Colonel William A. Phillips

The 1947–48 Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team, also known as the Fabulous Five,^[1] represented University of Kentucky. The head coach was Adolph Rupp. The team was a member of the Southeast Conference and played their home games at Alumni Gymnasium.

They won 36 of 39 games in their conference, earning them the 1948 NCAA basketball tournament championship.^[2]

NCAA tournament

East
- Kentucky 76, Columbia 53
Final Four
- Kentucky 60, Holy Cross 52
Championship
- Kentucky 58, Baylor 42

^[3]

Awards and honors

Team players drafted into the NBA

Player	NBA Club
Joe Holland	Baltimore Bullets
Ken Rollins	Fort Wayne Pistons
Jack Parkinson	Washington Capitols

^[4]

Fabulous Five

Though the Fabulous Five referred to the whole team during the 1947–1948 season, five players stood out in particular: Ralph Beard (guard), Alex Groza (center), Wallace "Wah Wah" Jones (forward), Cliff Barker (forward), and Kenny Rollins (guard).^[2]^[1] Following the successful 1947–1948 season at UK, all five competed as a unit and won gold at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London.^[2]^[5] ^[6] Rollins graduated but the other four returned for the 1948–1949 season, which they dominated. Coach Rupp then retired the jerseys of Barker, Beard, Groza, Jones, and Rollins.^[7]^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Mink, Ken (August 5, 2021). "Big Blue Blues: Dividing the Talent". SB Nation. Retrieved February 25, 2022.
^ ^a ^b ^c "The Fabulous Five". Walter's Wildcat World. n.d. Retrieved February 25, 2022.
^ "RotoWire Fantasy Football, Baseball, Basketball and More".
^ "1948 NBA Draft on". Databasebasketball.com. Archived from the original on May 3, 2012. Retrieved April 7, 2012.
^ Layton, Miles (February 9, 2022). "Harlan High's Gymnasium Pays Tribute to School's Most Decorated Athlete". Harlan Enterprise. Retrieved February 25, 2022.
^ Taylor, Keith (June 29, 2021). "Two former Kentucky basketball players named to the U.S. Olympic Team". NKY Tribune. Retrieved February 25, 2022.
^ "Men's Basketball Retired Jerseys". UK Athletics. n.d. Retrieved February 25, 2022.

[bigblue-1] Mink, Ken (August 5, 2021). "Big Blue Blues: Dividing the Talent". SB Nation. Retrieved February 25, 2022.

[history-2] "The Fabulous Five". Walter's Wildcat World. n.d. Retrieved February 25, 2022.

[3] "RotoWire Fantasy Football, Baseball, Basketball and More".

[4] "1948 NBA Draft on". Databasebasketball.com. Archived from the original on May 3, 2012. Retrieved April 7, 2012.

[5] Layton, Miles (February 9, 2022). "Harlan High's Gymnasium Pays Tribute to School's Most Decorated Athlete". Harlan Enterprise. Retrieved February 25, 2022.

[6] Taylor, Keith (June 29, 2021). "Two former Kentucky basketball players named to the U.S. Olympic Team". NKY Tribune. Retrieved February 25, 2022.

[7] "Men's Basketball Retired Jerseys". UK Athletics. n.d. Retrieved February 25, 2022.

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Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball
Venues	State College Gymnasium (1903–1914) Buell Armory Gymnasium (1910–1924) Alumni Gymnasium (1924–1950) Memorial Coliseum (1950–1976) Rupp Arena (1976–present) Joe Craft Center (practice)
Rivalries	Centre (historical) Florida Indiana Louisville North Carolina Tennessee Transylvania (historical)
Culture & lore	History under Adolph Rupp Fabulous Five Point-shaving scandal Fiddlin' Five Rupp's Runts The Season Without Celebration "The Shot" Unforgettables Untouchables Comeback Cats John Wall Dance Tweakables Pursuit of Perfection 2011 Indiana game Basketbowl Champions Classic CBS Sports Classic The Rivalry: Red v. Blue The Wildcat Scratch Blue "On, On, U of K" "Kentucky Fight" Big Blue Nation Blue blood status
People	Head coaches Honorees NBA draftees Players Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Helms and Premo-Porretta national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics; NCAA championships in bolded italics