Six weeks ago, Kentucky’s season sat a crossroads. The Wildcats were 6-7 in SEC play, fresh off a four-game losing streak, and looked more likely to end up in the NIT than the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16.

From there, Kentucky experienced what has become a typical late season rebirth, leaving that mediocre identity seemingly far behind, winning nine of their last ten games, including the SEC Tournament, ending up in the Sweet 16 with an unloaded bracket ahead of them and a tantalizing opportunity to reach the Final Four in San Antonio.

The “new” version of Kentucky didn’t do the things that put the Wildcats in harm’s way in early February. They didn’t shoot the ball badly (never under 41.4 percent in the 10-game run) and they quit piling up mindless turnovers (never more than 13). And accordingly, when Arizona, Virginia, Tennessee, Cincinnati, and anybody else with a modicum of recent NCAA Tournament success was knocked out of UK’s bracket, well, things looked good.

Thursday night, the “old” Kentucky resurfaced at the worst possible time, as UK dropped a 61-58 decision to Kansas State.

Since the 38-0 team lost in the 2015 Final Four, UK has lost in the second round, Elite Eight and now Sweet 16.

Old Kentucky had some work to do — Kentucky was 9-0 all-time against Kansas State, John Calipari was 6-0 at UK in Sweet 16 games, and the Wildcats were poised to play the games in “Catlanta,” a hop, skip, and jump from many of Big Blue Nation’s most ardent Wildcat backers.

Friday morning, it’s Kansas State’s Catlanta now.

Kentucky fell behind 13-1 in the opening minutes, shot 38.1 percent, and turned the ball over 15 times. P.J. Washington missed a dozen free throws; the Wildcats missed 14 in total. They fell to 2-9 in games in which they scored fewer than 70 points — and the 58 was their fewest since 2014-15. And just like that, the bracket from heaven turned into a season ending from hell.

Credit Kansas State for a scrappy performance … and for making the pundits overlook the fact that their drag-it-out style of play was Kentucky’s worst nightmare.

Many in the national media, caught up in Virginia’s historic defeat, failed to realize that in many important categories, K-State was Virginia lite. K-State held opponents to 66.7 points per game this year, which isn’t UVA’s nation-leading figure, but is good for 42nd in the NCAA. The other Wildcats also had a talent for forcing turnovers, making opponents cough up the ball 518 times, which is 22nd in NCAA totals. K-State’s 286 steals are eighth in the nation.

All of those things mattered greatly Thursday night.

Sweet-shooting freshman Kevin Knox had 13 points, and his smooth jump shot was Kentucky’s best weapon, but in crunch time, Kansas State simply denied Knox the ball, and he looked lead-legged in trying to shake free for shots.

UK point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had an uneven game, shooting just 2-for-10 from the field and equaling his five assists with five turnovers. He had spurred the Wildcats’ late-season 180.

Washington was UK’s most consistent player, with 18 points and 14 boards, but his unsteady touch at the foul line was a significant factor in the loss. Freshman forward Jarred Vanderbilt again didn’t make it into uniform due to his ankle injury.

Kentucky’s season ends at 26-11 — matching the second-most losses in the Calipari era and the third consecutive year that Calipari’s Cats have ended up shy of the Final Four.

When he took the Kentucky job, Calipari indicated that he hoped to coach at UK for around a decade. Nine years in, if he has to endure many more games like Thursday night, the end could be sooner than most realize.

For now, Kentucky will watch a No. 9 seed play a No. 11 seed for a spot in the Final Four — a spot that looked almost certain to belong to “new” Kentucky. But “old” Kentucky couldn’t claim it.