman year, but he quickly became a starter and an integral part of the rotation in his sophomore year. He wasn’t one of the many, many All-Americans who played at Kentucky, but he was essential to this team as its guard. 

His points kept going up every year, which is common for a long-term college player. He finished his senior season with 17.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, and just under 2 assists. However, his best season was his junior season when he was named the SEC Player of the Year. He also made it to second-team All-American and SEC Tournament MVP. 

In 2001, Prince hit six three pointers to beat Iowa in the second round for a total of 31 points. However, Kentucky lost in the Sweet Sixteen. In his senior season, he scored 41 points in the second round, but they once again failed in the Sweet Sixteen. It wasn’t always the best result, but Prince had moments for Kentucky that took them into the 21st century.

9. John Wall, 2009-2010

When John Wall stepped onto the floor for the Kentucky Wildcats men’s basketball, it wasn’t just another five-star recruit arriving in Lexington. It felt like a warning shot to the rest of college basketball. Dude was for real right away, and he joined forces with one of the most talented teams in the history of college basketball. This was John Calipari’s first season at Kentucky. It was the very first season, and they made it all the way to the 

Wall led the Wildcats in scoring, assists, and steals en route to an SEC regular season and SEC tournament championship. They were primed to make a run during March Madness. He broke the single-game assists record with 16, but that’s since been broken by TyTy Washington. 

He hit clutch shots, attacked the rim, and defended passing lanes every possession. Kentucky finished 35-3, earned a No. 1 seed, and reestablished itself as a national powerhouse. He was a clear All-American, leading the entire conference in assists. He helped Kentucky win the SEC Tournament, beating Mississippi State in overtime in the championship game. Kentucky lost a heartbreaker to West Virginia in the Elite Eight that season, but this set the foundation for their next championship.

8. Jodie Meeks, 2006-2009

Jodie Meeks is unlike any other on this list in that he came to Kentucky to grow. He was not nearly a finished product, so his first two years aren’t nearly as impressive of some of the other seasons on this list, but his junior year makes up for everything. Meeks has a ton of records from that season alone, including the highest-scoring game in the history of Kentucky basketball (54 points against Tennessee in January 2009). In that game, he hit 10 of 15 three pointers and went 14-14 from the free-throw line.

This was his style in college. Meeks could go off at any moment and take over a game. He led the entire SEC during his junior year in points per game (23.7), minutes per game (34.4), three-point shooting percentage (40.6%), and free-throw percentage (90.2%). 

Unfortunately for Meeks and Kentucky, the season was thrown for a loop in the second half of their SEC schedule. After starting the season 16-4, Kentucky lost eight of its last 11 games and was left out of the NCAA Tournament following a loss in the SEC Tournament to LSU. Meeks played in the NIT before walking away to join the NBA Draft. 

7. Rex Chapman, 1986-1988

There is just something about Rex Chapman that is impressive. It is just one of those things that you have to see, and the fact that he was dominant in the late 1980s adds to the nostalgia. He was larger than life at Kentucky, soaring above the rim for massive dunks, a sight we didn’t often see from guys with his build. 

But it wasn’t all flash and flight. Chapman had one of the best shots of his era. He could beat a guy off a dribble, then drill it right in his face. And he would. And he would be happy to tell his opponents about it. As a freshman, he averaged over 16 points per game and immediately became Kentucky’s go-to scorer. He continued that into his sophomore season, pushing 18 points per game.

After a first-round loss in his freshman year, Chapman pushed the Wildcats to a two seed in his sophomore season. Chapman had an insane run early in the tournament. He scored 20 points in the second half of their second-round game against Maryland. In the Sweet Sixteen, Chapman scored 30 points against Villanova, but the rest of his team had an off night, and his college career ended with a whimper. For such an electric and loud player, the ending deserved much more. 

6. Cotton Nash, 1961-1964

We’re going way back to tell you about one of the very best to ever play for Kentucky. Cotton Nash was dominant immediately and never stopped being dominant wearing blue and white. He averaged 23.4 points per game as a freshman. That’s still, to this day, the seventh-best scoring season in the history of this program. His senior season, where he scored 24 points per game, ranks third all-time. 

Nash became one of the most dominant forwards of his era and helped define Kentucky basketball during a transitional period for the sport. Shooting was quickly becoming more than an inside game, and Nash was ahead of his time in stretching a defense. Even though there wasn’t a three-point line, he still found value in forcing defenses to come to him on the outside. 

Nash scored more than 1,700 career points at Kentucky, placing him ninth all-time in total points scored. He finished as a one-time first-team All-American and a two-time second-team All-American, covering all three of his seasons. He came in during an era where he was pretty much it for Kentucky basketball, but he made the most of his college career. He also played Major League Baseball, which seems like a rare crossover.

5. Oscar Tshiebwe, 2021-2023

Oscar Tshiebwe is one of the best transfer players in the history of college basketball. After spending his first two seasons playing under Bob Huggins at West Virginia, he left Country Roads on his way to U of K. There was an immediate upgrade to his game, as Tschiebwe became one of the best players in college basketball. 

