Kentucky shows off new basketball jerseys for 2022-23 season. The checkerboard is gone.
The new jerseys for the Kentucky men’s basketball team are here.
And the checkerboard is gone.
UK released a video featuring Oscar Tshiebwe in the new uniforms for the 2022-23 basketball season Tuesday, and — as expected — the controversial checkerboard pattern that was first added to the Wildcats’ game day digs in 2008 is nowhere to be seen on the latest jerseys.
Kentucky’s new look features a clean white jersey with blue trim, blue and gray lines down the left side, blue lettering and numbers, and a blue Nike swoosh on the front of jersey. There’s also a gold UK logo on the trim on the back of the jersey. The shorts are white, with a blue UK logo on the right side, another blue Nike swoosh and the relatively new Wildcat logo on the belt line.
This will be the first major change to the Kentucky basketball uniforms since the 2016-17 season, and the lack of checkerboard is sure to be the biggest talking point.
A vocal portion of the Kentucky fan base has been anti-checkerboard from the start. What was intended to be an ode to the legendary Triple Crown winner Secretariat wasn’t exactly well-received. The criticisms varied, with some questioning why the silks of a racehorse would be incorporated into the university’s sports teams and others pointing out that rival Tennessee already prominently used the pattern.
A Herald-Leader reader poll in 2018 delivered a lopsided victory for those opposed to the checkerboard, with 67.7 percent of respondents saying they “hate” the look. Only 5.8 percent said the checkerboards were “great,” while the rest of the options ranged from “OK” to “Who cares?”.
At the beginning of John Calipari’s tenure as Kentucky’s head men’s basketball coach in 2009, the checkerboard was relatively subtle, showing only on the belt line of the UK uniforms. The pattern spread from there, and checkerboards could be seen down the side of the jersey and the shorts starting with the 2016-17 season.
The Kentucky football team still had the checkerboard design incorporated into its uniforms for Saturday’s season opener.
UK basketball unveiled only the new home white uniforms Tuesday, so fans will be getting at least one more jersey reveal in the near future. The Wildcats’ home opener has not yet been set, and the final Kentucky basketball schedule for the 2022-23 season is expected to be released soon.
This story was originally published September 6, 2022 at 4:38 PM.
