NCAA Tournament Resume: Kentucky rises in NET Rankings despite loss to Alabama

Kentucky’s loss to Alabama did not hurt its NCAA Tournament resume. In fact, the Cats rose two spots in the NET Rankings, to No. 12, on Sunday. That’s five spots higher than a week ago and the highest the Cats have been in the NET since the end of January.

Alabama remains No. 6 in the NET. Auburn is No. 1, Duke No. 2, Houston No. 3, Florida No. 4, and Tennessee No. 5. Kentucky has wins over three of those teams and the chance to get a win over another, the No. 1 Auburn Tigers, on Saturday. With four regular-season games left, Kentucky is trending as a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament; as long as the Cats take care of business in the games they’re supposed to win (at Oklahoma, LSU), they should be in good shape on Selection Sunday. Given the injury situation, that’s easier said than done.

Let’s talk team sheet, which the Selection Committee will use as it determines the Cats’ seed in the NCAA Tournament. The loss to Alabama is in Quad 1A, so it didn’t hurt Kentucky at all (as mentioned, the Cats actually rose in the NET). The win over Vanderbilt is in Quad 2. Kentucky’s only remaining game outside of Quad 1 is the game vs. LSU on March 4, which is in Quad 3. The Cats can’t afford to lose that one. Even though Oklahoma isn’t great (NET No. 51), because that game is on the road, it falls in Quad 1.

Let’s break it all down.

• Quad 1: 8-8 (Games Remaining: 3)
  • Quad 1A: 6-5
  • Quad 1B: 2-3
• Quad 2: 1-1 (Games Remaining: 0)
• Quad 3: 3-0 (Games Remaining: 1)
• Quad 4: 6-0 (Games Remaining: 0)

Quad 1: 8-8

• Quad 1: Home: 1-30 | Neutral: 1-50 | Away: 1-75
  • *Quad 1A: Home 1-15 | Neutral 1-25 | Away 1-40
  • Quad 1B: Home 16-30 | Neutral 26-50 | Away 41-75

NET Ranking	Date	Opponent	Result
1	03/01/2025	* Auburn
2	11/12/2024	* Duke (Champions Classic)	W 77-72
4	01/04/2025	* Florida	W 106-100
5	01/28/2025	* @ Tennessee	W 78-73
5	02/11/2025	* Tennessee	W 75-64
6	02/22/2025	* @ Alabama	L 83-96
6	01/18/2025	* Alabama	L 97-102
10	12/07/2024	* Gonzaga (Seattle)	W 90-89 (1 OT)
15	03/08/2025	* @ Missouri
17	01/14/2025	Texas A&M	W 81-69
22	12/03/2024	* @ Clemson	L 66-70
24	12/14/2024	Louisville	W 93-85
26	02/04/2025	* @ Ole Miss	L 84-98
28	01/11/2025	* @ Mississippi State	W 95-90
34	12/21/2024	Ohio State (CBS Sports Classic)	L 65-85
38	02/15/2025	* @ Texas	L 78-82
41	01/07/2025	@ Georgia	L 69-82
43	01/25/2025	@ Vanderbilt	L 69-74
51	02/26/2025	@ Oklahoma

Quad 2: 1-1

Home: 31-75 | Neutral: 51-100 | Away: 76-135

NET Ranking	Date	Opponent	Result
40	02/01/2025	Arkansas	L 79-89
43	02/19/2025	Vanderbilt	W 82-61

Quad 3: 3-0

Home: 76-160 | Neutral: 101-200 | Away: 136-240

NET Ranking	Date	Opponent	Result
80	03/04/2025	LSU
89	02/08/2025	South Carolina	W 80-57
90	11/19/2024	Lipscomb	W 97-68
141	11/26/2024	Western Ky.	W 87-68

Quad 4: 6-0

Home: 161-362 | Neutral: 201-362 | Away: 241-362

NET Ranking	Date	Opponent	Result
206	12/31/2024	Brown	W 88-54
209	11/04/2024	Wright State	W 103-62
220	11/09/2024	Bucknell	W 100-72
251	12/11/2024	Colgate	W 78-67
265	11/29/2024	Georgia State	W 105-76
273	11/22/2024	Jackson State	W 108-59

Team Sheet Notes

— Kentucky’s eight Quad 1 wins rank behind Auburn (14) and Oregon, Tennessee, and Alabama (9). The Cats’ WAB (Wins Above Bubble) is 4.21, which ranks No. 12 in the country. That means that Kentucky has 4.21 more wins than the average bubble team.

— Kentucky’s Quad 1 wins are all safely in the margins. The win over Louisville was at risk of falling to Quad 2, but the Cards are up to No. 24 in the NET and are projected to win all of their remaining regular-season games. There has been some intra-quad movement, with the win over Texas A&M moving from Quad 1A to Quad 1B because the Aggies fell out of the top 15 of the NET. They lost back-to-back games to Mississippi State and Tennessee last weekend.

— Speaking of the Aggies, they’re now on the No. 3 seed line with Kentucky in NCAA Tournament projections. Here is Kentucky’s resume compared to other teams on the No. 3 and No. 2 seed lines with four games left, via Bracketologists. As you can see, Kentucky’s overall record may not be as good as the other team’s, but their strength of schedule (No. 3) makes up for it.

The Road Ahead

It’s another Quad 1 week for the Cats. A win over Auburn at home would obviously be huge, but Kentucky really needs to get a victory at Oklahoma on Wednesday. The Sooners beat Mississippi State on Saturday, ending a five-game losing streak. Gotta win on Wednesday night.

Date	Opponent	NET Rank	Quad
02/26/2025	@ Oklahoma	51	Quad 1B
03/01/2025	Auburn	1	Quad 1A
03/08/2025	@ Missouri	15	Quad 1A
03/04/2025	LSU	80	Quad 3