Saturday, February 12, 2000
UK in hunt for No. 2 or 3 seed in NCAA tourney
BY NEIL SCHMIDT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
An injury to Kentucky's Jules Camara adds uncertainty to the rest of the regular season. But not to next month.
Though the 11th-ranked Wildcats are bracing for three more big games, their fate isn't likely to fluctuate. Four weeks from the NCAA Tournament's Selection Sunday, a high seeding already seems secure.
“I don't think with the way we started (4-4) that we're going to be a (No.)1 seed,” sophomore guard J.P. Blevins told reporters this week. “But we do think we're a 2 or a 3. ... Over the last month, we've proved ourselves to be right there.”
UK (17-6, 7-2 Southeastern Conference) could finish as low as third in the SEC East and still be rewarded in the NCAAs.
With its schedule judged the nation's toughest by many statistical services, UK will benefit from the selection committee's seeding formula. Its most oft-used tool, the ratings percentage index, rates UK second only to Cincinnati.
Sports Illustrated and collegeRPI.com both project UK as the No.2 seed in the South Region, behind Syracuse. With Syracuse suddenly slumping, winning the SEC crown and/or the SEC tourney title might deliver UK a top seed.
But considering Camara's ailing foot, and the fact the Wildcats just absorbed their largest margin of defeat in eight years (90-73 Tuesday at Florida), UK coach Tubby Smith asks to halt all tourney talk.
“We need to have consistent play over this month to come,” he said. “You never know who you're going to play (in the postseason), so we have to be able to adapt and adjust to different styles. We didn't handle the press very well down at Florida.”
The Gators took advantage of UK's lack of depth by pushing the pace. When Jamaal Magloire and Tayshaun Prince got into foul trouble, the Wildcats wilted.
Trouble spots have sprouted.
UK has lost all five times it allowed the opponent to shoot 45 percent or better. Its 3-point shooting (.296) ranks last in the league, easily on pace to be the worst in school history. Its ballhandling remains erratic; UK's assist-to-turnover ratio (0.83-to-1) is 11th in the SEC.
With Camara's return date — and subsequent impact — uncertain, Smith must plan as if his current eight-man rotation will have to last into March.
“We've got to (continue) rearranging our lineups and substitution patterns,” he said.
This was the point last year UK stumbled, going 3-4 in February. Similar potholes await:
• No.25 Louisiana State (18-4, 5-4 SEC) has beaten two top-10 teams in the past two weeks.
• No.8 Tennessee (20-3, 8-2) is eager to atone for the 81-68 beating it took Feb.1 in Rupp Arena.
• No.12 Florida (18-4, 7-2) goes for a series sweep.
Losses to Alabama, Georgia, Arkansas or Mississippi State would be unexpected.
UK, UT and Florida are scrambling for the top two spots in the East Division, which carry first-round byes in the SEC Tournament. If UK misses one — for the first time in 21 years — it will have to try to win four games in four days.
UK has won seven of the last eight SEC tourneys, a great way to boost an NCAA seeding. But for a team wary of another February swoon, that seems a long way off.
“We never talk as a team about seeding,” Blevins said. “But everybody in the back of his head knows it's in his mind.”
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