Inside the Kentucky basketball team’s Selection Sunday party. ‘This is what you do it for’
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NCAA Selection Sunday 2025: Brackets, analysis, predictions and more
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Selection Sunday 2025 as brackets are revealed for the men’s and women’s NCAA basketball tournaments.
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Before the Selection Sunday show began, Mark Pope called for silence and addressed the Kentucky basketball faithful in front of him.
A group of well over a hundred people had assembled in a club room inside Rupp Arena — blue and white balloons, a catered dinner and a massive television screen in the middle of it all.
More than four months after the Wildcats played their first game of the 2024-25 season — and more than nine months since they all arrived in Lexington to form Pope’s first roster as leader of his alma mater — this UK team was about to learn its NCAA Tournament draw.
First, Pope shared some words of thanks.
His players and coaches were in the room, of course. But the space was also filled with high-level donors, UK Athletics employees from all tiers on the workflow chart and other supporters of the men’s basketball program.
Pope reserved a special mention for the wives of his coaching staff — asking them to stand up and receive some recognition, saving a shout-out for his wife, Lee Anne, at the end — and there were smiles all over as the younger children of those UK staffers waited for the show to start, with varying degrees of interest.
When the show did start, the Wildcats took their seats in the first row facing the TV and waited. Pope made the rounds, taking selfies with groups of supporters.
The first regional reveal showed Louisville placed in Rupp Arena for its opening game.
After a commercial break, the second regional was unveiled. That one showed BYU — the team Pope coached for the past five years — as a 6 seed. By the time the day began, Kentucky was projected by just about everyone as a 3 seed, meaning the Cats could face one of those 6s in the second round, meaning Pope vs. the Cougars was looking like a possibility.
A heightened sense of anticipation came over the room. Several folks sitting near the Pope family shot them a glance. Several of the Kentucky players looked at Jaxson Robinson, their teammate who had been BYU’s leading scorer last season, before following Pope to Lexington.
Wisconsin was announced as the 3 seed there. There was a sigh of relief from some corners of the room. Several UK players laughed as they kept looking at Robinson, who paused for comedic effect before unleashing a slight smile.
And then it was Kentucky’s turn. The crowd cheered — and the Cats themselves rose to clap — when UK was announced as the 3 seed in the Midwest Regional, with 14-seeded Troy as its opening-round opponent in Milwaukee, its path beyond that going through Indianapolis, with the Final Four in San Antonio as the ultimate destination — if all goes according to plan.
Once that regional was complete and the show went to commercial again, Pope walked down the line and gave each of his players a high-five. He then circled around to the second row and shook hands with all of the team managers sitting behind the Wildcats before returning to his seat.
There was one more regional to go, but obviously far less interest now that the Cats knew where they were going. The interest picked up when Arkansas — now coached by John Calipari — appeared on the screen opposite Kansas, the preseason No. 1 team in the country.
The mild chatter turned to audible chuckling when the possible second-round matchup for the Razorbacks was revealed to be St. John’s, now coached by Rick Pitino, the leader of the Wildcats back in 1996, when Pope was a UK player and Kentucky was king of college basketball.
A few holdovers from the Calipari era exchanged knowing glances.
Up until this season, the UK basketball watch party on Selection Sunday had been more of a private affair, typically taking place in the Calipari home, where the players and coaches gathered with some select staffers and a handful of media members to watch the show.
When this one was finished, UK athletics director Mitch Barnhart grabbed a microphone and thanked the new Kentucky coach.
“This comes from him. This is his idea,” Barnhart said. “This is his idea to bring a family together. So thank you, Mark. We all thank you for that. It means an awful lot. It’s been a long time since we’ve done something like this. Really, really cool stuff.”
Barnhart also thanked all those in attendance, before turning his attention to the first row of seats.
“But most of all, before I walk out of here, thank you to these guys that came and believed in Kentucky,” he told the players. “We hope that the Kentucky experience — for those that are not able to come back — we hope that it’s been what you dreamed it would be and hoped it would be. We thank you for everything you’ve done. It’s a special, special place.”
Kentucky’s NCAA Tournament path
The Wildcats will tip off their 2025 NCAA Tournament journey at 7:10 p.m. EDT Friday in Milwaukee, with the game against Troy set for CBS.
If UK wins that one — and the Cats were 10.5-point favorites by Sunday night — the next opponent would be either 6-seeded Illinois or the winner of the First Four game between 11 seeds Texas and Xavier.
A win there would send the Wildcats to the Sweet 16, a place they haven’t been since 2019, with 2-seeded Tennessee as the most likely opponent. Top-seeded Houston, 4-seeded Purdue and 5-seeded Clemson are in the upper half of the Midwest bracket, potential Elite Eight opponents.
But the names Houston, Tennessee and Illinois didn’t come out of anyone’s mouth on UK’s end Sunday.
