Greetings, BBN!
The 2025-2026 Kentucky Wildcats season is 24 games in, which means it’s just seven games to go before SEC Tournament week and Selection Sunday. When UK dropped to 5-4 after taking a pounding from Gonzaga, and when they started SEC play 0-2 against Alabama and Missouri, their bracket status seemed very shaky and uncertain.
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Now they’ve turbocharged their way to a place nobody saw coming: 2nd place in the SEC with a 8-3 league record and a 17-7 record overall. Winners of eight of their last nine, Kentucky has soared in almost every category over the last month: seedline, Quad 1 wins, NET ranking, SOR, and more. They even re-entered the AP poll this Monday at #25.
Let’s take a look at their resume heading into this weekend:
Resume Review (2/13/26):
Notes:
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Kentucky has six Quad 1 wins. Only 13 teams in the country have six or more right now, and for many teams, an insufficiency of Q1’s is the primary thing holding them back from the bracket come March.
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UK’s six Q1 wins are Indiana at home, St. John’s in Atlanta, LSU in Baton Rouge, Tennessee in Knoxville, Arkansas in Fayetteville, and Tennessee at home. The win over the Hoosiers had been Q2 for several weeks until recently. IU has won several games in the Big Ten to put together an impressive NCAA Tournament resume of their own.
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No bad losses so far: while a home L to Missouri stings, the Tigers look every bit an NCAA Tournament team at 17-7 overall and fresh off a close win at Texas A&M.
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Four wins over teams ranked in the AP Top 25 at the time of the game: St. John’s, at Tennessee, at Arkansas, and Tennessee again. Now they will attempt to make it five at Florida.
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While there’s still a lot of hoops left to play, Kentucky is positioning itself for success with its resume. Seven games to go and five of them will be Q1 opportunities. The SEC is giving the Cats lots of opportunities, and they are taking advantage of them. Go Cats!
