College Basketball Bracketology: Kentucky Wildcats get insane projection at ESPN

Kentucky’s latest projected draw in ESPN’s bracketology from Joe Lunardi is an insanely tough region.

Kentucky is projected as a 6-seed, a drop from being projected as a 5-seed in the last bracketology after losing to Florida.

In this theoretical matchup, the Wildcats would face the winner of a play-in game against University of Southern California (USC) and Texas.

USC isn’t a terrible matchup, but they have a solid frontcourt with Chimezie Metu and Bennie Boatwright, and before being involved in the FBI Scandal, were considered a potential Final Four team.

Texas, of course, has Mohamed Bamba and that’s definitely not a matchup Kentucky wants even though they would be the better overall team,

If they win that, they get the luxury of playing against Michigan State, who despite losing in the Big Ten Tournament, is probably one of the 5 or 6 most favored teams to win the NCAA Tournament.

(1) Kansas, (2) North Carolina, (4) Arizona, and (5) Gonzaga are also in that West projection, which seems to be by far the toughest region.

If there’s a positive, Kentucky gets to open up in Nashville in this projection, but that’s a small consolation prize looking at the potential opponents.

The SEC, ACC, and Big 12 are all tied with eight teams in the field in this projection.

Obviously this is just a projection and it’s almost certain that the NCAA doesn’t make this bracket actually happen, but it still makes for entertaining thought.