In Midwest Region, Cats will find an ex-Cat, an ex-UK coach & 3 other SEC teams
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- Kentucky opens Midwest vs. Santa Clara, a team that forces turnovers.
- Midwest has No. 1 Michigan and rim protector Ugonna Onyenso at Virginia.
- Three other SEC teams — Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia — share the region.
A look at the 2026 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Midwest Region — which includes No. 7 seed Kentucky:
Meet UK’s first opponent
Kentucky will open NCAA Tournament play (21-13, 10-8 SEC) against West Coast Conference Tournament runner-up Santa Clara (26-8, 15-3) on Friday at 12:15 p.m. EDT in St. Louis.
The Broncos are coached by Herb Sendek, who was a UK assistant under Rick Pitino from 1989 through 1993.
No sooner had the matchup been revealed than hoops analysts such as Bruce Pearl of CBS Sports started projecting the Broncos to upset the Cats.
There are ample reasons to think Santa Clara is not a great matchup for Kentucky (21-13, 10-8 SEC).
A UK offense that has struggled at times with ball security will face a Santa Clara defense that forces turnovers. The Broncos are 31st in the nation, forcing 14.06 turnovers a game.
Santa Clara fires the 3-pointer. The Broncos are 23rd in NCAA Division I in 3-point attempts a game, 29.2, and are making 34.6% of their trey tries.
Just as it did in its SEC Tournament quarterfinals loss to Florida, UK’s three-guard alignment will face, in Santa Clara, a big frontline.
The Broncos start the 6-foot-7 Elijah Mahi (13.9 points), the 6-9 Jake Ensminger (6.3 points) and the 7-1 Bukky Oboye (8 points) and bring their most-talented frontcourt player, the 6-9 Allen Graves (11.6 points), off the bench.
Leading scorer Christian Hammond (15.8 points) is, at 6-4, a bigger guard.
On the season, Santa Clara’s best wins were at Big East foe Xavier (87-68) and over Big Ten opponent Minnesota (86-75), plus taking two of three games from WCC rival Saint Mary’s.
Among the Broncos losses, three came against traditional WCC titan Gonzaga. Santa Clara’s combined margin in those three defeats, 31 points, was less than the 35-point bludgeoning, 94-59, that UK suffered at the hands of coach Mark Few’s Zags in December in Nashville.
Santa Clara will be a familiar opponent for UK coach Mark Pope. When Pope was at BYU and the Cougars were still in the West Coast Conference, the current Kentucky head man went 1-3 vs. Sendek and Santa Clara.
The top seed
Big Ten regular-season champion Michigan (31-3, 19-1 Big Ten) is the No. 1 seed in the Midwest Region.
UK is on the opposite side of the regional bracket from Dusty May’s Wolverines, meaning the Cats could not face Michigan prior to the Elite Eight.
Purdue upset the Wolverines 80-72 in Sunday’s Big Ten Conference Tournament final.
Michigan is playing without sophomore guard L.J. Cason (8.4 points, 2.4 assists), who tore an ACL in a game at Illinois on Feb. 27. Cason had scored in double figures in five of the seven games prior to the one in which he was injured.
UAB transfer Yaxel Lendeborg (14.4 points, 7 rebounds, 3.3 assists), a likely first-team All-American; Illinois transfer Morez Johnson Jr. (13.1 points, 7.2 rebounds); and UCLA transfer Aday Mara (11.6 points, 6.9 rebounds, 2.6 blocks) lead a punishing Michigan front line.
Former North Carolina guard Elliot Cadeau (10.2 points, 5.6 assists) runs the point for Michigan.
An ex-Cat is thriving
For Midwest Region No. 3 seed Virginia, former Kentucky center Ugonna Onyenso has become a rim-protecting weapon.
A 7-foot, 245-pound senior, Onyenso is second in NCAA Division I men’s basketball in both blocked shots (101) and blocks a game (3).
In Virginia’s three-game run to the ACC Tournament championship game, Onyenso blocked a robust 21 shots, including nine in the Cavaliers’ hotly contested 74-70 loss to Duke in the finals.
Onyenso played his first two college seasons, 2022-23 and 2023-24, for Kentucky. The product of Owerri, Nigeria competed last season for Kansas State.
This year, for first-year Virginia head man Ryan Odom, Onyenso is averaging 6.7 points and 5 rebounds while making 56.4% of his shot attempts.
Coming on late in the year, Onyenso is averaging 11.8 points over the past four games.
A mini-SEC Tournament
Besides Kentucky, there are three other Southeastern Conference teams in the Midwest Region.
No. 4 Alabama is the highest seed from among the SEC teams in the Midwest. Coach Nate Oats’ Crimson Tide will face No. 13 seed Hofstra on Friday in Tampa.
For the second straight season, UK and Tennessee are together in the Midwest Region. Coach Rich Barnes’ Volunteers are the No. 6 seed and will face the winner of the First Four contest between Miami (Ohio) and SMU on Friday in Philadelphia.
Last season, UK and UT played in the NCAA Tournament for the first time, with the Vols taking a 78-65 win in the Sweet 16.
If Kentucky and Tennessee each win their first two NCAA tourney games this year, they would again face off the Sweet 16.
During the regular season, the Cats rallied from double digits down to beat UT twice.
Georgia is the No. 8 seed in the Midwest Region. Coach Mike White’s Bulldogs will face No. 9 seed Saint Louis Thursday in Buffalo. The winner will likely then face No. 1 seed Michigan in the round of 32.
Because of bracket positioning, Kentucky could only face Alabama or Georgia in the Eite Eight. The Wildcats lost to both teams during the regular season, falling at Bama 89-74 on Jan. 3 and losing to the Bulldogs 86-78 at Rupp Arena on Feb. 17.
Other familiar faces
• Nolan Smith, the former Duke guard and Louisville Cardinals assistant coach under Kenny Payne, has No. 15 seed Tennessee State in the NCAA Tournament in his first season as Tigers head man.
If Kentucky beats Santa Clara and OVC champion Tennessee State were to stun No. 2 seed Iowa State, Smith would coach against UK in the round of 32.
• Basketball folk hero Robbie Avila is the starting center for No. 9 seed Saint Louis. The 6-10, 240-pound Avila — famous for his eyewear as well as his play — first captivated college hoops fans two seasons ago when he averaged 17.4 points for an Indiana State team that finished 32-7.
When then-Indiana State coach Josh Schertz left ISU for Saint Louis, Avila followed. This season, he is averaging 12.9 points, 4.5 rebounds and 4.1 assists.
• Former Covington Catholic star Evan Ipsaro started the first 12 games of this season for No. 11 seed Miami (Ohio), averaging 13.9 points, 2.4 rebounds and 3.3 assists.
However, the 6-foot, 180-pound junior suffered a torn ACL in Miami’s 86-77 win at Ball State on Dec. 20 that ended his season.
So, as the Redhawks won the ensuing 19 games that followed Ipsaro’s injury to finish the regular season 31-0, all the ex-CovCath star could do was watch.
This story was originally published March 15, 2026 at 11:00 PM.
