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Has UK missed best chance to catch UCLA in NCAA titles? | Lexington Herald Leader

On the Sunday after Kentucky won the 2012 NCAA championship, my column proclaimed that UCLA’s record of 11 NCAA men’s basketball championships was now within reach for UK.

I pointed out that over 17 years, thanks to Rick Pitino’s national title in 1996, Tubby Smith’s in 1998 and John Calipari’s in 2012, Kentucky had narrowed UCLA’s edge from 11-5 to 11-8.

“If UK could repeat the same ratio, beating UCLA by three championships over the next 17 years, it would tie the Bruins in 2029,” I wrote.

As No.