John Calipari led the Kentucky Wildcats to the 2012 NCAA championship. Kentucky defeated Kansas 67–59 in the title game on April 2, 2012, at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans.
The championship was Calipari’s first national title and Kentucky’s eighth men’s basketball championship. The Wildcats finished 38–2, including a 16–0 Southeastern Conference regular-season record, and were led by freshman star Anthony Davis, who was named Final Four Most Outstanding Player.
A common mix-up is confusing Kentucky’s 2012 title with the program’s 1998 championship, which was coached by Tubby Smith. Another nearby fact is that Kansas’s coach in the 2012 final was Bill Self, while Calipari had previously taken Memphis to the 2008 championship game.