Round 1 of March Madness continues on the second day, and it will feature the No. 10 Santa Clara Broncos aiming to upset yet another blue blood school in the tournament, the No. 7 Kentucky Wildcats. North Carolina has already fallen, and will Kentucky be next, or will the Wildcats stave off an upset?
The Broncos, which have a better record at 26-8, are coming off a WCC Tournament final loss to the Gonzaga Bulldogs and are aiming to bounce back with an upset against one of the most expensive teams NIL-wise, Kentucky. Meanwhile, the 21-13 Wildcats were eliminated in the SEC Tournament by one of the No. 1 seeds in the tournament, the Florida Gators.
Both teams are aiming to start strong, but as usual, both teams need to submit their availability reports. What it shows is that one of these teams will be a lot more shorthanded than the other, with one of their biggest stars being out of commission for the entire season.
Santa Clara vs Kentucky Injury Report
Santa Clara Broncos
- No injuries reported
Kentucky Wildcats
- G Jaland Lowe: Out, undisclosed
- F Jayden Quaintance: Out for the season, knee
- F Braydon Hawthorne: Out for season, redshirted
Both teams have submitted their injury reports, and it looks like Kentucky will be the shorthanded team coming into the first round, as the Santa Clara Broncos have revealed that they will be completely healthy for the game. Meanwhile, Kentucky lost one of its most potent defenders in Jayden Quaintance, who suffered a season-ending ACL tear last January.
Torn ACLs usually take months to repair, and even with surgery, it will still take quite a while for the player to become fully healed and play in top condition. This means that Kentucky will not have one of its best forwards against Santa Clara. They will also be missing guard Jaland Lowe, who has not been in action since January.
The Wildcats have also redshirted forward Braydon Hawthorne, so he is basically treated as out for the season.
Jayden Quaintance transferred over from Arizona State during the postseason and only played four games with the Wildcats before getting injured. Many saw him as a defensive bulwark as he was known to be a great shot blocker and rebounder for the Sun Devils last year.
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