Dick Vitale is not a fan of UK’s non-league schedule. Does he have a point?
Kentucky men’s basketball announced the “buy” games on its 2026-27 schedule last week. Dick Vitale was unimpressed.
“Five legit challenges” and “many cupcakes” is how the ESPN analyst characterized the overall UK non-league slate in a post on the social media platform X.
Wrote Vitale: “Cats fans and players deserve a more challenging schedule in getting ready for the SEC.”
(We should all be thinking good thoughts for Vitale, 87, as he undergoes immunotherapy treatments for what he describes as “cancer on my lungs and liver.”)
Is the UK men’s hoops slate too soft?
As Vitale noted, there are five high-level contests on the 2026-27 non-league schedule for Mark Pope’s Cats.
UK will play Kansas in Chicago in the Champions Classic; Indiana at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis; at Virginia in the SEC/ACC Challenge; intrastate rival Louisville at Rupp Arena; and North Carolina in the CBS Sports Classic at Madison Square Garden.
It is disappointing that UK and Gonzaga won’t be playing this season after the schools canceled the final two years of what had been a six-game contract. Even so, Kentucky having five “marquee” non-conference opponents in a season is well within the parameters of recent UK scheduling protocol.
Last season, with Gonzaga still on the Kentucky schedule, the Cats played six high-level, non-league games. In Pope’s first season as UK coach, 2024-25, UK played five such contests.
Over the final three seasons of the John Calipari coaching era, UK played five (2023-24), six (2022-23) and four (2021-22) big-time, out-of-conference opponents.
In playing five high-level foes prior to conference play, Kentucky’s 2026-27 schedule is in line with others among the most-visible men’s hoops programs.
Duke is slated to play six such opponents — Michigan State, Illinois, Connecticut, Florida, Michigan and Gonzaga.
Kansas will also play at least six such games, including contests with UK, Villanova and UConn.
Defending national champion Michigan has five marquee non-league games scheduled, including meetings vs. Duke, UConn and Creighton.
Louisville also has five such contests announced, with games vs. Texas Tech, Texas and Kentucky among them.
Where the coming season’s UK schedule lacks heft is in the so-called “buy” games — opponents to whom Kentucky will pay a financial guarantee in return for that team playing the Cats at Rupp Arena.
Of the non-power conference teams on the UK schedule for next year, can you guess how many had a winning record in 2025-26?
Hint: It was fewer than two.
Let’s run through those opponents with their records from last season:
In the current college sports era of unrestricted player movement, teams can radically transform themselves from one season to the next. So maybe some of the above teams will be terrific in 2026-27.
Based on last year’s performances, however, it will not exactly be a who’s who of basketball competence that Kentucky is bringing in to perform in front of the paying customers at Rupp Arena next winter.
Only two of the non-marquee, non-league games UK has scheduled even have a notable storyline.
When James Madison invades Rupp Arena, it will mean a return to Kentucky for former Morehead State head coach and ex-UK aide Preston Spradlin.
The game with JMU will also feature incoming Kentucky transfer forward Justin McBride going against the team for which he played last season.
Meanwhile, Gardner-Webb’s return to Rupp Arena will be the first for the Bulldogs since their shocking 84-68 upset of UK in 2007-08 in what was the second game of what would be Billy Gillispie’s ill-fated, two-year tenure as Kentucky head coach.
If UK is going to go so light in its non-league home scheduling, it could at least do things to make those games more interesting for the ticket-buying public.
Some years back, a frustrated Wildcats season-ticket holder suggested what I subsequently dubbed “theme scheduling” for Kentucky’s non-league contests at Rupp Arena.
The idea is that, each year, UK could conduct its non-marquee, non-league scheduling around a theme:
Theme one: “NCAA Tournament revenge.”
Teams that pinned hurtful NCAA tourney defeats on UK — Oakland, Saint Peter’s, UAB, Middle Tennessee State, Western Kentucky, Jacksonville, UTEP to name seven— could be invited to Rupp for rematches.
Theme two: “Payback for shocking Rupp Arena upsets.”
North Carolina-Wilmington, Richmond, Evansville, VMI, San Diego, Gardner-Webb, WKU — all of whom have beaten Kentucky at Rupp in the 21st century — could be asked to return to Lexington to face the music.
Theme three: “Bluegrass State battles.”
Playing multiple home games in the same season vs. some combination of Bellarmine, Eastern Kentucky, Morehead State, Murray State, Northern Kentucky and Western Kentucky would be far more interesting than what UK will provide its fans this year.
Bottom line on the 2026-27 Kentucky non-league schedule: There are presently five games worth looking forward to.
Otherwise, as Dickie V. might put it, it’s going to be cupcake city, baby, for Mark Pope and Co.
