Bluegrass basketball fans feel blue

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Usually, when the calendar turns to March, fans of Kentucky’s two basketball powers start wondering about the possibility of a Final Four trip.

This time, however, Kentucky and Louisville might not make the NCAA Tournament’s 65-team field, even though both were ranked in the top 10 when the season began.

Kentucky has a tough schedule remaining with games against No. 11 Tennessee and No. 17 Florida and is on the bubble to make the field. A year after reaching the Final Four, Louisville is a long shot for the conference tournament in its first Big East season.

Not counting 1991, when the Wildcats had the best record in the Southeastern Conference but probation kept them out of postseason play, it’s been 30 years since an NCAA Tournament opened without Louisville or Kentucky – and usually both – in the mix.

“I think if neither one of them makes the NCAA Tournament, they’ll probably drape the state in black,” said Larry Conley, a broadcaster who played at Kentucky under Hall of Fame coach Adolph Rupp.

These aren’t abysmal teams by any stretch. But in the Bluegrass state, where high school basketball tournament sells out Rupp Arena, they might as well be.

“I’ve had people come up to me and say their family’s not getting along well because we’re losing,” Kentucky guard Ravi Moss said.

With no major professional team of any sport in the state, college basketball is the undisputed king.

Along North Carolina’s Tobacco Road, four Atlantic Coast Conference teams are packed into a short stretch of basketball bliss. But Kentuckians boast of living in the true capital of college basketball because the obsession with two big programs – only about an hour apart – reaches every nook and cranny of the state.

The state’s four other Division I-A programs have capitalized by recruiting players hungry for a flavor of Bluegrass basketball. In fact, if the NCAA Tournament started today, the two most likely entries from Kentucky might be Murray State and Western Kentucky.

Still, neither of those teams from mid-major conferences is ranked. In the latest Associated Press poll released Monday, no Kentucky team got a single vote.

“The struggles of Louisville and Kentucky are aberrations,” said Murray State coach Mick Cronin, a former assistant at Louisville. “That shows you the state of the game in college basketball. With kids going to the pros left and right, it’s hard to maintain stability.”