College basketball's All-time Starting Five: Kentucky Wildcats

With March Madness right around the corner, The Dagger is picking an all-time starting five from some of college basketball's most tradition-rich programs.

Our picks were based on a variety of factors, including stats, tourney success, All-America selections, and of course, our opinions.

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Next up: Kentucky Wildcats.

Who we considered from Kentucky:

Dan Issel, F, 1967-70 (25.3 ppg, 13.0 rpg)
Ralph Beard, G, 1945-49 (10.9 ppg)
Anthony Davis, F, 2011-12 (14.4 ppg, 10.4 rpg, 4.7 bpg)
Jamal Mashburn, F, 1990-93 (18.8 ppg, 7.8 rpg)
Cliff Hagan, F, 1950-54 (19.2 ppg, 13.4 rpg)
Tony Delk, G, 1992-96 (14.2 ppg, 3.6 rpg)
Kenny Walker, F, 1982-86 (15.8 ppg, 7.1 rpg)
Alex Groza, C, 1949-51 (22.5 ppg, 10.7 rpg)
Cotton Nash, F, 1961-64 (22.7 ppg, 12.3 rpg)
Kyle Macy, G, 1977-80 (16.6 ppg, 4.8 apg)

Next up in the Starting Five series:

• Feb. 10: Arizona
• Feb. 12: Georgetown
• Feb. 17: Louisville
• Feb. 19: UConn (women)
• Feb. 22: Indiana
• Feb. 24: Syracuse
• Feb. 26: Michigan St.
• Feb. 29: Kentucky
• March 2: UCLA
• March 4: UConn (men)
• March 7: Duke
• March 9: UNC
• March 11: Kansas

Kentucky’s All-Time Starting Five

G — Ralph Beard

The first star player in Kentucky basketball history was a tough, quick guard who led the Wildcats to national titles in 1948 and 1948, earned a gold medal in the 1948 Olympics and started as a rookie in the 1951 NBA All-Star Game. Beard was banned from the the NBA in 1952 as a result of point-shaving allegations stemming from his days at Kentucky. The four-time all-SEC guard admitted to taking $700 from gamblers while at Kentucky, but steadfastly insisted until his 2007 death that he never threw any games.

G — Tony Delk

The most celebrated player on one of Kentucky's most celebrated teams, Delk led a star-studded 1996 Wildcats team to the national title. He averaged a team-high 17.8 points per game during the regular season and torched Syracuse for 24 points in the national championship game, adding Final Four Most Outstanding Player to his SEC player of the year and All-American honors. Delk is still in the top five in school history in scoring, steals and 3-pointers made.

F — Jamal Mashburn

Mashburn was the catalyst in Rick Pitino's revitalization of the Kentucky program. As a sophomore, he averaged 21 points per game for the "Unforgettables" team that lost in the East regional finals to Duke in one of the greatest games in college basketball history. As a junior, he led Kentucky to the Final Four, earned first-team All-American honors and might have won national player of the year had Calbert Cheaney not been so remarkable for Indiana that season.

F — Dan Issel

How is Issel considered the greatest player in Kentucky history when he never reached a Final Four? Consider the fact that he scored more points than any player in Kentucky history while also playing fewer games than anyone else in the top five. Issel's 25 points and 13 rebounds per game are both the highest tallies in Wildcats history. His Kentucky teams went 71-12 and twice reached the Elite Eight.

F — Anthony Davis

At the beginning of Davis' junior year of high school, he was a 6-foot-3 guard with a solitary scholarship offer from Cleveland State. By the time he signed with Kentucky a year later, he had grown eight inches, evolved into an elite shot blocker and rebounder and attracted interest from just about every major program in the country. Davis validated the hype in his lone college season, winning national player of the year honors and leading the best Kentucky team of the John Calipari era to a 38-2 record and the 2012 national championship.

Toughest omissions: The toughest omissions are some of the giants of the Calipari era who were brilliant in their lone season at Kentucky but did not contribute to the program for as long as some of the elite players of previous eras. Anthony Davis gets a pass since he won national player of the year, led the Wildcats to a national championship and is generally regarded as one of the great players of the one-and-done era, but guys like John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins fall just short of this list. You could also probably make a case for Kyle Macy, Keith Bogans or even Rajon Rondo instead of Beard based on stats, but Beard's impact is hard to ignore.

Who's in your Kentucky all-time starting five?