It’s been quite the week for the Kentucky Wildcats and their postseason outlook.
At halftime of Tuesday’s matchup with Tennessee and the Cats up 11, ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi released an updated bracket that briefly had Kentucky as a 2 seed.
But after the Cats blew a 17-point lead and fell 81-73, they went right back to being projected as a 3 seed — and even a 4 in some projections.
The 4 seed looked even more likely when the Wildcats found themselves down 18 in the second half of Saturday’s clash with the Florida Gators. But when all hope seemed lost, Kentucky rallied for a miraculous 71-70 win over the Gators, finishing the regular season at 25-6 and 15-3 in SEC play.
That’s good enough for Lunardi to once again bump the Wildcats back into a 2 seed.
— Joe Lunardi (@ESPNLunardi) March 7, 2020
However, this would be a brutal region for Kentucky, as a path to the Final Four could feature matchups with Louisville and Kansas just to get to Atlanta. But because Kentucky would be the worst 2 seed in this case, that means they should be placed in the region with the No. 1 overall seed, which is almost certainly going to be Kansas.
Hopefully, the Cats can win the SEC Tournament and have a few teams ahead of them lose. That could result in a more favorable region like the South, where the path would likely involve a Seton Hall team that’s lost two straight, and a Baylor team that’s an overtime win over Texas Tech away from having lost three straight and four of five games after they lost at West Virginia today.