LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Here is a number the crackerjack research folks at CBS Sports and ESPN won’t give you when Duke, Houston, Florida and Auburn assemble for the men’s NCAA Final Four in San Antonio, Texas this weekend:
This will be the ninth consecutive Final Four that will not feature either the Louisville, Kentucky or Indiana basketball programs — other than the University of Louisville stat crew, a talented group that started providing its services in 1969.
That is an ongoing record for the stat crew, which is captained by former U of L administrator Kenny Klein, who is headed to his 38th Final Four. Bravo.
But the Final Four absence of the U of L, UK and IU teams is also a record, extending the mark of eight the three programs set last season, which extended the record of seven the Cardinals, Wildcats and Hoosiers set in 2023.
Indiana and coach Branch McCracken won the second men’s NCAA Tournament. From 1940 through 2015, there was never a gap of more than six seasons without a local team.
Heck, in the Seventies, the Cards, Wildcats and Hoosiers combined for six Final Four trips and two titles.
In the Eighties, they took it up a notch, with seven Final Fours and four titles.
But Indiana has not come within five area codes of playing on the last weekend in the season since 2002. Selection Sunday stopped being a holiday in Bloomington years ago.
Louisville was last spotted winning a national title in Atlanta a dozen years — and five coaches — ago.
And, Kentucky went to Indianapolis a decade ago merely two victories from securing a 40-0 season. The Wildcats left town before Mike Krzyzewski and Duke celebrated their fifth title.
What’s going on? We’ve seen what’s going on.
Louisville has finally moved past the NCAA turmoil created during the stretch run of the Rick Pitino Era.
John Calipari took his freshman-obsessed approach to Arkansas creating an opportunity for Mark Pope to build a veteran squad more comfortable shooting three-point shots.
Indiana hopes it has finally found a coach who will inspire people to stop talking about Bob Knight — in the Hoosiers’ sixth attempt.
Who scores first?
Pat Kelsey and Louisville?
He delivered a terrific opening act with the Cardinals, adding 19 wins to the Cards’ total, raising Louisville’s final ranking in Ken Pomeroy’s analytics formula from No. 185 at the end of last season to 64th in the preseason to No. 27.
Credit Kelsey with a superb job of finding tough, coachable players in the transfer portal, guys who performed as if they understood that winning mattered. Not an easy thing to do.
Louisville finished the season as one of 14 teams ranked in the Top 30 in offensive and defensive efficiency at KenPom, a group that included every Elite Eight team except Texas Tech.
The next job for Kelsey will be to take it up a notch, in terms of overall roster talent and performance. The Cards went 0-4 against teams from the thunderous Southeastern Conference.
They took impressive advantage of the sagging Atlantic Coast Conference as well as a schedule quirk that had the Cards playing Duke, North Carolina, Clemson and Wake Forest once at home but not on the road.
Injuries and a lack of depth left Kelsey with a roster that was no match for Duke and Creighton in the Cards’ final two games.
With an expanded NIL budget as well as a staff that’s been on board for a season, I expect Kelsey will field a more talented team next season.
As a former UK player, Pope certainly understands the first season is the only season the majority of UK fans will endorse a Sweet Sixteen finish in Lexington, especially after a loss to a Tennessee team UK had beaten twice.
Like Kelsey, Pope did terrific work building a totally fresh roster out of the transfer portal. Hey, Kentucky has a 2-1 record against the Final Four field, beating Duke and Florida.
Pomeroy ranked UK 43rd in November. The Wildcats are No. 16 today.
Pope has the No. 6 high school recruiting class committed to UK and is expected to score big in the portal. Talent should not be an issue.
His challenge will be upgrading a defense that ranked No. 50 in efficiency at Pomeroy and then navigating the ferocious Southeastern Conference. Auburn, Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Arkansas and likely a few others are not going away.
Indiana and Darian DeVries are a year behind U of L and UK on the rebuild journey, thanks to the foolish decision to give Mike Woodson a fourth season a year ago.
Like the Cards and Wildcats last year, DeVries is starting with an empty locker room, although he does have a son named Tucker who was twice voted Missouri Valley Conference player of the year who showed up wearing an IU sweatshirt at his Dad’s introductory press conference.
Pope has only daughters and Kelsey’s son is a middle school champion, so advantage DeVries.
DeVries did the total rebuild thing this season at West Virginia. The Mountaineers improved from 9 wins to 19. They were the first time below the cut line for an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament, winning games against Arizona, Gonzaga, Kansas and Iowa State.
Multiple media reports have DeVries hosting a pair of Top 10 transfer portal prospects in Bloomington on Monday.
Athletic director Scott Dolson has approved a complete reboot of the program, including the training and strength and performance staffs. NIL resources are unlikely to be an issue in Bloomington.
DeVries will have to prove he can deliver what Kelsey and Pope delivered in their first seasons. And all three coaches must prove they can get the Cardinals, Wildcats and Hoosiers back to where they once regularly hung out — at the Final Four.
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