An updated look at Kentucky's resume and what's ahead

As of January 10, Kentucky‘s NCAA Tournament resume was non-existent, with the Wildcats clearly on the outside looking in regarding the field of 68. UK was coming off an inexcusable home loss to South Carolina — a Quad 4, a dagger in the eyes of the selection committee. That was with zero Quad 1 victories (0-5) and just one Quad 2 win (vs. Michigan in London).

The losses? Michigan State in the Champions Classic (Quad 1), Gonzaga in Spokane (Quad 1), UCLA in the CBS Sports Classic (Quad 1), Missouri in Columbia (Quad 1), Alabama in Tuscaloosa (Quad 1) and South Carolina in Lexington (Quad 4). Michigan was the team’s best win, followed by Yale (No. 78, Quad 3), Duquesne (No. 130, Quad 3) and LSU (No. 138, Quad 3).

Every other victory was outside the top 200 in the NET.

That loss to the Gamecocks dropped the Wildcats down to No. 65 overall in the NET, hitting rock bottom for a group with title aspirations going into the season.

From there, a mini breakthrough — there was nowhere to go but up — with Kentucky’s best win of the season, a Quad 1 victory at Tennessee (No. 2 in the NET). That would push the Wildcats back up to No. 42 overall, a 23-spot jump that at least put the team back in the conversation regarding postseason hopes. UK would then rattle off wins vs. Georgia (No. 113, Quad 3), Texas A&M (No. 47, Quad 2) and at Vanderbilt (No. 107, Quad 2) before taking a tough home loss to Kansas (No. 7, Quad 1).

Tuesday’s victory at Ole Miss (No. 122) marked another Quad 2, bringing the team’s total resume to the following:

• Quad 1: 1-6
• Quad 2: 4-0
• Quad 3: 4-0
• Quad 4: 6-1

As of today, Kentucky sits at No. 22 in BPI, No. 28 in the Sagarin, No. 33 in the NET, No. 34 in KenPom, No. 45 in the KPI and No. 61 in T-Rank, with the NET being the most crucial regarding tournament seeding. And despite that low point in early January, the Wildcats are back in the field, projected as an at-large bid — albeit as a bubble team (one of the last four byes) in Joe Lunardi’s updated Bracketology.

Baby steps forward, but still plenty of work to be done.

What does that work consist of? Let’s take a look at where things stand regarding the rest of Kentucky’s schedule and the quality wins the Wildcats could rack up if they take care of business.

• vs. Florida (No. 42, Quad 2)
• vs. Arkansas (No. 27, Quad 1)
• at Georgia (No. 113, Quad 2)
• at Mississippi State (No. 50, Quad 1)
• vs. Tennessee (No. 2, Quad 1)
• at Florida (No. 52, Quad 1)
• vs. Auburn (No. 36, Quad 2)
• vs. Vanderbilt (No. 107, Quad 3)
• at Arkansas (No. 27, Quad 1)

The good news? Only one more bad loss possibility with the home matchup vs. Vanderbilt on March 1. Elsewhere, there are still five Quad 1 opportunities and three Quad 2 matchups left on the schedule, plenty of time to build a pretty solid resume and get back in good standing with the selection committee.

The bad news? Kentucky has won just one Quad 1 matchup in seven tries this season. It’s easy to pencil in wins and create a best-case scenario for the Wildcats down the stretch, but the fact of the matter is they haven’t earned that right yet. To this point, UK has lost to the very good teams and beaten the solid to bad teams — with one catastrophic slip-up vs. South Carolina (No. 282). The opportunities are there, sure, but those are also opportunities to stack losses and prove to the committee this is no more than an average SEC team not deserving of any favors on Selection Sunday.

Time for Kentucky to put up or shut up in the final nine games of the regular season.