Can someone take the #1 overall from Kentucky?

All 3 teams currently as 1 seeds are the only teams with any chance of taking. Syracuse Missouri and Ohio St. all clearly have much tougher schedules down the stretch than Kentucky so I expect all of them to probably lose at least once if not twice somewhere in there tournament. With that being said I think if Syracuse or Missouri can run the table they will take the #1 overall seed due to the much better resume than Kentucky.

Note: quality wins are top 65ish RPI

If Missouri were to run the table that would been wins over Baylor and Kansas(home and away) along with having to meet one of them in the tournament at some point. If Missouri did this here is there resume:
@Baylor
@Kansas
Baylor
Kansas)
@Iowa St.
@Texas
Illinois and Notre Dame (neutral court)

Bad losses
@Oklahoma st.

I don't think anyone will argue that the away wins on this list are the best in the nation by a long shot. Only blemish is Oklahoma st. on the road. This does not include tournament wins. 

Syracuse when healthy have been the most consistent team in the nation, enough said. Their resume would look like this if they won out:

Marquette
West Virginia
Seton Hall
@NC State
Marshall (questionable)
Pittsburg
Georgetown 
Connecticut 
@ Connecticut
@louisville 

After looking at this. They have a lot of quality wins but very few away wins. Although they don't have very many good away wins it is no where close to the easy schedule Kentucky played. 

After writing this all I believe that no one can keep Missouri from it's #1 overall seed if they were to run the table mainly because they would possess the two best road wins in all the nation and that should make up for the blunder that is Oklahoma St. Do I think the tournament would give them it, I don't know. It is hard to give a team with less losses a "lower seed". My only problem with the 2 teams other than Missouri is that they do not possess any good road wins and they didn't even play any good road games. People give to much power to the OOC schedule. Kentucky's only hard OOC games were both at home and we all know they are in the easiest conference of the 3 teams.

What is your thoughts?
 

To start off with...I don't think SU will lose another game the rest of the regular season.  IMO...the Big East is down.  That's my thoughts on SU.  Now remove melo and all bets are off on my takes on SU.  Anyone else and SU moves on with minor issues.   

UK is a great team.  If SU makes it as far as UK in the dance...it will be an epic match up.

Mizz is a fast nasty team that will give anyone fits.  If SU makes it as far as Mizz in the dance...it will be on.

In addition of UK and Mizz, and if I was required to be scared, I would be scared of Baylor, Mich St, tOSU, UNC, KU and yes...still Duke.  Coach K is still there. 

From there, I would be shocked to see a team give SU fits most nights.   But ask anyone...they ain't played anyone...SU suxs.  Just askems.  

     

I haven't looked at the other schedules and can only speak for the Cats, but UK playing Florida twice (of course once away), Ms. St. (away) and Vanderbilt twice, is a pretty tough final 5 of 7 games.  I would think it is as hard as any other team, but again, I have not checked.  I know Vandy just dropped about, but they are pretty close to play 5 top 25 teams of their last 7, and three of those on the road.  I don't think they will come out undefeated from that.  I will be happy with a split against Vandy and Florida and a win at Ms. St.

Go CATS

Also, most would agree that Kansas was a pretty tough OOC game, and that was not a home game.  You can't always trust what CBS puts up on the schedule.

What is your thoughts?

My thoughts are that somebody COULD take the #1 overall from Kentucky, but they will get Brow beaten trying.

If Syracuse runs the table and Kentucky loses a game Syracuse will be #1.  However, Kentucky controls its own destiny.  If they don't lose they deserve to remain #1.

Uk and Cuse are easily the top 2 teams, and I don't think it matters which #1 seed they get.

It will come down to conference tournaments if #1 seeds win their conference tournament they will be #1 seeds by order.

I wouldn't want the #1 overall seed.  The selection committee has screwed the #1 overall seed by putting them in the toughest bracket the last several years.  

A short answer to the question is yes. There is still a lot of basket ball to be played. UK has the toughest part of their schedule coming up starting tomorrow night with Florida and Saturday at Vanderbilt. They also have a trip to MIss State as well as a trip to Florida to end the season and a second game with Vandy in Rupp. With most teams having at least 6 or 7 conference games left to play as well as the conference tournaments the seedings are still up in the air. True enough if UK takes care of business they are in the drivers seat. But as far as I'm concerned there is to much Basketball left to be crowning a #1 overall seed.

The remaining schedules for both Kentucky and Syracuse are nearly identical in terms of numbers.  Both have five games vs. top 50 RPI, one 51-100 RPI, and a 100+ RPI game.  The home/road is the same at 4/3.

If you are asking about #1 overall seed, Syracuse has that if they finish with the same record.  Orange has the #1 RPI, the same number of top 25 RPI wins.  On top of that, Syracuse has nine RPI 26-100 wins, while Kentucky only has five.

It's unlikely based on the numbers that Kentucky gets overall #1 seed.  It's also not a big deal since they aren't from the same region. 

