Postseason play is just around the corner for Kentucky men’s basketball. Mark Pope’s Wildcats are the 6 seed for this week’s SEC Tournament in Nashville, and UK will begin play in the event on Thursday night in the second round against either 11 seed Georgia or 14 seed Oklahoma. Pope has pledged to make SEC Tournament success a priority during his time at UK, a welcomed declaration for a UK fan base that has been starved for success in the conference tournament of late. But there’s another, obvious, reason why all associated with UK basketball should want a strong performance from the Wildcats this week in the league tourney. NCAA Tournament seeding implications. This was laid out by ESPN bracketology expert Joe Lunardi on Wednesday afternoon during a conference call with media members. In his Wednesday morning bracketology update, Lunardi had Kentucky as a 3 seed playing its first- and second-round games in Denver. This latest projection from Lunardi has UK lining up against 14 seed Utah Valley — the school where Pope got his head coaching start — in the round of 64. The winner of that contest would face the winner of 6 seed Saint Mary’s and 11 seed VCU in the round of 32.
This projection calls for Kentucky to be part of the West Region, which will have its Sweet 16 and Elite Eight rounds played in San Francisco. The 1 seed in this projected region is Florida. Lunardi said Wednesday that Kentucky’s tournament profile, to him at least, is that of a 3 seed, with a 2 seed likely not in the cards.
