Rick Pitino wanted to restore Louisville's basketball program to national prominence by the time his first recruiting class left.

His success in doing so by guiding the Cardinals to the Final Four during his fourth season as their coach was the top sports story of 2005 in Kentucky, according to state sports editors and broadcasters.

In a season full of hoops successes _ Kentucky's advance to the Elite Eight, Eastern Kentucky's first NCAA tournament bid in 26 years, a run to the Women's National Invitation Tournament semifinals by Kentucky _ Louisville's march to St. Louis and the Final Four stood out.

Led by junior guard Francisco Garcia and the senior trio of Larry O'Bannon, Ellis Myles and Otis George, the Cardinals finished 33-5, winning 22 of their last 24 games and sweeping the Conference USA regular-season and tournament titles in their final season in the league.

The Cardinals were the first Louisville squad to reach the Final Four since the 1986 national championship team and matched the school record for wins set by the 1980 national championship team.

Despite a No. 4 ranking, Louisville was seeded only fourth in its NCAA regional. The Cardinals gutted out a 68-62 win over Louisiana-Lafayette in the first round, then rolled past Georgia Tech 76-54 and Washington 93-79.

In the regional final in Albuquerque, N.M., West Virginia hit 18 3-pointers and led Louisville by 20 points, but the Cardinals clawed back to force overtime and win 93-85.

Pitino became the first men's coach to take three different schools to the Final Four, having earlier done so with Providence and Kentucky. But the Cardinals' run ended in the national semifinals with a 72-57 loss to Illinois.

The second- and third-place stories, according to state voters, involved Kentucky basketball: the saga of Randolph Morris and the Wildcats' run to the Elite Eight.

Morris started all but one game for Kentucky as a freshman, and the 6-foot-10 center decided that was enough to test the NBA waters. He informed Kentucky coach Tubby Smith of his intentions in May via fax.

Morris went undrafted, though, and decided in July to return to Kentucky via a seldom-used NCAA rule. Morris and Kentucky officials claimed he had no written or oral agreement with sports agency SFX. Five months later, on Dec. 8, the NCAA restored his eligibility but suspended him for a season, leaving the Wildcats with a mammoth hole in the middle to fill.

But less than a week later, the fax that Morris sent Smith suddenly reappeared, and on Dec. 15, the NCAA cut its suspension of Morris to a half-season, citing his statement in the fax that "my intent is not to obtain an agent so as to maintain my collegiate eligibility."

Morris and the Wildcats finished 28-6 and almost joined Louisville in the Final Four, but fell just short, dropping a 94-88 double-overtime classic to Michigan State in a regional final in Austin, Texas.

Kentucky beat in-state rival Eastern Kentucky and regional rival Cincinnati to advance to Austin, then dispatched Utah and eventual No. 1 NBA draft pick Andrew Bogut to reach the Elite Eight.

Against Michigan State, Kentucky rallied from an eight-point deficit with 5:25 left and tied the game on a dramatic 3-pointer at the buzzer by Patrick Sparks that bounced four times on the rim before falling through the basket. Officials looked at replays for more than five minutes to make sure Sparks' toe was behind the 3-point line when he released the shot.

Kentucky had the ball at the end of the first overtime but failed to take a shot during the final 20 seconds. Michigan State made 11 straight free throws in the second overtime.

Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart's decision to retain football coach Rich Brooks for a fourth season was voted the No. 4 story of the year. Brooks finished 3-8 this season and is 9-25 in three seasons with the Wildcats.

The Wildcats, still trying to overcome the loss of 19 scholarships during a three-year period due to NCAA sanctions, had 29 players undergo surgery at some point from the start of preseason practice through the week after their season finale against Tennessee.

Giacomo's stunning Kentucky Derby win at 50-1 odds ranked No. 5. The son of beaten 1994 Derby favorite Holy Bull had won just once in seven previous starts but blew past a field that included a Derby-record five horses trained by Nick Zito _ none of which finished better than seventh.

Giacomo gave trainer John Shirreffs and jockey Mike Smith their first Derby wins and produced the second-highest win payoff in Derby history _ $102.60 on a $2 win ticket. The Derby record is $184.90 by Donerail in 1913.

Two stories tied for sixth: Louisville football's first season in the Big East Conference, which resulted in a 9-2 record and a Gator Bowl bid, and Eastern Kentucky's Ohio Valley Conference basketball tournament title, which gave the Colonels their first NCAA tournament bid since 1979.

The November opening of the $80 million Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville ranked eighth. Kentucky Speedway's $400 million federal antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR, through which the speedway hopes to land a Nextel Cup race, was filed July 13 and ranked ninth.

Finishing No. 10 was the debate within the Kentucky High School Athletic Association about the possible separation of public- and private-school members for postseason competition. The KHSAA delegate assembly voted 195-78 on Oct. 20 in favor of separation, but the KHSAA Board of Control voted 9-7 the next day not to recommend that proposal to the state Board of Education.

In December, a state board committee sent the issue back to the KHSAA and requested that a solution be reached by Feb. 1.