Louisville basketball honors members of 1986 national championship run

Robbie Valentine and Milt Wagner used the same word to describe the 40-year reunion of Louisville basketball's 1986 national championship team — surreal.

"You haven't seen someone for five years, and now you get to hang out with them for a very short weekend," Valentine told reporters Thursday.

"It doesn't feel like 40 years," Wagner added. "Then, you look back; and it's like, 'Wow — it's been a while.'"

The celebration Saturday inside the KFC Yum! Center, at halftime of the No. 20 Cardinals' game against SMU, had a surreal feel to it, too. Instead of joining his former players on the court bearing his name for another milestone anniversary, the late Hall of Fame coach Denny Crum watched in spirit from his memorialized seat in Section 106.

Crum died in 2023 at age 86. "I could start crying right now," Valentine said Thursday, "because we watched him for two years struggle."

"He's like a father figure to all of us," Wagner added.

Coming off a 19-18 record and a trip to the National Invitation Tournament in 1984-85, UofL was sitting at 15-7 on Feb. 8, 1986. Crum proceeded to guide the Cards to 17 consecutive wins — culminating in a 72-69 victory over Duke in the national championship game on March 31, 1986, at Reunion Arena in Dallas.

Freshman forward Pervis Ellison was named the Final Four's Most Outstanding Player. The future No. 1 overall pick in the 1989 NBA Draft led all scorers in the national championship game with 25 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to boot. He gave Louisville a 68-65 lead entering the final 40 seconds remaining in regulation with a put-back off an air ball from teammate Jeff Hall.

Wagner secured the win, as he did several times during his Cards career, at the free-throw line. He was supposed to graduate the year prior but stuck around after breaking his foot during the 1984-85 campaign.

"We had leadership and we had experienced guys," he said. "Then, we had a great freshman class. Everything just came together, and it was special. You could see it from the beginning that we were going to be special at the end of the year."

How was Crum feeling after returning to the mountaintop again? "I still don't think this team has played its best game," he joked. "We need another month."

In addition to Crum, UofL has lost his right-hand man, assistant coach Jerry Jones, and trainer Jerry May in the years since the last celebration of the 1986 championship.

"We just hope and pray that we have another one five years from now and everybody's healthy," Valentine said.

Is Kenny Payne ready to face Louisville fans?

Former Louisville head coach Kenny Payne, who was a freshman on the 1985-86 team and ranks 59th among the program's all-time leading scorers, did not attend Saturday's reunion.

Payne's absence, Valentine said, had more to do with the fact that the Arkansas associate head coach had prior obligations — a 6:30 p.m. game between the No. 16 Razorbacks and Kentucky at Bud Walton Arena — and less to do with his 12-52 stint at the helm of his alma mater.

"If he didn't have a game, Kenny would have been here — despite what anybody might say," Valentine told reporters Thursday.

"Where Louisville is now, we're happy, Kenny's happy, everybody's happy," he later added. "Me and Milt talked about it, 'If he did come, what would the reception be like?' It wouldn't bother Kenny either way; but we know our fans — and I really believe in my heart that you're going to have two or three people (who would) probably say and do something crazy. ... We hope that everybody would welcome him as a champion. He did what he could do as a coach, it didn't work out and everybody moves on."

The Cards lost a program-record 28 games during Payne's inaugural season. Their back-to-back seasons with 20 or more losses in 2022-23 and 2024-25 were the first in UofL's 100-plus years of existence.

Setting a 30-game minimum, Payne's .188 winning percentage is the second-worst among Louisville coaches. Per ESPN, it was the worst among all high-major programs between 2022-24. The 22,090-seat Yum! Center, meanwhile, averaged a scanned ticket attendance of 6,504 across 35 home games during that stretch.

Payne has not said much publicly about his departure. Here's how he described it during a June 2024 interview with Hogs+, while recounting what led to teaming up with John Calipari again in Fayetteville:

"We decided to part ways — they decided to part ways — so you question yourself as a coach," Payne said. "And then, when it's over, the conversations that happen around the country: numerous NBA teams, numerous college teams and programs (saying), 'Kenny, we want you to be a part of what we're doing. We know exactly what happened.' And then you realize you really (were) on the right page. So for me, making sure that I went to a place that was a fit was probably the biggest thing. And John Calipari and I are close friends. I love working for him; I love working with him. I love taking care of kids. I have a dear friend in John Tyson who lives here. So it was a fit."

This story will be updated.

Reach Louisville men's basketball reporter Brooks Holton at [email protected] and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville basketball 1986 national championship team reunion, players