As the Louisville Cardinals duke it out against the Creighton Bluejays in the first round of the 2025 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, snapping the school’s six-year March Madness drought, it’s worth wondering which of the two Power Four schools in the Bluegrass State is the ruler in the third month of the year.
With that in mind, our Kentucky sports betting experts broke down the numbers on which of the two schools (Kentucky or Louisville) has thrived the most in March Madness since 2010, with both schools scoring national titles and multiple Final Four trips during that stretch.
Kentucky March Madness Leaderboard (2010-Present)
Point System:
- 10 points for national championships won
- 5 points for runner-up finish
- 4 points for Final Fours
- 3 points for Elite Eights
- 2 points for Sweet 16 berths
- 1 point per win between 2010 & 2025
UK
1 title (2012) – 10 points
1 runner-up (2014) – 5 points
4 Final Fours (2011/2012/2014/2015) – 16 points
7 Elite Eights (2010/2011/2012/2014/2015/2017/2019) – 21 points
8 Sweet 16’s (2010/2011/2012/2014/2015/2017/2018/2019) – 16 points
397 wins between 2010 and 2025 (131 losses/.752 win percentage) – 397 points
Total: 465 points
Louisville
1 title (2013) – 10 points
2 Final Fours (2012/2013) – 8 points
3 Elite Eights (2012/2013/2015) – 9 points
4 Sweet 16’s (2012/2013/2014/2015) – 8 points
327 wins between 2010 and 2015 (177 losses/.649 win percentage) – 327 points
Total: 362 points
Which KY School Rules in March?
While the Cardinals have rebounded from the lowly years under former head coach Kenny Payne in Pat Kelsey’s first season in Louisville, the Wildcats have kept up their regular-season success under another first-year coach, Mark Pope.
Pope, who replaced John Calipari after he left for Arkansas, went 22-11 (.667) in his first season in Lexington, guiding UK to a third seed in the 68-team tourney, while Kelsey went 27-7 (.794), leading the Cardinals to an eight seed in March Madness.
Using the scoring rubric laid out above, we can assess that the Wildcats have been the better team in March Madness over the last decade and a half, with 397 points to the Cardinals’ total of 327. This is due in large part to the latter missing out on the tournament under Chris Mack and Payne from 2019-20 through 2023-24.
Kentucky also scored a decisive victory, wins-wise, with 397 victories between 2010 to 2024, compared with Louisville’s sum of 327 wins during the same stretch.
The Kentucky Wildcats also notched an extra five points by finishing as the national runners-up in 2014 and scored another eight points by making two more trips to the Final Four (four times in total) to Louisville’s two over the last 15 years.
In total, what we can discern from the numbers above is that Kentucky’s March Madness run under Calipari was just enough to eke out a slim victory over the success that former head coach Rick Pitino racked up in Louisville at the start of the 2010s, with the Cardinals looking to get back on track in Kelsey’s first March Madness trip this spring.
Author
Christopher Boan is a staff writer for BetKentucky.com. He has covered sports and sports betting for more than seven years and has worked for publications such as ArizonaSports.com, the Tucson Weekly and the Green Valley News.
