Kentucky’s freshmen have a chance to do what Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson couldn’t: win a national championship.

After the Wildcats’ improbable victory against a 35-0 Wichita State team, I suggested to a colleague that we were witnessing history. But not because Kentucky derailed one of the great runs to the tournament for a mid-major, or any school for that matter.

No. It was because we were watching the new Fab Five. I was given a facial expression that interpreted my statement as basketball blasphemy. Apparently my declaration was premature and inaccurate.

Yet, here we are on Championship Monday with the Kentucky Wildcats and their freshman-laden starting lineup 40 minutes away from immortality.

The new Fab Five bandwagon is filling up rather quickly as these young ‘Cats have put the world on notice and are preparing for college basketball’s biggest stage.

But is it fair to proclaim them the second-coming of the greatest recruiting class ever and bestow the moniker ‘Fab Five’ upon them?

No.

Let’s call them the Sensational Six. Or maybe the Fab Six. Or whatever catch phrase can be associated with the number six. It doesn’t matter, as long as we acknowledge the trials and accomplishments of the six freshman talents on this team.

Their path to the championship game isn’t much different than that of the Fab Five.

That 1992 recruiting class had four players ranked in the top 100 high school players in the country, including four in the top 10. Ray Jackson was the only outcast, ranked No. 84. The other four (Webber, Howard, Rose and King) were McDonald’s All-Americans.

It was unheard of at that time to have four McDonald’s All-Americans in one recruiting class.

Kentucky coach John Calipari had six in this past year’s recruiting class. Julius Randle, Aaron Harrison, Andrew Harrison, James Young, Dakari Johnson and Marcus Lee made the move to Lexington.

Then Michigan coach Steve Fisher did not start all five freshmen regularly until Feb. 9, 1992, against Notre Dame. The Fab Five scored every point.

Feb. 1 against Missouri is when Calipari decided to go with his all-freshmen lineup permanently. The six All-Americans scored 77 of the team’s 84 points in the win.

Lee, the sixth freshman, rejoined the fray when Willie Cauley-Stein went down with a foot injury against Louisville in the Sweet 16. He has since been a heavy part of the rotation and important contributor.

Michigan was a 6-seed in that 1992 NCAA tournament. The Wolverines had to defeat the top two seeds in their region in back-to-back games to reach the Final Four.

Kentucky, an 8-seed, fended off the one, two and four seeds in its region to get to the final weekend.

Both teams, unfairly, received tons of criticism that spilled beyond the basketball court. Both responded by making it to the title game when doubters said it couldn’t be done.

Hopefully that is where the similarities end.

We are 21 years removed from the second of two consecutive losses in the title game by the Fab Five.

For all of the hype, talent and barriers broken by the Fab Five, it never translated into a championship. For that, the five-freshmen experiment could ultimately be considered a failure.

Sitting atop that perch of expectations puts a lot of pressure on Cal’s Wildcats. That’s assuming they are willing to accept it. By the way Aaron Harrison is knocking down game-winning 3-pointers, it doesn’t look like they feel any pressure at all.

For all the big games though, none compares to the game tonight.

Only UConn stands in the way of Kentucky and accomplishing a feat unlike any we’ve seen at the college level.

Though this Wildcat team may not have the cultural impact of the Fab Five, a win tonight would definitely send ripples through college basketball.

Aside from solidifying Cal as one of the better coaches in the game with his second national title in three years, his recruiting style will gain legitimacy. A recruiting style others will try to mimick and could either help or hurt the game; it really depends on perspective.

That assumption is riding off course on a Kentucky victory. A loss maintains the notion that a national championship cannot be won without some form of experience in your starting lineup, as the original Fab Five learned first-hand.

History has a funny way of repeating itself.

Let’s just hope, for Kentucky’s sake, that Julius Randle doesn’t find himself in a late-game situation trapped on the baseline calling a timeout when he doesn’t have one left.

Spencer is a senior in LAS. He can be reached at [email protected].