Tshiebwe played just two seasons with the University of Kentucky, but he set an impressive amount of records. He is currently the career leader in defensive rebounds, defensive rebound percentage, box plus/minus, offensive rebounds, player efficiency rating, and total rebound percentage. He was one of the best rebounders in the history of college basketball. This superstar doesn’t get the credit he deserves for how good he was around the rim.

In his debut, Tshiebwe had 17 points and 20 rebounds. We learned quickly what he was all about. In that first season with the Wildcats, he won all of the awards. He was the AP Player of the Year and a consensus All-American. He led all of basketball in rebounds in both of the years he was with the Wildcats, and he averaged more than 16 points both years. He was a member of the squad that lost to St. Peter’s in 2022, but he scored 30 points and had 16 rebounds in the game, so we’re not really pointing the finger at him. 

4. Ralph Beard, 1945-1949

Listen, there’s obviously a big asterisk here. Ralph Beard was a great player embroiled in one of the early gambling scandals in college sports history. Beard was charged with taking bribes as part of the point shaving scandal in 1951. We cannot ignore that fact when talking about Beard’s legacy.

However, we also don’t want to ignore his impact on the court outside of the scandal. Beard was a member of the “Fabulous Five,” which is necessary to be on any all-time list within Kentucky. He joined with Alex Groza, Wallace Jones, Cliff Barker, and Kenny Rollins to not only win two championships in the NCAA, but they won a gold medal at the 1948 Summer Olympics. 

Beard was a three-time consensus All-American. His numbers aren’t impressive when compared to the numbers of today (between 10.6 and 11.9 points per game in his three seasons as an All-American), but he was a proven winner. He’s one of the main reasons why Kentucky is considered a blue blood. Without Beard and the Fabulous Five, we might look at Kentucky in the same view we look at Louisville. 

3. Jamal Mashburn, 1990-1993

Jamal Mashburn came to Kentucky with unfiltered talent and incredible polished skill, but he learned how to behave like a superstar at UK. His basketball IQ exploded during his three years in Lexington. He’s one of the most famous athletes to come out of the legendary New York courts at Rucker Park. He learned the street game and turned it into a professional career.

Mashburn stood like a forward but played like a guard. This mixture made him especially great in the handcheck sport that was basketball in the 1990s. He could handle the ball in transition, post up smaller defenders, and shoot comfortably from midrange. Joining forces with Rick Pitino and his fast-paced system was a match made in college basketball heaven. 

He made a run to the Elite Eight in 1992, which surprised many. Mashburn’s 27 points against Iowa State and 30 points against UMass helped push the Wildcats far into the tourney. They ended up losing to the Duke Blue Devils in the Elite Eight. During the 1992–93 season, he averaged 22.8 points and 8.4 rebounds per game, earning consensus First-Team All-American honors. That season, he brought Kentucky all the way to the Final Four versus the “Fab Five” of Michigan, and he lost in overtime to end his Kentucky career.

2. Anthony Davis, 2011-2012

There are few players in basketball history who made the impact in one year that Anthony Davis had on Kentucky. We’re talking Kawhi Leonard on the Raptors level impact. He came to Kentucky knowing he was a generational prospect that could move mountains for the program. In his lone season with Kentucky, he won the Consensus National Player of the Year, the USBWA National Freshman of the Year, NABC Defensive Player of the Year, and the Pete Newell Big Man Award. On top of all that, he was a consensus All-American (obviously). He won every type of award he could. 

Kentucky was actually upset in the SEC Tournament by Vanderbilt, giving Kentucky just its second loss of the entire season. You could tell that Davis took that personally. He helped the Wildcats go on a tear through the NCAA Tournament. They rolled through Western Kentucky, Iowa State, Indiana (avenging one of their only two losses on the season), and Baylor to make it to the Final Four.

There, they faced their cross-state rivals, the Louisville Cardinals. Davis scored 18 points and took down 14 rebounds en route to a 69-61 victory. Davis was actually rough from the floor against Kansas in the National Title Game, but his 16 rebounds helped his teammates pick up the slack, and the Wildcats cut down the nets for the one and only time with John Calipari on the bench. 

1. Dan Issel , 1967-1970

This is going to be a controversial pick for number one, but we’re sticking by our decision. Dan Issel set 23 Kentucky records during his dominant run in the 1960s. He still holds records for total points (2,138), total rebounds (1,072), career points per game (25.8), field goals in a season (369), ppg in a season (33.9), and he held the mark for most points in a game (53 in 1970 against  Ole Miss). He was unstoppable in this era, and he was Adolph Rupp’s prized superstar. 

Issel’s career at KU coincided with another superstar, Pete Maravich of LSU. Maravich and Issel finished 1–2 in SEC Player of the Year voting in each of their three seasons. The rivalry led college basketball, putting both teams on the map. And while Maravich was setting the scoring records in college, Issel was winning. Kentucky won the SEC every year he was at the university.

The struggle here with making Issel number one is he didn’t even play in a NCAA Championship Game. He was knocked out of the Elite Eight twice, and once he lost in the Sweet Sixteen. In his freshman season, he lost to Ohio State despite scoring 19 points and adding eight rebounds. In his final game, he had 28 points and 10 rebounds against Jacksonville, but the Wildcats still allowed 106 points to lose.

More college basketball news and analysis: