Where Kentucky landed in ESPN's March Madness Pain Index

NCAA Tournament losses are never fun. Where does Kentucky’s second-round exit at the hands of Kansas State stand against the other 66 teams that have also lost in the tournament thus far? ESPN’s got a formula to figure it out.

Kyle Soppe released ESPN’s annual “March Madness Pain Index” yesterday. Kentucky’s loss to Kansas State is No. 22 on the list, which ranks losses on four factors: expectations heading into the tournament, missed opportunities/bad luck, historical component (upsets, first appearances, magical runs, etc.), and extenuating circumstances such as bad calls or injuries.

Soppe notes that Kentucky’s high preseason expectations and subsequent struggles made this season more tiring than most.

“This season as a whole was a test in patience for a fan base that expects success in the form of national championships. The No. 4 team in the preseason fell out of the AP poll for two straight months and managed only one tournament win. Better than last year’s defeat to a 15-seed, but the Wildcats did blow an opportunity here.”

Last year’s first-round loss to Saint Peter’s was No. 2 on ESPN’s 2022 March Madness Pain Index, second only to Duke’s loss to North Carolina in the Final Four. Soppe is correct that this year’s loss doesn’t hurt nearly as much as that; in fact, I’d argue that No. 22 is probably too high given my tempered expectations for this team in March. I’d rank it somewhere closer to the middle of the pack. That said, the fact that a second-round exit by a Kentucky Basketball team was neither surprising nor heartbreaking is pretty depressing in its own right.

Things could be worse, though. Imagine being a Purdue fan. The Boilermakers are No. 1 in the March Madness Pain Index after their first-round loss to No. 16 Fairleigh Dickinson, the third time they’ve lost to a double-digit seed in the tournament in as many years.