What to know before Kentucky’s NCAA women’s basketball tournament future is revealed
The Kentucky Wildcats women’s basketball team will soon learn its NCAA Tournament fate.
After a fairy-tale run to the Southeastern Conference Tournament championship last weekend in Nashville — capped by upsetting the No. 1 team in the country with a buzzer-beating shot in the title game — the Wildcats have already secured a spot in this year’s 68-team NCAA Tournament.
UK went to Nashville on the NCAA Tournament bubble, but after recording four wins in four days, including triumphs over the then No. 1 (South Carolina), No. 6 (LSU) and No. 18 (Tennessee) teams in the Associated Press Poll, Kentucky has boosted its NCAA Tournament profile and seed.
For the first time, the NCAA Tournament bracket for NCAA Division I women’s basketball will feature 68 teams.
Also for the first time, the bracket will be revealed on Selection Sunday.
The 68-team NCAA women’s basketball tournament field will be unveiled at 8 p.m. Sunday on ESPN.
Here’s what Kentucky fans need to know as the Wildcats await their postseason fate.
The profile
Kentucky owns a 19-11 overall record and a 12-8 mark in games against SEC schools.
The Wildcats went 15-11 overall and 8-8 in the regular season, before defeating Mississippi State, LSU, Tennessee and South Carolina in that order in last week’s NCAA Tournament in Nashville.
It was Kentucky’s first SEC Tournament title since 1982, and just the second all-time for the program.
UK has won 10 games in a row after closing the regular season on a six-game winning streak.
Kentucky’s NCAA Tournament résumé now features three glittering wins against some of the best teams in the country.
As of Sunday morning, Kentucky was ranked No. 34 in the NET (NCAA Evaluation Tool), a metric that ranks college basketball teams and is used significantly by the NCAA Tournament selection committee.
The NET is used to organize each team’s wins and losses into four different quadrants based on where each game is played and the opponent’s NET ranking. Quad 1 games are the most difficult to win, followed by Quad 2, Quad 3 and then Quad 4, which are the easiest to win. This means a good Quad 1 record is impressive, while a bad Quad 4 record is disastrous.
Kentucky racked up three Quad 1 wins while in Nashville.
UK’s spot in the NET has risen significantly since before the SEC Tournament.
The projection
In his latest NCAA Tournament projection on Saturday night, ESPN’s Charlie Creme had Kentucky as a No. 7 seed that would play No. 10 seed South Dakota in the round of 64.
The winner of that game would play the winner of No. 2 seed Texas and No. 15 seed Texas-Arlington in the round of 32.
First- and second-round games will be played Friday, March 18, through Monday, March 21.
Those games would be played in Austin, Texas, and would be part of the larger Spokane (Washington) Region.
Kentucky seems locked into being either a No. 7 or a No. 8 seed when the bracket is revealed Sunday night, depending on the results of other conference tournaments.
The potential
One of the major story lines for Kentucky entering this season was the lack of NCAA Tournament success with one of the best players in program history.
Star senior guard Rhyne Howard has never reached a Sweet 16 with the Wildcats.
In the two NCAA Tournaments Howard has played in — the 2020 edition never occurred due to the coronavirus pandemic — the Cats have exited at the round-of-32 stage (to North Carolina State in 2019 and to Iowa last year).
Simply making the NCAA Tournament in her senior season seemed like a farfetched thought for Howard as little as one month ago.
But thanks to a clutch three-pointer from Dre’una Edwards and some of the best wins in recent UK women’s basketball history, Howard and the Cats are dreaming big.
Sunday
What: 2022 NCAA women’s basketball tournament selection show
When: 8 p.m.
TV: ESPN
This story was originally published March 13, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
