For $22 million, Dick Vitale thinks Kentucky should be better than its 19-12 record.
The beloved ESPN college basketball analyst tore into the Wildcats basketball program during Saturday’s broadcast of their game against the Florida Gators in Lexington.
With 7:39 left in the first half, Vitale let Kentucky have it after Florida’s Isaiah Brown knocked down a pair of free throws to extend their lead to 26-19.
“I’m going to say this right here, I’ve done several now Kentucky games, win or lose, $22 million this team [reportedly spent] in terms of the NIL for their players. I think in $22 million, they could have put together a better roster than they did. I really do,” Vitale said on the broadcast.
Vitale didn’t stop there, and when the game was down to just a few minutes left, he again called out Kentucky.
The Wildcats lost Saturday’s game 84-77 and during the last minute and a half, the former college basketball coach decried the idea of Kentucky taking any sort of “moral victory” out of playing the Gators – ranked No. 5 on the AP Top 25 poll – close.
“I’ll tell you one thing, you don’t want to walk out of here thinking you got a moral victory,” Vitale said. “Moral victories don’t count at this level of basketball. And you hear some of the people, ‘We played them close. We played them tough.’ The bottom line is you’re Kentucky. You’re Kentucky. And you’ve got to leave here with a win, especially at home. There are no moral victories. Come on. I don’t want to hear that.”
After going to the Sweet 16 under head coach Mark Pope in his first year, the Wildcats ended the 2025-26 season 19-12 and 10-8 in SEC play.
They did themselves no favors with the loss on Saturday, costing themselves the possibility of moving up by as much as a seed line in the NCAA Tournament if they had won and falling to the No. 9 seed in the SEC Tournament, making their chances at a tournament title that much more difficult.
