Study Shows KY Hoops Program Yields Worst-Behaved NBA Players

The University of Kentucky Wildcats earned a 3-seed in the 2024 NCAA Tournament, played on day one--Thursday, March 21st--and were promptly sent packing by 14-seed Oakland. UK was one of only two top-16-seeded teams to lose in the first round. (Fourth-seeded Auburn was the other.)

It has now been five years since the second-winningest program in college basketball history made it into the Sweet Sixteen or beyond. So this revealing study comes at, shall we say, an interesting time with regard to the current psyche of the UK fan base. Short answer...things aren't going well.

In the early days, things were going VERY well. Coach John Calipari came riding in on his white horse to rescue Kentucky from the two-season-long Billy Gillespie era (fiasco) and immediately guided the Wildcats to 35 wins and the NCAA Tournament's Elite Eight. That team featured, among others, John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins. And I was a HUGE fan of both.

Discipline Issues Involving Former Kentucky Wildcats

Therefore, it came as quite a disappointment when I began reading stories about Cousins--who was drafted in 2010 by the Sacramento Kings--and his run-ins with game officials and the NBA itself. Today, Cousins is a power forward for the Taiwan Beer Leopards.

Get our free mobile app

I like DeMarcus Cousins. I always have. I'm a big fan, also, of former UK stars and current NBA superstars Anthony Davis and Julius Randle. But they have one unfortunate thing in common...these three account for more than half of the total of disciplinary fines accrued by former Kentucky players, according to a study by FlashPicks.

Former UK Players Are the Worst-Behaved at the NBA Level

It seems the Kentucky Wildcats are statistically the worst-behaved players in the NBA. They also have the most ejections and are in the top five among players who have missed the most games through suspensions.

Now, why this happens more frequently with UK players than others isn't something FlashPicks covered, but they're a numbers outfit, so I'm not surprised. Is it because their profiles are higher; Kentucky made news recently for having the most former players--seven--in the NBA All-Star Game. No, it doesn't make sense that just because you're good you have a greater penchant for being disruptive.

Who knows?

But the pendulum always swings back, and the University of Kentucky is due for good news on all fronts, including the NBA