By Ashley Scoby
Special to NKyTribune
When it comes to basketball in March, nothing comes easily. But odds can be in your favor, and Kentucky can thank the NCAA selection committee this year for just that.
Just a couple hours after they collected the SEC tournament trophy, the 34-0 Wildcats arrived at head coach John Calipari’s house to watch the NCAA selection show, where they were announced as the overall No. 1 seed. And although Kentucky probably didn’t get the easiest region (Duke would probably wear that crown this year in the South), there still aren’t many reasons for UK fans to start hand-wringing.
As the top seed in the Midwest Region, Kentucky will start its journey right at home in Louisville, then potentially move on to Cleveland (a little more than 300 miles away from Lexington), then Indianapolis (200 miles away) for the Final Four. As the team saw in Nashville for the SEC tournament, UK fans can quickly turn a nearby “neutral” location into a Rupp Arena transplant.
Then there are the actual teams: Most of the pre-selection worries came from fans afraid that the Cats would get Wisconsin as its 2-seed, which would have been the toughest 1-2 punch in the tournament. But Wisconsin played its way into a No. 1 seed, and Kentucky’s ‘two’ is a team, in Kansas, that it already beaten by 30 points earlier in the season.
With the placement of Kansas in the region, Kentucky also avoids Virginia, which was long considered the second-best team in the country before losing a couple of late games in the ACC and in the semifinals of the ACC tournament.
Most likely, Kentucky will move past its first-round matchup – the winner between Hampton and Manhattan – to then play either Cincinnati or Purdue. Either of those teams is deserving of a bid, but won’t have enough firepower to hang with Kentucky.
That’s when things will get interesting. If the seeds held, Kentucky would likely face Maryland in the Sweet 16. Maryland is an interesting case because it was once ranked the No. 8 team in the country, and finished second in the Big 10. But it enters the NCAA tournament as a four-seed, and could be problematic. The Terps would have to beat Valparaiso in the first round, then either fifth-seeded West Virginia or 12-seeded Buffalo, to set up the Sweet 16 matchup with Kentucky.
Fans will remember that Buffalo played Kentucky well at Rupp, and could even put together a mini-run.
At the bottom half of Kentucky’s region are Butler (6), Texas (11), Notre Dame (3), Northeastern (14), Wichita State (7), Indiana (10), Kansas (2) and New Mexico State (15).
Notre Dame, which defeated North Carolina in the ACC tourney championship game, could provide the biggest worry for Kentucky. The Wildcats are known for their defense (first in the country in opponent field goal percentage, third in points allowed and second in opponent three-point percentage). That defense would be tested against the Fighting Irish, which ranks high in the exact opposite categories: They’re 12th nationally in points per game (78.8), second in field goal percentage (51 percent) and 19th in three-point percentage (39.2 percent).
Contrasting styles could be a problem for Kentucky, but if it’s as good defensively as it’s shown at times this year, Notre Dame could be just another notch in UK’s win column on the march to perfection.
Notre Dame could, of course, bow out to second-seeded Kansas, which has already gotten clobbered by Kentucky. The Wildcats already know they have what it takes to completely overpower the Jayhawks; the only challenge here will be avoiding complacency. And Kentucky has already proved this year that it can beat teams again, even when it has once already – Arkansas on Sunday, for example.
If Kentucky can get past the Maryland-Notre Dame-Kansas-led Midwest region, the Wildcats would take on the winners of the West region (Wisconsin is its one-seed). On the opposite side of the bracket are top-seeded Duke and Villanova, along with two-seeds Virginia and Kyle Wiltjer-led Gonzaga.
Regardless of the brackets, one thing is a fact: Kentucky is officially even-money favorites in Vegas to win its ninth national title this year. And while players and coaches may have downplayed the “40-0” talk this year, that’s all changed now. In a single-elimination tournament with a 34-0 record already behind them, it’s officially 40-0 or bust for the Wildcats.
Ashley Scoby is a senior journalism major at the University of Kentucky and a sports writer for KyForward.com. She has reported on the Wildcats for wildcathoops.com, vaughtsviews.com and kysportsreport.com as well as for newspapers in Danville and Glasgow. She will join Sports Illustrated magazine as a summer intern in June.