Kentucky WBB lands No. 6 seed in NCAA Tournament
Kentucky Wildcats head coach Kyra Elzy waves to fans during the team’s return from the SEC Tournament championship game on Sunday, March 6, 2022, at Joe Craft Center in Lexington, Kentucky. UK defeated No. 1 South Carolina 64-62 with a 3-pointer by Dre’Una Edwards in the last seconds of the game in Nashville, Tennessee. Photo by Michael Clubb | Staff
March 13, 2022
After an improbable run to the 2022 SEC Tournament title, Kentucky has been granted with a No. 6 seed for its troubles.
The Wildcats will take on the No. 11 seed Princeton in the Bridgeport Region on Saturday, March 19 in Bloomington, Indiana.
Kentucky will enter the big dance with a 19-11 (8-8, Southeastern Conference) record, having won 10 games in a row.
The bid is the 17th in program history for the Wildcats, who have now made it to 11 of the last 12 NCAA Tournaments.
In what was one of the bigger turnarounds in recent memory, Kyra Elzy led her team from sheer turmoil, all the way to the promised land.
The topsy-turvy campaign began with a 6-1 start, highlighted by a win over West Virginia. The lone loss came against Indiana, a road defeat in Bloomington that the Cats will now have the opportunity to correct if they can fight past Princeton.
Kentucky would drop two consecutive games to DePaul and rival Louisville, highlighting some issues that would later come back to bite the Cats in a big way.
After opening SEC play with a win against Georgia, a mixture of COVID-19 and injuries plagued a horrendous 1-8 skid that was soon to follow.
The Wildcats tumbled out of the rankings, and tournament projections. If not for Rhyne Howard, the streak could’ve gone on longer.
Dre’una Edwards was suspended for three games, while key guards such as Jazmine Massengill and Treasure Hunt went down with occasional injuries.
Miraculously, Elzy pulled the band back together and went on a world tour of a win streak.
Six wins, three of which came on the road, put a stamp on the regular season. The Cats then climbed back up to the No. 7 seed in the SEC Tournament.
After vanquishing Mississippi State in the second round, the Cats took down a trio of ranked foes in LSU, Tennessee and No. 1 South Carolina, securing an auto-bid.
In a matter of days, Kentucky went from the bubble to a lock. It’ll now have a chance to carry its momentum into March Madness.
If the Cats can defeat Princeton in the first round, they will take on the winner of Indiana and Charlotte in the Round of 32 inside Assembly Hall.
