Kentucky women’s basketball team set to learn its NCAA Tournament path
University of Kentucky basketball fans still have an opportunity to go mad in March.
The UK women’s hoops squad will learn its NCAA Tournament draw when the 64-team field is revealed Monday night on ESPN. Ranked No. 18 in the most recent Associated Press Top 25 poll, Kentucky (17-8 overall) is expected to receive an at-large berth after losing to No. 12 Georgia in the quarterfinals of the Southeastern Conference Tournament.
All NCAA Tournament games will be played in the San Antonio area in multiple venues with limited fans. The first round will be played on Sunday, March 21, and Monday, March 22. The Final Four will be played in the Alamodome on April 2 and 4.
The Wildcats will enter the tournament having lost two of their last three games. They were fifth in the SEC regular-season standings with a 9-6 league record, missing out on a fourth-place finish and double-bye in the conference tournament because of a home loss to Ole Miss in the regular-season finale.
UK will bring one of the nation’s best players into the tournament. Junior star Rhyne Howard was recently voted SEC Player of the Year for the second straight season and is one of 11 semifinalists for National Player of the Year. She’s the only SEC player leading her team in scoring (20.7 points per game) rebounding (7.3) and assists (3.5).
Though the Cats have suffered a few bumps in the road during the first season under head coach Kyra Elzy, they’ve proven they can compete with the country’s best programs. UK owns four wins over teams currently ranked in the Top 25 and has lost back-to-back games just once.
In the latest edition of ESPN’s “Bracketology,” analyst Charlie Creme predicts Kentucky will be a No. 4 seed in the Mercado Region along with No. 1 seed Connecticut. If the seeds played out, the Wildcats would meet the Huskies — currently ranked No. 1 in the AP Top 25 — in the Sweet 16.
Creme had Louisville (23-3) — the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season champion which lost to No. 3 N.C. State in the league tournament’s title game — as a No. 2 seed in the Alamo Region on the opposite side of the bracket from Kentucky. In that scenario, the Wildcats and Cardinals could not meet until the national championship game. They are the only teams from the state of Kentucky Creme predicts will make the NCAA Tournament.
UK is one of seven SEC teams Creme lists as safely among the field. The others are SEC Tournament champion South Carolina (a No. 1 seed), SEC regular-season champ Texas A&M (No. 1), Georgia (No. 3), Tennessee (No. 3), Arkansas (No. 4) and Alabama (No. 7).
Mississippi State and Ole Miss are listed as bubble teams who Creme predicts will be among the “first four out.”
Creme has Stanford listed as the fourth No. 1 and tournament’s top overall seed.
Monday
NCAA Women’s Selection Special
When: 7 p.m.
TV: ESPN
