LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — In just a few short hours, both Kentucky Men's and Women's Basketball will know where they will start, and who they will play to kick off the 2022 NCAA tournament. So how are the teams looking to seed? We decided to take a look and see what the experts were saying and give the TrueBlue fans a breakdown.
ESPN:
Currently, on the ESPN Men's Bracketology website, the men's team is predicted as a no. 2 seed in the Midwest (Chicago) and facing Jacksonville St. in Indianapolis. ESPN Women's Bracketology projects the women's team is predicted to be the no. 7 seed in the Spokane section and facing South Dakota in Austin.
CBS Sports:
For CBS Sports, the Kentucky men are projected again to be a no. 2 seed and play in Indianapolis. However, CBS projects them to play Georgia St. at a 15th seed. As for the women's team, while they don't have any projections analysts say you can't sleep on Kyra Elzy, Rhyne Howard, and the rest of the SEC Women's Champions.
SBNation/BloggingTheBracket:
As of their full 'Sunday Morning Bracket', they project the men at a no. 2 seed, but this time in the South (San Antonio) and playing against a projected no. 15 Cal State Fullerton.
Just Women's Sports:
Just Women's Sports projects that the Kentucky Women will be a no. 7 seed saying "Much has been said about Kentucky’s magnificent turnaround, and this team deserves that praise and more."
NCAA.com/Andy Katz:
Katz projects the men in the East section and faces a no. 15 seeded Delaware.
LEX 18 Sports' Eli Gehn:
I don’t consider myself an expert, but I do like following patterns of how projections play out. Heading into Sunday, most of the bracket has been locked in in my opinion, with a few scenarios for involving the Last Four In, First Four Out teams.
Kentucky is undoubtedly a No. 2 seed this year and will most likely be in the Midwest Region with a potential path of playing in Indianapolis, Chicago, and New Orleans if they were to make a run. Their potential opponent will be Jacksonville St. (should be Bellarmine) in the first round. I feel like this is a good road to the Final Four for the Cats, with potential matchups against USC, Wisconsin, UCLA, and Kansas.
As for the women, Kentucky’s magical run to close the season should have all of BBN excited to see it continue. The Cats could range from a No. 5 to No. 7 seed, but I’ll go with the No. 7 seed in the Spokane Region facing South Dakota to start things off, with potential matchups against Texas, LSU, Maryland, and Stanford.
What I hope doesn’t happen is Kentucky will have lost its momentum. I understand rest is important, but magical runs happen when games are strung together. It will be nearly two weeks from Kentucky’s SEC Championship win until its opening-round game. Here’s to believing there’s no rest vs. rust factor entering the Big Dance. Oh, and they have Rhyne Howard.
LEX 18 Sports' Keith Farmer:
I believe UK will be a 2 seed and will start in Indianapolis for the first two rounds. Many believe they will move on to the Chicago Regional but hear me out. Remember Duke's Mike Krzyzewski is in his final season of coaching Duke. Don't you think the NCAA Tournament committee would like to pair Kentucky and Duke in the Philadelphia Regional? It's the 30th anniversary of that famous game between the Wildcats and Blue Devils.
You can catch the men's selections show on CBS at 6 p.m. The women's selection show can be seen at 8 p.m. on ESPN.
