NASHVILLE — I don’t have a lot of time to run through the entire NCAA Tournament field UK was just presented with since I have to drive back to Lexington tonight in addition to a story I have to finish, but I thought I’d give a couple of quick bullets on the Cats’ draw.
– UK earned a No. 1 seed in the East Region and will play Atlantic Sun champion East Tennessee State on Thursday in New Orleans. Should the Cats win, UK would get the winner of Texas-Wake Forest in the 8/9 matchup on Saturday.
– It’s the 10th time Kentucky has earned a No. 1 seed and first since 2004. Kansas, Syracuse and Duke earned the other No. 1 seeds.
– Four Southeastern Conference teams — UK, Tennessee, Vanderbilt and Florida — made the Big Dance. Mississippi State, which lost out on an automatic bid Sunday in a heartbreaking overtime loss to the Cats in the SEC championship, had its bubble popped and was left out of the tourney.
– UK will be playing in New Orleans, not Milwaukee as most projected. The Cats would still go through Syracuse for the Regionals if they were to win their first two games. The Final Four takes place in Indianapolis, Ind.
– I think CBS analyst Seth Davis said it best when he said, “It’s a brutal road for Kentucky.” Although the Cats earned the No. 2 overall seed in the tournament, it looks like UK could face the toughest or second-toughest region based on the eye test.
– UK’s second-round matchup looks to be the hardest of any of the No. 1 seeds. Texas was ranked No. 1 in the nation at one point this season and was a preseason pick for the Final Four. While the Longhorns have stumbled down the stretch, they still have Final Four talent with Damion James, Avery Bradley and Dexter Pittman. Wake Forest is certainly no slouch either with Al-Farouq Aminu.
– The No. 2 seed in Kentucky’s bracket is Big East champion West Virginia. Although the Mountaineers are No. 4 in the CBSsports.com RPI, the draw for Kentucky is pretty fair when one considers that Ohio State and Kansas State, two potential No. 1 seeds, did not make it into UK’s bracket.
– Do not overlook third-seeded New Mexico. Although the Lobos are a traditional mid-major, they are a very dangerous team this year and ranked No. 10 in the CBSsports.com RPI. Temple, a No. 5 seed and potential Sweet 16 matchup with UK, is also a potential scary matchup as the Owls rank No. 9 in the RPI.
– We should have a few video clips from head coach John Calipari and the players on the NCAA Tournament later on.
