Rupp Arena is hosting men’s NCAA Tournament games this year. Why can’t UK play in those?

Rupp Arena in downtown Lexington — normally the cherished and historic home venue for the Kentucky men’s basketball team — is one of eight venues that will be hosting first- and second-round games in this year’s men’s NCAA Tournament.

Along with Rupp — which has hosted a total of 764 UK men’s basketball games since November 1976 — the seven other arenas set to stage games in the round of 64 and round of 32 this year are:

Rocket Arena (Cleveland); Ball Arena (Denver); Fiserv Forum (Milwaukee); Amica Mutual Pavilion (Providence, Rhode Island); Lenovo Center (Raleigh, North Carolina); Climate Pledge Arena (Seattle) and Intrust Bank Arena (Wichita, Kansas).

Kentucky now knows that it will be going to Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum as a 3 seed to face 14 seed Troy in first-round action on Friday night.

Even prior to Sunday’s Selection Show, it was known that UK wouldn’t be allowed to play in any of the NCAA Tournament games taking place at Rupp.

But why?

One of the five key bracketing principles that the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee uses when building the 68-team tournament bracket is “geographical placement.”

Within that bracketing principle lies the reason why Kentucky won’t be playing at Rupp in this year’s NCAA Tournament.

The “geographical placement” bracketing principle is described by the NCAA as follows: “Teams are placed as close to home as possible to maximize fan accessibility. Additionally, a team cannot play in a facility where it has played more than three games in a season or is the host school.”

Kentucky is the host school for this year’s NCAA Tournament games at Rupp Arena.

So there’s your crystal-clear reason why UK won’t be playing in Lexington.

In Pope’s first season as the UK coach, the Wildcats went 15-3 inside Rupp Arena. This included home victories against Louisville, Florida, Texas A&M, Tennessee and Vanderbilt that were major parts of UK’s NCAA Tournament résumé.

Lexington — which was most recently a host site for men’s March Madness in 2013 — will host four first-round games on Thursday.

Those games, in chronological order, are:

▪ 8 seed Louisville (27-7) against 9 seed Creighton (24-10) at 12:15 p.m.

▪ 1 seed Auburn, the tournament’s top overall seed, against the winner of a First Four game between 16 seeds Alabama State (19-15) and Saint Francis (Pa.) (16-17) at 2:50 p.m.

Both of these games are part of the South Regional (Atlanta).

▪ 2 seed Tennessee (27-7) against 15 seed Wofford (19-15) at 6:50 p.m.

▪ 7 seed UCLA (22-10) against 10 seed Utah State (26-7) at 9:25 p.m.

Wofford is coached by former Kentucky men’s basketball player Dwight Perry.

Both of these games are part of the Midwest Regional (Indianapolis).

UK women’s basketball expected to host NCAA Tournament games

While the Kentucky men’s basketball team isn’t able to play at home in the NCAA Tournament, that’s not the case for the UK women.

That’s because the top-16 seeded teams in the 68-team women’s NCAA Tournament field have the opportunity to host first- and second-round games at their home arenas if they meet hosting requirements.

And this year, that means women’s NCAA Tournament games will be played in Lexington.

After going 22-7 overall during his first season leading the Wildcats, head coach Kenny Brooks’ team earned a 4 seed in this year’s NCAA Tournament. Kentucky will face 13 seed Liberty in first-round action on Friday at Memorial Coliseum on the UK campus.

The winner of that matchup will play the winner of 5 seed Kansas State and 12 seed Fairfield, a game that will also be played in Lexington, in the round of 32.

This story was originally published March 16, 2025 at 5:00 AM.

Cameron Drummond

Lexington Herald-Leader

859-242-5257

Cameron Drummond works as a sports reporter for the Lexington Herald-Leader with a focus on Kentucky men’s basketball recruiting and the UK men’s basketball team, horse racing, soccer and other sports in Central Kentucky. Drummond is a second-generation American who was born and raised in Texas, before graduating from Indiana University. He is a fluent Spanish speaker who previously worked as a community news reporter in Austin, Texas. Support my work with a digital subscription