Kentucky earns No. 3 seed in NCAA Tournament, will face Oakland in Pittsburgh

It’s time to go dancing, as Kentucky (23-9, 13-5 SEC) has officially earned an at-large bid to the 2024 NCAA Tournament — as if that was ever in doubt. The only question was the where, how and who.

Now, we have those answers, as the Wildcats have earned a No. 3 seed in the South Region, hosted by the Big 12 Conference in Dallas at American Airlines Center. We learned during Sunday’s Selection Show that this group will face off against No. 14 seed Oakland in Pittsburgh on Thursday.

The Cats would then take on the winner of No. 6 seed Texas Tech and No. 11 NC State in the Round of 32. Houston is the No. 1 seed in the region, followed by Marquette as the No. 2 on Kentucky’s side of the bracket.

Kentucky closed out the regular season on a positive note, winning five straight and six of the last seven, highlighted by a statement victory at Tennessee. From there, though, the Cats went one-and-done in the SEC Tournament for the third time in four years, falling in the quarterfinals to Texas A&M in Nashville.

On the bright side, Kentucky is back to full strength and was seen as the hottest team in the SEC going into the week. The Wildcats will have a chance to regroup and enter March Madness with a chip on their shoulders shortly removed from playing their best basketball of the season.

Complete 2024 NCAA Tournament Bracket

UConn is the No. 1 overall seed while Purdue, Houston and North Carolina make up the others.

The SEC received eight bids with Tennessee leading the way with a No. 2, followed by Kentucky with a No. 3, Auburn and Alabama with No. 4s, South Carolina with a No. 6, Florida with a No. 7, Mississippi State with a No. 8 and Texas A&M with a No. 9.