2026 NCAA Tournament Questions

[Aike]

Will we prefer Greenville, SC or St. Louis for opening round? Both sites are around 330 miles from Lexington.

Next question - would we rather be in Houston or Chicago for the Regional?

Got to start planning now. 1 seed or bust, then on to the Final Four in Indy.

DC would be option 3 for the Regional. Could fall that way if we fail to stay in front of Houston and Purdue.

 

[BassProCat]

For selfish reasons cuz I will be trying to attend this tourney run with my son

STL(3 hrs from me)
Chi (7.5 hrs from me and wife’s hometown)

then if we make it to Indy my best friend lives there aka a free place to stay if I decide to attend the FF.

 

[bucsrule8872]

Will we prefer Greenville, SC or St. Louis for opening round? Both sites are around 330 miles from Lexington. Greenville would give us an extra day of rest.

Next question - would we rather be in Houston or Chicago for the Regional?

Got to start planning now. 1 seed or bust, then on to the Final Four in Indy.

DC would be option 3 for the Regional. Could fall that way if we fail to stay in front of Houston and Purdue.

St. Louis.

Duke probably goes to Greenville and their fans would root against us in Greenville.

If we are the third 1 seed behind Houston and Purdue, we get the South (Houston).

Houston would go to the Midwest (Chicago) because they can’t go South (they host).

Purdue is closer to DC than Houston.

If Purdue is above Houston, Purdue gets Chicago, Houston goes to the East (DC). That leaves us South (Houston).

If Houston is above Purdue they go to Chicago and Purdue gets DC. We go South.

Of course, who knows how it plays out. If we get the overall 1 seed, I am pretty sure we go to Chicago.

 

[FitchandMurray29]

First round sites based on geography and team projections in no particular order:
Philly- SJU and UConn
OKC- TTU and Houston
Tampa- Florida
Greenville- Duke
St Louis- Purdue
Buffalo- Michigan
San Diego- BYU and UCLA

There will be less competition for the Greenville spot in my opinion compared to St Louis. Iowa St, Louisville, Arkansas would be teams that would go to St Louis if they were good enough.

So as of today if you made me buy tickets for the first weekend I would say Greenville is most likely.

The regional is way too much to predict at this point!

 

[UKBB4Ever]

I’ve been booked for Indy for a while.

The other sites are too unpredictable to plan for.

 

[Runt#1969]

St. Louis and Chicago would be my preference.

 

[specialkd24_rivals116121]

I've read that the University of Houston has had talks to see if someone else would take over hosting responsibilities from it, so they would be eligible to play in its own city: https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/ot...ter-in-2026-how-uh-is-fighting-it/ar-AA1EtceA

 

[BlueBomb]

Well, I actually live in Greenville, so…

 

[bthaunert]

I never think of these things in terms of distance from Lexington, as UK fans are all over the state and also all over the country. The SE is a natural location and region for UK. As an example, the state of Florida has the third most UK grads outside of Kentucky and Ohio.

To me, SC would get a lot more fans that St Louis.

Here is a map of where UK alumni are:

UK alumni map

 

[UKBB4Ever]

I never think of these things in terms of distance from Lexington, as UK fans are all over the state and also all over the country. The SE is a natural location and region for UK. As an example, the state of Florida has the third most UK grads outside of Kentucky and Ohio.

To me, SC would get a lot more fans that St Louis.

Here is a map of where UK alumni are:

UK alumni map

I would say most UK fans are not UK grads.

 

[bucsrule8872]

First round sites based on geography and team projections in no particular order:
Philly- SJU and UConn
OKC- TTU and Houston
Tampa- Florida
Greenville- Duke
St Louis- Purdue
Buffalo- Michigan
San Diego- BYU and UCLA

There will be less competition for the Greenville spot in my opinion compared to St Louis. Iowa St, Louisville, Arkansas would be teams that would go to St Louis if they were good enough.

So as of today if you made me buy tickets for the first weekend I would say Greenville is most likely.

The regional is way too much to predict at this point!

You left off Portland, which will go to the lowest two unless Gonzaga, Oregon, or Washington end up on the top four seed lines. That’s the only teams I can think of that would be any where near Portland that would compete for a spot in the top 16 seeds.

We need to finish ahead of UofL, Arkansas, Iowa St,, and I’ll throw in Illinois (could end up being good) to go to St. Louis.

If we want Greenville, we need to finish ahead of Tennessee, Alabama, and Auburn. I think those would be the biggest threats there. Nobody in the ACC besides Duke and UofL should finish as higher seeds than UK (at least it looks that way on paper).

 

[Aike]

St. Louis.

Duke probably goes to Greenville and their fans would root against us in Greenville.

If we are the third 1 seed behind Houston and Purdue, we get the South (Houston).

Houston would go to the Midwest (Chicago) because they can’t go South (they host).

Purdue is closer to DC than Houston.

If Purdue is above Houston, Purdue gets Chicago, Houston goes to the East (DC). That leaves us South (Houston).

If Houston is above Purdue they go to Chicago and Purdue gets DC. We go South.

Of course, who knows how it plays out. If we get the overall 1 seed, I am pretty sure we go to Chicago.

Wasn’t sure if Houston was blocked out of that Region since it’s not played on their homecourt.

 

[Aike]

I never think of these things in terms of distance from Lexington, as UK fans are all over the state and also all over the country. The SE is a natural location and region for UK. As an example, the state of Florida has the third most UK grads outside of Kentucky and Ohio.

To me, SC would get a lot more fans that St Louis.

