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Kentucky has never been a No. 7 seed in the NCAA Tournament and will open the prestigious event in St. Louis, where the program began a Final Four run in 2014 as a No. 8 seed.
The Wildcats (21-13), the seventh seed in the Midwest Region, will take on No. 10 seed Santa Clara in the opening round on Friday at 12:15 p.m. (CBS). The Broncos (26-8) will be making their first appearance since 1996.
“We’ve just got to stack those games (and) whatever we did (in the SEC Tournament), we’ve got to rely on that,” Kentucky senior guard Otega Oweh said. “It’s really crunch time.”
Santa Clara coach Herb Sendek coached under Rick Pitino at Kentucky from 1989-93 before taking over at Miami of Ohio.
The Redhawks (31-1) were a big story, too. Miami finished the regular season at 31-0 before losing to UMass in the Mid-American Conference Tournament. They earned a bid to the tournament as a First Four participant.
Kentucky will be making an NCAA record 63rd appearance in the tournament and reached the Sweet Sixteen as a No. 3 seed under first-year coach Mark Pope. The Wildcats defeated Troy and Illinois in Milwaukee before losing to Southeastern Conference foe Tennessee In Indianapolis.
The Wildcats are 50-12 in NCAA openers and have won 27 of their last 30 first-round games in the prestigious event.
The Wildcats went 2-1 in the Southeastern Conference Tournament before losing to Florida in the quarterfinals.
St. John’s, led by former Kentucky coach Rick Pitino, is a No. 5 seed in the East Region and is in the same bracket as UConn, the second seed in the East. The Red Storm defeated the Huskies to win a second straight Big East Conference Tournament title and also captured the regular-season crown for a second consecutive season.
Ten teams from the Southeastern Conference made the field, more than any other league in the nation.
WOMEN
Kentucky (23-10) earned a No. 5 seed in the Fort Worth Region and will take on No. 12 seed James Madison in Morgantown, W.Va., on Saturday.
Wildcats coach Kenny Brooks coached at James Madison from 2002-16 and led them to five NCAA Tournament appearances and won 337 games. Brooks also played at James Madison.
8 Responses
We will be lucky to win one game playing hero ball.
Ditto. Selfish playing is the biggest factor in the 13 losses.
Arkansas, led by former Kentucky coach John Calipari, is a No. 4 seed in the West and is in the same bracket as Arizona. The Hogs beat Vanderbilt to win the Southeastern Conference Tournament. It was only the Razorbacks second all-time. Calipari became the first coach to win the Tournament at two different schools.
What a fun game to watch..highly entertaining as was st John's v. Uconn.. highly competitive
and very, very intense Grant
Santa Clara played Gonzaga 3 times and lost all the 3 times. We played them once and was massacred. They did play Gonzaga closer than we did every time they played. I can see this game come down to the end and I think we win the first round game. Its the second round where I think our season will probably come to a end. A sweet 16 run is probably off the table for this team because it's hard for them to stack wins. The only way we have a chance at a elite 8 or final 4 run is if Chandler, Oweh, and Aberdeen shoot lights out and we move the ball around. Also our bigs should dominate down low against Santa Clara after playing against SEC competition the last 2-3 months. Who knows what kind of record they would have if they played in the SEC. But I doubt they would have even made the tournament if they did play in the SEC. Kentucky is it's own worst enemy. Unforced turnovers, nobody blocks out for rebounds, and when our 3s arent falling watch out we could be upset in the first game. This team reminds me of Cals last team at Kentucky. We can beat almost anyone but we can also lose to almost anyone. Cals last team that one guy hit 9 3 pointers against us and took us out in the first round. This team we are playing is well more rounded then that other team we played. Santa Clara has 4 guys that can shoot the 3 very well. So if they are hitting there 3s and we arent hitting ours that could be the end of the season. Right now im guessing we at least make it to the next round but with this team anything is possible.
If UK doesn't play defense for 40 minutes, it will be one and done. This team doesn't play team ball, unless shots are falling. Oweh taking 20 shots and hitting 8 or 9 because he missed 5 layups and no one rebounding is not a winning formula.
I still think Pope has done a decent job with what he has, but the only thing consistent about this team is they aren't consistent. There is not a single player on this team that a top 10 team would trade for and mostly because we have too many players that don't want to play team ball. Many, many times during a game you will see 3 or 4 players just standing around while the other team is going for the rebound. There is a lot of standing around at times on offense, as well.
I don't even look for UK to win the first game. Hope I am wrong, but I think they will struggle, win or lose.
Ditto. Right on all counts, Old Fan. Selfish play, ball hogs who refuse to pass, are the root of the problems, losses. No incentive to move without the ball when it won’t be passed. Lose interest in playing defense when a couple of ball hogs act like no one else is on the court.
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