Assessing Kentucky's chances in the NCAA Tournament after a tough first-round draw

Despite entering the season with high expectations as the Associated Press No. 9 team in the preseason rankings, key injuries and inconsistency have plagued the Kentucky Wildcats.

After losing five of their seven games entering last week's SEC Tournament, the Wildcats (21-13, 10-8 SEC) survived LSU and Missouri before losing to top-seed Florida, 71-63, in the quarterfinals.

On Sunday, Kentucky was announced as a seven-seed in the Midwest region and is set to face the 10-seed Santa Clara Broncos (26-8, 15-3 WCC) out of the West Coast Conference. For a program that has struggled in first-round NCAA Tournament games of late, its focus should be on quieting the doubters heading into Friday's tip (12:15 p.m. ET, CBS).

Kentucky will be challenged out of the gate in NCAA Tournament

The Broncos were squarely on the bubble to even make the 68-team field until they took down Saint Mary's and lost to Gonzaga in a competitive WCC title game. Those performances were ultimately enough to improve their resume enough to hear their name called on Sunday.

Santa Clara only has an NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) ranking of 40 and is 2-6 against Quad 1 opponents this season, but it gave Gonzaga everything it could handle and is certainly going to be a popular upset pick in the first round, as Sports Illustrated's Andrew Stefaniak points out.

Like Kentucky HC Mark Pope, Bulldogs HC Herb Sendek is part of the Rick Pitino coaching tree, having been a part of Pitino's first coaching staff at Kentucky. He even coached against Pope when the current Wildcats HC was at BYU, and is ready for the challenge.

"I'm familiar with Big Blue. I spent four years of my career on the bench at Kentucky. Very aware that they have a very talent-rich team, they have an outstanding coach, and we're excited for the opportunity to go play," Sendek said, per On3's Nick Roush. "Obviously, not playing until Friday gives us an opportunity to dive in and do the very best we can with our preparation."

If Kentucky wants to avoid the upset, it must get off to a quick start — something it has struggled with this season — and defend the three. Santa Clara attempts the 22nd-most threes per game in Division I (29.2), which should be a major area of focus for a Wildcats team that just held Florida to 3-of-20 (15%) on Friday, but has struggled defending the long ball all season.

With a potential second-round date against two-seed Iowa State awaiting on Sunday, the road will not get any easier for Kentucky. Led by forward Milan Momcilovic, who broke the program's single-season record for made threes in the Big 12 Tournament semifinal loss to top-seed Arizona, Iowa State is tied for 21st in assists per game (17.2 APG).

Should the Wildcats get back to the Sweet 16 for a second consecutive season under Pope, three-seed Virginia would be in its way if chalk holds. There is also the possibility of six-seed Tennessee — a team Kentucky swept during the regular season — still being around, as well as No. 1 seed Michigan and No. 5 seed Texas Tech.

Before Kentucky can even think about those scenarios, it cannot — and should not — overlook a dangerous Santa Clara team on Friday. This Wildcats bunch is more than capable of getting back to the Sweet 16 and putting a run together, but its inconsistency makes it just as likely to fall victim to an early upset.