1971–72 Kentucky Colonels season

ABA basketball team season August 2023 Kentucky Colonels ABA 1972 yes 68 16 Eastern 1st Joe Mullaney Freedom Hall Division Semifinals(lost to the Nets 2–4) The 1971–72 Kentucky Colonels season was the fifth season of the Colonels franchise in the American Basketball Association. The Colonels won 68 games during the season, en route to not just the best record ever put out in ABA history, but also their first ever Eastern Division title. This season, they were led by both second-year star player Dan Issel and rookie star center Artis Gilmore, who like Issel before him, signed a 10-year deal worth $1.5 million. Gilmore won both the ABA Rookie of the Year and the ABA Most Valuable Player awards, averaging 23.8 points and 17.8 rebounds per game, later joining Issel as eventual members of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. However, despite the Colonels having the best record in ABA history this season, they were ultimately upset early on in the 1972 ABA Playoffs by 6 games against the New York Nets in the Eastern Division Semifinals. One other notable thing involving the Colonels this season had them going up against the Baltimore Bullets in the second ever ABA Vs. NBA exhibition game on September 22, 1971, in Louisville, Kentucky, with Kentucky winning that match 111–85. ABA Draft 1971 ABA draft This draft was the first ABA draft to have a properly recorded historical note of every round in their draft available. Round Pick Player Position(s) Nationality College 1 8 Artis Gilmore C USA United States Jacksonville 3 25 John Roche PG USA United States South Carolina 4 40 Fred Brown PG/SG USA United States Iowa 5 51 Mike Gale PG/SG USA United States Elizabeth City State College 6 62 Jim Welch G USA United States Houston 7 73 Larry Steele SG/SF USA United States Kentucky 8 84 Clarence Sherrod G USA United States Wisconsin 9 95 Mike O'Brien F USA United States Saint Leo College 10 106 Larry Saunders F USA United States Duke 11 117 Sid Catlett F USA United States Notre Dame 12 127 Jim Dinwiddie G USA United States Kentucky 13 137 Pierre Russell SG USA United States Kansas 14 146 Jerome Perry G USA United States Western Kentucky 15 155 Willie Cherry F USA United States Denver As of 2025, Artis Gilmore would be the only player that was actually drafted during the 1971 ABA draft to have ended up becoming a member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. (While both Julius Erving and George McGinnis would end up joining Artis Gilmore as members of the Hall of Fame themselves later on, both of those players wound up becoming undrafted players in this ABA draft unlike Gilmore himself due to them both being juniors in their respective universities at the time of the draft, which was partially done as a stipulation by the NBA themselves in order to have the originally planned ABA-NBA merger occur back in 1971 instead of when it actually did occur years later in 1976.) Roster Kentucky Colonels 1971–72 #012F6B #FFFFFF #012F6B #FFFFFF 35 Darel Carrier SG 6 3 185 October 26, 1940 Western Kentucky 10 Louie Dampier PG 6 0 170 November 20, 1944 Kentucky 32 Mike Gale PG 6 4 185 July 18, 1950 Elizabeth City State University 53 Artis Gilmore C 7 2 240 September 21, 1949 Jacksonville 4 Les Hunter basketball PF 6 7 210 August 16, 1942 Loyola Chicago 44 Dan Issel C 6 9 235 October 25, 1948 Kentucky 22 Jim Ligon PF 6 7 210 February 22, 1944 Kokomo High School 3 Jim O'Brien basketball, born 1950 PG 6 1 170 April 9, 1950 Boston College 9 Cincy Powell SF 6 7 220 February 25, 1942 Portland 33 Mike Pratt basketball SG 6 4 195 Kentucky August 4, 1948 15, 30 Pierre Russell SG 6 4 190 December 13, 1949 Kansas 2 Walt Simon SF 6 6 200 December 1, 1939 Benedict College 3 Howie Wright SG 6 3 185 February 22, 1947 Austin Peay State University Joe Mullaney https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/KEN/1972.html<noinclude> Final standings Eastern Division + Team W L % GB Kentucky Colonels 68 16 .810 - Virginia Squires 45 39 .536 23 New York Nets 44 40 .524 24 The Floridians 36 48 .429 32 Carolina Cougars 35 49 .417 33 Pittsburgh Condors 25 59 .298 43 ABA Playoffs ABA Eastern Division Semifinalshttp://www.remembertheaba.com/PlayoffPages/1972Playoffs.html 1971-72 ABA Regular Season Standings Remembertheaba.com 2016-07-02 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20141028055342/http://www.remembertheaba.com/PlayoffPages/1972Playoffs.html 2014-10-28 Game Date Location Score Record Attendance 1 April 1 Kentucky 108–122 0–1 4,772 2 April 4 Kentucky 90–105 0–2 8,212 3 April 5 New York 105–99 1–2 14,056 4 April 7 New York 92–100 1–3 14,896 5 April 8 Kentucky 109–103 2–3 7,949 6 April 10 New York 96–101 2–4 11,533 Colonels lose series, 4–2 Awards and honors 1972 ABA All-Star Game selections (game played on January 29, 1972, in Louisville, Kentucky) Dan Issel (named MVP of the game) Louie Dampier Artis Gilmore Coach Joe Mullaney was also selected to coach the Eastern Division Team. ABA Most Valuable Player Award: Artis Gilmore Rookie of the Year: Artis Gilmore All ABA-First Team selections Dan Issel Artis Gilmore All ABA-Rookie Team selections Artis Gilmore References 2 Colonels on Basketball Reference External links RememberTheABA.com 1971–72 regular season and playoff results RememberTheABA.com Kentucky Colonels page Category:Kentucky Colonels seasons Kentucky Kentucky Colonels, 1971-72 Kentucky Colonels, 1971-72 Category:1971 in Louisville, Kentucky Category:1972 in Louisville, Kentucky