Kentucky up to No. 32 in NET Rankings following North Carolina win

It wasn’t the Quad 1 game we were expecting, but Kentucky’s victory over North Carolina did improve their NCAA Tournament resume. The Cats are up to No. 32 in the NET Rankings after falling to No. 53 after the Notre Dame loss.

This week’s opponent remains in flux following the postponement of the Louisville game, but if we’re talking NCAA Tournament resume, Kentucky should aim for Quad 1 or 2 opportunities. That means teams ranked between 1-30 (Quad 1) or 31-75 (Quad 2).

Here’s the current NET Top 25:

1. Arizona
2. Baylor
3. LSU
4. Purdue
5. Houston
6. Gonzaga
7. Kansas
8. Duke
9. Auburn
10. Tennessee
11. Xavier
12. Southern California
13. Michigan State
14. Iowa State
15. Loyola Chicago
16. Illinois
17. Villanova
18. Ohio State
19. Wyoming
20. Texas
21. UConn
22. UCLA
23. Iowa
24. Alabama
25. BYU

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

The Cats are 8-2 this season, with one Quad 1 win (North Carolina) and one Quad 1 loss (Duke). The win over the Tar Heels was good for Kentucky’s resume for sure, but Notre Dame’s NET ranking also improved so that the Cats’ loss in South Bend is now considered Quad 2 instead Quad 3. That’s despite the Fighting Irish losing to Indiana by eight at home on Saturday. ::Shrug emoji::

Quad 1: 1-1

Home: 1-30, Neutral: 1-50, Away: 1-75

NET Rank	Date	Opponent	In Conference?	Result
3	01/04/2022	@ LSU	Y
3	02/23/2022	LSU	Y
7	01/29/2022	@ Kansas
8	11/09/2021	Duke (@ New York, NY)		L 71-79
9	01/22/2022	@ Auburn	Y
10	02/15/2022	@ Tennessee	Y
10	01/15/2022	Tennessee	Y
18	12/18/2021	Ohio St. (@ Las Vegas, NV)		Canceled
24	02/05/2022	@ Alabama	Y
24	02/19/2022	Alabama	Y
49	12/18/2021	North Carolina (@Las Vegas, NV)		W 98-69
59	03/05/2022	@ Florida	Y
67	01/19/2022	@ Texas A&M	Y

Quad 2: 0-1

Home: 31-75, Neutral: 51-100, Away: 76-135

NET Rank	Date	Opponent	In Conference?	Result
47	01/25/2022	Mississippi St.	Y
59	02/12/2022	Florida	Y
75	12/22/2021	Louisville		Postponed
91	02/26/2022	@ Arkansas	Y
97	01/11/2022	@ Vanderbilt	Y
111	02/08/2022	@ South Carolina	Y
132	12/11/2021	@ Notre Dame		L 62-66

Quad 3: 1-0

Home: 76-160, Neutral: 101-200, Away: 136-240

NET Rank	Date	Opponent	In Conference?	Result
83	11/19/2021	Ohio		W 77-59
97	02/02/2022	Vanderbilt	Y
118	03/01/2022	Ole Miss	Y

Quad 4: 6-0

Home: 161-357, Neutral: 201-357, Away: 241-357

NET Rank	Date	Opponent	In Conference?	Result
210	01/08/2022	Georgia	Y
235	12/07/2021	Southern U.		W 76-64
237	12/29/2021	Missouri	Y
306	12/31/2021	High Point
311	11/26/2021	North Florida		W 86-52
313	11/16/2021	Mount St. Mary’s		W 80-55
314	11/22/2021	Albany (NY)		W 86-61
340	11/29/2021	Central Mich.		W 85-57
342	11/12/2021	Robert Morris		W 100-60

NET Rankings of possible opponents this week

As you’ve surely heard by now, Kentucky’s still searching for an opponent for this week following the postponement of the Louisville game. I broke down some potential opponents earlier today; since then, Texas has scheduled a game vs. Alabama State and Wisconsin now has an opening. Here’s how the potential replacements stack up when it comes to NET Rankings:

Quad 1 (Home 1-30)

• Gonzaga: 6
• UConn: 21
• Wisconsin: 29

Quad 2 (Home 31-75)

• Iona: 56
• Creighton: 57
• Oklahoma State: 71

Quad 3 (Home 76-160)

• Western Kentucky: 121 (already playing a game Wednesday night)

Quad 4 (Home 161-357)

• Bellarmine: 229
• Eastern Kentucky: 230