Kentucky was the biggest winner of the wacky first week of the NCAA Tournament

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• Kentucky was already on a roll heading into the NCAA Tournament, and now they have been dealt a seemingly easy hand to reach the Final Four.
• If Kentucky does reach the Final Four, the highest seed they would need to beat on their way there is No. 7.
• Kentucky could also reach the championship game without having to face any of the top eight teams entering the tournament.

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Kentucky wasn’t the best team entering March Madness, and they aren’t the best team left after the wacky first two rounds. But thanks to how the chips have fallen, the Wildcats are probably the tournament’s biggest winners so far.

Thanks to a slew of upsets during the first weekend of the tournament, fifth-seeded Kentucky now has what looks like an incredibly easy path to the Final Four as the South region has already lost its four top seeds. If Kentucky does get that far, these are the teams they would have needed to beat to get there:

• 12-seed Davidson in the Round of 64 (Kentucky won 78-73).
• 13-seed Buffalo in the Round of 32 (Kentucky won 95-75).
• 9-seed Kansas State in the Sweet 16 (KSU reached the Sweet 16 by beating an 8-seed and a 16-seed).
• Either 11-seed Loyola-Chicago or 7-seed Nevada in the Elite 8.

NCAA

Of those teams, Nevada (19) was the only one among the RPI’s top 20 teams heading into the NCAA Tournament.