5 Reasons Why Kentucky Is The Most Overexposed Team In NCAA Basketball

Make no bones about it: the Kentucky Wildcats' men's basketball team has been one of the most overexposed team in NCAA Basketball today.

Almost every ESPN Super Tuesday game tends to feature Kentucky facing whichever team the Wildcats are facing right now. ESPN's veteran college basketball announcer Dick Vitale would often brag about UK just as much as mentioning Duke, North Carolina and to a lesser extent Kansas during games. As a result, other SEC teams would take a backseat behind Kentucky.

There are various reasons as to why Kentucky has been getting the most media exposure as I dissect in this slideshow. Here are the five biggest reasons as to why Kentucky is the most overexposed team in college basketball.

#5 SEC's Focus on Football

An Alabama Crimson Tide football player celebrating

The Southeastern Conference features several talented football schools which include the likes of Alabama Crimson Tide, Auburn Tigers, Florida Gators, Georgia Bulldogs, LSU Tigers and Tennessee Volunteers. By comparison, the Kentucky Wildcats football team tends to be paired with the Vanderbilt Commodores when it comes to college football attendance records despite UK football's recent success.

Which brings us to the Southeastern Conference men's basketball. Teams such as Auburn, Florida and Mississippi State are having outstanding seasons but almost never get any respect simply because those schools only care about football and not men's basketball.

#4 The NBA Effect

New Orleans Pelicans forward Anthony Davis

The Kentucky Wildcats have featured many alums that have gone on to have great success in the NBA, including Anthony Davis of the New Orleans Pelicans (pictured above), DeMarcus Cousins also of the Pelicans, John Wall of the Washington Wizards, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist of the Charlotte Hornets and Karl-Anthony Towns, Jr. of the Minnesota Timberwolves, among others.

This year's roster features several NBA prospects including Kevin Knox, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jarred Vanderbilt and Hamilton Diallo as well as future Kentucky Wildcats Immanuel Quickley and Keldon Johnson.

#3 A Devoted Fanbase

Ashley Judd at a Kentucky game.

Actress Ashley Judd, Hip Hop star Drake. Hip hop star Jay-Z. Cleveland Cavaliers All-Star LeBron James. Actor George Clooney. Former U.S. President Barack Obama.

What do these celebrities have in common? They are all diehard Kentucky Wildcats fans, some of which are known to attend just about every Kentucky Wildcats game at Rupp Arena.

The "House That Adolph Rupp Built" has set record attendances that other arenas such as Cameron Coliseum, Allen Fieldhouse and the Dean Smith Center cannot compete with.

#2 John Calipari

Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball coach John Calipari

When Kentucky fired Billy Gillispie after the 2008-2009 season with a lackluster 19-12 record, Kentucky was determined to be one of the best college basketball teams by hiring a coach who not only can win games, but to be one of the most popular coaches just like Mike Krzyzkewski, Roy Williams and Bill Self had been.

Enter John Calipari, former men's basketball coach at the University of Memphis. Calipari would prove to be very popular at UK by winning the hearts of not only the Big Blue Nation but also ESPN who would air the majority of Kentucky games.

#1 TV Ratings

Another reason why networks such as ESPN (and to a lesser extent, CBS) airs most of Kentucky games over other SEC teams is due to the fact that UK games tend to garner the highest ratings over any other team.

Last season, four Kentucky games were ranked in the top 12 highest-rated college basketball games which included their games against Kansas, Florida, Louisville and North Carolina. In other words, higher ratings means more money for these networks.