The East Region's No. 4 seed, Kentucky, will face the 13th seeded Princeton Tigers on Thursday afternoon at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, Florida. The two NCAA Tournament veterans are scheduled to begin play at 2:45pm ET on CBS. College Basketball Lines have the Wildcats listed as a -13 college basketball picks favorite and the game total set at 131.
Princeton won the Ivy League regular season crown with a 12-2 conference record, but it needed another meeting with 
Harvard in order to secure an NCAA Tournament bid. The Tigers, which split the regular season series with the Crimson, garnered the Ivy League's automatic bid with a dramatic 63-62 win over Harvard on Saturday.
Princeton (25-6 overall), which trailed 25-32 at the break, needed a last second shot from Douglas Davis to crush the Crimson's NCAA hopes. Davis, the Tigers fourth leading scorer at 11.9 points per game, led Princeton with 15 points. Ian Hummer finished with 13 points and eight rebounds while Kareem Maddox recorded 10 points, 13 rebounds, and four blocks off the bench.
The Tigers win over Harvard was their fifth in their last six games.
The Kentucky Wildcats (25-8 overall) have not tasted defeat since a February 23rd 76-77 overtime loss at Arkansas. The Wildcats responded to that setback with regular season wins over Florida, Vanderbilt, and Tennessee before running its way to the SEC Tournament Championship.
Kentucky, which finished second to the Gators in the SEC East standings with a 10-6 conference record, beat Ole Miss, Alabama, and Florida in route to its second consecutive tournament title. Four Wildcats scored in double figures in the finale, including leading scorer Brandon Knight, who finished with a team high 17 points.
Thursday's game marks the first meeting between these two schools, but the edge, obviously goes to Kentucky. John Calipari, who has guided 12 teams to the NCAA Tournament, has lost in the first round just one time (Memphis 2003).
Princeton vs Kentucky 2011 NCAA Bracket Picks:
Princeton Tigers +13 (-110), Over 131 (-110)
Kentucky Wildcats -13 (-110), Under 131 (-110)
