There have been 122 Kentucky basketball seasons. Eight of them ended with a win in the NCAA Tournament. Sadness followed the others. <\/p>\n
Unfortunately, that sadness has returned, a little earlier than anyone wanted. While most around Big Blue Nation hoped Mark Pope would just get Kentucky back to the Sweet 16, nobody wanted to see the season end with a loss to the Tennessee Volunteers. That\u2019s exactly what happened in Indianapolis on Friday night. <\/p>\n
In the regular season meetings, Kentucky blitzed Tennessee from the jump. The shoe was on the other foot in the Sweet 16. Even though each team brought some early nerves to the court, the Vols were the ones who were clearly out for blood. They dictated the tempo and dominated the boards en route to an 88-75 win<\/a>. <\/p>\n Tennessee never had to sweat. The Vols took a double-digit lead with nine minutes to go in the first half and Kentucky was never able to get within 12 points the rest of the way. Even if Kentucky played quality defense for 25 seconds, Tennessee got a second look. The Vols turned 14 offensive rebounds into 19 second-chance points. That\u2019s the ballgame. <\/p>\n Mark Pope delivered so many big wins in his first season as the Kentucky head basketball coach. It ended with one big, sad loss to a bitter rival. <\/p>\n Kentucky did not play its best basketball against Tennessee, nowhere close. The Cats played poorly in a place that has haunted Big Blue Nation. <\/p>\n Kentucky has now last five straight games in Indianapolis<\/a>, including a couple of gut-wrenching losses at Lucas Oil Stadium. It was where Kentucky\u2019s undefeated season came to an end. Over the last ten years in Indy, they also got blown out by Zion Williamson<\/a><\/strong>\u2018s Duke team, fell in double overtime loss to Michigan State, blew a late lead against Kansas, and suffered a loss to No. 15 seed Saint Peter\u2019s. I\u2019d like to say that Kentucky should never play another game in Indianapolis, but guess where next year\u2019s Final Four is? The city has cursed Kentucky basketball. <\/p>\n <\/em>Got thoughts? Continue the conversation on KSBoard, the KSR Message Board.<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n It didn\u2019t end the way they wanted it to, but this year\u2019s transfer portal one-and-dones are incredibly grateful for their time at Kentucky and hate to see it come to an end. <\/p>\n \u201cYeah, I don\u2019t know who is in charge of the jerseys and all that, but they\u2019re going to go through some trouble to get mine,\u201d Koby Brea said Friday night<\/a>.<\/p>\nIndianapolis is still the WORST <\/h2>\n
Kentucky Seniors Deliver Heartfelt Send-Off <\/h2>\n