The men's basketball program has the 16th most victories in the history of the NCAA[3] and has attained the eighth best winning percentage in NCAA history.[3] The school made an NCAA Final Four appearance in 1971, which was later vacated, and has made four NIT Final Four appearances, including three in the early days of the NIT when it was on par with the NCAA tournament. The program has won numerous Ohio Valley Conference championships and was very competitive in its previous conference, the Sun Belt Conference, regularly finishing near the top of the conference and competing for the conference championship. In 2014, the Hilltoppers joined Conference USA following conference realignment.
Street & Smith's publication "100 Greatest Programs", ranked WKU #31. WKU has had 30 All Americans and 56 Hilltoppers have played professionally following their collegiate careers.[4]
WKU has appeared in 41 national postseason tournaments and in five national final fours. The school currently has a policy of only accepting invitations to the NCAA or NIT tournaments, which precludes participation in other tournaments such as the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament and College Basketball Invitational.[5]
NCAA tournament results
The Hilltoppers have appeared in the NCAA tournament 24 times. Their combined record is 19–25. Their appearance in the 1971 NCAA Tournament and third-place finish were later vacated by the NCAA due to a player, Jim McDaniels, having signed a professional contract and accepted money during the season.[6]
The Hilltoppers have appeared in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) 15 times. When the NIT started, it was considered the premiere national college basketball tournament and remained on par with the NCAA Tournament through the mid-1950s, until the NCAA began giving automatic bids to conference champions in 1956.[7] Western Kentucky's first eight appearances occurred during this early period, including their 2nd-place finish in 1942, 3rd place in 1948, and 4th place in 1954. WKU also made the NIT Final Four in 2018.[8] Their combined record is 13–16.
In 1936 Western Kentucky was invited to the National Olympic Playoffs representing the South. They played two games against the Southwest representative, Arkansas, in Little Rock, AK, losing both games by scores of 36–43 and 30–38.[9]
The Hilltoppers were scheduled to appear in the 1938 National Intercollegiate Basketball tournament;[10] however, the team was unable to make the trip and withdrew from the tournament.[11] The NAIA lists the game as a forfeit, but Western Kentucky does not recognize the contest as part of their official record.[12]
The Hilltoppers appeared in the 1951 National Campus Basketball Tournament where they were defeated by Bradley 71–75 in the first round.[13]
The first jerseys retired in honor of Hilltopper basketball greats were hung in E.A. Diddle Arena during the 1999–2000 season. Also even though the jerseys are retired current and future players can and do use the numbers of the players whose jerseys are retired.
Fltr: Clem Haskins, Courtney Lee, and Jim McDaniels, whose jerseys were retired by Western Kentucky
^Miller, Ralph (1990). "Ralph Miller: Spanning the Game." Sagamore Publishing LLC. p. 56. ISBN0915611384. "Had the Aggies lost one, we would have been forced to have a playoff, and that was the problem. We had already accepted a bid to play in the [1954] National Invitation Tournament (NIT). The tournament picture was much different then. There was no announcement of NIT teams following the selection of the NCAA field as exists today. The reason was that the NIT was still considered a premier tournament."
