Too many ‘Christmas present games’ on UK basketball’s home schedule?

Kentucky fan Tom Atkinson recently paid $2,350 to renew his two season tickets. His seats are one row from the top at a corner of the upper arena (Section 219).

Kentucky fan Rick Music will continue his habit of passing on the chance to buy season tickets and instead spending that money on a trip to see UK play one game against a marquee opponent at a neutral site. This coming season he said he expects to “easily plunk down $1,000” for a trip with his wife to Indianapolis to see UK play Duke in the opening game.

A dissatisfaction with Kentucky’s home schedule for 2018-19 colors both decisions.

Atkinson, a native of Paris and a retired parole officer, said UK’s non-conference home schedule was made of “Christmas present games.” Rather than go see the Cats play, say, North Dakota (Nov. 14) or Tennessee State (Nov. 23), a fan might give those tickets away.

Meanwhile, Music, a retired corporation executive, will attend only one Kentucky game for sure: the one against Duke. “You get to see first-rate competition in an environment that’s not unlike NCAA Tournament time. ...,” he said. “It’s just an exciting time that you can get that experience early in a season you can’t get anywhere else.

“It’s a shame we can’t get it at Kentucky.”

By now, annual fan complaints about UK’s home schedule seem like an involuntary reflex. Increasingly, opponents want a return game at their home arenas in a future season in exchange for playing at Kentucky. That’s a non-starter. And, like all programs, UK includes some punching bags in its pre-conference schedule.

Guy Ramsey, the Assistant Director of New Media for UK Athletics, acknowledged that fans want high entertainment value. He said UK delivers in 2018-19 with “really good” Southeastern Conference home games. League opponents include defending co-champions Tennessee and Auburn, a Mississippi State team touted to be NCAA Tournament-ready and a Vanderbilt team buoyed by a heralded freshman class.

And Kentucky will play Kansas in Rupp Arena in a matchup of probable top-10 teams.

“I don’t think it’s going to get a whole lot better than that,” Ramsey said.

Kentucky must balance the fans’ wish for enticing games with the need not to overwhelm its typically freshman-dependent team, he added.

Atkinson sought compromise. “We don’t have to play six quality teams,” he said of the non-conference home schedule. “But let’s play more than one.”

Music dismissed the suggestion that Utah — with a 23-12 record last season and final Ratings Percentage Index of 40 last season — might join Kansas as a marquee opponent in Kentucky’s non-conference home schedule.

“To be honest, I don’t think anybody west of the Mississippi can play basketball,” he said while allowing the exception of Kansas. “There’s always hype about Arizona, Washington, Utah. They all fizzle out at NCAA Tournament time.”

(Does that West-is-not-best view apply to Reid Travis, the transfer from Stanford expected to contribute significantly to UK’s team this season? “Most of my rules have exceptions,” Music wrote in an email ending with a smiley-face emoji.)

College basketball analyst Jerry Palm of CBS Sports found Kentucky’s overall schedule “stronger than average” for a top-level program.

“Most top programs, you’re going to see maybe two or three big-name games,” he said. “And they’ve got four.”

That would be Duke (Nov. 6), North Carolina (Dec. 22), Louisville (Dec. 29) and Kansas (Jan. 26).

The problem for UK fans is only Kansas will be coming to Rupp Arena.

Even counting the Jayhawks, the average final 2017-18 RPI for UK’s nine non-conference home opponents was only 145.1.

Of course, Kentucky’s home schedule in SEC play seems to promise several competitive games. The average final RPI for the nine league teams coming to Rupp Arena was 54.1 (and that counts Vandy’s 131). “The league schedule-makers don’t sound like they did Kentucky a lot of favors,” Palm said.

But Music is unconvinced about the caliber of the SEC competition even after a record eight NCAA Tournament bids last spring.

