When Kentucky reached the Final Four with a record 38 wins in 2015, the key to the Cats’ success wasn’t the team’s depth or Karl Anthony-Towns or the Harrison twins’ postseason experience or Willie Cauley-Stein’s defense or the platoon system or anything else that bunch had going for them.
It was a video game: Super Smash Bros.
The players piled into one hotel room during their tournament down time and competed in the four-person video game on the classic Nintendo 64 console. One player called it the key to the team’s bonding that year, and that their intense battles lasted into the wee hours of the morning.