Kentucky's tournament resume compared to other potential No. 1 seeds
With six games left in the regular season, Kentucky’s NCAA Tournament resume continues to improve. Right now, the Cats are No. 3 in the NET Rankings, behind only Gonzaga and Arizona; that’s up one spot from a week ago. With several games left vs. teams in the NET Top 50, the Cats’ odds of getting a No. 1 seed in the tournament look good barring any major missteps.
Before we jump into Kentucky’s team sheet, here’s the current NET Top 25:
NET Top 25 – Feb. 14
- Gonzaga
- Arizona
- Kentucky
- Baylor
- Houston
- Villanova
- Auburn
- Kansas
- Purdue
- Tennessee
- Duke
- Texas Tech
- Illinois
- UCLA
- Texas
- LSU
- Ohio State
- UConn
- Iowa
- Xavier
- Saint Mary’s
- Alabama
- Wisconsin
- Michigan state
- Wyoming
NET changes for the 2021-22 season
This is the fourth season the NCAA has used the NET Rankings as its primary metric to evaluate the strength of teams’ wins and losses. This year, the formula has been tweaked. From now on, the NET will only use two components, adjusted net efficiency rating and Team Value Index (TVI), which is a result-based feature that rewards teams for beating quality opponents, particularly away from home. Win percentage, adjusted win percentage, and scoring margin are no longer used in the NET rankings.
Kentucky’s Team Sheet
Five of Kentucky’s six remaining games are in Quad 1, including this week’s matchups with Tennessee and Alabama. The Vols are No. 10 in the NET, the Crimson Tide No. 22. Right now, the Cats are 5-4 in Quad 1, but the win at Texas A&M could fall to Quad 2 if the Aggies continue to struggle. They’ve lost their last eight and host Florida tomorrow before going to Vanderbilt on Saturday. On the flip side, Notre Dame (NET No. 56) continues to play well, winning four in a row, which keeps the loss in South Bend in Quad 1. Kentucky is undefeated in Quads 2-4, something the Selection Committee should consider when evaluating the Cats’ case for a No. 1 seed.
Quad 1: 5-4
Home: 1-30, Neutral: 1-50, Away: 1-75
| NET Ranking | Date | Opponent | In Conference? | Result |
| 7 | 01/22/2022 | @ Auburn | Y | L 71-80 |
| 8 | 01/29/2022 | @ Kansas | W 80-62 | |
| 10 | 02/15/2022 | @ Tennessee | Y | |
| 10 | 01/15/2022 | Tennessee | Y | W 107-79 |
| 11 | 11/09/2021 | Duke (@ New York, NY) | L 71-79 | |
| 16 | 01/04/2022 | @ LSU | Y | L 60-65 |
| 16 | 02/23/2022 | LSU | Y | |
| 17 | 12/18/2021 | Ohio St. (@ Las Vegas, NV) | Canceled | |
| 22 | 02/05/2022 | @ Alabama | Y | W 66-55 |
| 22 | 02/19/2022 | Alabama | Y | |
| 33 | 02/26/2022 | @ Arkansas | Y | |
| 37 | 12/18/2021 | North Carolina (@ Las Vegas, NV) | W 98-69 | |
| 49 | 03/05/2022 | @ Florida | Y | |
| 56 | 12/11/2021 | @ Notre Dame | L 62-66 | |
| 73 | 01/19/2022 | @ Texas A&M | Y | W 64-58 |
Quad 2: 4-0
Home: 31-75, Neutral: 51-100, Away: 76-135
| NET Ranking | Date | Opponent | In Conference? | Result |
| 49 | 02/12/2022 | Florida | Y | W 78-57 |
| 53 | 01/25/2022 | Mississippi St. | Y | W 82-74 (1 OT) |
| 76 | 01/11/2022 | @ Vanderbilt | Y | W 78-66 |
| 102 | 02/08/2022 | @ South Carolina | Y | W 86-76 |
Quad 3: 4-0
Home: 76-160, Neutral: 101-200, Away: 136-240
| NET Ranking | Date | Opponent | In Conference? | Result |
| 76 | 02/02/2022 | Vanderbilt | Y | W 77-70 |
| 83 | 11/19/2021 | Ohio | W 77-59 | |
| 108 | 03/01/2022 | Ole Miss | Y | |
| 122 | 12/22/2021 | Western Ky. | W 95-60 | |
| 126 | 12/22/2021 | Louisville | Postponed | |
| 138 | 12/29/2021 | Missouri | Y | W 83-56 |
Quad 4: 8-0
Home: 161-357, Neutral: 201-357, Away: 241-357
| NET Ranking | Date | Opponent | In Conference? | Result |
| 199 | 12/07/2021 | Southern U. | W 76-64 | |
| 205 | 01/08/2022 | Georgia | Y | W 92-77 |
| 252 | 11/16/2021 | Mount St. Mary’s | W 80-55 | |
| 265 | 12/31/2021 | High Point | W 92-48 | |
| 277 | 11/22/2021 | Albany (NY) | W 86-61 | |
| 281 | 11/26/2021 | North Florida | W 86-52 | |
| 317 | 11/12/2021 | Robert Morris | W 100-60 | |
| 325 | 11/29/2021 | Central Mich. | W 85-57 |
Kentucky’s resume vs. other potential No. 1 seeds
How does Kentucky’s team sheet compare to the other potential No. 1 seeds? Let’s take a look using the top eight teams in Joe Lunardi’s latest Bracketology.
