The Kentucky Wildcats now know where and when their NCAA Tournament will begin.
UK was given a 2 seed in the Philadelphia region in the 2022 tournament, it was revealed on the NCAA Selection Show on Sunday evening. The Wildcats (26-7) will face Saint Peter’s (19-11) in the first round of March Madness play Thursday in Indianapolis. If Kentucky avoids an upset in that game, it will play the winner of Murray State-San Francisco on Saturday.
Saint Peter’s earned an automatic bid in the NCAA Tournament by winning the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament. The Peacocks finished second in the regular-season MAAC standings. Iona and former Kentucky coach Rick Pitino won the MAAC regular-season title, but the Gaels were upset by Rider in the tournament quarterfinals.
Defending national champion Baylor (26-6) is the 1 seed in Kentucky’s region, with Purdue (27-7) as the 3 seed — and possible Sweet 16 opponent for the Cats — and UCLA (25-7) as the 4 seed.
CBS Sports analysts Clark Kellogg and Seth Davis immediately said on the Selection Show broadcast that they both liked Kentucky’s chances to get out of the bottom half of their bracket in the East region, which also includes 6-seeded Texas and 11-seeded Virginia Tech.
Davis said it was “clear sailing” for UK to get to the Elite Eight, and Kellogg said he favored the Wildcats to advance to the Final Four, mentioning them as a real contender to win the national championship.
Later in the show, both Davis and Kellogg picked Kentucky to advance to the Final Four as the winner of the East region. They both had the Wildcats losing to Gonzaga in the national semifinals, however. The East winner will play the winner of the West region for a trip to the national title game.
If the seeds hold, UK’s path to the Final Four would include matchups with Murray State, Purdue and Baylor.
The Racers earned a 7 seed from the NCAA selection committee after a 30-2 season that included an Ohio Valley Conference Tournament championship. This is Murray State’s final season in the OVC ahead of a move to the Missouri Valley Conference for the 2022-23 campaign.
The first-round game times for Kentucky and the rest of the NCAA Tournament bracket will be announced later Sunday night.
Kentucky lost to Tennessee in the Southeastern Conference Tournament semifinals Saturday. A victory in that game could have clinched a No. 1 seed for UK, but those four spots ultimately went to Gonzaga, Arizona, Kansas and Baylor, with the selection committee ranking the top teams in that order.
Gonzaga (26-3) is the No. 1 overall seed in this year’s NCAA Tournament.
The SEC got six teams in the March Madness field. Auburn is the 2 seed in the Midwest region (with Kansas as the No. 1), tournament champ Tennessee is the 3 seed out west (with Gonzaga as the 1 seed), and Arkansas earned the 4 seed in the South (where Arizona tops the region). Alabama is also a 6 seed in the West, and Louisiana State is a 6 seed in the Midwest region.
Texas A&M, which advanced to the SEC Tournament title game with upset victories over Auburn and Arkansas, was listed as the fourth team left out of the 68-team field.
