LOUISVILLE, Ky. — College basketball will take center stage this week as the NCAA Men’s and Women’s tournaments kick off. Five teams from the commonwealth are headed to the dance. 

Louisville Men’s Basketball will play in Lexington Thursday afternoon while Kentucky will play Friday night in Milwaukee. On the women’s side, Louisville, Kentucky and Murray State all received bids to play in this year’s tournament.

Here’s a look at where each team is seeded and details on their opening-round games.

Louisville Men’s Basketball 

The Cardinals received the No. 8 seed in the South Regional. Coach Pat Kelsey’s team will face No. 9 Creighton Thursday, March 20 at 12:15 p.m. at Rupp Arena in Lexington; it will be the first game of the Round of 64.

Louisville (27-7) is coming off 73-62 loss to Duke in the ACC Championship game. The Cardinals are 1-2 all time against the Blue Jays; the last time the two programs met was in March 1999, a 62-58 Creighton win in the first round of that year’s tournament. This marks Kelsey’s fifth NCAA Tournament bid in his 13-year career. 

Kentucky Men’s Basketball

First-year coach Mark Pope’s team received the No. 3 seed in the Midwest Regional. The Wildcats will face No. 14 seed Troy Friday, March 21 in Milwaukee; tipoff is 7:10 p.m. 

Kentucky (22-11) finished sixth in the SEC, which earned a record 14 NCAA Tournament bids. The team defeated Oklahoma 85-84 in the second round of the SEC Tournament before falling 99-70 to Alabama in the quarterfinal round. The last and only time the two teams squared off was in 2017, a 70-62 Wildcats win. 

Louisville Women’s Basketball

Veteran coach Jeff Walz’s team (21-10) was selected as the No. 7 seed in the Birmingham 3 Regional and will take on No. 10 seed Nebraska Friday, March 21 in Fort Worth, Texas. Tip time is 6 p.m.

This is the 14th straight tournament for Louisville; the team is 44-26 all-time in the NCAA Tournament. The Cardinals are 40-15 in the tournament since Walz’s arrival in 2007 and have advanced to 12 Sweet 16’s, eight Elite Eights, four Final Fours and two championship game appearances. Louisville holds a 3-1 advantage in the four meetings between both programs; the last time the two teams squared off was in Nov. 2018, an 85-68 Cardinals win. 

Kentucky Women’s Basketball

The Wildcats were chosen as a No. 4 seed and will face No. 13 Liberty Friday, March 21 inside Lexington’s Memorial Coliseum as part of the Spokane 4 Regional. 

Coach Kenny Brooks’ team (22-7) is headed to the dance for the 18th time in program history, boasting a 22-17 all-time record in tournament appearances. Kentucky has been a four seed or better 12 times. Liberty is coming off a 26-6 season and won the Conference USA Tournament. 

Murray State Women’s Basketball

The Missouri Valley Conference Tournament champions (25-7) were given a No. 11 seed and are headed to Norman, Oklahoma, to face No. 6 Iowa (22-10) Saturday, March 22 in the Spokane 4 Regional. This marks the first-ever meeting between both programs.

Led by coach Rechelle Turner, this is just the second tournament appearance for the Racers. Their first and only NCAAs appearance was in 2008, when they were a No. 14 seed and fell 78-57 to No. 3 seed Duke. 

The Racers won the 2025 MVC Tournament with an 83-62 win over Belmont.

Lexington to host first, second rounds

Kentuckians hoping to catch the action in-person don’t need to travel far.

Rupp Arena will host first- and second-round games of the men’s tournament March 20 and 22, including the Louisville-Creighton tilt. The winner will likely face No. 1 seed Auburn on Saturday, who will take on 16th seed Saint Francis or Alabama State Thursday at 2:50 p.m. Thursday’s other session will feature No. 2 seed Tennessee face No. 15 seed Wofford (6:50 p.m.) and No. 8 seed UCLA face No. 9 seed Utah State (9:25 p.m.). Tickets are available now. 

Tickets are also available to the first and second rounds of the women’s tournament held in Memorial Coliseum March 21 and 23. In addition to Kentucky-Liberty, Kansas State will face Fairfield, with the winners of both games squaring off Sunday. 

This year’s Men’s Final Four will take place April 5 and 7 in San Antonio. The Women’s Final Four is set for April 4 and 6 in Tampa, Florida. 

All of the men’s tournament games will air on CBS, TruTV, TNT and TBS. The women’s tournament is on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPNews.