Bracketology: Kentucky trending as 8 or 9-seed after big week

MrsTylerKSR

After back-to-back wins over Mississippi State and Tennessee, Kentucky is off the bubble and in the NCAA Tournament field in the eyes of the internet’s bracketologists.

The Cats are an 8-seed in Joe Lunardi’s latest update over at ESPN and a 9-seed in Jerry Palm’s updated projections. Bart Torvik gives Kentucky a 96.9% chance of making the tournament, up from 39.1% this time last week. TeamRankings sets the Cats’ chances of making the field at 90.1%, up from 50.3% last week. The Cats’ average seed on Torvik is 7.9 and 8 on TeamRankings.

It’s a lot more fun to look at bracketology when your team is projected to make it. Let’s dig into the hypotheticals.

ESPN

Kentucky is the 8-seed in the East Region in Lunardi’s update, facing 9-seed Pitt in the first round in Columbus for the chance to take on 1-seed Purdue.

CBS Sports

Yesterday, Jerry Palm released his updated bracket. He also put Kentucky in the East Region but as the 9-seed to Iowa’s 8-seed. A win would pit the Cats vs. 1-seed Purdue for a spot in the Sweet 16.

When you look at Palm’s seed list, Kentucky is the top 9-seed. Of the teams listed below, Oklahoma State lost to West Virginia last night and Illinois beat Minnesota.

USA Today

USA Today’s crew of Eddie Timanus, Paul Myerberg, and Erick Smith project Kentucky as a 9-seed, facing 8-seed Rutgers for the chance to play 1-seed Purdue, but in the Midwest Region. This hypothetical probably hinges on Purdue finishing ahead of Kansas on the seed list and taking the Midwest Region (Kansas City) from the Jayhawks.