Calipari vs. Pitino in round one of the NCAA tourney?

[Son_Of_Saul]

St. John's is sitting as an at-large right now. Presently they're 17-12 and will probably get to 20 wins by the time Selection Sunday rolls around. They have an easy game against DePaul tonight, and they finish against a bad Georgetown team before the Big East tourney begins. They're NET ranking right now is #38.

If Kentucky gets a 3 or 4 seed, I could see the committee putting us up against a 14 or 13 seeded St. John's team.

 

[UKWildcats1987]

UK would humiliate the crypt keeper.

 

[$Z71$]

St. John's is sitting as an at-large right now. Presently they're 17-12 and will probably get to 20 wins by the time Selection Sunday rolls around. They have an easy game against DePaul tonight, and they finish against a bad Georgetown team before the Big East tourney begins. They're NET ranking right now is #38.

If Kentucky gets a 3 or 4 seed, I could see the committee putting us up against a 14 or 13 seeded St. John's team.

13 or 14 seeds are almost always mid major conference winners. Power 5 schools who get in at large with poor records are almost exclusively 10-12 seeds.

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

13 or 14 seeds are almost always mid major conference winners. Power 5 schools who get in at large with poor records are almost exclusively 10-12 seeds.

Absolutely, but how often does the committee have a golden opportunity like this one?

 

[247CATS]

Would be an easy W. I’d take it!

 

[Dontworryboutit23]

St. John's is sitting as an at-large right now. Presently they're 17-12 and will probably get to 20 wins by the time Selection Sunday rolls around. They have an easy game against DePaul tonight, and they finish against a bad Georgetown team before the Big East tourney begins. They're NET ranking right now is #38.

If Kentucky gets a 3 or 4 seed, I could see the committee putting us up against a 14 or 13 seeded St. John's team.

Kentucky would have to lose and become a 6 seed. 13 and 14 seed are not high majors

 

[Blouman]

Cal dominated Pitino at UL. Pitino probably wouldn't like
the match up.

 

[yoshukai]

I would rather play them than any other team . Cal would be focused and driven the days leading up to the game . It’s hard to believe they’re considered an at large team though .

 

[Wildcat Sheli]

Here’s the latest from Lunardi: https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/s...logy-2024-march-madness-men-field-predictions
“Back in the summer, in this very space, we suggested a major topic on Selection Sunday would be Rick Pitino and St. John's. Pitino was in the process of retooling the Red Storm roster, all with an eye toward getting the Johnnies back into the NCAA tournament conversation sooner than anyone had a right to expect. Several months and one apparently calculated tantrum later, here we are. Depending on your choice of bracketologist, St. John's is either just in or just out of the projected NCAA field. The Red Storm control their own destiny with two very winnable regular-season games plus the Big East tournament remaining. Victories over DePaul and Georgetown this week should be enough, and another at MSG the following week would certainly put them back in the tourney for the first time in five years. Who knew?”

 

[DrH. Lecter]

I thought this the other day when I was watching Seaton Hall.....who is the other potential TV first round match. Shaheen.

 

[TheDude73]

Cal owns Rick in head to head over the years. Not much of a story to anyone other than a few UK fans. I don’t see it happening even if they make it in.

 

[UKWildcats1987]

If st. Johns is one of the last 4 in they will be in Dayton. Lunardi has those as 11 seed matchups.

Now I'm not saying the ncaa can't screw UK and do it but short of losing at home to vandy I don't see this team being a 6 seed.

Now I do see some 12s and a 13 over the years so I suppose if they want to rig it they can. I doubt it happens.

 

[AGEE11]

The committee loves stories in the first two rounds. This is not out of the realm of possibility

 

[know1]

I had wondered if this would be a possibility earlier in the year, but the records and seedings don't seem to be working out. I expect that we'd win that matchup easily, though.

 

[truebluewildcat]

Ya'll are high on your own supply.

I'll take Houston or Uconn before a Pitino match up.

St. John's would be the perfect game with too many story lines that would end the ultimate story line of another early exit for Cal and a stacked team full of pros.

Forget the Pitino angle. Have ya not learned all the lessons of recent dances vs "easy match ups"?

Then you throw in the Pitino angle and history with Cal. Also, he's back in the big east where he started. At a private religious school...priest on the bench with. A gritty team full of nobodies...but they play hard and have grit.

I can hear it now, all the old guard of talking heads and commentators "the old big east is back..."

Hell no. We want them on the other side of the globe playing in the Chinese NIT.

 

[bthaunert]

There have been 13 seeds get at-large bid before (play-in game in 2013 was Boise State and LaSalle), but generally speaking, the lowest seed that gets an at-large is a 12 seed and most often it is an 11 seed. It's not out of the question, but it's a long shot.