Kentucky riding No. 3/No. 4 seed line in Bracketology 10 days before Selection Sunday

Kentucky took care of business vs. LSU on Tuesday night, but the Cats still slipped a seed line in today’s Bracketology after another busy night of basketball.

Kentucky is a No. 4 seed in the West Region in Joe Lunardi’s Thursday update, falling from No. 12 overall to No. 13. Texas A&M’s upset of No. 1 Auburn is behind the big shuffle, with the Aggies moving up to the No. 3 seed line as the No. 10 team overall. St. John’s is in Kentucky’s old spot at No. 12. Rick Pitino’s squad is the darling of college basketball right now, winning the Big East regular-season title outright for the first time in 40 years. Wisconsin (No. 9) and Iowa State (No. 11) are the other No. 3 seeds.

Lunardi has 12 SEC teams in, with two more on the bubble. Georgia and Arkansas got two of Lunardi’s last four byes after beating South Carolina and Vanderbilt, respectively. Oklahoma and Texas are still among the first four out after wins over Missouri and Mississippi State. Florida is now a No. 1 seed (in Kentucky’s projected region) after beating Alabama. Bama and Tennessee are both No. 2 seeds now.

Of course, there’s still a lot of basketball to play. A win over Missouri on Saturday could help Kentucky climb back to the No. 3 seed line. So could a strong run in the SEC Tournament. Being a No. 3 seed instead of a No. 4 seed means not having to play the No. 1 seed until the Elite Eight.

Here are the resumes and remaining regular-season schedules for each team around Kentucky on the No. 3 and No. 4 seed lines:

• Wisconsin (No. 9 team, No. 3 seed): Penn State (Sat., 1 p.m.)
• Texas A&M (No. 10 team, No. 3 seed): at LSU (Sat., 4 p.m.)
• Iowa State (No. 11 team, No. 3 seed): at Kansas State (Sat., 1:30 p.m.)
• St. John’s (No. 12 team, No. 3 seed): at No. 20 Marquette (Sat., 12 p.m.)
• Kentucky (No. 13 team, No. 4 seed): at No. 15 Missouri (Sat., 12 p.m.)
• Purdue (No. 14 team, No. 4 seed): at Illinois (Sat., 8 p.m.)
• Arizona (No. 15 team, No. 4 seed): at Kansas (Sat., 4:30 p.m.)
• Maryland (No. 16 team, No. 4 seed): Northwestern (Sat., 3 p.m.)

Jerry Palm also has Kentucky as a No. 4 seed in today’s update, in the Midwest Region with No. 1 seed Houston. The Cats would be playing their first and second-round games in Seattle in this scenario. Kentucky is the No. 14 overall team on Palm’s seed line behind Oregon.

Just 10 days until we’ll know for sure.

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