Where Kentucky stands in ESPN's final Preseason Bracketology

With less than two weeks to go until the official start of the college basketball season, Joe Lunardi is submitting his final preseason predictions for the 2024 NCAA Tournament. Your University of Kentucky Wildcats actually moved up a seed line. Whether that’s because Lunardi watched the Blue-White Game, Madness, or Kentucky’s Pro Day, we’ll never know, but he projects the Cats to be a No. 5 seed in the South Region, potentially facing Kansas, the top overall seed, in the Sweet 16 in Dallas — that is, if the Jayhawks can get past Morehead State in the first round and either Wisconsin or Colorado in the second.

Purdue, Michigan State, and Duke are the other No. 1 seeds. Lunardi projects eight SEC teams to make the field, with Tennessee being the highest seed.

• Tennessee – No. 2 seed
• Alabama – No. 4 seed
• Arkansas – No. 4 seed
• Texas A&M – No. 4 seed
• Kentucky – No. 5 seed
• Auburn – No. 7 seed
• Mississippi State – No. 8 seed
• Florida – No. 10 seed

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2024 NCAA Tournament Sites, Dates

Hypothetical brackets are especially useless before the season has even begun, so let’s talk basics of the 2024 NCAA Tournament instead, like where it’s taking place. The regionals are in Dallas (South), Boston (East), Detroit (Midwest), and Los Angeles (West). If the Cats make it to the Final Four, we’re headed to Phoenix, Arizona.

The closest first and second-round site is Indianapolis, which is unfortunate because that city has produced nothing but sad Kentucky Basketball memories as of late. I’ll be rooting for Memphis, Charlotte, or Brooklyn instead.

Round	Dates	City	Venue	Host(s)
First Four	March 19-20	Dayton, OH	UD Arena	University of Dayton
First/Second	March 22-24	Brooklyn, NY	Barclays Center	Atlantic 10 Conference
First/Second	March 21-23	Charlotte, NC	Spectrum Center	University of North Carolina at Charlotte
First/Second	March 22-24	Indianapolis, IN	Gainbridge Fieldhouse	Horizon League, IUPUI
First/Second	March 21-23	Omaha, NE	CHI Health Center	Creighton University
First/Second	March 21-23	Pittsburgh, PA	PPG Paints Arena	Duquesne University
First/Second	March 21-23	Salt Lake City, UT	Vivint Smart Home Arena	University of Utah
First/Second	March 22-24	Spokane, WA	Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena	University of Idaho
First/Second	March 22-24	Memphis, TN	FedEx Forum	University of Memphis
East Regional	March 28-30	Boston, MA	TD Garden	Boston College
South Regional	March 29-31	Dallas, TX	American Airlines Center	Big 12 Conference
Midwest Regional	March 29-31	Detroit, MI	Little Caesars Arena	University of Detroit Mercy, Oakland University
West Regional	March 28-30	Los Angeles, CA	Crypto.com Arena	Pepperdine University
Final Four	April 6 & 8	Phoenix, AZ	State Farm Stadium	Arizona State University

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