Where Kentucky basketball stands in ESPN's latest Bracketology update

The Kentucky men’s and women’s basketball programs are penciled in to make the 2025 NCAA Tournament.

Right not, it’s not a matter of if they make it into the Big Dance, but rather how high of a seed they can secure. As the regular season begins to wind down, the Wildcats appear to be in great shape heading into March.

Need proof? Listen to the folks who predict the field of 68 for a living. ESPN’s Joe Lunardi (men’s) and Charlie Creme (women’s) released updated versions Friday morning of their respective Bracketology projections. As things stand right now, both Mark Pope and Kenny Brooks are expected to snag top five seeds in the upcoming tournament.

We’ll start with Pope’s Wildcats. After pulling off another Top 15 win (the seventh of the season, mind you) earlier this week by beating Tennessee for the second time, Lunardi has Kentucky plugged in as a three-seed. As of Wednesday, he had UK considered as an “NCAA lock” with seven more regular season games to play.

In Lunardi’s scenario, Kentucky would begin its NCAA Tournament run in Cleveland, OH with a first-round matchup against 14-seed Jacksonville State. But the interesting part is what could happen in round two. Lunardi has Illinois as the six-seed with a first-round matchup against the 11-seed winner between San Diego State and Arkansas.

There are connections to all three of those schools. Illinois is where former assistant coach Orlando Antigua landed after departing from UK in the offseason. The Fighting Illini are powered by star freshman Will Riley, who was a major Kentucky target over the summer before choosing Illinois. Meanwhile, San Diego State is the former school of the Wildcats’ starting point guard, Lamont Butler. And then, of course, former head coach John Calipari is now coaching Arkansas, which beat UK earlier this season at Rupp Arena.

If you’re looking for a storyline(s) to follow, the path Lunardi laid out for Kentucky is filled with plenty of them in just the opening two rounds. Kentucky is one of 14 SEC schools projected to make the final bracket, which would be a tournament record for one conference.

Looking at the women’s team, losing two straight after breaking into the Top 10 hasn’t done Brooks’ team any favors. But Creme still has Kentucky sitting pretty as a five-seed with a first-round matchup against 12-seed Fairfield. A win for the ‘Cats would pit them against the winner of 4-seed NC State and 13-seed Florida Gulf Coast.

With the women’s NCAA Tournament, the top four seeds (16 teams total) host the first two rounds, meaning UK would start in Raleigh in Creme’s scenario. The ‘Cats still have five more regular season games left to play, plus the SEC Tournament, to try and win its way back into a four-seed. Opening the NCAA Tournament by playing at Memorial Coliseum is obviously the goal.

Creme has 10 SEC teams projected to make the field, second-most behind the Big Ten’s 12.