After Sweet 16 loss, is UK still the most valuable college basketball program?

It may have lost more than a fourth of its value from the previous year, but the University of Kentucky retained its top spot in an annual Wall Street Journal study of the most valuable college basketball programs in the country.

Ryan Brewer, an assistant professor of finance at Indiana University-Purdue University Columbus assessed Kentucky’s worth as $246.6 million, which is actually 28 percent lower than 2016. The value was still enough for it to stay atop of the rankings, with Indiana having an assessment of $243 million for second place.

According to the study, Brewer determines his valuations by analyzing “each program’s revenues and expenses with cash-flow adjustments, risk assessments and growth projections.”

It’s not just UK whose value is down from last year. Valuations across the sport are down 7.4 percent, in part because of the federal probes and issues about amateurism surrounding college basketball.

“In particular for college basketball, the FBI investigation attacks the very heart of the industry,” Brewer said. “The reason for the drop in the valuation is that new risk.”

One program that has been at the center of the recent FBI allegations is the University of Louisville, which is third in this year’s rankings at $233.6 million. Its program saw a decrease of value of 27 percent from the previous year.

Kentucky is the only team in the Southeastern Conference in the top 18 of the rankings. Eleven of the top 14 in the rankings are from either the Big Ten or ACC.

But value doesn’t always translate to wins and success. Villanova, the favorite in Monday night’s NCAA Tournament championship game, is sandwiched between St. John’s and Texas A&M with a value ranked 55th. Its opponent in tonight’s game, Michigan, is 17th in the valuation.

Three of the top 10 teams in the rankings, most notably Indiana, failed to make the NCAA Tournament.

This story was originally published April 2, 2018 at 11:04 AM with the headline "After Sweet 16 loss, is UK still the most valuable college basketball program?."