Football Final Four or Basketball Final Four?

Would you rather see Kentucky make the Final Four in football or basketball?


  • Total voters
    102

Catastic5

Senior
Sep 12, 2026
329
861
93
Football. Because I still wouldn’t be sold on Mark Pope being consistently successful year after year if he made the Final Four. NC Stare literally fired their coach a year afterwards after going to the Final Four because the coach went back to another mediocre year.

And we don’t want a situation like UNC and Hubert Davis where they felt obliged to keep him for 4 more seasons just because he made it to the title game.

Going to the semi finals in football would raise Stein’s profile and likely bring in recruits. But would a Final Four bring Pope recruits?
 

Im The Village Idiot

All-American
Sep 7, 2025
2,768
6,948
113
I really think this drives home just how much many Kentucky fans say they want to be back to being Kentucky but are full of it. A football final four would be massive but we have a top tier of college basketball that we are fighting to hold onto and we are losing ground regularly. Fans have become apathetic. We aren’t just losing our identity — it’s already lost and polls like this are just a reminder. I love both but Kentucky is a basketball school, or so we were. Mighty really may have fallen for good — once the fans lose that passion, it’s hard to get it back.
 

MarvinHagler89

All-American
May 19, 2017
4,768
6,699
82
Seeing majority of people choosing football makes me happy. You all understand sports and what drives the needle. Us becoming great in football would pay dividends. Basketball is from a bygone era and had its moment.
 
Oct 9, 2015
14,227
37,842
78
I really think this drives home just how much many Kentucky fans say they want to be back to being Kentucky but are full of it. A football final four would be massive but we have a top tier of college basketball that we are fighting to hold onto and we are losing ground regularly. Fans have become apathetic. We aren’t just losing our identity — it’s already lost and polls like this are just a reminder. I love both but Kentucky is a basketball school, or so we were. Mighty really may have fallen for good — once the fans lose that passion, it’s hard to get it back.
We’ve had 6 seasons of poor results and mind boggling decision making, add in completely stupid comments along the way by two coaches who were/are both going full r****d. This has driven the apathy. Wasn’t our decision, it has been forced on us.
 

Im The Village Idiot

All-American
Sep 7, 2025
2,768
6,948
113
We’ve had 6 seasons of poor results and mind boggling decision making, add in completely stupid comments along the way by two coaches who were/are both going full r****d. This has driven the apathy. Wasn’t our decision, it has been forced on us.
I understand that. But the why really won’t ultimately matter. We have lost the plot. The history no longer matters like it did to many.
 

Catastic5

Senior
Sep 12, 2026
329
861
93
I really think this drives home just how much many Kentucky fans say they want to be back to being Kentucky but are full of it. A football final four would be massive but we have a top tier of college basketball that we are fighting to hold onto and we are losing ground regularly. Fans have become apathetic. We aren’t just losing our identity — it’s already lost and polls like this are just a reminder. I love both but Kentucky is a basketball school, or so we were. Mighty really may have fallen for good — once the fans lose that passion, it’s hard to get it back.
I think a lot of it is about trust. Many Kentucky fans simply don’t trust the current guy in charge of the basketball program. And it’s not as if there hasn’t been a number of coaches in the past who made it to the Final Four, only to get fired a year or two later because ultimately getting to the Final Four didn’t make a difference in their future projection of success. It’s different when getting to the quarterfinals of football.

You go 10-2 and make the football playoffs and then make it to the quarterfinals, you have an all around amazing year.

You go 20-11 in basketball, don’t do well in your conference, don’t do well in the conference tournament, but make a magical run to the Final Four.

One probably comes down to luck while the other takes skill and execution and maybe a bit of luck to boot.

If Pope goes 26-5 going into the tournament and then making the Final Four. Hell yeah, that’ll really make me think he’s finally figured it out.

I don’t trust Pope to get to a Final Four and take advantage of it in future seasons.
 
Aug 23, 2024
3,317
7,048
113
I really think this drives home just how much many Kentucky fans say they want to be back to being Kentucky but are full of it. A football final four would be massive but we have a top tier of college basketball that we are fighting to hold onto and we are losing ground regularly. Fans have become apathetic. We aren’t just losing our identity — it’s already lost and polls like this are just a reminder. I love both but Kentucky is a basketball school, or so we were. Mighty really may have fallen for good — once the fans lose that passion, it’s hard to get it back.
You are usually very reasonable but you are actually claiming that we have fallen for good? You must realize how ridiculous that sounds. Just because some fans are more excited about FB right now in the middle of FB season while we are actually in position for a playoff spot doesn't mean the fanbase has lost their passion for basketball. I have always been all in on both and that hasn't changed in any way.

If the question had been National Championship instead of Final Four I would go basketball for historical count purposes but I refrained from voting on the Final Four question.
 

Chadrock

All-Conference
Jul 12, 2004
3,148
2,207
103
I am too big of a fan of both to vote for sacrificing one over the other. To do it in Football would be particularly sweet given our historic lack of such accomplishments. To get back there in Basketball would be sweet as well with the added bonus of watching all the whiners meltdown about such a blow to their crusade to fire the coach.
Football was sacrificed for years so it's football all the way and every year...
 

Anon1768287303

Sophomore
Jan 13, 2026
90
124
33
I am too big of a fan of both to vote for sacrificing one over the other. To do it in Football would be particularly sweet given our historic lack of such accomplishments. To get back there in Basketball would be sweet as well with the added bonus of watching all the whiners meltdown about such a blow to their crusade to fire the coach.
Yeah, having both programs be successful should be the goal of every Kentucky fan. But it is clear that some of these posts are agenda driven and made to pit one sport against the other. OP may have asked a legitimate harmless question, but some choose to not only answer the question but proceed to unnecessarily smear the basketball program in the process. Shameful.
 

Damage_inc

All-Conference
Oct 4, 2019
616
1,127
91
Seeing majority of people choosing football makes me happy. You all understand sports and what drives the needle. Us becoming great in football would pay dividends. Basketball is from a bygone era and had its moment.
Good point. Football is king in college sports and a rising tide raises all ships. Football elevates all of our other sports in a lot of ways.
 
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Tri-Countycat

All-Conference
Jul 1, 2025
1,749
4,331
113
Mark Pope has been a D1 basketball coach for 11 years with zero conference championships, zero conference tournament championship and never made an Elite Eight, I’m pulling for football success.
 

Im The Village Idiot

All-American
Sep 7, 2025
2,768
6,948
113
You are usually very reasonable but you are actually claiming that we have fallen for good? You must realize how ridiculous that sounds. Just because some fans are more excited about FB right now in the middle of FB season while we are actually in position for a playoff spot doesn't mean the fanbase has lost their passion for basketball. I have always been all in on both and that hasn't changed in any way.

If the question had been National Championship instead of Final Four I would go basketball for historical count purposes but I refrained from voting on the Final Four question.
I do worry we have fallen for good, yes. I'm not being dogmatic about it, but the fanbase has become more apathetic about basketball than I've ever seen in my lifetime. Yes, I think it's reasonable to think we have actually fallen in grandeur. I do understand fan sentiment that the last several years have been lower than expectations, but more fans than ever have lost the passion. I like your opinions and we don't have to agree on everything. You're free to think I'm off my rocker or being hyperbolic. I feel that I'm confronting the realities of our current predicament with honesty and transparency.
 
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