Kentucky stays put in new AP Top 25 rankings. Where does bracketology have the Wildcats?
A strange week on the basketball court didn’t affect Kentucky’s standing in the final AP Top 25 rankings of the regular season.
The Wildcats remained at No. 23 in the AP poll Monday, the same spot as the previous week. UK returned to the AP Top 25 last week while on a four-game winning streak after being absent from the rankings for nearly two months.
Kentucky started the final week of the regular season with a surprising 68-66 loss to Vanderbilt in Rupp Arena, a game in which starting point guard Cason Wallace left in the opening minutes of the second half with a lower leg injury and did not return. UK then played without Wallace at Arkansas on Saturday but managed to upset the Razorbacks 88-79, thanks in large part to a 37-point performance from senior guard Antonio Reeves.
Houston remained at No. 1 in the rankings, with UCLA, Kansas, Alabama and Purdue rounding out the top five.
No. 4 Alabama, which lost its regular-season finale to Texas A&M on Saturday, is the top-ranked team in the Southeastern Conference. Tennessee is No. 17, with Texas A&M moving up to No. 18, Kentucky staying out at No. 23 and Missouri rounding out the poll at No. 25.
The SEC Tournament begins Wednesday, but Kentucky won’t play its first game in the event until around 9:30 p.m. Friday, when the Wildcats will get either Vanderbilt, Georgia or Louisiana State for their quarterfinal matchup. A win there, and UK would play Saturday afternoon with Texas A&M, Auburn and Arkansas as the possible opponents.
The SEC Tournament title game is set for 1 p.m. Sunday on ESPN.
The consensus from the latest bracketology updates going into conference tournament week indicate that Kentucky is in the vicinity of a 6 seed.
The post-weekend projections from BracketWAG.com and The Athletic both have the Wildcats on the 6 line. BracketWAG has UK playing the winner of a Wisconsin-Nevada “First Four” game in the first round, with Greensboro and Louisville as the two site assignments. The Athletic projects Kentucky as a 6 seed playing Rutgers in the first round, with Columbus and Kansas City as the Cats’ tournament sites.
On Sunday, a “mock selection committee” consisting of several bracketologists went through the process of collectively setting a 2023 NCAA Tournament bracket — based on the same principles the NCAA committee uses — and ended up with Kentucky as the 6 seed with Columbus as its opening-week site and playing in the Louisville Regional. That bracket has a first-round matchup with the winner of a Penn State-Nevada “First Four” game and 3-seeded Marquette as a possible second-round matchup for the Wildcats.
ESPN’s Joe Lunardi updated his bracketology board Sunday night, placing Kentucky as a 7 seed with West Virginia as its first-round matchup. Lunardi has UK staying close to home, with Columbus as the first site and playing in the Louisville Regional.
And CBS also has Kentucky as a 7 seed, matched with 10-seeded Boise State in Denver for the first week of the tournament, with 2-seeded Kansas State as a possible second-round matchup. CBS also has the Cats playing in the Louisville Regional.
The one-hour Selection Sunday show is set for 6 p.m. Sunday on CBS.
This story was originally published March 6, 2023 at 12:16 PM.
