In the off-season, nobody had a clue how good the Kentucky Wildcats would turn out to be this season. 

With the departure of long-tenured Head Coach John Calipari, a bunch of uncertainties and doubts boiled over… especially when Athletic Director Mitch Barnhart hired Mark Pope to fill his shoes, causing many to be angry and confused. 

But, in the former BYU head coach’s first first go-around in Lexington, Pope was able to build a phenomenal resume, beating eight opponents that were ranked in the Top-15 of the AP Poll — a program record — while also taking down 11 quad-1 opponents, including No. 6 Duke, No. 6 Florida — which just won the SEC Tournament — and No. 5 Tennessee, twice. 

With those accolades, UK earned a No. 3 seed in this year’s NCAA Tournament and are set to play the No. 14 Troy Trojans in the first round on March 21, in Milwaukee. 

Kentucky is slated in the Midwest Region and, if it takes care of business in the first round, it will play either No. 6 Illinois, No. 11 Texas or No. 11 Xavier. Texas and Xavier are both battling each other in the First Four on Wednesday, March 19, and the winner of that game will face Illinois in the first round, who Kentucky would then play the winner of if it beats Troy. 

But, before breaking down the potential matchups down the line, it’s important to first scope out the Trojans, who received an automatic bid after winning the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.  

Troy finished the regular season with a 20-10 overall record and a 13-5 record in conference play, sitting as one of four teams to share the regular season title.

As a No. 3 seed in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament, Troy beat No. 10 Old Dominion, No. 2 James Madison and No. 4 Arkansas State in the Championship, winning just its third ever conference tournament title and first since 2017.

The Trojan offense averages 73.9 points per game with its star guard Tayton Conerway leading the way, putting up a team-high 14.3 points, along with 4.6 rebounds and a team-high 4.8 assists per night. In the Sun Belt Tournament Championship, Conerway put up 21 points, six rebounds and three assists. 

Troy’s defense allows just 65.4 points per game, while Conerway (2.9) and forward Myles Rigsby (1.5) lead the team in steals. 6-foot-8 forward Jackson Fields leads the team in blocks per game, averaging 0.8. 

If UK finds a way to slither past the Sun Belt champs, it will move to the Round of 32 and take on one of the three teams listed above.

Starting with the No. 6 Fighting Illini, a team that finished the regular season with a 20-11 overall record and a 12-8 record in Big Ten play, Illinois took down eight quad-1 opponents this season with its most notable victory coming against No. 15 Michigan, on the road, on March 2. 

The Fighting Illini average 83.8 points per game (12th in the nation) and allow 74.6 points per game. Head Coach Brad Underwood’s team also grabs 42.5 rebounds a night (third in the nation), led by Tomislav Ivisic, who grabs a team-high 7.7 rebounds per game.

In terms of point production, Illinois is wagoned by freshman guard Kasparas Jakucionis, a 6-foot-6 native of Lithuania who was named to the third-team All-Big Ten list and the Big Ten All-freshman team. Jakucionis leads Illinois in points per game with 15. 

Now, if March Madness does what March Madness does best, either Xavier or Texas could upset the Illini in the first round and become Kentucky’s second round opponent. 

First, the fellow SEC school of the bunch: Texas.

Texas beat Kentucky 82-78 in the pair’s one and only matchup back on Feb. 15. In that game, UK had a steady lead up until the five-minute mark before blowing the game and losing its — at the time — sixth SEC game. Kentucky would surely be out for revenge if it got another crack at the Longhorns. 

In the SEC Tournament, No. 13 Texas took down No. 12 Vanderbilt and in-state foe No. 5 Texas A&M before falling to No. 4 Tennessee in the quarterfinals. The Longhorns, who were on the bubble for weeks, were likely able to pedal over the hump courtesy of their win over the Aggies. 

Texas, which has seven quad-1 wins, is structured around SEC Freshman of the Year guard Tre Johnson, who averages a team-high 19.8 points, three rebounds and 2.8 points per game.

If UK ran into the Longhorns, Johnson has to be a player it defends extremely well or he could absolutely end the Cats’ dreams of winning its ninth national championship. 

Finally, the other option, the Xavier Musketeers, a team led by fourth-year Head Coach Sean Miller. 

Xavier, a member of the Big East, finished the regular season with a 21-10 overall record and a 13-7 record in conference play before bailing out of the Big East Tournament in the quarterfinal, suffering a grueling 89-87 loss to No. 5 Marquette. 

The Musketeers are guided by forward Zach Freemantle, a 6-foot-9 fifth-year senior who averages a team-high 17.3 points, 2.1 assists and a team-high 7.1 boards. Freemantle earned a spot on the second-team All-Big East list this season. 

Xavier, whch has just one quad-1 win (Marquette), scores an average of 78 points per game and surrenders an average of 70.9 points per night. Not the best ratio but, in March, that all flies out the window. 

No matter who the second round opponent could be, as fans seen in years past, Kentucky cannot, by any means, overlook Troy, a squad that has nothing to lose and a whole lot to gain. 

Tipoff for the Wildcats’ first round matchup with the Trojans is set for 7:10 p.m. ET and can be viewed on CBS.