“I’m not willing to fork over $$ to watch the preseason lambs slaughtered in Rupp in the ‘hope’ that the SEC teams are worth the price,” he wrote in an email. “In my opinion, the primary reason the SEC seemed stronger last year was that UK was struggling for much of the season.”

Ticket sales

The deadline for renewing season tickets was Aug. 30. That’s a flexible deadline, Guy Ramsey said.

UK received payment for 13,642 season tickets. For 2017-18, UK sold 16,587 season tickets. This 80-some percent rate of renewal is about what UK expected at this stage of the process, Ramsey said.

Over the next two weeks, UK will check with the 950 people who did not respond to the renewal notice, Ramsey said.

After that check, UK can turn to the 700 people who are on a waiting list for season tickets, Ramsey said.

Those notifying UK of a decision not to renew season tickets numbered 135, Ramsey said.

The base price for a lower level season ticket is $1,378. The base price for an upper level season ticket is $1,166.

A donation to the K Fund is required for some seats. That donation ranges from $500 to $5,000 per seat depending on location.

UK’s season-ticket sales are trending slightly downward. In the last four years, a peak of 17,170 came in 2015-16. That number slipped to 16,587 in 2017-18.

Ramsey welcomed the slight decrease what with an upcoming renovation of Rupp Arena — and the installation of chair-back seats to several upper level sections — expected to shrink capacity from 23,500 to about 20,500 in the 2019-20 season.

Toughest schedule?

Keeping in mind that rosters can change significantly from year to year, the final RPI numbers from last season suggest that Kentucky will have one of the tougher SEC schedules in 2018-19.

The five opponents UK will play home-and-home had a combined final RPI of 255. That’s Tennessee (10), Auburn (16), Florida (43), Mississippi State (55) and Vanderbilt (131).

The combined RPI numbers of home-and-home opponents for the other expected SEC contenders are 304 (Mississippi State), 321 (Florida), 325 (Tennessee) and 333 (Auburn).

Despite the addition of heralded freshmen, Vandy might have the hardest time contending. The Commodores’ five home-and-home opponents had a combined final RPI of 140 last season. That’s Tennessee (10), Kentucky (12), Arkansas (34), Alabama (41) and Florida (43).

Contract adjustments

In late June, UK adjusted the contracts for its assistant coaches.

According to UK records, associate coach Kenny Payne signed a new three-year deal that will expire in June of 2021. His salary increased from a reported $800,000 to $900,000.

Assistant coaches Tony Barbee and Joel Justus signed new one-year contracts.

UK gave Barbee a $40,000 raise, from a reported $400,000 to $440,000. Justus will be paid $230,000 this school year. He had been paid a reported $140,000.

New hire

On Thursday, UK basketball announced the hiring of Brady Kennedy as “recruiting analyst” for the program.

Kennedy joined the program as a student manager in 2012. Four years later, UK hired him as a graduate assistant for video. He has earned a master’s degree in kinesiology and health promotions with an emphasis on sports leadership.

His new duties will include coordinating recruiting visits, helping coaches with travel arrangements on recruiting trips and developing marketing ideas to appeal to future recruits.

“We are always looking for ways to improve the consistency of our message and managing how we are delivering it to potential future players,” UK Coach John Calipari said of hire in a news release.

Kennedy is a native of Alexandria, Ky. He played soccer for Franklin College as a freshman before transferring to UK. Prior to joining UK’s program, he worked basketball camps at such schools as Butler, Xavier and Florida Gulf Coast.

Happy birthday

To John Wall. He turned 28 on Thursday. ... To Alex Poythress. He turned 25 on Thursday. ... To Dale Brown (the former UK player). He turned 50 on Thursday. ... To Oak Hill Academy Coach (and Asbury graduate) Steve Smith. He turned 63 on Friday. ... To former Ole Miss Coach Rob Evans. He turned 72 on Friday. ... To retired referee John Clougherty. He turns 75 on Monday. ... To Mark Pope. He turns 46 on Tuesday. ... To EJ Montgomery. He turns 19 on Wednesday.