#1 – 1999-00 – 29-4 Overall (16-0 CUSA)
What does it take to be ranked ahead of the only Final 4 team of the last 30 years? The biggest “what if?” in program history. Yes, an argument could be made for the team who got to a Final 4 to be ranked here, but had fate not been as cruel as she was then this 1999-00 team is a National Champion. An absolutely loaded Bob Huggins roster from top to bottom, the best one he’s ever had at any school ever. Just go down the list of talent he had at his disposal, freshman Leonard Stokes, Ryan Fletcher, Pete Mickeal, Kenny Satterfield, Dermarr Johnson, Steve Logan, and future #1 overall NBA draft pick Kenyon Martin, who I am not joking when I say, won every award there was to win that year. He was the Conference Player of the Year, a consensus All-American, he won the Wooden and Naismith Awards, he won the Rupp Trophy and he was the AP National player of the Year, all while averaging 18.9 points, 9.7 rebounds and 3.5 blocks a game. They lost only twice while Kenyon was healthy and went a mind boggling 16-0 in Conference play something I’m not sure we might ever see a UC team do again. They averaged 77 points a game and thanks to Kenyon’s rim protection gave up only 61. There was seemingly nothing that would stop this team except themselves, and then it happened. Three minutes into a Conference Tournament Quarterfinal game Kenyon Martin broke his leg and with it all title aspirations. The Bearcats would lose the quarterfinal game and would then lose in the second round to Tulsa, 69-61. Sure the team was talented enough to win, but an injury to the games best player with only the tournament left to play, it was just unrealistic that UC would be able to recover. The offense had been built into running things through Kenyon, and rightfully so and to then lose everything he had provided while also not having any time to adjust to a new scheme and style the Bearcats title hopes were gone. Talk or listen to every single person who was around when it happened, except for the players on Michigan State’s title winning team and they’ll all say the same thing. If Martin doesn’t get hurt, the Bearcats win it all. It will remain the biggest what-if of my lifetime as a fan, but what could have been on top of what was, lands the 1999-2000 UC Bearcats as the best team of the last 30 years.
