WBN 4PM Headlines: Selection Show Sunday

The Cats fell to Vandy this afternoon but it didn’t really matter to John Calipari and likely won’t matter to the selection committee either, as Kentucky will look to lock in the #1 overall seed in the tournament in a few hours.

The only automatic bid remaining is the current ongoing game of Michigan State and Ohio State, both of which will be in the tourney, but the winner has a chance of ousting Kansas for that final #1 seed.

Here’s a recap of today’s action:

– #1 seeds:  It was a fight for a seed that no one appeared to want. Kentucky and Syracuse, losers of the SEC championship game today and Big East semifinals Friday are likely locks, but candidates of Kansas, North Carolina, Duke, all lost. Long shots Michigan State and Ohio State remain, but only one can win and will have to jump KU, UNC, and Duke in the process – my guess is that winner will take the other spot on Kentucky’s side of the bracket.

– Bubble Buster: Saint Bonaventure managed to pull out a victory against Xavier to win the A10 tournament. Xavier is likely going to receive an automatic bid, but the Bonny’s likely pushed a team like South Florida, Mississippi State, or Tennessee out of the field of 68 as they grasp the bid that wasn’t going to be given to them as an at large team.

– Indiana Loses More than 1: IU lost senior guard Verdell Jones III to an ACL injury in their Thursday night win against Penn State. IU followed that game up by dropping a game to Wisconsin 79-71.

– Selection Show Thursday?: The committee stated Thursday that 37 at large teams have already been selected. This isn’t unusual but it is something interesting to think about as many believe that the time from the end of the last game to the announcement of the bracket is the only amount of time the committee uses to slot the teams. The committee has narrowed down their schools and will use the last remaining moments to work on seeding and location.

– Cat Quotes: Here’s a few quotes from the Cats after today’s loss (per the Courier Journal’s Kyle Tucker):

Jones: “That (Indiana) loss was a long time ago, it feels like to me anyway. And this one just brings us back to reality.”

Davis: “When you take a loss like this, it just makes us hungrier.”

Calipari: “We get this off our plate. We don’t have to worry about a win streak, none of that. Let’s just go play this tournament.”

Calipari on the loss: “I wish this would have happened yesterday so we got home a day earlier.”

Miller on Kidd-Gilchrist telling Calipari to start him: “That really meant a lot to me, showing that he was with me, showing the support.”

– Selection Showdown: The bracket will be announced and people will begin to argue about the ‘good road’ or ‘bad road’ of their teams. Remember two things, 2010 UK had the ‘hardest bracket’ but faced Cornell and Wake Forest before making the Elite 8 and losing to West Virginia… last year they faced the hardest bracket and won… the only thing you know at the beginning of the bracket is who you COULD play, a lot happens and it is never the way you pick it. BUT you can feel free to pick your bracket on the WBN bracet challenge!