Kentucky earned its 16th consecutive bid to the NCAA Tournament, earning the No. 8 seed in the West Regional, with a 21-11 overall record. The bid is Kentucky?s NCAA record 48th.

The 16-straight appearances is the third longest active streak in the nation. Arizona has the longest run with 23 consecutive trips and Kansas is second at 18 straight.

The Wildcats face Big East foe Villanova in Friday?s first round. Kentucky is technically 5-0 all-time against Nova, although the Philadelphia-based Wildcats eliminated UK from the 1988 tournament regional semis. That game was later vacated by the NCAA due to UK penalties.

UK has advanced to the second round in each of the past 15 NCAA Tournaments, the longest such streak in the country.

Kentucky has won seven national championships and been to 13 Final Fours, 31 Elite Eights and 40 Sweet 16s.