The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers men's basketball team is the men's basketball team that represents

Western Kentucky University Western Kentucky University (WKU) is a public university in Bowling Green, Kentucky, United States. It was founded by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1906, though its roots reach back a few decades earlier. It operates regional campuses in Glas ...

(WKU) in

Bowling Green, Kentucky Bowling Green is a city in Warren County, Kentucky, United States, and its county seat. Its population was 72,294 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Kentucky, third-most populous city in the stat ...

. The Hilltoppers currently compete in

Conference USA Conference USA (CUSA) is a collegiate athletic conference of member institutions in the Southern and Western United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. CUSA's offices are located in Dallas, Texas. Mem ...

. The team's most recent appearance in the

NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as March Madness, or The Big Dance, is a single-elimination tournament played in the United States to determine the men's college basketball national champion of the NCAA Division I, Di ...

was in

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

Hank Plona Hank Plona (born September 30, 1985) is an American basketball coach who is the current head coach at Western Kentucky Hilltoppers basketball, Western Kentucky. He has previously coached at Providence Friars men's basketball, Providence, Arkansas ...

was announced as the team's current head coach on April 2, 2024. The men's basketball program has the 16th most victories in the history of the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

and has attained the eighth best winning percentage in NCAA history. The school made an NCAA

Final Four In sports, the final four is the last four teams remaining in a playoffs, playoff tournament. Usually the final four compete in the two games of a single-elimination tournament's semi-final (penultimate) round. Of these teams, the two who win in ...

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 The Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern and Southeastern United States. It participates in Division I of the NCAA; the conference's football programs compete in partnership with ...

championships and was very competitive in its previous conference, the

Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that has been affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football confe ...

, regularly finishing near the top of the conference and competing for the conference championship. In 2014, the Hilltoppers joined

following

conference realignment Since 2020 many college or university athletic programs have changed membership from one National Collegiate Athletic Association athletic conference to another. Announced future changes ;Notes * The "year" column indicates the calendar year ...

Street & Smith Street & Smith or Street & Smith Publications, Inc., was a New York City publisher specializing in inexpensive paperbacks and magazines referred to as dime novels and pulp magazine, pulp fiction. They also published comic books and sporting year ...

's publication "100 Greatest Programs", ranked WKU #31. WKU has had 30 All Americans and 56 Hilltoppers have played professionally following their collegiate careers.

Conference affiliation history

* 1914–15 to 1925–26 – Independent * 1926–27 to 1947–48 – Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Association &

Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA) was one of the first collegiate athletic conferences in the United States. Twenty-seven of the current Division I FBS (formerly Division I-A) football programs were members of this conferen ...

* 1948–49 to 1981–82 –

* 1982–83 to 2013–14 –

* 2014–15 to present –

Postseason

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 The College Basketball Invitational (CBI) is a men's college basketball tournament created in 2007 by The Gazelle Group. The inaugural tournament occurred after the conclusion of the 2007–08 men's college basketball regular season. The CBI sel ...

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. Jon Davis Taveion Hollingsworth

* Vacated by the NCAA

NCAA Tournament seeding history

''The

began seeding the tournament with the 1979 edition.''

NIT results

The Hilltoppers have appeared in the

National Invitation Tournament The National Invitation Tournament (NIT) is an annual men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Since 2023, all rounds of the tournament are played at various sites across the country whi ...

(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. 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. Their combined record is 13–16.

Other tournament results

In 1936 Western Kentucky was invited to the National Olympic Playoffs representing the South. They played two games against the Southwest representative,

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

, in Little Rock, losing both games by scores of 36–43 and 30–38. The Hilltoppers were scheduled to appear in the 1938 National Intercollegiate Basketball tournament; however, the team was unable to make the trip and withdrew from the tournament. The NAIA lists the game as a forfeit, but Western Kentucky does not recognize the contest as part of their official record. The Hilltoppers appeared in the

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the Uni ...

National Campus Basketball Tournament where they were defeated by

Bradley Bradley may refer to: People * Bradley (given name) * Bradley (surname) Places In the United Kingdom In England: * Bradley, Cheshire * Bradley, Derbyshire * Bradley (house), a manor in Kingsteignton, Devon * Bradley, Gloucestershire * ...

71–75 in the first round.

Milestones

E.A. Diddle Arena

The E.A. Diddle Arena is a 7,326-seat multi-purpose

arena An arena is a large enclosed venue, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, Music, musical performances or Sport, sporting events. It comprises a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for specta ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The arena, built in 1963 is named after legendary WKU men's coach and Basketball Hall of Famer Edgar "E.A." Diddle.

Current coaching staff

* Hank Plona - Head Coach

Former Head Coaches

* L.T Smith (1922–1922) * E. A. Diddle (1923–1964) * John Oldham (1965–1971) * Jim Richards (1972–1978) *

Gene Keady Lloyd Eugene Keady (born May 21, 1936) is an American Hall of Fame basketball coach. He is best known for his 25 years serving as the head men's basketball coach at Purdue University in Indiana. In his tenure leading the Boilermakers from 1980 t ...

(1979–1980) *

Clem Haskins Clem Smith Haskins (born July 11, 1943) is an American former college and professional basketball player and college basketball coach. In the fall of 1963, he and fellow star player Dwight Smith became the first black athletes to integrate the ...

(1981–1986) *

Murray Arnold Murray Arnold (March 4, 1938 – November 13, 2012) was an American basketball coach, best remembered for his college coaching career at Chattanooga, Western Kentucky and Stetson. He also spent two seasons from 1991 coaching the Perth Wildc ...

(1987–1990) *

Ralph Willard Ralph Daniel Willard (born March 28, 1946) is an American former basketball coach. He served as the head men's basketball coach at Western Kentucky University from 1990 to 1994, the University of Pittsburgh from 1994 to 1999, and the College of ...

(1991–1994) * Matt Kilcullen (1995–1998) * Al Seibert (1998) *

Dennis Felton Dennis Alan Felton (born June 21, 1963) is an American basketball coach who is an assistant coach at Providence College. His previous positions included a stint as the associate head coach at George Mason University under then-head coach Kim En ...

(1999–2003) *

Darrin Horn Darrin McKinley Horn (born December 24, 1972) is an American college basketball head coach at Northern Kentucky, having previously served as an assistant coach at the University of Texas and a head coach for the Division I (NCAA) programs at Wes ...

(2004–2008) *

Ken McDonald (basketball) Kenneth Michael McDonald (born March 4, 1970) is an American professional basketball coach, currently working as the director of student-athlete development at the University of Tennessee. He previously served as a head coach with the Austin Toro ...

(2009–2012) * Ray Harper (2012–2016) *

Rick Stansbury Richard Lee Stansbury (born December 23, 1959), is an American college basketball coach who most recently was an assistant coach at the Memphis Tigers men's basketball, University of Memphis. He was the head coach at Western Kentucky Hilltoppers ...

(2017–2023) *

Steve Lutz Steve Lutz (born October 25, 1972) is an American college basketball coach who is currently the head coach at Oklahoma State University. He previously served as the head coach at Texas A&M–Corpus Christi and Western Kentucky. Early life Lut ...

(2023–2024)

All-Americans

2011–12 WKU media guide

Retired jerseys

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.

Season-by-season results

References

External links

* {{Conference USA men's basketball navbox Basketball teams established in 1914 1914 establishments in Kentucky