The longtime Bracketologist, Joe Lunardi, released his newest NCAA Tournament projection Tuesday morning, and this was the first time since late June that it has brought familiar news for Kentucky fans.
Lunardi once again has Mark Pope’s Wildcats as a No. 3 seed, but they are now in a different region. Previously in the Midwest (Chicago), Kentucky is now in the West Region, with San Jose as the regional site. In the opening round, Lunardi has the Wildcats facing 14-seeded Furman in St. Louis. A potential
Round of 32 matchup would come against either 6-seed Kansas or the winner of 11-seed Iowa vs. SMU.
It gets even more interesting in the Sweet 16, where Pope could potentially face his former team, BYU, currently projected as the 2-seed in the West. Duke headlines the region as the 1-seed.
Kentucky isn’t the only SEC school in Lunardi’s latest field of 68. In fact, the league dominates the projection, with 14 teams making the cut and matching the record number of bids the SEC received last season. Florida (1), Tennessee (3), Arkansas (4), Auburn (4), Alabama (5), and the others are nearly every seed line. Only the Big Ten comes close, with 11 projected bids.
With less than 100 days until the 2025-26 season tips off and if Lunardi is right, Kentucky is in for another deep run, with plenty of SEC company right behind them.
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