Tennessee is at No. 5.
The Kentucky Wildcats have finally gotten over their six-year hump of bowing out in the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament.
In the first year of the Mark Pope era, he has already led a team entirely filled with transfers and freshmen to their first Sweet 16 since 2019 as a No. 3 seed. Pretty successful first season for the new head man in charge in Lexington, so far.
247 Sports did a re-seeding of all 16 teams to make the Sweet 16 from their original seeding by the selection committee, and the Wildcats saw a slight jump.
Kentucky moved from the No. 11 overall seed to the No. 9 seed in the Sweet 16.
Even at less than full strength, Lamont Butler makes Kentucky a much better team. That was obvious, especially on the defensive end, over the last two games. The Wildcats held two good offenses to a combined 122 points, which is a major step forward for a squad that too often found itself losing high-scoring games in the regular season. If Butler stays in the lineup for the remainder of Kentucky’s stay in the tournament, no opponent is safe. After all, the Wildcats already hold victories over national title hopefuls in Florida and Tennessee.
Their opponent on Friday, the Tennessee Volunteers, saw no change as they stayed at No. 5.