{"id":123632,"date":"2026-03-08T22:16:36","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T02:16:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/espn-star-rips-iconic-college-basketball-team-with-22m-roster-for-disappointing-season-123632"},"modified":"2026-03-08T22:16:36","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T02:16:36","slug":"espn-star-rips-iconic-college-basketball-team-with-22m-roster-for-disappointing-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/espn-star-rips-iconic-college-basketball-team-with-22m-roster-for-disappointing-season-123632","title":{"rendered":"ESPN star rips iconic college basketball team with $22M roster for disappointing season"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The Kentucky Wildcats<\/a> basketball team may still make the NCAA Tournament, but Dick Vitale thinks this iconic program should be much better than their 19-12 record this season considering their whopping $22 million roster.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The legendary ESPN college basketball analyst didn\u2019t hold back his feelings about the Wildcats as they played Florida<\/a> during Saturday\u2019s prime SEC matchup. After the Gators hit some free throws to extend their first-half lead to 26-19, Vitale started to lay into the Wildcats.<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

“I\u2019m going to say this right here, I\u2019ve done several Kentucky games, win or lose, $22 million this team [which has been reported] in terms of the NIL for their players,” he said, per Awful Announcing. “I think in $22 million, they could have put together a better roster than they did. I really do.”<\/p>\n

The Wildcats ended up losing by a score of 84-77, and Vitale continued about Kentucky near the end of their 12th loss of the season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

2025-26 COLLEGE BASKETBALL ODDS: WHICH SQUADS WILL WIN CONFERENCE TOURNEYS?<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

“I\u2019ll tell you one thing, you don\u2019t want to walk out of here thinking you got a moral victory,” Vitale said, referencing a hard-fought game against the No. 5-ranked Florida team. “Moral victories don\u2019t count at this level of basketball. And you hear some of the people, \u2018We played them close. We played them tough.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

“The bottom line is you\u2019re Kentucky. You\u2019re Kentucky. And you\u2019ve got to leave here with a win, especially at home. There are no moral victories. Come on. I don\u2019t want to hear that.”<\/p>\n

The Wildcats were once the top program in the country under former Coach John Calipari, who left for Arkansas after being unable to make a long March Madness<\/a> run in recent seasons, including a shocking first round upset to the Oakland Golden Grizzlies in the 2024 NCAA Tournament.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Wildcats have been coached by Mark Pope since, and they made the Sweet 16 in last year\u2019s tournament before losing to Tennessee.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But this year, Kentucky is 10-8 in SEC play, and now face the No. 9 seed in the upcoming tournament this week. The winner of each conference earns a tournament berth, but the Wildcats know good seeding in the NCAA Tournament requires a strong run heading into Selection Sunday this upcoming weekend.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Wildcats will start their SEC Tournament play on Wednesday against No. 16 LSU.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Follow Fox News Digital\u2019s<\/strong><\/i>\u00a0sports coverage on X<\/strong><\/i><\/a>\u00a0and subscribe to<\/strong><\/i>\u00a0the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter<\/strong><\/i><\/a>.<\/strong><\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source – https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/sports\/espn-star-rips-iconic-college-basketball-team-22m-roster-disappointing-season <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Kentucky Wildcats basketball team may still make the NCAA Tournament, but Dick Vitale thinks this iconic program should be much better than their 19-12 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"twitter_2902945987_2902945987":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[16563],"tags":[],"stock_ticker":[],"class_list":["post-123632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-market-news","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nESPN star rips iconic college basketball team with $22M roster for disappointing season - Wall Street PR<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/espn-star-rips-iconic-college-basketball-team-with-22m-roster-for-disappointing-season-123632\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ESPN star rips iconic college basketball team with $22M roster for disappointing season - 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