Kentucky's Team Sheet on Selection Sunday

Tonight at 6 p.m., we will find out Kentucky’s path in the 2022 NCAA Tournament. The Cats squandered their chance for a No. 1 seed with the loss to Tennessee, unfortunately, and will likely remain one of the top No. 2 seeds. All season, we’ve been keeping track of Kentucky’s team sheet, which the Selection Committee will use to determine their seed. For the final time this year, let’s break it down.

Here are the current NET rankings through yesterday’s games. Kentucky fell one spot to No. 5.

NET Top 25 – Through March 12

1. Gonzaga
2. Arizona
3. Houston
4. Baylor
5. Kentucky
6. Kansas
7. Villanova
8. Tennessee
9. Texas Tech
10. UCLA
11. Purdue
12. Auburn
13. Duke
14. Iowa
15. Illinois
16. UConn
17. Texas
18. LSU
19. Saint Mary’s
20. Arkansas
21. Murray State
22. San Francisco
23. Loyola Chicago
24. Wisconsin
25. San Diego State

NET changes for the 2021-22 season

This is the fourth season the NCAA has used the NET Rankings as its primary metric to evaluate the strength of teams’ wins and losses. This year, the formula has been tweaked. From now on, the NET will only use two components, adjusted net efficiency rating and Team Value Index (TVI), which is a result-based feature that rewards teams for beating quality opponents, particularly away from home. Win percentage, adjusted win percentage, and scoring margin are no longer used in the NET rankings.

Kentucky’s Team Sheet

Kentucky lost its only Quad 1 opportunity this week, yesterday’s semifinal vs. Tennessee, but because Vanderbilt’s NET ranking improved to No. 66, the win over the ‘Dores in Nashville moved back to Quad 1. The Cats finish the year with nine Quad 1 wins, the third most behind Kansas (12), Gonzaga (10), and Baylor (10). The win over Vanderbilt on Friday is in Quad 2.

Quad 1: 9-7

Home: 1-30, Neutral: 1-50, Away: 1-75

NET Rank	Date	Opponent	In Conference?	Result
6	01/29/2022	@ Kansas		W 80-62
8	03/12/2022	Tennessee (SEC Tournament)	Y	L 62-69
8	02/15/2022	@ Tennessee	Y	L 63-76
8	01/15/2022	Tennessee	Y	W 107-79
12	01/22/2022	@ Auburn	Y	L 71-80
13	11/09/2021	Duke (@ New York, NY)		L 71-79
18	01/04/2022	@ LSU	Y	L 60-65
18	02/23/2022	LSU	Y	W 71-66
20	02/26/2022	@ Arkansas	Y	L 73-75
26	12/18/2021	Ohio St. (@ Las Vegas, NV)		Canceled
30	02/05/2022	@ Alabama	Y	W 66-55
30	02/19/2022	Alabama	Y	W 90-81
32	12/18/2021	North Carolina (@ Las Vegas, NV)		W 98-69
42	01/19/2022	@ Texas A&M	Y	W 64-58
53	12/11/2021	@ Notre Dame		L 62-66
59	03/05/2022	@ Florida	Y	W 71-63
66	01/11/2022	@ Vanderbilt	Y	W 78-66

Quad 2: 5-0

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

NET Rank	Date	Opponent	In Conference?	Result
57	01/25/2022	Mississippi St.	Y	W 82-74 (1 OT)
59	02/12/2022	Florida	Y	W 78-57
66	02/02/2022	Vanderbilt	Y	W 77-70
66	03/11/2022	Vanderbilt (SEC Tournament)	Y	W 77-71
93	02/08/2022	@ South Carolina	Y	W 86-76

Quad 3: 4-0

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

NET Ranking	Date	Opponent	In Conference?	Result
109	03/01/2022	Ole Miss	Y	W 83-72
113	11/19/2021	Ohio		W 77-59
125	12/22/2021	Western Ky.		W 95-60
138	12/22/2021	Louisville		Ppd
149	12/29/2021	Missouri	Y	W 83-56

Quad 4: 8-0

Home: 161-357, Neutral: 201-357, Away: 241-357

NET Ranking	Date	Opponent	In Conference?	Result
215	12/07/2021	Southern U.		W 76-64
223	01/08/2022	Georgia	Y	W 92-77
250	11/16/2021	Mount St. Mary’s		W 80-55
261	12/31/2021	High Point		W 92-48
276	11/26/2021	North Florida		W 86-52
285	11/22/2021	UAlbany		W 86-61
316	11/29/2021	Central Mich.		W 85-57
329	11/12/2021	Robert Morris		W 100-60

Kentucky’s resume vs. other potential No. 1, No. 2 seeds

Kentucky’s the top No. 2 seed in all of the major NCAA Tournament projections and Bracket Matrix. Here’s how the Cats’ resume compares to the projected No. 1 and No. 2 seeds in Joe Lunardi’s latest Bracketology:

Team	Record	NET	KenPom	SOS	Non-Con SOS	Quad 1 (Quad 1A)	Quad 2	Quad 3	Quad 4
Gonzaga	26-3	1	1	59	69	10-3 (5-2)	2-0	1-0	13-0
Baylor	26-6	4	4	13	108	10-5 (4-4)	8-1	2-0	6-0
Arizona	31-3	2	2	62	71	6-3 (4-2)	9-0	9-0	7-0
Kansas	28-6	6	6	6	81	12-5 (4-4)	8-1	6-0	3-0
Kentucky	26-7	5	3	19	121	9-7 (3-6)	5-0	4-0	8-0
Auburn	27-5	12	10	42	80	8-5 (3-3)	7-0	8-0	4-0
Duke	28-6	13	12	67	116	6-2 (3-1)	6-3	8-1	8-0
Purdue	27-6	11	14	37	228	8-5 (5-4)	6-1	7-0	6-0

An undefeated record in Quads 2-4 can’t make up for seven Quad 1 losses, six against the top half of the competition. Oh well. No. 2 seed it is.