UK and U of L are locks. Will any other Kentucky schools also make the NCAA Tournament?
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, all of these other schools have now been eliminated from NCAA Tournament contention.
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 341st 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 last week 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 against Jacksonville, 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).
Blanton is the first player in EKU program history to record 1,600 career points, 800 career rebounds and 400 career assists.
Morehead State was eliminated from the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament last Wednesday night. The Eagles, a 7 seed, lost in the first round of the conference tournament to 6 seed Lindenwood.
Northern Kentucky was eliminated from the Horizon League Tournament on Thursday night. NKU, the 7 seed for the conference tournament, lost at 2 seed Cleveland State in the quarterfinals by a 68-63 score.
Murray State was eliminated from the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament on Friday night. Murray State, the 7 seed for the conference tournament, lost to 2 seed Bradley in the quarterfinals by a 70-62 score.
Lastly, Western Kentucky was eliminated in the first round of the C-USA Tournament on Tuesday night. The Hilltoppers lost, 64-61, to FIU.
As such, only UK and Louisville are set to represent the commonwealth in the 68-team NCAA Tournament bracket.
Which Kentucky schools could make men’s basketball NCAA Tournament?
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 (21-10 overall, 10-8 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.
The Cats boast plenty of high-quality wins and are currently projected 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 — are the 6 seed for this week’s SEC Tournament. UK will open tournament play on Thursday night against either 11 seed Georgia or 14 seed Oklahoma in the second round.
The SEC Tournament runs March 12-16 in Nashville.
▪ Louisville (25-6 overall, 18-2 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 were 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.
Louisville is currently projected by ESPN as an 8 seed for the NCAA Tournament, a standing that could be boosted further if U of L shows well in the ACC Tournament.
The Cardinals are the 2 seed for this week’s ACC Tournament. Louisville will begin tournament play against either 7 seed Stanford or 15 seed California on Thursday in the tournament quarterfinals.
The ACC Tournament runs March 11-15 in Charlotte.
▪ Morehead State (15-17 overall, 10-10 in Ohio Valley Conference): It was 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 were the 7 seed for this season’s OVC Tournament, and lost to 6 seed Lindenwood, 73-65, in the first round of the event on Wednesday night.
Lindenwood defeated Morehead State despite going 1-for-15 (6.7%) on 3-pointers. Lindenwood went a perfect 27-for-27 from the free-throw line in the game.
This is the first losing season for Morehead State since the 2019-20 season.
▪ Murray State (16-17 overall, 9-11 in Missouri Valley Conference): The Steve Prohm 2.0 coaching experience is likely over at Murray State.
The rumor mill is churning with talk of Prohm stepping aside after Murray State’s exit in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament quarterfinals on Friday.
Prohm was Murray State’s coach for four seasons from 2011 to 2015, and he’s been the coach again at the school since 2022.
Murray State was the 7 seed for this season’s MVC Tournament. The Racers defeated 10 seed Evansville on Thursday night by a 74-53 score before losing to 2 seed Bradley on Friday night by a 70-62 score.
The Racers haven’t made the NCAA Tournament 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 (17-16 overall, 11-9 in Horizon League): NKU took a four-game winning streak into this season’s Horizon League Tournament, and the Norse won their first game in the postseason on Tuesday night. Northern Kentucky, the 7 seed for the conference tournament, topped 10 seed Detroit Mercy by a 99-75 final score in a first-round game in Highland Heights.
But, NKU lost at 2 seed Cleveland State, 68-63, in the quarterfinals on Thursday night in Cleveland.
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 (17-15 overall, 8-10 in Conference USA): Like Morehead State, Western Kentucky also underwent a head coaching change last offseason after making the 2024 NCAA Tournament.
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.
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 was the 7 seed in the C-USA Tournament, and lost to 10 seed FIU on Tuesday night.
There will be no repeat trip to March Madness for the Hilltoppers.
This story was originally published March 4, 2025 at 7:15 AM.
