Joe Lunardi puts Kentucky and Duke in same region of new bracketology

The Kentucky Wildcats have been on a wild roller coaster ride in Joe Lunardi’s bracketology throughout the season. They have been all the way up to a 1 seed, as low as an 8 seed, and just about everywhere in between.

After the Cats failed to get off to a great start to the year, we saw that seed slip down to an 8. However, in recent weeks they have been on the upward trend.

On the January 4^th update, Kentucky moved up to a 4 seed in the South Region with the Michigan Wolverines as their 1 seed and the Gonzaga Bulldogs as the 2 seed.

The next two games for the Cats were a loss on the road to Alabama and a double-digit win at home against Texas A&M. Those two games basically offset each other in the eyes on Lunardi, as Kentucky remained a 4 seed.

In Lunardi’s most recent projection, the Wildcats are in the East Region with a first round matchup with Georgia State, who upset Alabama earlier this season. The 1 seed in this region is the Duke Blue Devils, and the 2 seed is the Texas Tech Red Raiders. A 4/5 matchup with the 5 seed Wisconsin Badgers is also likely in this projection.

Looking at the bracket as a whole, it is honestly a favorable bracket for the Cats. Personally, I would like to avoid being in the same bracket as Duke, but the rest of it would be good for Kentucky.

If the Cats can go on a win streak to close out the month of January, then they will make a big jump in the seeding and will start to climb back towards a 1 seed.

However, the end of the month is going to be very difficult. After they play Vanderbilt at home Saturday, at Georgia, at Auburn, Mississippi State, Kansas, and close at Vanderbilt.

That is about as tough of a stretch as you could imagine, but if the Cats can come out of that then they will be in great shape going forward.

This next stretch will tell us a lot about this team and a lot about their tournament seed.

You can look at the entire bracketology here.