By Kindsey Bernhard
NKyTribune intern
UK Hoops will not have to travel at all for their first-round game of the NCAA Tournament after earning the No. 4 seed in the Lexington Regional.
In fact, the Wildcats have a chance to advance to the Final Four without ever leaving Lexington.
UK will play its first game on Friday at noon in Memorial Coliseum against No. 13 seed Belmont University.
UK Hoops will enter tournament play with a 21-10 overall record, after going 11-5 in the Southeastern Conference. The Wildcats were eliminated in the semifinals of the SEC Tournament by South Carolina, the eventual champions.
Belmont, winners of the Ohio Valley Conference tournament championship, finished the season 27-5 overall and 16-0 in the OVC. The Bruins defeated Eastern Kentucky 94-64 in the OVC tournament championship.
The winner of UK and Belmont will face winner of No. 5 seed Ohio Sate or No. 12 seed Western Kentucky. Ohio State and WKU will tipoff at 2:30 p.m. Friday in Memorial Coliseum, following the conclusion of UK and Belmont.
Notre Dame was awarded the No. 1 seed, Stanford the No. 2 seed and Texas the No. 3 seed in the Lexington Regional.
The next two rounds of the women’s tournament will be held at Rupp Arena.
Kindsey Bernhard is a journalism senior at the University of Kentucky. She is from Ft. Wright and played high school basketball at Notre Dame Academy.