Gonzaga (NET No. 1, Projected No. 1 seed)
- Record: 21-2, 10-0 WCC
- Quad 1: 6-2 (2 games remaining)
- Quad 2: 2-0 (1 game remaining)
- Quad 3: 1-0
- Quad 4: 12-0 (1 game remaining)
- Road W-L: 3-0
- NET SOS: 84
Auburn (NET No. 7, Projected No. 1 seed)
- Record: 23-2, 11-1 SEC
- Quad 1: 7-2 (3 games remaining)
- Quad 2: 6-0
- Quad 3: 7-0 (3 games remaining)
- Quad 4: 3-0
- Road W-L: 7-1
- NET SOS: 38
Auburn is beatable. The Tigers’ three remaining Quad 1 games are all on the road (at Tennessee, at Florida, at Mississippi State), giving ample opportunity for an upset.
Arizona (NET No. 2, Projected No. 1 seed)
- Record: 22-2, 12-1 Pac-12
- Quad 1: 6-2 (1 game remaining)
- Quad 2: 5-0 (3 games remaining)
- Quad 3: 4-0 (2 games remaining)
- Quad 4: 7-0 (1 game remaining)
- Road W-L: 7-2
- NET SOS: 56
With a 6-2 record in Quad 1, Arizona’s resume looks impressive right now; however, they’ve got the most to lose of the potential No. 1 seeds, with games left in each quad. A loss in Quad 2 would hurt the Wildcats’ chances of being a No. 1 seed, and a loss in Quads 3 or 4 would do even more damage.
Kentucky (NET No. 3, Projected No. 1 seed)
- Record: 21-4, 10-2 SEC
- Quad 1: 5-4 (5 games remaining)
- Quad 2: 4-0
- Quad 3: 4-0 (1 game remaining)
- Quad 4: 8-0
- Road W-L: 5-3
- NET Strength of Schedule (SOS): 34
Like the other projected No. 1 seeds, Kentucky has zero losses in Quads 2-4. They also have the most Quad 1 games remaining (five).
Kansas (NET No. 8, Projected No. 2 seed)
- Record: 20-4, 9-2 Big 12
- Quad 1: 8-3 (4 games remaining)
- Quad 2: 5-1 (3 games remaining)
- Quad 3: 4-0
- Quad 4: 3-0
- Road W-L: 5-2
- NET SOS: 4
The loss to Dayton in the ESPN Events Invitational is in Quad 2, which is a big blemish on the resume; however, the Jayhawks do have the fourth-toughest schedule in the NET, which may earn them brownie points with the committee.
Baylor (NET No. 4, Projected No. 2 seed)
- Record: 21-4, 9-3 Big 12
- Quad 1: 9-3 (4 games remaining)
- Quad 2: 4-1 (2 games remaining)
- Quad 3: 2-0
- Quad 4: 6-0
- Road W-L: 6-2
- NET SOS: 19
Baylor has more Quad 1 wins than any of the other projected No. 1 or No. 2 seeds, but like Kansas, they have a loss in Quad 2 (at home to Oklahoma State).
Purdue (NET No. 9, Projected No. 2 seed)
- Record: 22-4, 11-4 Big 10
- Quad 1: 7-3 (3 games remaining)
- Quad 2: 4-1 (1 game remaining)
- Quad 3: 4-0 (1 games remaining)
- Quad 4: 7-0
- Road W-L: 4-3
- NET SOS: 31
The Boilermakers really regret that Dec. 9 loss at Rutgers (Quad 2).
Duke (NET No. 11, Projected No. 2 seed)
- Record: 21-4, 11-3 ACC
- Quad 1: 5-1
- Quad 2: 3-2 (3 games remaining)
- Quad 3: 6-1 (2 games remaining)
- Quad 4: 7-0
- Road W-L: 6-2
- NET SOS: 63
In my opinion, Duke’s loss at Virginia should remove them from the No. 1 seed conversation. The Blue Devils have a Quad 2 loss, a Quad 3 loss, and zero Quad 1 games remaining. Of course, the committee will probably overlook that because they’re Duke and it’s Coach K’s final season.
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