Mark Story: Kentucky men's basketball has three years left to try to 'salvage the 2020s'

Mark Story, Lexington Herald-Leader on Jul 29, 2026

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LEXINGTON, Ky. — As the 2020s move toward their ending, Kentucky men’s basketball has only three years remaining to avert producing the worst decade in the storied history of the Wildcats’ program.

If you wonder why the Big Blue Nation has been so grumpy in recent years, Cats backers are living through the leanest period for the Wildcats men’s hoops program since the NCAA Tournament began in 1939.

As the numbers below will illustrate, Kentucky has so far in the 2020s lagged far behind the historic standard — which is excellence — of UK men’s basketball.

Overall winning percentage

So far in the 2020s (which, for my purposes, I am defining as having started with the 2019-20 season), UK has won 65.94% of its games overall.

Starting with 1930, this is the first decade in which Kentucky has won less than 70% of its contests.

— The best decades (in descending order): 1. 1950s, overall winning percentage of 87.16%; 2. 1940s, 85.05%; 3. 1930s, 82.74%; 4. 1990s, 81.74; 5. 2010s, 81.12%.

— The worst decades (in ascending order): 1. 2020s, overall winning percentage of 65.94; 2. 2000s, 71.22; 3. 1960s, 74.06; 4. 1970s, 76.37; 5. 1980s, 76.78.

SEC regular-season titles

Kentucky’s sole SEC championship so far in the 2020s came in the first season, 2019-20, of the decade.

Since then, UK has finished, eighth, second, third, second, sixth and seventh, respectively, in the SEC standings.

If the Wildcats are not able to win at least two SEC crowns over the next three seasons, the 2020s will be the worst decade in UK basketball history in terms of Southeastern Conference championships won.

— The best decades: 1. 1940s, 8 SEC regular-season titles won; 2. (tie) 1950s, 1970s, 7; 4. (tie) 1960s, 1980s, 2010s, 5.

— The worst decades: 1. 2020s, 1 SEC regular-season title won; 2. 1990s, 3; 3. (tie) 1930s, 2000s, 4.

SEC Tournament championships

Not only has Kentucky not won an SEC tourney in the 2020s, UK has not even made it to the finals in the current decade — and has only reached the league tournament semifinals once (2022).

It is a stunning fall from Southeastern Conference Tournament grace for a program that, prior to the current decade, had won 32 SEC tourney championships.

(A reminder: The SEC did not hold a conference tournament from 1953 through 1978).

— The best decades: 1. 1940s, 8 SEC tourney titles won; 2. 1990s, 7; 3. 2010s, 6.

— The worst decades: 1. 2020s, 0 SEC tourney titles won; 2. 1980s, 2; 3. (tie) 1930s, 1950s, 2000s, 3.

NCAA Tournament winning percentage

Kentucky is 4-5 in NCAA tourney contests so far in the 2020s. If that doesn’t improve over the next three seasons, the 2020s will be the first full decade since the NCAA Tournament began in 1939 in which UK has had a losing mark in March Madness.

— The best decades: 1. 1990s, NCAA tourney winning percentage of 83.8%; 2. 1940s, 80%; 3. 2010s, 79.5%; 4. 1950s, 72.7%; 5. 1970s, 66.7%.

— The worst decades: 1. 2020s, NCAA tourney winning percentage of 44.4%; 2. 1960s, 50%; 3. 1980s, 57.1%; 4. 2000s, 60.9%.

NCAA tourney Final Four trips

Not only has Kentucky not reached the NCAA Tournament national semifinals in the 2020s, UK has not even reached a region final so far in the current decade.

Unless the Wildcats punch through to a Final Four in one of the next three seasons, the 2020s will be only the second full decade since the NCAA tourney first tipped off in which Kentucky has never played on the NCAA Tournament’s final weekend.

— The best decades: 1. (tie) 1990s, 2010s, four NCAA Tournament Final Four trips; 3. 1940s, 3; 4. (tie) 1950s, 1970s, 2.

— The worst decades: 1. (tie) 2000s, 2020s, 0 NCAA Tournament Final Four trips; 3. (tie) 1960s, 1980s, 1.

Of Kentucky’s eight NCAA championships, two each came in the 1940s and 1950s, one in the 1970s, two in the 1990s and one in the 2010s.

Part of the story of UK basketball’s “lean 2020s” is the rise of Southeastern Conference in men’s hoops.

Five current SEC programs — Alabama (2024), Auburn (2019 and 2025), Florida (2025), Oklahoma (2016) and South Carolina (2017) — have all gone to a Final Four more recently than Kentucky (2015).

So far in the 2020s, six current SEC teams — Alabama (13), Arkansas (12), Tennessee (12), Florida (8), Texas (7) and Auburn (5) — have more March Madness victories than UK (4).

The rest of Kentucky’s 2020s story is one of UK decline. Kentucky’s relative struggles from 2021 through 2024 reflected a staleness that beset John Calipari’s late-UK coaching tenure.

In the two years since Mark Pope has returned to his college alma mater as top Cat, the ex-UK center has presided over incremental improvements from the years that immediately preceded his arrival. However, with his rosters ravaged by injuries, Pope has yet to fully restore the Wildcats program to its regal historical standing.

Now, with only three seasons left in the 2020s, the clock is ticking on Kentucky if it is going to salvage what would presently stand as the worst decade in UK men’s basketball history.