February has been nothing short of a nightmare for Mark Pope and his Kentucky Wildcats. It all started on February 2 at the legendary Rupp Arena, where John Calipari’s struggling Arkansas Razorbacks stunned the Wildcats with a commanding 89-79 victory. Since that upset, Kentucky has struggled to find consistency, winning just twice in their last five games while also dealing with some brutal injury setbacks. If that wasn’t enough, Isaac Schade of Locked On College Basketball just rubbed salt on his wounds!

The NCAA tournament selection committee’s early bracket reveal brought some good news for Mark Pope. The SEC boasts 6 of the top 16 teams in the provisional list with Kentucky currently taking the number 10th spot! However, Schade had an honest further analysis on the matter and it wasn’t pretty for the Wildcats.

When asked about which of the top 16 provisional teams are not going to become a top 4 seed by the end of the month, Schade had a very clear answer!

He said, ” For me it’s Kentucky and the reason why is, their closing schedule is very very difficult, they have still got to host Vandy (Vanderbilt), they got to go to Alabama, they got to go to Oklahoma, they host Auburn they got to go to Missou (Missouri) and really their only game that’s like yeah you are definitely gonna win is hosting LSU. “

The Wildcats play three ranked teams in their final six games with Alabama and Auburn topping the standings. To add to it, Kentucky has lost 7 of their 15 Quad 1 matchups. Then comes Vanderbilt that they lost against just weeks ago, exposing their late game troubles. Missouri is still a better ranked team in the conference with 8-4 and 2-game win streak. So if Pope and Co., were to stand a chance, Oklahoma and LSU — in the bottom 3 of the conference — are the games to shine.

However, it won’t be an easy task. The Wildcats are still without their second-best scorer in Jaxon Robinson who is averaging 13.3 points per game this season and also their best playmaker in Lamont Butler who is averaging roughly 4 assists per game.

Mark Pope knows the odds are stacked against them, but if there’s one thing we can expect from the Wildcats, end-to-end offensive game. Don’t be surprised if they pull off a win or two against the powerhouses standing in their way! But for that to happen, they’ll still need at least one of Butler or Robinson to be back. Mark Pope has issued an injury update on both of them!

Mark Pope shares injury updates on two key players

On Monday evening’s call-in radio show, Mark Pope delivered a message about his team’s injury struggles and fans can be cautiously optimistic about it!

He said, “For Lamont, he’s actually moving pretty well. He still hasn’t practiced with live play, but for him, it’s just a matter of how far along does he have to get where he could actually take a hit in the game? That’s the biggest question for him. That’s going to be a little bit of a guessing game. We’ll try and get him some live stuff in practice over the next week or so.”

While the update on Lamont Butler is promising, it seems unlikely he will be ready for the Wildcats’ upcoming showdown with Vanderbilt on February 20th. Unfortunately for Jaxon Robinson, it looks like his return will take more than a week.

“For Jax, he still hasn’t done anything with his right hand. He’s done a ton of left-handed shooting and probably unsurprisingly, he’s making a lot of shots left-handed,” Pope said. “So I am actually pushing him to just tie up the right wrist, just get that thing safe in a big cast, and let’s go just play lefty on Wednesday. I’m not sure he’s prepared to do that.” While Pope said it unserious, it still looks like it will take more than a week for Robinson to come back and start hooping for the Wildcats!

With tough games ahead and key players sidelined, Kentucky’s path to a top 4 seed looks challenging. But with their history of giant slaying and a resilient mindset, don’t count the Wildcats out just yet! They might still have a few surprises in store!