NCAA Tournament Bracket: Top 16 Seeds Released

The 2017 NCAA Tournament is set to begin in March, but for the first time, the selection committee is offering an early peek at how things stand on with a look at the top 16 seeds.

On Saturday at 12:30 p.m. on CBS, the tournament committee revealed their current top 16 seeds, and the Kentucky Wildcats were among them. Despite their recent slide, the Cats’ overall body of work was enough to earn them a No. 4 seed in the East Region and the No. 12 overall spot.

That sets up a potential matchup with Louisville in the Sweet 16 after the Cards made it as a No. 3 seed. UCLA is also in this region as the No. 4 seed. Based on these current projections and assuming a few teams lose down the stretch, UK can probably afford one more loss and still get 3 seed. Thy should get a 2 if they win out, which I wouldn’t bet on happening, but this team certainly has the ability to.

Thankfully, UK still has plenty of time to move up before Selection Sunday, and that’s start today with a big road game at Alabama, who just upset No. 19 South Carolina this past week.

That win ultimately kept the Gamecocks from being one of the 16 seeds revealed today, but the Florida Gators did make it at No. 11 and give the SEC two teams in this reveal. All said, those three SEC teams would be in the field as of now.

But it’s hard to say if the conference would have any more teams as Tennessee and Arkansas are squarely on the bubble. Alabama can inch closer towards the bubble with a win today, but they’ll need a strong finish to make it in.

Here are the committee’s bracket as of now:

Here is the ranking:

1. Villanova
2. Kansas
3. Baylor
4. Gonzaga
5. UNC
6. FSU
7. Louisville
8. Oregon
9. Arizona
10. Virginia
11. Florida
12. Kentucky
13. Butler
14. West Virginia
15. UCLA
16. Duke