March Madness: Kentucky Basketball Experiencing Unusual Doubt Prior to NCAA Tournament
The word “underdog” doesn’t come up when talking about Kentucky Basketball. Except that this time around, the Wildcats haven’t been seen as the favorites.
It seems as though the feeling among the sports media outside of the Bluegrass State hasn’t put a lot of faith in the Kentucky Basketball team. Celebrities and sports television analysts are showing off their March Madness Brackets that they’ve filled out and somethings missing on most of them. Kentucky.
Even in down years, the Kentucky Wildcats are good enough to make noise in March. Within the realm of the NCAA Tournament, its never a good idea to count out Coach Cal and the Kentucky Wildcats.
Take a look at these ESPN Final Four picks. These are the expert picks from the network.
Spoiler Alert
Guess what? Only three out of the 25 experts chose the Kentucky Wildcats as part of their Final Four teams. One expert though, the Legend known as Eamonn Brennan, chose Kentucky to win it all. In his Final Four picks he included Villanova, West Virginia, Louisville and Kentucky. Another expert to select Kentucky to make it out of the stacked south region was Chris Cotter. He included Duke, Kansas and Arizona along with the Wildcats in his final four. Bracketology guru, Joe Lunardi also had the Kentucky Wildcats in his Final Four. He included the Cats along with Louisville, Gonzaga, and Villanova.
Check this out: Kentucky Basketball March Madness Coverage
The general consensus is that either UCLA or North Carolina will take their talents to Phoenix in a few weeks.
Unfamiliar Territory
On the outside looking in, it seems as though Kentucky is already being counted out. Kentucky fans shouldn’t pay attention to all of the experts because history is on the side of the Wildcats.In a great article from the ESPN Staff, the Stats and Information writers broke down the most likely occurrences throughout history that have won the championship. Here are the five rules that ESPN states are good choices to pick as the NCAA Tournament Championship.
The first rule states to pick a top three seed. History states that only one team of the last 15 years has won it all after being seeded less than a three-seed. The second rule states that you should pick a team with a lottery pick. Well, there are an abundant amount of lottery picks in this season’s tournament. But, Kentucky has two of them in De’Aaron Fox and Malik Monk. The third rule states that you should pick a team with great efficiency numbers. The article states that 12 of the last 15 Champions ranked in the top six of the KenPom’s net efficiency rating.
Rule number four states that you’ve got to choose a team that has played a strong schedule. Therefore, choosing a team like Gonzaga isn’t very wise. The final rule states that your NCAA Tournament Champion should not have lost it’s conference tournament opener.
The only team that checks all of those boxes? You guessed it…Kentucky. Fans, don’t be nervous about the situation that has been gifted to these young Cats.
A rule that is always smart to follow during the NCAA Tournament is simple: If you’re good enough, you will win. Kentucky is certainly good enough. The questions lie ahead as to whether or not this team will come together and get hot at the right time.