UPDATE: Rumors are swirling that John Calipari
may bring in Scott to be an assistant coach at UK!

Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Scott played for St. X in high school.

He wasn't widely recruited, but he was offered a scholarship by Kentucky Wildcats coach Rick Pitino.
Scott didn't play much his freshman year at UK (1994-95) because the roster was loaded with players such as Tony Delk, Rodrick Rhodes, Walter McCarty, Jeff Sheppard, Mark Pope and Antoine Walker. Padgett appeared in 14 games and averaged two points. He had some academic problems and was not eligible to play during the following year. While Kentucky won a national championship, Padgett was not in school. He was out mowing yards to make ends meet.

Padgett returned to Kentucky for the second half of the 1996-97 season. Scott became a crucial part of the team, playing with future NBA players Ron Mercer, Derek Anderson, Nazr Mohammed and Jamaal Magloire. Padgett scored 15 points against Louisville, 24 points against the Vols and 17 points in the NCAA national championship game against Arizona. The 1996-97 Kentucky team finished as the NCAA runner-up. On the season Padgett averaged just under 10 points per game and over 5 rebounds per game, and was named to the All-NCAA Final Four Team.

Padgett was the starting power forward on the 1997-98 Kentucky Wildcats team. Scott separated himself from other big men by being able to stroke the outside shot and show remarkable range for a big man. On the season Padgett averaged 11.4 points per game, 6.6 rebounds per game and 2.1 assists per game while shooting 48.0% from the floor, 39.4% from 3 point range and 83.7% from the free throw line. In the NCAA tournament, he scored 19 points in a regional semifinal game against UCLA.

He scored 12 points against Duke in the Regional Final- including a game tying free-throw and a go-ahead three pointer to cap a 17 point comeback. He topped that off with 17 points in the NCAA national championship game against the University of Utah. Padgett won several honors that season including being named First Team All-American (Wooden), All-NCAA Final Four Team, All-NCAA Regional Team, Second Team All-SEC (Coaches), Third Team All-SEC (AP), All-SEC Tournament and Academic All-SEC.

WOW! How awesome is that??

As long as I live I'll never forget Scott hitting the three point shot to give the Cats the lead against Duke.

Sunday Mar 22, 1998 --

Scott Padgett's three-pointer with 39 seconds to play gave Kentucky the lead for good

and the second-seeded Wildcats exorcised the demons of 1992 with a stunning 86-84 victory over Duke

in the South Region final in St. Petersburg, Florida.

In his senior season as a Kentucky Wildcat Scott Padgett became a member of the 1000 Point Club at UK. His Wildcats made an awesome run through the tournament trying to get back to the Championship game for the fourth consecutive year. However, they came up short in the NCAA regional final. In his senior year, Scott averaged 12.6 points per game, 5.9 rebounds per game and 2.6 assists per game. Season highlights for Scott included scoring 29 points and grabbing 10 rebounds against Kansas in a second round NCAA tournament game. Padgett was also named to the All-NCAA Regional Team, was First Team All-SEC (Coaches) and Second Team All-SEC (AP) and Academic All-SEC. He was also named the Most Valuable Player of the Southeastern Conference Tournament.

Scott Padgett was selected with the 28th overall pick by the Utah Jazz in the first round of the 1999 NBA Draft.

Scott went on to play in the NBA for 8 years.

He played for the Utah Jazz, Houston Rockets, New Jersey Nets, and the Memphis Grizzlies.

Career NBA highlights for Scott Padgett include:

• 22 points vs. Sacramento 01/28/05
• 6 made three point shots vs. Sacramento 01/28/05
• 15 rebounds @ Memphis 02/05/02
• Scott also had five steals in a game twice,
• 4 steals in a game twice,
• and he played 37 minutes vs. Memphis 01/12/02.

Those NBA numbers might not be all that impressive,

but his contributions to Kentucky Wildcats basketball cannot be measured in statistics.

His clutch shots will be remembered in the hearts and minds of Kentucky Wildcat fans forever.