If you are asking about #1 overall seed, Syracuse has that if they finish with the same record.

I doubt that.  If both teams win out, UK will have two better wins with Kansas and UNC.  Plus two wins (home and away) over Cuse's current best win.  Again, assuming both teams win out Florida will drop in the rankings, and be back in the teens or 20's and Georgetown or Marquette will end up being their best win.  

UConn looks to be like a team in freefall so I'm not sure that they'll help Cuse's RPI by season end.  Vandy has a tough road ahead so their record might not improve much but they'll likely be considered a better win by the end of the season than UConn.

If Georgetown doesn't finish 6-1 the likely won't crack the top 10 which will leave Syracuse without a top 10 win on the season, which has been the main knock on them for pretty much the whole year.

I wouldn't call Kentucky's schedule easy, and if you think that MU is in the same universe as that team you're dreaming. If any team has a chance to take it from them it would be Syracuse, and even Ohio St. has a chance. Missouri has no chance of taking the overall number one seed unless something crazy happens. I wouldn't even say that they're going to win the Big 12 at this point just because MU beat KU. I hate to say it, but if the Big 12 teams beat up on each other like I think they will, you won't have to worry about MU having the overall number 1 seed because I think the last number 1 will be UNC. If any team from the Big 12 has a chance at a number one seed it would be Missouri I think though, although Baylor has a chance along with KU to a much lesser degree and only if they run the table the rest of the season and win the conference tournament. I think Kansas is a realistic three seed at this point.

Personally someone else can have it. We will take the seed thats in Louiville. Lets see how it favors us like the state of North Carolina has UNC and Duke the last 25 years

UK26: My thoughts exactly. It seems as if UNC AND/OR Duke end up playing the first two rounds of th tourney in their own back yard for some reason. Whether it be Greensboro or Charleotte, it never seems to fail. But as for someone taking over the #1 spot, I think it is more than a possibility. Kentucky has a rough road to the finish line of the regular season and I see this young team losing at least one more game. Hell even Cal said that another lose is possible and may actually benefit the team in the long run. My money is on either at MSU or Vandy. I hate playing down in Nashville for some reason, the way that court is set up SUCKS! But I don't know that the Cuse will lose another game now that Melo is back with the team. But who knows what will happen, there is still a lot of ball to be played.

The state of North Carolina has large venues that can hold a tournament crowd. Charlotte, Greensboro, and Raliegh are chosen because they are surrounded by giant basketball populations and aren't the home court of any team. States like Kentucky only have 1 or 2 venues even large enough to host, but have teams like the University of Kentucky that play on those courts 20 times a season. The Yum center is currently being used this year and will probably be occupied by Kentucky.

UNC and duke get placed in the regions that are in North Carolina when they deserve it and it fits the billing. Would you like games to be hosted in tiny gyms (6 or 7 thousand people) so that way no team could ever play in their own state?  

Still it seems like one of the two teams are playing within the state of North Carolina every tourney. These venues may not be the home court of either team but they might as well be. This year the YUM Bucket will host the first two rounds, and as it stands right now UK will be playing there. But that is the closest they've been to Lexington during the tourney that I can remember (besides the NIT back in 09). I think the second closest they've been is maybe Indy. But I know there are other venues in say Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia and even Florida that could hold the games that always seem to be played in North Carolina, thats all I was getting at. Duke and your heels have a big enough fan base that they most likely travel well. I know Big Blue Nation travels EVERYWHERE, whether it be NYC or Salt Lake City.

Mizzou and Syracuse have the best chance of taking the number 1 overall seed.  I think SU has the advantage for some of the reasons that you (and Jonvi) pointed out, plus they have a "quality win" that you did not include against Florida.  It's the most important one as far as Kentucky is concerned because if FL can upset them, then SU has a "common game" advantage over UK.  Should SU beat GTown and UConn this week and UK loses to FL, then I believe that 'Cuse will be the #1 team in the polls and will probably hang onto that for the remainder of the season and be the #1 overall seed in the NCAA tournament.  However, if SU falters and UK does the same, then the #1 seed is Mizzou's for the taking - they just have a lot tougher schedule than either SU or UK.  Great year for the Tigers.  If SU doesn't get the #1 overall, I will be pulling for the Tigers for sure!

Syracuse has the best shot at the number 1 over all because I feel like their schedule looks a lot more favorable than what UK, Mizzou and even Ohio St are facing.  Kentucky has 2 games with Florida left plus 2 with Vandy and road trip to Miss St.  Mizzou still plays KU on the road and a home match up with Baylor.  Then almost certainly will get treated to a third game with one of those two teams at some point in the Big 12 tournament.  Ohio St has to play Michigan St twice plus they get to play Illinois again and Michigan on the road.  Plus the Big 10 tournament could put them against IU where they will basically have to play a road game since the host city is Indianapolis. 

The Cuse can have the #1 overall and draw UNC, Baylor, Fla St, and Wisconsin.