Before Friday nights performance in the SEC Tournament, Kentucky was playing its best basketball of the year. They had won seven of their last 8 regular season games which includes stealing a win on the road at No. 13 Auburn and No. 4 Tennessee, having all the vibes in a great place as they prepared for postseason play. They had earned themselves a jump all the way up to a 2-seed in the conference tournament after their strong finish to the year before making the trip down to Nashville.
Kentucky would enter in at the Quarterfinals of the event and get immediately ran through by the 7-seeded Texas A&M Aggies by double-digits, 97-87, sending fans back home on Friday night much earlier than expected. It definitely didn't help the Wildcats come Selection Sunday, but with the bracket being revealed it doesn't appear that its cost them very much either in their positioning.
Kentucky is officially headed to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as a 3-seed to take on 14-seed Oakland Golden Grizzlies on Thursday night in the South Region of the bracket.
I personally really like this draw because you avoid 1-seeded UConn in the East Region, which is the juggernaut of all one seeds and they're coming off a NCAA championship just twelve months ago. This path won't be anything close to easy to navigate through, but when comparing it to the other regions and factoring in that you've lost 9 games this season and did absolutely nothing in the SEC Tournament this weekend to help you, I think John Calipari's team made it out pretty good.
Not to look too far ahead because we know what that's done to us in the past, but if the Wildcats were to win in their first matchup their next opponent would be the winner of 6-seed Texas Tech versus 11-seed NC State.
Notable teams in who made it in Kentucky's bracket are Houston (1-seed), Marquette (2-seed), Duke (4-seed), and Florida (7-seed).
How do you feel about their draw in this year's edition of the "Big Dance"? The full bracket can be found here.