Brutal lineup if seeds hold. I saw this article yesterday. We are the dark horse pick to win the SEC.
Sleeper Pick: Kentucky Wildcats
"I mean, we have to go there, right?
While we previously decided that Duke or North Carolina wouldn't count as a sleeper pick in the ACC, at least those blue-blood teams are on the bubble.
It has been a horrific year for the 8-15 Wildcats. Barring some unbelievable turnaround in which they win the SEC tournament and a few games in the NCAA tournament, this will be just the second time in program history that they finish below .500 in a season with at least 17 games played. (Kentucky also went 13-19 in 1988-89 before replacing Eddie Sutton with
Rick Pitino.)
But Kentucky hasn't been
that bad.
Oh, the Wildcats looked awful early in the season in those losses to Richmond and Georgia Tech. But Richmond ranks 13th in the nation in experience,
per KenPom. Georgia Tech ranks fourth. And prior to Keion Brooks making his season debut in January, Kentucky was playing without a single person who was on last year's roster.
Since then, the Wildcats have at least been competitive in just about every game. Five of their 15 losses were by a single bucket, and the only blowout loss since Georgia Tech came at the hands of Alabama—which has happened to many a competent team this season.
Kentucky is just 3-12 vs. Quadrant 1, but its average scoring margin in those 15 games is negative-3.7 points.
The Wildcats were top 50 on KenPom a week ago.
I'm not saying they definitely will win the SEC tournament. But I am saying it wouldn't take a drastic transformation for them to make a run at it.
As a projected No. 8 or No. 9 seed, Kentucky would need to get through No. 1 seed Alabama in the quarterfinals. Do that, and then anything is possible."
Right now I just want them to come out in Nashville like they did yesterday and get to Bama. Beat Bama and we are playing with house money considering how this year has gone. As a fan, I am looking at it like they are, one game at a time. It could end with any game so mind as well enjoys it game by game if we can play better like yesterday. Getting to Bama and then beating Bama would be a good ending to a rough year. If they can keep it going even farther then wow. If this group wins the SECT I will be happy. Forget the NCAAT, pulling the SECT off would be huge for this group in a tough year. I will never give up on my team, but realistically making it to Bama and beating them would be a big deal for this team.
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