Kentucky surging toward safety, Marquette moves up in latest NCAA Tournament Bracketology

Three wins in a row has Kentucky rising in the updated Paste BN Sports NCAA Tournament bracket and a few wins away from locking down a place in the 68-team field, something that was unthinkable earlier this month.

Two of these three wins have come on the road, including Wednesday night's 82-74 victory against Florida. This winning streak has put Kentucky on firmer tournament footing after an ugly loss at Georgia on Feb. 11 dropped the Wildcats into the middle of the pack in the SEC.

With three games left in the regular season, including two against SEC teams currently in our bracket in Auburn and Arkansas, Kentucky is in position to finish third in the conference standings and be a trendy pick to make some noise come tournament play.

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There are no changes to the No. 1 line — Alabama, Houston, Kansas and Purdue — but one change at No. 2, with Marquette replacing Baylor. The Golden Eagles are now two games up in the Big East after beating Creighton and close to securing the program's first conference championship in a decade. The Bears have fallen into fourth place in the Big 12 after road losses to Kansas and Kansas State.

The Big Ten has nine teams in the bracket, with Wisconsin moving out of the play-in round after Wednesday's 64-52 win against Iowa.

Last four in

Memphis, Southern California, Oklahoma State, Mississippi State.

First four out

North Carolina, Texas Tech, Utah State, Penn State.

Next four out

Michigan, Arizona State, Oregon, New Mexico.

Conference breakdown

Multi-bid leagues: Big Ten (9), Big 12 (8), SEC (8), ACC (5), Big East (5), Mountain West (3), Pac-12 (3), American Athletic (2), West Coast (2).