Here’s a school-by-school look at how Kentucky’s eight NCAA Division I men’s basketball programs are shaping up with March Madness just around the corner.
Schools are listed in alphabetical order.
▪ Bellarmine (5-26 overall, 2-16 in Atlantic Sun Conference): Bellarmine finished last in the 12-team ASUN Conference standings and failed to qualify for the conference tournament.
This was the first season in which Scott Davenport’s team was eligible for the NCAA Tournament at the Division I level, but the Knights fell well short of that goal. Bellarmine’s only wins in league play this season came against Austin Peay and EKU in consecutive home games on Feb. 18 and Feb. 20.
Famously, Bellarmine won the 2022 ASUN Tournament, but wasn’t allowed to earn the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament while the school transitioned from the Division II to the Division I level.
▪ Eastern Kentucky (18-14 overall, 12-6 in Atlantic Sun Conference): Eastern Kentucky was the 5 seed for the ASUN Conference Tournament and lost at 4 seed Jacksonville, 78-67, on Monday night in a tournament quarterfinal.
In the final game of his college career, the aforementioned Blanton had 27 points, seven rebounds and four assists.
EKU last qualified for the NCAA Tournament in 2014.
Last year, Eastern Kentucky won a men’s basketball regular season conference title for the first time in more than 40 years. But that season, like this one, ended with a loss to Jacksonville in the ASUN Tournament quarterfinals.
Kentucky (19-10 overall, 8-8 in SEC): Mark Pope’s first season as the Kentucky men’s basketball coach has featured some highs and lows, but the Wildcats will ultimately end up in March Madness with a good seed.
Despite a .500 record in the SEC this season, the Cats boast plenty of high-quality wins and are currently predicted by Bracket Matrix to be a 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Despite a .500 record in the SEC this season, the Cats boast plenty of high-quality wins and are currently predicted by Bracket Matrix to be a 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
The Wildcats — who will likely be without both Kerr Kriisa and Jaxson Robinson for the remainder of the season — close the regular season with a home game against LSU on Tuesday and a road game at No. 15 Missouri on Saturday.
The SEC Tournament runs March 12-16 in Nashville.
▪ Louisville (23-6 overall, 16-2 in ACC): Pat Kelsey has successfully led the “ReviVILLE” for the Cardinals
After two disastrous seasons under Kenny Payne, Louisville is back to being a force in men’s college basketball. The Cards’ only losses in ACC play this season have come at home to No. 2 Duke and at Georgia Tech. Despite a tough showing in nonconference play, U of L will be dancing for the first time since 2019.
Bracket Matrix projects Louisville as a 6 seed, a standing that could be boosted further if U of L shows well in the ACC Tournament.
The Cardinals close the regular season with home games against California on Wednesday and Stanford on Saturday. The ACC Tournament runs March 11-15 in Charlotte.
Morehead State (15-16 overall, 10-10 in Ohio Valley Conference): It’s been a season of change for Morehead State. Last year, the Eagles won a share of the Ohio Valley Conference regular-season championship before winning the OVC Tournament and qualifying for March Madness for the ninth time in program history.
In the offseason, former coach Preston Spradlin — who is from Pikeville and is considered a rising coaching star — left Morehead for James Madison. The Eagles replaced him with Jonathan Mattox, a former Morehead State assistant.
The Eagles are the 7 seed for this season’s OVC Tournament, which runs Wednesday through Saturday in Evansville, Indiana. Morehead State opens against 6 seed Lindenwood in the first round of the tournament Wednesday night.
Morehead State would have to win four games in four days to qualify for a second straight edition of March Madness.
Murray State (15-16 overall, 9-11 in Missouri Valley Conference): The Steve Prohm 2.0 coaching experience hasn’t gone all that well for the Racers, who last made the NCAA Tournament in 2022 under the direction of current LSU coach Matt McMahon.
McMahon’s departure and Prohm’s return — he was Murray State’s coach for four seasons from 2011 to 2015 — coincided with Murray State moving from the Ohio Valley Conference to the Missouri Valley Conference.
Murray State is the 7 seed for this season’s MVC Tournament, which runs from Thursday through Sunday in St. Louis. The Racers open tournament play with a first-round matchup against 10 seed Evansville on Thursday night.
The Racers would have to win four games in four days to reach the NCAA Tournament, which they haven’t done since 2022. On that occasion, Murray State reached the round of 32 before losing to Saint Peter’s, which had upset Kentucky in the Round of 64.
Northern Kentucky (16-15 overall, 11-9 in Horizon League): Northern Kentucky head coach Darrin Horn has a knack for getting his teams to play their best basketball in March, and he might be at it again.
NKU will take a four-game winning streak into this season’s Horizon League Tournament. Northern Kentucky is the 7 seed for the conference tournament and begins play against 10 seed Detroit Mercy in a first-round game on Tuesday night in Highland Heights.
The Horizon League Tournament starts Tuesday and lasts one week.
Horn has led the Norse to a pair of Horizon League Tournament wins in 2020 and 2023. While NKU wasn’t able to participate in the canceled 2020 NCAA Tournament, the Norse made their presence felt in the 2023 event. Despite being a 16 seed in the 2023 NCAA Tournament, NKU pushed 1 seed Houston all the way in a first-round loss.
Western Kentucky (16-13 overall, 7-9 in Conference USA): Like Morehead State, Western Kentucky also underwent a head coaching change last offseason after making the 2024 NCAA Tournament.
WKU hired Hank Plona — a former standout junior college coach who was on Lutz’s WKU staff as an assistant coach — to replace Lutz.
Western Kentucky still has two regular season games left — both at home against Florida International on Thursday and Liberty on Saturday — to help improve its seeding for the end-of-season Conference USA Tournament in Huntsville, Alabama.
Currently, WKU is eighth in the 10-team C-USA standings. The C-USA Tournament runs from March 11 until March 15.
In the Hilltoppers’ case, former coach Steve Lutz spent only one season in Bowling Green before departing for Oklahoma State. But in that one season, Lutz led WKU to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2013.
