Want to dream big? How about 8 teams from Kentucky in the NCAA basketball tourney
In what Eastern Kentucky University athletics director Kyle Moats describes as a “football move,” EKU will officially switch conferences July 1. On Wednesday, Eastern will formally leave the ASUN to join an all-sports version of the United Athletic Conference.
Essentially, the football-playing schools from the ASUN are merging with the Western Athletic Conference to create a league with enough teams to earn the new conference an automatic bid to the FCS playoffs.
Yet what is a “football move” could have the greatest impact within the state of Kentucky in basketball.
With Eastern leaving the ASUN, all eight of Kentucky’s NCAA Division I schools will now be in different leagues — Bellarmine (ASUN), EKU (UAC), Kentucky (SEC), Louisville (ACC), Morehead State (OVC), Murray State (Missouri Valley), Northern Kentucky (Horizon League) and Western Kentucky (C-USA).
If you want to dream big, as of July 1, it is at least theoretically possible for the commonwealth to send eight different teams to the men’s and women’s NCAA basketball tournaments in future years.
“That would be great,” EKU’s Moats said.
Actually, it would be stupendous.
For my money, our state’s greatest sports achievement is that Kentucky has had at least one team participate in 62 straight men’s NCAA basketball tournaments. John F. Kennedy resided in the White House the last time a men’s NCAA tourney tipped off without a team from the commonwealth — on March 9, 1963.
During the state of Kentucky’s NCAA Tournament streak, our state has sent multiple teams into March Madness in 52 of the 62 tourneys.
Starting with the 1964 tournament, the state of Kentucky has had three teams in the field 25 times. Our state has sent two teams to the tourney 24 times.
On three occasions, the commonwealth has sent four teams into March Madness — 1995 (Kentucky, Louisville, Murray State, Western Kentucky); 2012 (UK, U of L, Murray State, WKU); and 2019 (UK, U of L, Murray State, Northern Kentucky).
Our state has yet to get more than four teams into an NCAA tournament.
For the first 17 years of Kentucky’s NCAA Tournament streak (1965 through 1980), three was the maximum number of teams that the commonwealth could realistically aspire to send to March Madness in a season.
UK and U of L have been in different leagues throughout NCAA tourney history.
However, within the parameters of Kentucky’s NCAA Tournament streak, EKU, Murray State, Morehead State and WKU were all in the Ohio Valley Conference from 1964 through 1980. In that era of smaller NCAA tourney fields, the four in-state rivals were fighting for the OVC’s automatic bid.
Starting when Western left the OVC for the Sun Belt Conference in 1980-81, it became possible for the commonwealth to send a maximum of four teams into March Madness.
In this century, that number has doubled. NKU and Bellarmine transitioning upward from NCAA Division II gave our state eight D-I schools. When EKU and Murray State left Morehead State behind in the OVC to join new conferences, the number of Kentucky teams that that could realistically make the NCAA Tournament in one season rose to seven.
As of Wednesday, EKU’s move to the UAC will raise that number to eight.
Kentucky’s NCAA women’s tourney history
In women’s basketball, the Bluegrass State’s streak of consecutive NCAA Tournaments with at least one team in the field is a relatively modest 21.
Over the 44 women’s NCAA tourneys held since the event began in 1982, the state of Kentucky has had at least one team in the field 41 times.
In 1996, 2002 and 2004, there were no teams from the commonwealth in the tourney.
Eight times, including 2026 (UK, Louisville, Murray State), there have been three Kentucky teams in the women’s tourney; 16 times our state has sent two teams; and 17 times the commonwealth has had only one team in the tournament.
The state of Kentucky has never sent four teams to the women’s NCAA Tournament.
Neither Morehead State, Northern Kentucky nor Bellarmine have ever played in the women’s D-I NCAA tourney. In fairness, the Knights (two years) and Norse (10 years) have not had long stints of eligibility for the D-I tournament.
Meanwhile, neither Murray State (0-3) nor EKU (0-2) have ever won a women’s NCAA Tournament game.
So the commonwealth’s success in the women’s NCAA Division I hoops tournament has come from Louisville (four Final Fours), Western Kentucky (three Final Fours) and Kentucky (four Elite Eights).
That stands in contrast to our state’s men’s NCAA tourney history. During the commonwealth’s 62-year men’s NCAA Tournament streak (meaning since 1964), Kentucky, Louisville, Western Kentucky, Murray State and Morehead State have all won games in March Madness, and Eastern Kentucky (six) and Northern Kentucky (three) have each made multiple NCAA tourney trips.
The odds of the commonwealth ever putting eight teams in one NCAA Tournament, men’s or women’s, are remote; but, with all of Kentucky’s NCAA Division I teams now competing in eight unique conferences, it is at least possible.
