No. 11 Kentucky (18-12) at No. 6 Marquette (24-9)

By Shaun Gogna
Don Best Associate Editor

With an 18-12 overall record, many believe that Kentucky doesn't deserve a spot in the NCAA Tournament. But 12 conference wins in the SEC has landed the Wildcats with an 11-seed and first round matchup versus Marquette.

Kentucky's first-year head coach Billy Gillespie had a rough early-going in his new position seeing his team lose to Gardner-Webb then drop four in a row in December. However, Gillespie finally got the Wildcats on track during conference play to finish second in SEC behind Tennessee and closing the season on an 11-3 run.

The positives for Kentucky are senior guards Ramel Bradley and Joe Crawford, both of whom average over 15 points per game. Guard play is critical in the tournament and the Wildcats should benefit from the experience they possess at the position.

The negative for Kentucky is clearly the absence of freshman forward Patrick Patterson (16.4ppg, 7.7 rpg), who was lost for the season with a stress fracture in his left foot. The SEC Freshman of the Year went down with the injury in late February and missed the final four games of the season, including an ugly loss to Georgia in the SEC tournament. Kentucky went 2-2 over the four-game stretch with its defense being notably different without Patterson.

The Wildcats won't necessarily miss Patterson in the first round against Marquette and the Golden Eagles' three-guard lineup, but Kentucky will need its guards to play sensational. Jerel McNeal (14.3 ppg), Dominic James (13) and Wesley Matthews (11.2) have led Marquette to a 24-9 overall record and give the Eagles a style of play that is difficult for opponents to matchup against.

McNeal has been especially outstanding for Marquette earning the Big East Defensive Player of the Year honor and leading his team in scoring. Few teams in the country can match the intensity and talent of this Marquette trio, but the Achilles' heel of the Golden Eagles is inside play and their resume shows it.

Marquette posted an 11-7 Big East record, good for fifth in the conference, but nine of those 11 wins came against Big East bottom dwellers. Almost every time Marquette ran into a team with a strong inside presence it struggled to get rebounds, halting the transition-style offense the team prefers to play. To their credit, the Eagles took Georgetown to overtime before falling 70-68 at home.

Fortunately, for Marquette, Kentucky lacks a true inside presence without Patterson, although Crawford has tried to fill the void. Bradley and Crawford will have to be at their best for Kentucky to contend with Marquette's guards.

Oddsmakers have slated Marquette as a 6-point favorite to dispose of Kentucky in the opening round game in Anaheim. The winner will likely face the third-seeded Stanford Cardinal in Round 2.

Kentucky went 0-1 against Big East competition this year losing to state-rival Louisville at home, but over the past three years the Wildcats are a formidable 5-2 SU and ATS versus the Big East.

Kentucky went 0-2 SU & ATS when playing on a neutral court this season. The Wildcats have experienced early success in recent tournament formats having gone 4-0 both SU and ATS in the first round over the last three seasons.

The Golden Eagles are a good bet when playing on a neutral court, going 4-1 ATS this season and 11-4 ATS over the past three years. That said, Marquette has lost in the first round in its last two trips to the dance.

Marquette posted a 12-8 ATS mark as a favorite this season and impressively going 17-3 straight up as a chalk.

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