Interesting Stat on Losses

[VikingCat21]

Another thread got me looking at all time wins/losses and I realized something that's kinda cool. As most know, UK has the most all time wins and also the fewest all time losses. Naturally this gives us the best all time winning percentage.

The cool thing I noticed is that there are only 17 teams with less than 1,000 all time losses:

UK - 699
UNC - 792
UCLA - 836
Kansas - 849
Duke - 881
Murray State - 889
Syracuse - 894
Louisville - 915
Western Kentucky - 922
Villanova - 924
Arizona - 931
Arkansas - 939
UConn - 957
Missouri State - 975
Utah - 990
Illinois - 991
Marquette - 996

Marquette, Illinois, and Utah will probably go over 1,000 this year. Missouri State will probably go over 1,000 the following year. UConn will probably go over in the next 4-5 years, Arkansas in the next 5-6 years, so on and so forth. If UK were to average 10 losses a year it would take us anther 30 seasons to reach 1,000 losses!!! That's crazy to think about.

 

[uky8unc5]

These stats and the Kentucky tradition were built by Coach Rupp.
When I hear someone suggest Rick Pricktino saved our program, I want to hit them in the face with a bag of hot nickels.

 

[chroix]

Four Kentucky based schools on that list is another interesting item.

 

[kydmb99_rivals103809]

These stats and the Kentucky tradition were built by Coach Rupp.
When I hear someone suggest Rick Pricktino saved our program, I want to hit them in the face with a bag of hot nickels.

Pricktino did save our program.

 

[59coop]

And in a few seasons the dirty birds could fall below Western.

 

[ganner918_rivals60369]

What teams are included though? There are programs that haven't been around long enough to play 1000 games so they definitely have fewer than 1000 losses.

 

[richbrookstomato]

Our all-time winning percentage(.764) is more impressive than our all-time wins record.

 

[Mojocat_rivals48469]

Looks like Louisville will hit the 1,000 mark in 3 years. Maybe 4.:sunglasses:

 

[ConRay9]

It's interesting the top 5 on that list are considered the best programs, with us clearly on the mountain top. None are even close in fact.

I love the fact that Indiana is nowhere on that list. In fact, learning they have 1,034 losses and a .637 winning percentage has made my day. Unlike many UK fans, I hate Indiana more than any other program, although I'm sure they make the list for most.

 

[rick64]

These stats and the Kentucky tradition were built by Coach Rupp.
When I hear someone suggest Rick Pricktino saved our program, I want to hit them in the face with a bag of hot nickels.

Like it or not, he did resurrect the program. And I will be forever grateful and appreciative to him for that.

 

[Blueisbest]

I wonder if Louisville's 915 losses includes the ones they had to forfeit?

 

[ganner918_rivals60369]

It's interesting the top 5 on that list are considered the best programs, with us clearly on the mountain top. None are even close in fact.

That's because this looks like it was pulled from the list of 50 teams with most wins. So among teams with lots of wins, it makes sense that those programs would have the fewest losses. I can't find a list of all teams, but if you look at the list of teams with the highest winning percentage (which we're of course #1 on) you'll see that VCU has only 494 losses, UNLV only 530, Weber State only 586 - because they've been playing for about half as long as we have.

 

[TeleTubby]

Who has the most ties?

 

[uky8unc5]

Pricktino did save our program.

Like it or not, he did resurrect the program. And I will be forever grateful and appreciative to him for that.

Maybe this is just a matter of semantics. But I reject he SAVED us or RESURRECTED us. We weren't dead.

You should have been around in the early 50's. And even then, we were not Dead. Just one Old Man's opinion.

 

[StubbornPenny]

These stats and the Kentucky tradition were built by Coach Rupp.
When I hear someone suggest Rick Pricktino saved our program, I want to hit them in the face with a bag of hot nickels.

He’s a turd, especially now, but Pitino saved our program from, at the very least, a 10-15 year slide that. Rupp laid the foundation, Pitino kept the 30th floor from collapsing on itself, so to speak.

 

[StubbornPenny]

Maybe this is just a matter of semantics. But I reject he SAVED us or RESURRECTED us. We weren't dead.

