Despite earning the overall No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, UK head coach John Calipari believes the Cats are playing in the toughest region.

“They stacked the region,” Calipari said. “The only thing I was happy about – I heard they were trying to get an exemption for the Heat to be the second seed in our bracket, and they weren’t allowed to get that so they couldn’t put them in there too.”

Although the team had found out their placement in the tournament once their plane touched down in Lexington, they still watched much of the selection show at Calipari’s house.

Cal said that he likes his team and that they are ready for the challenges that lie ahead.

“We’re happy we’re not playing on Tuesday (in the play-in round) – I thought they may try to do that. The first game will be hard, the second game will be a war, if we move on from there it will be one after another,” Calipari said. “We play all comers right now. I’ve had some stuff thrown at my teams before. “

The Cats will open tournament play in Louisville Thursday at 6:50 p.m. (TBS) against either Western Kentucky or Mississippi Valley State.

Those two teams, both 16 seeds, will face off Tuesday in Dayton at 7 p.m (TruTV).

Western Kentucky made a coaching change mid-season and won the Sun Belt conference tournament to earn an NCAA bid despite having a losing record (15-18)

“For those guys and that coach to do what they’ve done is just phenomenal,” Calipari said.

Mississippi Valley State is coached by former-Cat Sean Woods. Woods is a member of the UK “Unforgettables” and has his jersey hanging in the rafters of Rupp Arena. It is also the 20th year anniversary of the fabled UK-Duke Elite Eight game which many still call the greatest college basketball game of all time. Before Christian Laettner hit “the shot” to give Duke the win in that game, Sean Woods hit a leaner in the lane to give the Cats an all-too-temporary lead.

Mississippi Valley State (21-12) had a tremendous run in the conference season, and won the SWAC tournament to gain a NCAA automatic bid

“Great kid – great coach. Done a terrific job. We’re all proud of him,” Calipari said.

The Cats are looking forward to a fresh start and a chance to bounce back from the loss Vanderbilt handed them in the SEC championship game.

“We’re not worried about that loss, we’re moving on to something bigger,” freshman guard Marquis Teague said. “We just missed some shots down the stretch – shots that we usually make. “

The team said they did not want to lose, but that it is possible the loss may motivate them over the coming weeks.

“We are very competitive people and we are still upset about the loss we had today and aren’t really over it just yet. Hopefully we use it to motivate us,” senior forward Darius Miller said. “I feel like we were going to ready to play either way. We need to make sure we are focused on what we need to do to win a national championship. “

During the course of the last nine minutes of Sunday’s game, UK shot 0-15.

“Today for the first time in the last four minutes of the game – we didn’t make shots. I’ll be honest, I was stunned. Wide open shots, with no one near anybody. We just missed, and that happens,” Calipari said. “I’d rather it happen now than next weekend or the following weekend. We had our chance, I watched the tape.”

Calipari re-iterated that he felt the Cats have a tough draw.

“Seed matters. Matchups matter,” Calipari said. “There are some that get that path, and there are others that are in foxholes with bazooka shots coming at them.”

“But I enjoy going in with good teams, and this is a good team.”