Kentucky women’s basketball learns NCAA Tournament seed, first-round opponent
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Selection Sunday: Both UK teams headed to Indiana for NCAA Tournament
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The Kentucky women’s basketball team now knows its NCAA Tournament path.
During Sunday night’s NCAA women’s basketball tournament selection show — which aired on ESPN — it was revealed that the Wildcats received a No. 6 seed in the Big Dance and will play No. 11 seed Princeton in the round of 64.
The winner of the game between Kentucky and Princeton will play the winner of a game between No. 3 seed Indiana and No. 14 seed Charlotte in the round of 32.
These games will be played in Bloomington, Indiana, on Saturday and Monday and are part of the larger Bridgeport (Connecticut) Region.
TV assignments and tip times for these games are to be determined, but the games will be broadcast on an ESPN channel.
The No. 1 seed in this region is North Carolina State, followed by No. 2 seed Connecticut, No. 3 seed Indiana, No. 4 seed Oklahoma, No. 5 seed Notre Dame and UK as the No. 6 seed.
This will be Kentucky’s 17th appearance in the NCAA Tournament, and its 11th appearance in the last 12 NCAA Tournaments.
Kyra Elzy becomes the first UK women’s basketball head coach to take UK to the NCAA Tournament in each of the first two seasons as head coach.
UK reached the Round of 32 in 2021, defeating Idaho State before losing to Iowa.
There’s plenty of recent history and familiar faces in this region of the NCAA Tournament bracket.
UK played Princeton in the Round of 64 in the 2019 NCAA Tournament, defeating Princeton before losing to NC State in the Round of 32. Kentucky was also a No. 6 seed for this NCAA Tournament.
Former UK players Kameron Roach and Keke McKinney are now at Charlotte.
Kentucky native Grace Berger is a star at IU, and Indiana beat UK, 88-67, in Bloomington in early November, in UK’s third game of the season.
Kentucky significantly improved its NCAA Tournament status last week during the Southeastern Conference Tournament in Nashville.
UK entered the event on the NCAA Tournament bubble, but won four games in four days to capture the school’s first SEC Tournament title since 1982.
This magical run was capped by a buzzer-beating win over No. 1 South Carolina, with redshirt junior forward Dre’una Edwards making an open three-pointer with just seconds left on the clock.
The Wildcats will now enter the postseason carrying momentum from that weekend in Nashville, as well as a strong close to the regular season before that.
UK also won its final six regular-season games, which means the Cats are on a 10-game winning streak entering the NCAA Tournament.
Nobody in the country is playing as well as Kentucky right now. Despite UK’s No. 6 seed, no one wants to see UK in their portion of the bracket.
From now on, each game Kentucky plays may be the final game for star senior guard Rhyne Howard at UK.
One of the top projected picks in April’s WNBA Draft, Howard has never reached the Sweet 16 at Kentucky.
Howard lost in the round of 32 as a freshman in 2019 and as a junior in 2021, while the 2020 NCAA Tournament didn’t occur due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Now, Howard has arguably her best shot for postseason success on the biggest stage.
Kentucky was one of seven SEC teams to receive a bid to the NCAA Tournament on Sunday, along with South Carolina (No. 1 seed), LSU (No. 3 seed), Tennessee (No. 4 seed), Ole Miss (No. 7 seed), Georgia (No. 6 seed) and Arkansas (No. 10 seed)
Tickets for the games between Kentucky and Princeton and Indiana and Charlotte, as well as the Round of 32 game between those winners, will go on sale Monday at 10 a.m. through IUHoosiers.com.
Louisville receives No. 1 seed
Despite losing early in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament on a buzzer-beating shot by Miami, Louisville received a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Louisville will play No. 16 seed Albany on Friday, and then the winner of that game will play the winner of No. 8 seed Nebraska and No. 9 seed Gonzaga on Sunday.
Louisville is part of the Wichita (Kansas) Region.
Kentucky’s tournament opener
No. 6 seed Kentucky vs. No. 11 seed Princeton
What: NCAA Tournament Bridgeport Regional
When: Saturday, time TBA
Where: Bloomington, Ind.
TV: TBA
Records: Kentucky 19-11, Princeton 24-4
ABOUT PRINCETON
Location: Princeton, N.J.
Enrollment: 5,267
Nickname: Tigers
School colors: Black and Princeton Orange
Head coach: Carla Berube (50-5 in two seasons at Princeton and in Division I overall)
Conference: Ivy League
NCAA berth: Automatic (Princeton won the Ivy League regular season and tournament championships)
All-time series: Kentucky leads 1-0. The Wildcats defeated the Tigers 82-77 on March 23, 2019, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Raleigh, N.C.
Common opponents with Kentucky this season: None
Other notable games this season: Princeton played three teams in this year’s NCAA Tournament field this season — Villanova, Florida Gulf Coast and Texas. The Tigers won at Villanova 59-42 in their season opener on Nov. 10, won at Florida Gulf Coast 58-55 on Dec. 1 and lost to Texas 70-53 at home on Dec. 22. Princeton was supposed to play UCF on Dec. 29 but that game was canceled because of COVID-19.
This story was originally published March 13, 2022 at 8:27 PM.
