College Basketball 2018: New ESPN Bracketology has Kentucky Wildcats in Region of Death

ESPN’s Dr. Joe Lunardi is famous in the sports world for his Bracketology, but I think his algorithm needs some work.

In his updated NCAA Tournament bracket, he has Kentucky as the No. 5 seed in the West Region. The last Bracketology update I gave Lunardi saw Kentucky as a 4 seed in the East region with a much easier path to the championship.

But this new update is more of a nightmare scenario for this young team.

If Kentucky were put into this slot of the bracket at the 5 seed they would be put up against a very stacked region. Sitting at the top of the region is Duke with the 1 seed.

Kentucky would have to beat New Mexico State and get past Arizona all just to play Texas/Texas A&M or Duke in the Sweet 16. While another fun matchup against Texas A&M could end in Kentucky’s favor once more, the likely opponent would be Duke.

Duke’s breakout star, Marvin Bagley III, would be a very tough player to stop. He’s averaging 22 points, 11.7 rebounds, and 1.7 assists per game.

If the Cats walk away with a tough win there they would then most likely face an Oklahoma team led by Trae Young who has been playing like a young Steph Curry averaging 29.5 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 9.8 assists per game.

And while Arizona’s record doesn’t jump out to you, DeAndre Ayton is one of the best players in college basketball. Those Wildcats are also a lot better than earlier in the season when they lost three games while star guard Rawle Alkins was out with an injury. They’ve got 1 seed talent.

And if we’re going off RPI, this region has the No. 1 (Duke), No. 5 (Xavier), No. 8 (Oklahoma) and No. 12 (Kentucky) teams.

All of that just for a shot at the Final Four.

Like I said, this is the bracket from your worst nightmares. Don’t bother looking at it, don’t think about, and maybe it’ll all just go away.