The Olympic Games in Paris are quickly approaching and the U.S. will hope to leave France with the most gold medals this time around.

With plenty of opportunities across the events for America to bring home the gold medal, this year’s basketball team is once again a heavy favorite to leave Paris with the gold.

Several mega-stars make up the roster this season including LeBron James, Steph Curry, and Kevin Durant, the team also features three former Kentucky Wildcats that stand to play big roles on this USA squad.

Anthony Davis (2nd appearance), Bam Adebayo (2nd appearance), and Devin Booker (2nd appearance) have all become stars in the NBA, but now they continue the trend of former UK players to suit up for the National team.

The University of Kentucky has seen several of its program alumni head to the Olympic Games, including a former UK player making the roster dating back to the 2008 Olympics. Not to mention they all contribute at a high level when they make the squad.

In the latest matchup against Canada, all three players contributed in all areas of the game, with Davis leading the way, dropping 10 points on 5-of-10 shooting. He also added 11 rebounds, four blocks, two assists, and two steals.

We talk a lot among the fanbase about how high-profile a program we have in Lexington. New head coach Mark Pope has made that fact very clear since his arrival this spring. It goes so much deeper than the eight National Championships or being the winningest program in college basketball history. It also goes into the roots of the Team USA roster makeup in recent history.

It even goes deeper than that, as since 1948, the Cats have had a total of 13 players make the Olympic roster dating back to the 1948 games in London (which featured five players from the UK roster). The program has also had two coaches be named assistants for the team, with Adolph Rupp in 1948 and Tubby Smith in 2008.

Want to add more to the history? All players from the UK program have returned to the States with a gold medal from the games.

The other 10 players to make the roster outside of Booker, Davis, and Adebayo are; Cliff Barker (1948), Ralph Beard (1948), Alex Groza (1948), Wah Wah Jones (1948), Ken Rollins (1948), Billy Evans (1956), Adrian Smith (1960), Tayshaun Prince (2008), DeMarcus Cousins (2016), and Keldon Johnson (2020).

Whether it be Prince, Cousins, Johnson, Booker, Davis, or Adebayo, there are plenty of Cats that have rocked the red, white, and blue.

This year, Rhyne Howard, a former women’s basketball player will be representing Team USA on the women’s 3×3 national team. Howard, who is averaging 15.4 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 2.2 steals this season for this WNBA’s Atlanta Dream, injured her left ankle back in June and has been out. Her status for the Olympics is unclear at the moment.

Now, the three current members will look to help Team USA land their fifth-straight gold medal and add a second one to all three players’ accolades.

Team USA will open up the Olympics against Serbia and Bogdan Bogdanović on July 28th at 11:15 am. Alongside the US and Serbia, they are joined by South Sudan and Puerto Rico to round out their group.

Should be a fun time in Paris. Let’s bring home the gold.