Assessing Kentucky's chances in the SEC Tournament

Following a Sweet 16 appearance in Mark Pope's first season as the head coach of Kentucky, there were high expectations heading into Year 2 in Lexington.

After all, last season's leading-scorer, Otega Oweh, and sharp-shooter Collin Chandler returned for another season, while several key transfers were brought in to fill the void left behind from last season's outgoing class.

While that blend of talent, along with local freshmen Malachi Moreno and Jasper Johnson, was enough to give Kentucky (19-12, 10-8 SEC) the preseason No. 9 ranking, it did not take long to realize this was not a top-10 team and that it had work to do.

Injuries have been an issue with point guard Jaland Lowe undergoing season-ending shoulder surgery in January, Tulane transfer Kam Williams suffering a broken left foot and sophomore forward Jayden Quaintance — a projected first-round NBA Draft pick according to ESPN's Jeremy Woo — appearing in only four games due to lingering swelling in his right knee after tearing his ACL while at Arizona State last season.

How should Kentucky be expected to perform in the SEC Tournament?

Although Kentucky has wins over ranked Tennessee (twice), Arkansas and Vanderbilt teams, five losses in its last seven regular-season games dropped it to the nine-seed in the upcoming SEC Tournament in Nashville.

The Wildcats will face the 16-seed LSU (15-16, 3-15 SEC) in the first round on Wednesday (12:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network). The only time those teams squared off this season — a 75-74 win for Kentucky — ended with a miraculous buzzer-beater from Moreno.

That is not exactly encouraging against the bottom team in the league standings, but the Wildcats should pull that one out if they do not beat themselves. It would only get tougher from there, though, with No. 8-seed Missouri (20-11, 10-8 SEC) waiting in the second round and a potential date with No. 1-seed Florida (25-6, 16-2 SEC) in the quarterfinals.

Kentucky went a combined 0-3 against those two teams this season, so making a run through the SEC Tournament is going to be a tall task regardless of how many games the Wildcats are able to win.

The fact that they are even playing in the first round of the SEC Tournament is mind-blowing considering the program had $22M in Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) money to construct its roster, something longtime college basketball analyst Dick Vitale called out during the ESPN broadcast of the Florida-Kentucky game on Saturday.

ESPN's Joe Lunardi currently projects Kentucky to be a seven-seed in the NCAA Tournament despite its up-and-down season. With an NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) ranking of 28, the Wildcats should solidly be in the 68-team field even if they have a poor showing in the SEC Tournament.

However, a 5-10 record against Quad 1 opponents and a tendency to fall behind by double-digits make it hard to envision a lengthy run in both the SEC and NCAA Tournament. In their last two games alone against Texas A&M and then-No. 5 Florida, the Wildcats faced deficits of 21 and 20, respectively, which is not what you want to see this late in the season.

Oweh (18.2 PPG) has been instrumental to Kentucky's success once again, but if he does not get some help around him and the Wildcats keep playing from behind, it could be a difficult March for Big Blue.