Kentucky landed as the No. 3 seed in the Midwest Region in Mark Pope's inaugural season at the helm. That was announced on the traditional Selection Sunday program on CBS.
Here's a breakdown of the Midwest Region. That's what Kentucky has to go through in order to reach the Final Four.
Thursday, 12:40 E.T.
(4) Purdue (22-11) vs (13) High Point (29-5), Providence, R.I.
Purdue comes in with one of the nation's top offenses. But High Point has a top-25 offense as well and could be dangerous if shots start going down. The Boilermakers are the only team from the state of Indiana in the tournament this year. Purdue has lost six times in their last nine contests.
Thursday, 2:00 E.T.
(1) Houston (30-4) vs (16) SIU-Edwardsville (22-11), Wichita, Kan.
Houston has only last one game since the start of December. Three of their losses came in November. Their offense is better than usual and it's a characteristically strong defensive unit. SIUE ranks No. 217 in KenPom's overall rankings and it's tough to see them scoring much against the Cougars.
Thursday, 3:15 E.T.
(5) Clemson (27-6) vs (12) McNeese State (27-6), Wichita, Kan.
Clemson is in KenPom's top-25 rankings for both offense and defense. They've also notched wins against Duke and Kentucky as one of the ACC's top teams. Analytically, McNeese is similar to Clemson in that they're balanced and play at a slower tempo but ranked in the 60s. However, McNeese State hasn't played nearly as many games against top competition as most other teams in this tournament, with just one win in Quad 1 or 2 games.
Thursday, 4:45 E.T.
(8) Gonzaga (25-8) vs (9) Georgia (20-12), Wichita, Kan.
It's been a down season for the Gonzaga Bulldogs but an exciting year for the Georgia Bulldogs. Georgia has some quality wins in SEC play, but how much you believe in them probably depends on just how strong the SEC is. They're 4-11 in Quadrant 1 games while Gonzaga is 5-5. The Zags' offense is the best part of the game for either team according to the advanced stats, and they're 8-2 in road games while UGA is 3-7 on the road. But UGA is certainly more battle tested of late.
Thursday, 6:50 E.T.
(2) Tennessee (27-7) vs (15) Wofford (19-15), Lexington, Ky.
The Volunteers are fresh off a run to the SEC championship and boast KenPom's No. 18 offense and No. 3 defense. They play at one of the slowest tempos in the nation. Wofford also plays at a very slow pace. They're better offensively than defensively, but will be hard-pressed to score a lot against the Vols.
Thursday, 9:25 E.T.
(7) UCLA (22-10) vs (10) Utah State (26-7), Lexington, Ky.
The Bruins play at a slow tempo and the most interesting matchup is Utah State's No. 17 offense against UCLA's No. 17-ranked defense on KenPom. The Aggies made it to the Mountain West conference championship before going down. Both teams have some very impressive performances at their best. Much has been made about the need for UCLA's guards to show up because they haven't always played at a high level.
Friday
(6) Illinois (21-12) vs (11) Texas/Xavier, Milwaukee, Wisc.
Illinois has shown tremendous potential but it has been dominated at times down the stretch as well. They like to play fast and they're formidable scoring. They're also battle tested. The winner of Texas/Xavier gets a shot at the Illini. Those teams rank No. 44 and No. 43 on KenPom, respectively. Xavier doesn't have a great inside game but is one of the best three-point shooting teams in the country while Tre Johnson is very interesting for the Longhorns.
Friday, 7:10 E.T.
(3) Kentucky (22-11) vs (14) Troy (23-10), Milwaukee, Wisc.
Kentucky's game against Troy is one of only two in the region set for Friday so we will know a lot more about what the rest of the bracket will look like in the second round before the Wildcats tip off. Only Purdue has a higher-rated offense than Kentucky on KenPom in the Midwest. Troy cruised to their Sun Belt conference championship with double digit victories in every game. The Trojans rate No. 98 overall on KenPom with the No. 153 offense and No. 71 defense. They tend to play at a slower tempo than Kentucky but not plodding.
Best Players
LJ Cryer, Houston - The 6'1, 200-pound physical senior from Katy, Tex., averages 16.3 PPG and shoots 45.3% from long range for the Cougars. He's averaged at least 13.5 PPG in four straight college basketball seasons.
Zakai Zeigler, Tennessee - Zeigler powers Tennessee's defense and was named SEC Defensive Player of the Year after the regular season. He has a ton of game and postseason experience under his belt going into the Big Dance.
Chaz Lanier, Tennessee - Lanier was Tennessee's other honor-winner, as the SEC's Newcomer of the Year. The senior transfer has made a huge impact for the Vols offensively, averaging 17.7 PPG on 40% shooting from outside the arc.
