On the outside looking in: Kentucky won’t host in the NCAA Tournament
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Kentucky missed hosting despite a 23-10 record.
- Selection Committee listed the 16 top-four teams; Kentucky was outside them.
- Conference tournaments boosted North Carolina and West Virginia's hosting chances.
As national experts projected, Kentucky will not host opening-round games this weekend for the NCAA Tournament.
For the first time ever, the NCAA Selection Committee revealed the top 16 overall seeds in the tournament prior to Selection Sunday; teams were listed in alphabetical order Saturday so as not to give away specific seeding.
The teams achieving a spot on the bracket’s top four lines, and thus hosting games next weekend, are: Duke, Iowa, Louisville, LSU, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio State, Oklahoma, South Carolina, TCU, Texas, UCLA, UConn, Vanderbilt and West Virginia.
The top 16 was announced Saturday on ESPN between the men’s SEC Tournament semifinal matchups.
Saturday’s reveal of the top 16 overall seeds in the NCAA women’s basketball tournament gave everybody — from host institutions looking to prepare to fans getting a jump on travel plans — a heads up on what to expect from the opening weekend of this year’s Big Dance.
The Cats enter this year’s tournament with an overall record of 23-10 (8-8 SEC).
After Kentucky lost four regular-season SEC games in a six-game span while starting senior forward Teonni Key sat out due to a dislocated elbow, ESPN Bracketologist Charlie Creme estimated that Kenny Brooks’ team had to win at least two games in the SEC Tournament — and receive a little help from other teams on the edge — in order to grasp a spot on the four-line.
Though the Cats, a No. 9 seed in the league tournament, did exactly that, defeating No. 16 seed Arkansas by 30 and No. 9 seed Georgia (a team UK lost to without Key during the aforementioned stretch) by 15, their chances of hosting weren’t helped by a wire-to-wire loss to top-seeded South Carolina.
North Carolina and West Virginia, two other teams thought to be on the edge of hosting, gained more ground than Kentucky in their conference tournaments. North Carolina reached the semifinals of the ACC Tournament, and West Virginia won the Big 12 Tournament.
The full women’s field of 68 will be revealed at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN, two hours after the start of the CBS broadcast of the men’s tournament bracket reveal.
