Taking a look at Kentucky’s path to a deep NCAA Tournament run

The best time of the year is here, as the NCAA Tournament officially tips off later this week, while First Four games tip off on Tuesday. As for the Kentucky Wildcats, they will get things started on Friday taking on the Troy Trojans. The 3 seed Wildcats are in the Midwest region, which features the likes of 1 seed Houston, 2 seed Tennessee, 4 seed Purdue and 5 seed Clemson.

First off, the Wildcats will start off with the Trojans in the first round. If Kentucky fans have learned anything, it’s to not overlook any opponent that stands in their way. After getting upset in the first round in two of the last three seasons, Mark Pope and the new-look Wildcats are wanting to change the tide and get Kentucky back on track in the NCAA Tournament. If the Wildcats survive the Trojans, who are a trendy 3-14 upset in the tournament, they will face one of 6-seed Illinois or 11-seeds North Carolina or Xavier, which those two will face off in the First Four for a spot in the tournament. Just assuming the higher seed wins here, the Fighting Illini would be Kentucky’s second round opponent. Illinois has a very good offense, but the Wildcats would need to force them to shoot, as they are just 316th in three-point percentage, which means their scoring mostly comes from inside. The Illini, for what it’s worth, are coming off a rough 23-point loss to Maryland in the Big Ten conference tournament.

A path to the Sweet 16 is certainly doable, and again, assuming the higher seed wins, that would sit up a matchup with Tennessee in the Sweet 16. If you think about Kentucky’s most electric NCAA Tournament games, a matchup with the Vols in this magnitude would certainly be up there, especially given it being in Indianapolis, a quick trip for most fans. The Wildcats swept the Vols in the regular season, beating them twice, so Tennessee would be looking for some revenge. If you look at historic trends, yuo always here the phrase ‘It’s hard to beat a team three times.’ But, Kentucky has a great matchup with the Vols, which has been very prevalent in the other two matchups. Then, a win over Tennessee would sit up a matchup with 1-seed Houston, barring an upset.

It would be hard to guage another Kentucky-Tennessee matchup, but with the way the Widcats played them in the regular season, a path to an Elite Eight is certainly there. Kentucky fans would definitely be satisfied with just getting to second weekend, but a potential win over Tennessee in a Sweet 16 matchup would be the ultimate cherry on top to a March run.

The Wildcats begin their (hopefully long) NCAA Tournament journey on Friday, facing the 14-seed Troy Trojans, a very scrappy team that Kentucky will need to be ready for. Kentucky fans know not to take any team lightly in the tournament, and Mark Pope and his team know that too.