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Western Kentucky punches a ticket to the Big Dance

Jack PIlgrimby:Jack Pilgrim•03/17/24
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Photo: WKU Basketball

Morehead State was the first in-state program to punch its ticket to the Big Dance with a win over Little Rock in the OVC Tournament last Saturday. In fact, the Eagles were the first team in Division I to make the field. Preston Spradlin has ’em rolling in Rowan County, setting the program record with 26 wins en route to its ninth NCAA Tournament.

The Kentucky Wildcats will join the Eagles later tonight as an at-large team, currently projected as a No. 3 or 4 seed in the latest updates. They did their job down the home stretch of the regular season and won’t be stressing when the bracket is revealed.

But how about a third team from the Commonwealth joining the field with a massive 78-71 win over UTEP in the Conference USA title game? Western Kentucky is officially dancing, giving Kentucky three teams at the Division I level making the tournament for the first time since 2019. It ends what was the longest NCAA Tournament drought for a team in the state, missing the field since 2013 after Conference USA title game losses in 2018, ’19 and ’21.

With that win, head coach Steve Lutz has earned a $100K bonus as his Hilltoppers get to celebrate punching a ticket in Bowling Green on St. Patrick’s Day.

“Words can’t express how proud I am of you guys,” Lutz told his team after the win. “You’ll never forget this. You’ll never forget this and these people here will never forget you. It’s worth it, always worth it to do the right thing.”

Fascinatingly enough, Lutz was introduced as the head coach at WKU exactly one year ago today. A year later, he’s got the Toppers going to March Madness.

Welcome to the show, WKU. We’ll see you in the field of 68.

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2025-02-06