1978: Kentucky v. Michigan State (NCAA Elite Eight, Dayton, Ohio)

In 1996, the NBA picked its top 50 players of all time.  No one on the list played for UK.  I personally saw UK play against nine players on the list:  Charles Barkley (Auburn), Patrick Ewing (Georgetown), Magic Johnson (Michigan St.), Michael Jordan (N. Carolina), Hakeem Olajuwon (Houston), Shaquille O'Neal (Louisiana St.), David Robinson (Navy), Isiah Thomas (Indiana), and James Worthy (N. Carolina).  Most of these were regular-season games, although we played Ewing and Johnson in the tournament.  As everyone who remembers 1984 can attest, the game with Ewing did not go well.  So UK's victory in the Elite Eight over Magic Johnson and Michigan State, on March 18, 1978, is the only time that I saw UK beat a top-50 player in the NCAA Tournament.  It was also featured two teams that won National Championships -- we won in 1978, MSU won the next year.  (Interestingly, UK has been involved in two such games in recent years:  in 2011, UConn beat UK on its way to the title -- UK won in 2012; in 2012, UK beat U of L on its way to the title -- the Cards won in 2013).

In Kentucky, the 1978 win over Michigan State was remembered mainly for Kyle Macy's free-throw shooting down the stretch.  But I haven't seen more than a few seconds of the game itself for over 35 years.  Fortunately, by going to this web page, you can watch the entire NBC broadcast.

Here's what I do remember:

In 1975, UK had a collection of great freshmen:  Rick Robey, Mike Phillips, Jack Givens, and James Lee.  Those guys helped the Cats reach the NCAA title game for the first time since 1966, but they were beaten by UCLA in John Wooden's last game.

In 1976, as sophomores, those guys lost the SEC to the Ernie-and-Bernie show (look it up), but won the NIT back when that was still kind of a big deal.

In 1977, as juniors, they went to the Elite Eight, where they lost to North Carolina and the Four Corners (thus creating a blood feud for me that continues to this day).

So they pretty much had to win it in 1978.  UK had not won a national championship in 20 years, and the pressure to do so was enormous.  I was 12 years old at the time, and I still remember the urgency that ran through Paducah during the winter of 1977-78.  UK started the season ranked number 1, and they were expected to win every game.  They lost only twice:  at Alabama (78-62), and at LSU (95-94 in overtime).  After the LSU game, I was disconsolate -- how could UK go all the way if they couldn't even beat LSU.  But the Cats won the rest of their games and were placed in the Mideast Region as the SEC Champs.  There were only 32 teams in the tournament back then, and UK was the only SEC team to make it.

In the first game of the tournament, they had to go to Knoxville and play Florida State (number 15 in the country).  FSU led 39-32 at the half, and UK Coach Joe Hall was so unhappy that he started a bunch of backups in the second half.  Amazingly, this worked -- UK came from behind for an 85-76 victory.

In the Sweet 16, UK played Miami of Ohio (number 19 in the country).  The Cats blew out the Redskins, winning 91-69.  In the other regional semi-final, Michigan State cruised past Western Kentucky.

So now it was Saturday afternoon, and the first of the four Elite Eight games featured the number 1 UK Wildcats and the number 4 Michigan State Spartans.  I don't think I had ever seen Michigan State play a basketball game before.  There was no ESPN back then, and we mostly watched UK and other teams from the SEC.  National games were dominated by schools like UCLA, Indiana, North Carolina, and Notre Dame.  Plus, I was 12 years old -- I didn't just sit in front of the TV all day.

Anyway, I had no idea what to expect -- although I remember being very nervous, and being very unhappy soon after the game began.  I couldn't take the pressure, and spent most of the early afternoon playing out on our back porch.  Somehow, the Cats managed to win without me.

I'm going to watch this video, so any further thoughts will go into the comments.