The Kentucky Wildcats (29-5) enter the 2017 NCAA tournament as one of the hottest teams in the country.
John Calipari’s second-seeded team in the South Region has won 11 straight games, with its last loss coming on February 4 in Gainesville against Florida.
Kentucky once again held off the competition at the SEC Tournament in Nashville, as the Wildcats captured their 30th conference tournament title in program history.
Their next opponent doesn’t match Kentucky in depth and numbers, but it does in location.
John Brannen leads Northern Kentucky (24-10) into an in-state battle with the Wildcats in only its first season of NCAA tournament eligibility.
The Norse finished fourth in the Horizon League during the regular season, but managed to put together three straight wins to earn the conference’s automatic bid.
Lovell’s Analysis:
It’s worth repeating: Kentucky is one of the hottest teams in the country.
I was courtside at the SEC Tournament and watched the Wildcats put together some of their best basketball of the season. But it wasn’t just the “big three” of De’Aaron Fox, Malik Monk, and Bam Adebayo that did the work for Calipari.
Senior guard Dominique Hawkins was a major factor on both ends of the floor in the Wildcats’ success during the tournament, which earned him SEC All-Tournament Team honors for his 14-point, four-steal performance in the championship game.
“It’s almost like you’re waiting to put him in the game,” Calipari said of Hawkins following Kentucky’s title game victory over Arkansas. “Like something has to happen so you can hurry up and put him in.”
“I’m just so happy. I mean — you know, here’s a young man that waited his turn and, you know it’s hard to do these days.”
That’s exactly why I think enters this tournament in outstanding shape.
It isn’t just about Fox, Monk, and Adebayo anymore. It’s about Fox, Monk, Adebayo, Hawkins, Isaiah Briscoe, Derek Willis, and so on. So many guys are playing well for this team right now that it will take a huge effort to beat them.
There were stretches during the season that Kentucky looked like a team that could fade down the stretch, but that isn’t the case anymore. Even when Monk is shooting poorly from the field, the Wildcats are still finding ways to win.
Although Northern Kentucky boasts a lineup featuring four players scoring in double-figures (led by Drew McDonald at 16.4 PPG and Lavone Holland II at 14.3 PPG), it’s hard to see the Norse being the team that takes down Kentucky.
However, should Calipari’s squad get past this one, the road to the Final Four will be the toughest that anyone in the entire tournament will face.
But before they think about potential matchups with Wichita State, UCLA, and North Carolina, the Wildcats must take care of business on Friday.
And given the way they’ve played over the past month, they should have no trouble doing that against a Northern Kentucky team that just doesn’t have enough depth to slow them down.
Prediction: Kentucky 85, Northern Kentucky 61