Larry Bird 'wanted to go to Kentucky' before ending up at Indiana State

Former Indiana State and Boston Celtics hoops legend Larry Bird added more fuel to the fire recently on the rumor he almost attended the University of Kentucky.

In a conversation with fellow ’80s and ’90s NBA stars Isiah Thomas and Reggie Miller, the trio discussed Bird’s illustrious collegiate career and his odd journey to ultimately end up with the Sycamores. Of course, Bird initially went to Indiana to play for Bobby Knight, but left the team and campus shortly after arriving as a freshman.

However, before landing at IU, Bird says that he wished to play for Kentucky, but that the Wildcats and coach Joe B. Hall stopped recruiting him.

“Well, I wanted to go to Kentucky,” shared Bird. “But Kentucky quit recruiting me, so it was down to Indiana State and IU, so I went to IU.”

Isiah Thomas claimed that the basketball gods could have never allowed Bird to play under Knight and alongside all the talent the Hoosiers had in that era. But at the same time, his addition to Kentucky would have been a cherry on top to an already great program, as the Wildcats wound up winning the national title in 1978, one year before Bird took Indiana State to the championship game in ’79.

In a reply tweet to the the clip shared of Bird, Thomas and Miller, Kentucky sports historian Oscar Combs chimed in to offer what he remembered of Bird potentially joining Kentucky.

“It’s a long, somewhat complicated conversation and one with disagreeable takes,” Combs wrote of the Bird recruitment.

“One UK official told me UK’s rigid academic criteria for out-of-state students prevented UK from pursuing him, but would have been accepted had he lived in Ky,” claims Combs. However, he notes that “others say that wasn’t the case.”

Well, the academics angle would make sense, since Bird himself said in the clip that when Kentucky didn’t pursue him, the options became Indiana State and Indiana. Perhaps those stricter academic laws where why Bird was never really able to venture outside of his own home state to look for a school.

Either way, Indiana, Kentucky and Larry Bird all ended up okay in the end, with Bird taking Indiana State to places it would never go again (as of 2024) while Indiana and Kentucky still their national titles regardless, in 1976 and 1978, respectively. But if you’re a Hoosier or Wildcat fan, Larry Bird would be an awesome alumnus to brag about.