“I think the most important thing we can do is just look forward to the first game that we play,” said Kentucky guard Koby Brea, noting he played against the Trojans while at Dayton last season and had already pulled up their roster on his phone. “… We’re not trying to overlook any opponents or look (deeper) into our bracket. Just kind of focus on what we have in front of us. And as long as we take care of that, I think we’ll be in a pretty good spot going forward.”
One pretty good spot of news confirmed Sunday was that Lamont Butler would be ready to go for that game against Troy after suffering a left shoulder injury that knocked him out of last week’s SEC Tournament and threw the remainder of his season into doubt.
Word had spread by Sunday evening that Butler should be able to play in the NCAA Tournament, and the player himself showed up to put an end to any speculation to the contrary. He said he was “feeling good” and couldn’t wait to get back on the court Friday night. He also talked about the perseverance this team has shown amid injury issues all season long.
“I think it really just comes down to us having that bond together,” Butler said. “Because we’re a brotherhood, and we’re playing for our brothers — one guy goes down, we’re trying to pick them up. And we love each other so much that we want to go out there and win for them. So I think it’s been happening all year, and we’re going to continue to do it in March.”
It starts with the Troy Trojans, who finished in a four-way tie for first place in the Sun Belt Conference and defeated co-champs Arkansas State in the tournament title game to go into this week with a 23-10 record.
The Trojans are coached by Scott Cross, who went to the NCAA Tournament once — as well as four other postseason events — in 12 years in charge of UT Arlington. This is his sixth season at Troy and first NCAA Tournament berth with the Trojans.
“Scott Cross is a great coach who’s been doing this for a long time at a high level,” Pope said. “I got a ton of respect for him. I haven’t gotten into the nuts and bolts of them yet, but it’s a terrific team.”
Troy is No. 98 nationally in the KenPom ratings — LSU, which UK demolished two weeks ago in Rupp, is No. 88, to offer a recent point of comparison — but Kentucky fans don’t need much reminder of how dangerous a 14 seed can be. That was Oakland’s spot in the bracket hierarchy this time last year. And that team sent the Wildcats packing in the first round. Calipari was bound for Fayetteville not long after that.
And while this Kentucky team’s ultimate objective is much larger than a win Friday night — and everyone associated with UK basketball is well aware of the fan expectations surrounding the program — Pope also knows that a victory in game one is the only way to get to game six.
“This is what you do it for. Right now, is the chance to go,” he said. “And we’re fully aware of the expectations here, and that’s why we came. That’s why we all came. And we’re very humble, and we understand how difficult the road is, and both those things exist at the same time. And that’s why it’s such a beautiful challenge. And we’ll spend the next five days laser focused on one thing, and that’s Troy, and trying to figure out how to beat ’em.”
Pope got questions about all corners for the bracket Sunday evening.
He got questions about that brief possibility of a game against BYU.
He got questions about the potential matchup between Calipari and Pitino.
He got questions about the SEC landing 14 teams in the tournament, a record for one league.
He got questions about himself and the fact that — while he helped lead the Wildcats to a national title as a player — he’s never won an NCAA Tournament game as a head coach.
“This is so much bigger than that,” he said of the focus on himself.
Each time the topic turned to him, he turned it right back toward the current players, a group that was pieced together on the fly last spring, battled through ups and downs, tied a record for most victories over AP top 15 teams with eight but just happen to be coming off the worst loss of their season.
Whatever happens next, by this time next month, this group will have played their final game together. Whatever happens next, they want to make it count.
“We talked about it today. We’ve talked about it for the last three months. I mean, the season goes by so fast,” Pope said. “And with this group, this is our only season. … And I think that we’re just desperate to make this last as long as we can.”
Kentucky’s tournament opener
No. 3 seed Kentucky vs. No. 14 seed Troy
What: NCAA Tournament Midwest Regional
When: 7:10 p.m. EDT Friday
Where: Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee
TV: CBS
Records: Kentucky 21-11, Troy 23-10
ABOUT TROY
Location: Troy, Alabama
Enrollment: 20,000
Nickname: Trojans
School colors: Cardinal and Black
Head coach: Scott Cross (103-86 in six seasons at Troy and 328-247 in 18 seasons overall)
Conference: Sun Belt
NCAA berth: Automatic (Troy won the conference tournament after finishing in a four-way tie for first place during the regular season)
All-time series: Kentucky leads 1-0
Last meeting: Kentucky won 70-62 on Nov. 20, 2017, in the Adolph Rupp Classic at Rupp Arena.
Common opponents with Kentucky this season: Troy lost to Arkansas 65-49 (Nov. 13) and beat Georgia State 77-57 (Dec. 21).
Notable games this season: Against Power Four conferences, Troy lost to Oregon 82-61 and Houston 62-42 in addition to its loss to Arkansas. The Trojans beat Eastern Kentucky 84-74 and Marshall 58-57.
This story was originally published March 16, 2025 at 9:59 PM.
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