NCAA Tournament 2012: Kentucky Wildcats Will Be Top Seed Despite Loss to Vandy

The Kentucky Wildcats fell to the Vanderbilt Commodores in the SEC tournament finals. Despite their second loss of the season, the Wildcats will be the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA tournament.

John Calipari's crew went down despite four of the five starters scoring in double-digits. The fifth starter, Marquis Teague, did not score at all, however, going 0-of-7 from the floor.

The Wildcats were outplayed in almost every category today. They were out-rebounded 36-30 despite having the clear advantage in terms of both height and athleticism. There were also out-shot by 7.2 percent from the floor, 11.9 percent from three and 2.4 percent from the line.

Foul trouble also hampered the Wildcats today, with Michael Kidd-Gilchrist fouling out in 16 minutes, Doron Lamb finishing with four fouls, and Anthony Davis, Terrence Jones and Marquis Teague all finishing with three fouls.

This all culminated in a 64-71 loss.

Kentucky will still be the No. 1 overall seed in the Big Dance, however, as they are simply too good not to be the best.

The Wildcats have seven players who would start on any other team in the country: National-Player-of-the-Year-favorite Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Marquis Teague, Kyle Wiltjer, Doron Lamb, Terrence Jones and Darius Miller.

The Wildcats have lost only twice this year. Syracuse could have taken the No. 1 overall seed if they won the Big East tournament, but the Orange lost to Cincinnati in the semifinals, so the Wildcats will be No. 1.

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