Kentucky Misses The NCAA Tournament

[caption id="attachment_241810" align="aligncenter" width="628"] UK Athletics[/caption] Kentucky was not selected for the 2018 NCAA Tournament. The BatCats were listed as one of the last four teams out after the show. UK was punished for their 13-18 conference record and an early exit in last week's SEC Tournament. 

THE BRACKET.#RoadToOmahahttps://t.co/0cOYRh9my0 pic.twitter.com/aUciCCPXyQ

— NCAA Baseball (@NCAACWS) May 28, 2018

Perhaps the most frustrating part of this is that Northeastern was the final team in the field over the Cats. The Huskies went 1-7 against the RPI top 25 and did not win a series against a regional team. Northeastern finished well above .500 in conference play and had a decent RPI, which put them ahead of UK in the committee's eyes. UK's RPI of 30 and their poor conference record was enough for the selection committee to put them below Northeastern. The Cats had a chance to control their own destiny at the end of the season but faltered against SEC competition. UK lost their final four games of the season, including a sweep at the hands of Vanderbilt. But even with the bad end of the season, many national projections had UK in the field of 64 last night. D1 Baseball and Baseball America thought that the Cats' entire body of work would get them into the NCAA Tournament, but the selection committee thought that the conference record was enough to keep them out. The KSR Baseball guys will have a new podcast this evening breaking down why the Cats were left out and what this means moving forward.