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Despite the Kentucky Wildcats continuing to struggle away from Rupp Arena, they're still projected to have a fairly decent seed in this year's NCAA Tournament.
The Cats certainly didn't look like a team worthy of a top-4 seed during their second-half meltdown at Vandy as the Dores outscored UK by 15 and won 74-62. That was the second-biggest loss UK has suffered this year, and as bad as it looked, it's not dropping the Cats' projected seeding...yet.
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Around the top 25, No. 8 Iowa (twice), No. 9 Maryland, No. 10 Arizona (twice), No. 16 Baylor, No. 17 Iowa State, No. 18 Duke and No. 20 Notre Dame all suffered losses this past week. Because Iowa and Zona lost twice, they have actually fallen behind UK in many tournament projections now.
Duke, Baylor, Iowa State and Notre Dame probably would have moved past UK in the seed line had they not lost this past week, so the Cats can thank them for that. That's allowed Kentucky to stay right in that 4 seed range based on the latest round of bracketology.
ESPN's Joe Lunardi actually bumped the Cats up to a 3 seed in the Midwest Region for his latest bracketology. California is the 6 seed which means we could see a 3/6 matchup between UK and Jaylen Brown, who spurned the Cats to join Cal instead. Kansas is the No. 1 seed, and after how UK should have won in Lawrence, I think most UK fans would love seeing this.
The only problem is Michigan State is the 2 seed, and you could make a good argument for the Spartans being a 1 seed-caliber team. It's hard to see this UK team beating MSU and KU just to get to the Final Four, but it's not impossible.
In fact, CBS Sports' Jerry Palm has the Spartans as the West's 1 seed in his latest bracketology, but has UK falling to a 5 seed in the Midwest Region. Purdue comes in as the 4 seed, which is a terrible matchup for UK. The Boilermakers have one of the best frontcourts in America with Isaac Haas, Caleb Swanigan, Vince Edwards and A.J. Hammons.
Those four average 44.8 points per game alone, and they'd probably get that and then some against the Cats' thin frontline. This region also has Kansas as the 1 seed and Virginia as the 2 seed, so this is another potential region with two 1 seed-caliber teams.
Shelby Mast of USA Today Sports has UK coming in as a 4 seed in the South Region with Virginia being the 1 seed. A potential 4/5 matchup with Iowa looms, but the Hawkeyes are fading fast and may not even be able to get a 5 seed if they keep losing. Xavier makes this region as a 2 seed while Texas comes in as the 3 seed.
The guys at Bracket Matrix, who round up what every website and national outlet projects, has Kentucky registering an average of 3.84, meaning they're pretty comfortably getting projected as a 4-seed. This is probably the seed UK deserves most if the season ended today.
Say what you will about the Cats' struggles this season, but the fact that they could lose 8+ games and still end up with a 4 seed is a minor miracle that should give them a great chance to advance at least past the first weekend.