They come to Atlanta amid chaos.
The NCAA Tournament South Regional will feature four teams that weren’t supposed to be here - some more than others.
The regional finals, to be played at Philips Arena on Thursday and Saturday, will feature a low seed of No. 5. It’s the first time in tournament history that a regional final will be played without a Top 4 seed among the four participants.
The No. 5 seed is Kentucky. The Wildcats, SEC Tournament champions, advanced by defeating No. 12 Davidson and No. 13 Buffalo, the team that sent No. 4 Arizona packing in the opening round.
Kentucky will play No. 9 Kansas State, which held off No. 16 University of Maryland-Baltimore County. UMBC pulled off the greatest upset in tournament history by defeating No. 1 seed Virginia in the first round, the first No. 16 to defeat a No. 1. Kansas State opened with a win over No. 8 Creighton.
On the other side. No. 7 Nevada will play No. 11 Loyola-Chicago.
Nevada defeated No. 10 Texas in the opening round and then rallied from a 22-point deficit to defeat No. 2 Cincinnati in dramatic fashion.
Loyola-Chicago began the tournament with a win over No. 6 Miami, interestingly thought of the biggest upset of the tournament at the time. It then sent No. 3 Tennessee packing with a second-round win. The two victories came by a total of three points.
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