Amari Williams, Kentucky - Williams is one of the most versatile players in the SEC with his ability to back you down, pass, run the floor, and defend, the only issue being his minute load.
Braden Smith, Purdue - Smith was the Big Ten's Player of the Year. The 6'0 junior averaged 16.1 points, 8.7 assists, and 4.6 rebounds per game in leading the Boilermaker attack. He's a player who can beat you several different ways.
Chase Hunter, Clemson - The 6'4 senior from Atlanta gives the Tigers backcourt scoring punch (16.7 PPG, 40.6% 3-pointers). He's in his sixth season of college basketball and had a couple of 20-point games in the ACC Tournament. He only had 10 points (2/8 FG) against Kentucky.
Ian Schieffelin, Clemson - Schieffelin had a horrible game against Kentucky (11 points on 4/20 FG) but he has typically been a double-double kind of guy as one of the top rebounders in the ACC who can also step outside.
Graham Ike, Gonzaga - The 6'9, 250-pound senior from Aurora, Colorado averaged 17.1 points and 7.5 rebounds per game for the Zags, shooting 59.6% from the floor. Ike had 28 points (9/16 FG) and 11 boards in the Zags' overtime loss to Kentucky earlier this year.
Asa Newell, Georgia - The 6'11 freshman has been one of the SEC's top newcomers, averaging 15.3 points (54.1%) and 6.8 boards. Newell had 17 points and seven boards with a couple of made threes in UGA's win against UK.
Mason Falslev, Utah State - The 6'3 sophomore guard led Utah State in scoring and poured in 25 points and 12 boards in an early season win against Iowa. He scored 16 points against top-20 SDSU and had some of his stronger games in the second half of the season.
Tre Johnson, Texas - Yet another top SEC freshman, Johnson averaged a whopping 19.8 PPG (42.7% FG) for the Horns. He has seven games with 25 or more points this year.
Zach Freemantle, Xavier - Freemantle is another productive, efficient player in the Midwest. The 6'9 senior averages 17.3 PPG (52.6% FG) and 7.1 boards per game. He's in his fifth season of high impact college basketball and is averaging 22 points per game in four March contests this season.
The Favorite
Houston is the No. 1 seed and a 30-win team for a reason. As mentioned, this squad has only lost one game since December, 2024 rolled around, so they've been a bulldozer. They just beat three consecutive ranked teams to win the Big XII tournament championship. Their only loss in league play was by one point on the road to Texas Tech in overtime. Houston has KenPom's No. 10 offense and No. 2 defense. Kelvin Sampson has made the Sweet 16 in five consecutive tournaments with a Final Four and an Elite Eight sprinkled in.
The Top Contenders
Tennessee has never been to a Final Four but the Vols do have two Elite Eights since 2010. This is one of their best chances to get to the Final Four because they were one of the best teams in arguably the best conference of all-time, making it to the final round before losing to Florida, an elite team. Tennessee's defense is obviously elite and carries night to night but they're 0-2 against No. 3 seed Kentucky this year.
Speaking of Kentucky, the Wildcats are getting Lamont Butler back and they have as many good-to-great wins as any team in college basketball. The Wildcats do have some weaknesses but at their best they can knock anybody off.
Illinois has the potential to play at a very high level. We've seen that. For that reason, they're dangerous. This team was blown out by Maryland in the Big Ten tournament, and several games ago they were blown out by Duke. In between they won several games. So it's just tough to tell which Illinois team will show up. If they're locked in, they can beat anyone.
The Darkhorse
Don't sleep on Clemson. The Tigers are a complete, balanced team that has played at a high level at times. Clemson had won nine games in a row before they lost to Louisville in the ACC Tournament.
Kentucky Connections
Former Kentucky forward Cam'Ron Fletcher has played in 11 games for Xavier this year but not since mid-February. It has been a big down year for Fletcher, who has only seen 28 games of action over the last three seasons.
Former Kentucky big man commit Somto Cyril ended up signing with Georgia. He's played in 32 games, averaging 14 minutes and 4.5 points per game and had six points and eight boards in UGA's win against UK earlier this year.
One-time Kentucky commit Nolan Hickman is once again one of Gonzaga's leading scorers on the season.
Former Kentucky assistant coach Orlando Antigua is now an assistant once again at Illinois, where he was before his reboot in Lexington last year.
Wofford head coach Dwight Perry played in 19 games for Kentucky from 2006-2009. He interned at Stanford in 2009 right after his time with the Wildcats wrapped up. UK defeated Wofford in the 2019 NCAA Tournament.
Kentucky is 3-3 against the teams in the Midwest region during the 2024-25 season. The Wildcats defeated Gonzaga 90-89 in overtime in Seattle but lost to Clemson on the road 70-66 in the non-conference portion of the schedule. In league play the Wildcats swept Tennessee but lost on the road to Texas and Georgia.