Here is a map of where UK alumni are:

UK alumni map

Think the school considers distance from the school though.

 

[bucsrule8872]

Wasn’t sure if Houston was blocked out of that Region since it’s not played on their homecourt.

They are listed as the host.

 

[bthaunert]

I would say most UK fans are not UK grads.

Agree…I also think the map is probably pretty representative of where most UK fans live too. The SE is just a much more natural area than Missouri, Houston, etc. I would even prefer the SE over places like Cleveland and Chicago also.

Atlanta is the perfect example. 6 hours from Lexington, but would take that location over just about anywhere outside of Louisville, Nashville and Indy.

 

[bthaunert]

Think the school considers distance from the school though.

Yep, I get that. Just talking about preference of where I would want UK to play.

 

[FitchandMurray29]

They are listed as the host.

Think they will relinquish the “host” role if the NCAA lets them. Regardless a team should never get to play a game so close to home. I hope the NCAA denies the request(if they haven’t already)

Loading…

www.houstonchronicle.com

 

[bucsrule8872]

Think they will relinquish the “host” role if the NCAA lets them. Regardless a team should never get to play a game so close to home. I hope the NCAA denies the request(if they haven’t already)

Loading…

www.houstonchronicle.com

I can’t read the article without subscribing.

But anyhow…

I think that would set a bad precedent moving forward.

 

[Cowtown Cat]

Think they will relinquish the “host” role if the NCAA lets them. Regardless a team should never get to play a game so close to home. I hope the NCAA denies the request(if they haven’t already)

Loading…

www.houstonchronicle.com

Yeah, that’s wild! Imagine UK trying to do this if the regional was held in Lexington or real close.

 

[bthaunert]

I can’t read the article without subscribing.

But anyhow…

I think that would set a bad precedent moving forward.

I don’t necessarily agree. Games are hosted in home towns of college teams all the time with the ability to play there. Houston’s mistake was agreeing to be the host school. If they can have someone rise be the host, I see no issues with it.

When the tournament is in Philly, you’ll never see Nova as the host school. Two years ago, when Spokane, WA hosted st the arena in town (not Gonzaga’s home court), the University of Idaho was the host school so that Gonzaga could potentially play there. A lot of times, a conference will be the host “school” so that local teams can play in that location., like games in Indianapolis hosted by the Horizon League so Butler can possibly play there.

 

[BigBlueTom1_rivals]

I’ve been booked for Indy for a while.

The other sites are too unpredictable to plan for.

Why is it when Indy hosts the final 4 hotel rooms downtown are never available to the public?

 

[bucsrule8872]

I don’t necessarily agree. Games are hosted in home towns of college teams all the time with the ability to play there. Houston’s mistake was agreeing to be the host school. If they can have someone rise be the host, I see no issues with it.

When the tournament is in Philly, you’ll never see Nova as the host school. Two years ago, when Spokane, WA hosted st the arena in town (not Gonzaga’s home court), the University of Idaho was the host school so that Gonzaga could potentially play there. A lot of times, a conference will be the host “school” so that local teams can play in that location., like games in Indianapolis hosted by the Horizon League so Butler can possibly play there.

But they knew this when they agreed to be a host. So now that they know they have a really good shot at making the Regionals, they want to change their minds?

 

[bthaunert]

But they knew this when they agreed to be a host. So now that they know they have a really good shot at making the Regionals, they want to change their minds?

Agree that they knew. If they can get Texas Southern to be the host, then I have zero issues with it. If they can’t get someone to take it, then yes, that’s on them.

 

[UKBB4Ever]

Why is it when Indy hosts the final 4 hotel rooms downtown are never available to the public?

They are tough to get that’s for sure.

I’m downtown but I booked it over a year in advance.

If you book online it’s almost impossible.

I call the hotel direct.

Same for the SEC tournament.

I booked our regular hotel over a year in advance. But I had to do it direct.

I booked it while we were there this year.

 

[BigBlueTom1_rivals]

They are tough to get that’s for sure.

I’m downtown but I booked it over a year in advance.

If you book online it’s almost impossible.

I call the hotel direct.

Same for the SEC tournament.

I booked our regular hotel over a year in advance. But I had to do it direct.

I booked it while we were there this year.

What hotel did you book, and did you have to pay in advance?

 

[TucsonCat]

Greenville games are Thursday.
St Louis on Friday.
Seeing as how we have so many who make the SEC Tourney a few days earlier a vacation, I would think a Thursday turn around farther away would lead to less travel.
Fans from Paducah, Owensboro, Bowling Green and Louisville can leave home on Friday and still reasonably get to St. Louis before games start.

 

[UKWildcats1987]

If Pope has things rolling idc where we play. I'm not going to the games regardless and the Richie riches can afford to go wherever.

 

[UKBB4Ever]

What hotel did you book, and did you have to pay in advance?

Bottleworks hotel. It’s an odd place but we really like it.

We did not have to pay in advance.

You might now?

No way to get in there on line.

Call them direct.

 

[Aike]

Greenville games are Thursday.
St Louis on Friday.
Seeing as how we have so many who make the SEC Tourney a few days earlier a vacation, I would think a Thursday turn around farther away would lead to less travel.
Fans from Paducah, Owensboro, Bowling Green and Louisville can leave home on Friday and still reasonably get to St. Louis before games start.

Glad you mentioned that. I had it backwards.

 

[UKBB4Ever]

Glad you mentioned that. I had it backwards.

We will go to the SEC.

Depending on location we might make some of the early games.

St Louis we would for sure.