A forgettable March Madness for Big Blue Nation - Kentucky women also eliminated in first round

It has been a March Madness to forget for Big Blue Nation. After Kentucky's men were stunned by St. Peter's in the first round on Thursday, the Kentucky Wildcats women were upset 69-62 in their NCAA tournament opener by the Princeton Tigers on Saturday.

The No. 6 seed Kentucky women came in on a high, having won the program's second SEC tournament title — and first since 1982 — by beating the South Carolina Gamecocks on March 6. The Wildcats, who weren't even projected to reach the NCAA tournament in mid-February, entered March Madness on a 10-game winning streak and seemed poised to make an NCAA tournament run behind star Rhyne Howard.

Instead, No. 11 seed Princeton moved its winning streak to 18 games. The Tigers got just the second NCAA tournament victory for their program and the third overall for the Ivy League; the other two were by Princeton in 2015 and by the Harvard Crimson in 1998, the only time a No. 16 seed has beat a No. 1 in the women's NCAA tournament.

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Last season, Princeton and other Ivy League schools didn't play because the conference opted not to have sports due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Was this the biggest win in Princeton women's history?

«I think on this stage, with the seed we had and beating a Kentucky team, the SEC champion… yeah,» Tigers coach Carla Berube said. «It's definitely up there.

»It was certainly a challenging time when the Ivy League decided to not play. We were scattered all over the country watching the NCAA tournament [last season]. It was strange; it was tough. We stayed connected, and we came back really grateful to be together again and playing the game that we love. There's