In every NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament since 1963, the Commonwealth of Kentucky has had at least one school in the field.
This impressive streak is set to continue with the 2025 edition of March Madness: Both Kentucky and Louisville are locks to make the field, and both schools are also currently ranked inside the top 20 of the AP poll.
But what about the other six NCAA Division I men’s basketball programs in Kentucky? What’s their outlook as far as a trip to the Big Dance is concerned?
Well, only four of those schools are still in contention to qualify for the NCAA Tournament. Both of the Kentucky schools in the Atlantic Sun Conference — Bellarmine and Eastern Kentucky — have been eliminated from winning that league’s automatic bid into the NCAA field.
Bellarmine went a horrific 5-26 this season and lost all 16 of its road games. The Knights — who currently rank 342nd out of 364 teams in the KenPom metrics — failed to qualify for the ASUN Conference Tournament.
This was the first season in which Bellarmine was eligible to be part of the NCAA Tournament field.
Eastern Kentucky went 18-14 overall and had its season end Monday night in the quarterfinals of the ASUN Conference Tournament. For the second straight season, EKU was eliminated by Jacksonville. The Colonels led on the road by 11 points at halftime Monday, but were outscored by 22 points in the second half.
With the loss, the college career of fifth-year EKU star Devontae Blanton came to an end. In Eastern Kentucky men’s basketball history, Blanton ranks second all-time in points (2,050), fourth all-time in assists (430) and seventh all-time in rebounds (837).
That leaves Morehead State, Murray State, Northern Kentucky and Western Kentucky as the schools that could join UK and U of L in the 68-team NCAA Tournament bracket.
