March Madness: Ranking the remaining teams in the South Region

1. Kentucky Wildcats (5 seed)

Strength: Talent finally being realized

There’s a reason the Wildcats were a top-10 preseason team. Although they may not have that once-in-a-generation player, there are still plenty of five-star prospects that makes this team a threat.

But like many young teams, it takes time for the maturation process. It also took time for Coach John Calipari to make a crucial change, inserting Shai Gilgeous-Alexander into the starting point guard position.

Leading scorer Kevin Knox was at times the only reliable scorer for Kentucky. But with a new distributor and the much-improved play of both Wenyen Gabriel and PJ Washington, Kentucky has the offensive balance needed to make the Final Four.

Weakness: Expectations

From a talent perspective, there’s nothing these other teams can do to match Kentucky. If the Wildcats can’t make the Final Four, it’ll be because of what THEY do.

Next: Ranking the Sweet Sixteen teams

But while it’s great for them that the four top seeds are gone, that means that Kentucky has the target on their backs, something they struggled with in the regular season. With the expectations now Final Four or bust, or even national title game or bust depending on what happens in the West bracket, let’s see how this team responds.