What’s next for Kentucky Wildcats after heartbreaking NCAA Tournament loss?

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - Thursday night’s game was a heartbreaker for Big Blue Nation.

The Kentucky Wildcats are out of the NCAA Tournament after losing to 15-seed Saint Peter’s in the first round.

Kentucky falls 85-79 to Saint Peter’s in first round of NCAA Tournament

Coach John Calipari is now trying to figure out what went wrong and Wildcat fans are shaking their heads and wondering how this could have happened to one of the top teams in the country.

In some places, the second-seeded Cats were 20 point favorites against the Peacocks but, during the game, neither team led by more than six points and the Cats were up 68-62 with less than three minutes left in the second half, but UK scored only once and had two turnovers in the final three-plus minutes.

However, they still managed to get into overtime and, in the OT, the Cats were just 1-6 from the free throw line, while St. Peters was 9-11 from the stripe.

It all added up to one of the most disappointing UK losses in decades.

Big Blue Nation mourns Kentucky’s tournament loss

So what’s next? We know for sure Davion Mintz and Kellan Grady are gone. Shaedon Sharpe, number one recruit and projected top-five NBA pick, I think, and it’s my opinion, he’s gone without ever playing a game here.

The other big question is Oscar Tshiebwe. He signed that big name, image, likeness deal recently that, I’m told, could be worth at least a half-million dollars if he comes back next year, but his NBA stock has risen. So, I think Oscar is up in the air, and I believe TyTy Washington will go to the NBA as well.

If you put your name in for NBA consideration, the deadline to pull your name out is still two months away.