Kentucky's Neighbors to the North Should be Worried

When Kentucky takes the court at the Yum Center on Saturday, March 21st, there's a decent chance its second-round opponent could be a regional foe. The Cats will have the winner of an 8-seed vs. 9-seed game. Of teams projected by Joe Lunardi (as of Thursday) between 7-to-10 seeds, five of them are from Ohio or Indiana. Ohio State is a projected 7-seed, Indiana is an 8-seed, Cincinnati is an 8-seed, Xavier is a 9-seed and Dayton is a 9-seed. Of the 16 teams projected in the 7-to-10 range, three of them are also from the SEC (Georgia, Ole Miss and Texas A&M). Since it's unlikely that the committee would pair up Kentucky against another SEC team in the second round, this means the odds are even higher of the Cats facing either the Buckeyes, Hoosiers, Bearcats, Musketeers or Flyers in the second round. Teams from the tri-state area account for 5/13th, or about 38%, of non-SEC teams currently projected in the 7-to-10 range. Kentucky has a favorable recent history against Indiana, Ohio State and Cincinnati in the NCAA tournament. Ironically, the Cats and Hoosiers could meet again in Louisville, where the annual rivalry had been played every other year from 1991 to 2005. The Cats have played Xavier 39 times, but not since a 115-77 win in 1968. The last time Kentucky played Dayton, it lost 68-66 in November of 1999 in Cincinnati. (info courtesy of bigbluehistory.net) Some memorable NCAA Tournament rejections against these poor souls: [caption id="attachment_173475" align="alignleft" width="140"] Credit: USA Today[/caption] [caption id="attachment_173472" align="alignright" width="144"] Credit: bigbluehistory.net[/caption] [caption id="attachment_173471" align="aligncenter" width="167"] Credit: Vaught's Views[/caption]