John Calipari, who just last week was full of complaints regarding Kentucky’s seeding in the NCAA Tournament, is now the prohibitive favorite in the South Region as a No. 5 seed after the top four lost on the first weekend.
However, Calipari wants his Wildcats to be wary of overconfidence ahead of their Sweet 16 matchup against No. 9 Kansas State.
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“We're excited to be here still playing. My challenge is making sure these kids don't drink that poison, that poison being we have an easy road,” Calipari said at his Wednesday press conference. “There are no easy roads in this tournament. If they drink that poison, we'll be done Thursday. If they don't drink the poison, it'll be a dogfight on Thursday, and let's see what happens.”
Kentucky went through Davidson and Buffalo to reach the Sweet 16, while K-State beat Creighton and lovable underdog UMBC. The winner of their game in Atlanta (9:37 p.m. ET, CBS) will face the winner of No. 7 Nevada vs. No. 11 Loyola-Chicago in the Elite Eight.
