For Kentucky and Louisville fans, the 2025-26 college basketball season will get off to a rip-roaring start, tipping off 2 1/2 weeks before the schools' season-ending football showdown on Nov. 29 in L&N Stadium.
In a significant change, the annual hoops rivalry has been set for Tuesday, Nov. 11 in the KFC Yum! Center, the earliest meeting since a Nov. 27, 1993 clash won by UK 78-70 in Rupp Arena. Since then all but five of the games have been played in December, with those having fallen in January-- the last time on Jan. 2, 2010.
At this point, the Nov. 11 game would be the season opener for both teams, but that could change since the official start of the season is Nov. 3.
No broadcast plans have been announced, but it should be an attractive prime time matchup for ESPN because both teams are considered potential Final Four contenders and each is ranked in ESPN's latest "Way Too Early" Top 25 - the Cardinals at No. 3 behind Houston and Purdue, with the Wildcats at No. 6.
Louisville returns five scholarship players from its 27-8 team last season and has added five highly regarded newcomers. Coach Pat Kelsey has the No. 3 transfer portal class and the No. 12 overall class, according to 247Sports. UK coach Mark Pope's transfer class is ranked No. 4 and its overall class is No. 12.
The Cards played one of the nation's toughest nonconference schedules last season, and the 2026 slate is also shaping up as one of the best. In addition to UK, U of L will play a road game against Tennessee (ESPN No. 21) on Dec. 16, will face Indiana for the third straight season on Dec. 6 in Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, is trying to work out a game against No. 9 St. John's and Rick Pitino and could play at least one more Top 25 opponent in the ACC/SEC Challenge.
UK's known nonconference games are against No. 18 Michigan State (Nov. 18, Madison Square Garden; No. 20 Gonzaga (Dec. 5, Bridgeport Arena, Nashville); and No. 9 St. John's (Dec. 20, State Farm Arena, Atlanta). The Wildcats will also host Purdue in an exhibition game on Oct. 24.
In another development that will impact Louisville's schedule, the ACC announced Wednesday afternoon its men's basketball teams will reduce its conference slate from 20 to 18 games beginning with the 2025-26 season.
In a news release, the league said its decision came after "continued strategic assessment, during which the conference office collaborated with athletics directors, coaches, external consultants and TV partners", as well as "multiple experts to conduct statistical analysis to examine the conference's basketblal product, metrics and scheduling."
"As a league, we have been tranparent about the importance of ACC men's basketball and specifically our commitment to ensure it is best positioned for the future," ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips said in a statement. "Moving to an 18-game schedule is a direc result of our ongoing stratetic review and analysis and provides our schools a better balance of nonconference and conference games, while also allowing them more autonomy in the scheduling process. . ."
League play will start in late December and end on the first Saturday in March. Each team will play one primary partner both home and away as well as one variable partner home and away, which will be determined each sesaon. Teams will play one game home or away against 14 of the remaining teams annually.
Louisville's primary partner will be SMU, who the Cardinals beat 98-73 in Dallas.The Cards played Virginia, Pittsburgh and Florida State home and away. The primary partners of the other ACC teams: Boston College-Notre Dame; Clemson-Georgia Tech; California-Stanford; Duke-North Carolina; Florida State-Miami; NC State-Wake Forest; Pitt-Syracuse; Virginia Tech-Virginia.
The ACC Tournament is scheduled for March 10-14 at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, N.C.
CBS Sports had earlier reported the ACC was strongly considering reducing its conference slate from 20 to 18 games to allow teams to schedule more marquee nonleague games to improve the conference's chances of earning more at-large bids in the NCAA Tournament
The ACC played an 18-game league schedule as recently as the 2018-19 season before expanding to 20 games in 2019-20 to fill airtime with the launch of the ACC Network in the fall of 2019.
This past season, only four ACC teams made the Big Dance, with North Carolina needing to win a play-in game. That was the lowest percentage (22.9%) in its history and the Tar Heels were a controversial choice because of their 1-12 record against Quad 1 teams. All but one of the ACC teams were eliminated in the first round, including No. 8 seed Louisville, which was beaten by No. 9 Creighton. Duke advanced to the Final Four, losing in the semifinals to Houston.
The ACC had opportunities to improve its resume' last season, but went 2-14 against the SEC and was ranked dead last among the Power 5 conferences by KenPom.com and in most other ratings.
"As a league, if you don't have a great out-of-conference (record), then mathematically you can't move up," Miami athletics director Dan Radakovich told CBS Sports. "Your conference (ranking) is pretty much set once you get to January."
The ACC has placed five or fewer teams in the NCAA Tournament in four straight seasons, the conference's worst stretch since the early 1980s. Still, five ACC clubs have reached the Final Four during that time, making it the only league with semifinal appearances in the last four years.
The four-year low has come during an unusually high number of retirements and departures, including several current and future Hall of Fame coaches at blue-blood programs responsible for 5,488 career victories: Mike Krzyzewski (Duke), Roy Williams (N. Carolina), Jim Boeheim (Syracuse), Mike Brey (Notre Dame), Tony Bennett (Virginia), Jim Larranaga (Miami) and Leonard Hamilton (Florida State). Those seven coaches accounted for 10 national championships and 30 appearances in the Final Four.
Kentucky and Louisville came close to mixing it up in last year's rivalry game. The Cats and Cards meet Nov. 11 next season. (Photo by Les Nicholson)