You should have been around in the early 50's. And even then, we were not Dead. Just one Old Man's opinion.

We were in danger of becoming what Indiana is now, that’s fact.

 

[ConRay9]

That's because this looks like it was pulled from the list of 50 teams with most wins. So among teams with lots of wins, it makes sense that those programs would have the fewest losses. I can't find a list of all teams, but if you look at the list of teams with the highest winning percentage (which we're of course #1 on) you'll see that VCU has only 494 losses, UNLV only 530, Weber State only 586 - because they've been playing for about half as long as we have.

Well I assumed as much. The best programs, even the ones that are 15-20 spots down the list, all share at least one thing in common—they have typically been around for quite some time.

I didn’t think this was an end all list of every team, but it’s the list of programs who have either been around a long time or have crossed some form of threshold needed in wins. It’s interesting, nonetheless, that those teams who have been around half as long aren’t far off in losses.

 

[JC CATS]

Looks like at some point UK will be the only team in the nation without 1K losses. Unless the wheels fall off somewhere along the way

 

[VikingCat21]

Four Kentucky based schools on that list is another interesting item.

Kentucky had four schools in the top 50 of most all time wins. UK - 1st, U6 - 10th (now 26th with the vacated games), WKU - 19th, and Murray State - 45th. This is tied for second with Ohio for most schools in the top 50 (Cincinnati - 15th, Ohio State - 30th, Dayton - 43rd, and Akron - 50th). Pennsylvania has 5 (Temple - 5th, Penn - 20th, Villanova - 23rd, Saint Joseph's 40th, and Pittsburgh - 47th).

What teams are included though? There are programs that haven't been around long enough to play 1000 games so they definitely have fewer than 1000 losses.

This list was pulled from the top 50 programs in all time wins.

I wonder if Louisville's 915 losses includes the ones they had to forfeit?

I don't think so. Vacating games only vacates wins and leaves the losses intact. The games they won do not become losses, it's like they never played them. The games they lost though stay as losses in the record books.

That's because this looks like it was pulled from the list of 50 teams with most wins. So among teams with lots of wins, it makes sense that those programs would have the fewest losses. I can't find a list of all teams, but if you look at the list of teams with the highest winning percentage (which we're of course #1 on) you'll see that VCU has only 494 losses, UNLV only 530, Weber State only 586 - because they've been playing for about half as long as we have.

That's correct, this list came from a list of the top 50 programs in all time wins. A full list seemed silly since, like you said, some schools have been around half as long. Some have only been around for the last decade and have less than 200 losses.

 

[VikingCat21]

Looks like at some point UK will be the only team in the nation without 1K losses. Unless the wheels fall off somewhere along the way

There will be a point where UK will be the only school in the top 60ish in all time wins that has less than 1000 losses. We will reach 1000 before other programs but we will have been playing twice as long as them.

 

[Carl1952]

I wonder if Louisville's 915 losses includes the ones they had to forfeit?

Forfeit = A forfeit changes a school's original win or tie into a loss and its opponent's original loss or tie into a win.
Vacated = A vacated game is expunged from a school's record, although its opponent's record is not changed.

The Louisville games were vacated. For Louisville it's like they never played the games, but it doesn't affect their opponents records.

 

[ZakkW]

Good to know I will most likely be dead before the Cats lose for the 1000th time. In fact, they will probably win number 3000 before losing number 1000.

 

[Panthur]

Pitino absolutely did save our program.

He just didn’t save it from as great a danger as what Cal saved it from. It’s all about branding in both cases.

God willing we’ll never be in Louisville’s shoes. But we could easily be Indiana’s shoes right now without both of those men. And there’s no way in Hades we’d be the program making Krzyzewvski envious right now without both of those men.

Also, point of fact, Cal first got the Kentucky job on his radar when Pitino threw him a bone and scheduled UMass to play down here in 1991. Cal talked about that in an interview when he first hired on here, and all those of us who watched could see it on his face already in the interviews he did at the time (91). Folks who think Cal would even be here now if Rick had never been here are fooling themselves.

We don’t have to get all revisionist historian just because we don’t like what poor Rick became later. There but for the grace.