Joe Lunardi’s latest Bracketology shows the importance of Kentucky vs. Arkansas

The Kentucky Wildcats are currently on a six-game SEC winning streak and now sit in 4^th place in the SEC standings.

With eight games remaining in the regular season, Kentucky is still fighting for an NCAA Tournament spot after a rough start to the season, as evidenced by the majority of bracketology projections.

According to Joe Lunardi’s latest ESPN Bracketology, the Cats are in the tournament but are considered one of the “last four byes.”

Also included in the last four byes section is the Arkansas Razorbacks, who the Cats will have their first of two matchups against on Tuesday night. The second will be in Fayetteville for the regular-season finale.

This two-game series will go a long way in deciding if one or both of these teams ultimately made the Field of 68, especially since, as of now, both teams are in the NET’s top 30. So long as that’s true, these will be Quad 1 games for both teams.

As for the seeding, Lunardi has the Cats as a 10-seed playing in the South region with their first and second-round games taking place in Sacramento.

If the Cats were to play the highest seed possible each round, their path to the Final Four would be.

• Round of 64: San Diego State Aztecs
• Round of 32: UCLA Bruins
• Round of 16: Iowa State Cyclones
• Elite Eight: Purdue Boilermakers

Looking at the conference breakdown, the Big Ten and Big 12 are tied for the most teams making their field with each conference getting 8 teams in. The ACC is in third with 7 teams and the SEC is in fourth place with six teams making the field.

You can check out Lunardi’s full Bracketology here.