UK Men's Basketball

Kentucky sweeps to No. 1 in AP, coaches basketball polls

John Calipari’s Kentucky team is off to a 4-0 start this season. The Wildcats are back in action Wednesday afternoon against Cleveland State in Rupp Arena.
John Calipari’s Kentucky team is off to a 4-0 start this season. The Wildcats are back in action Wednesday afternoon against Cleveland State in Rupp Arena. palcala@herald-leader.com

The University of Kentucky jumped ahead of Duke for the No. 1 spot in both The Associated Press media and USA Today coaches college basketball polls on Monday.

The Wildcats (4-0) were ranked No. 2 in both polls behind the Blue Devils last week.

UK defeated then-No. 13 Michigan State 69-48 and unranked Duquesne, 93-59, in the past week.

On the same night and at the same site — the Champions Classic in New York — that Kentucky beat the Spartans, Duke (4-1) was beaten by then-No. 7 Kansas. Duke dropped all the way to No. 6.

The Wildcats received 42 first-place votes from the 65-member national media panel in the AP poll.

Defending national champion Villanova (5-0) moved up one spot to second with 21 No. 1 votes following a four-win week that included one at then-No. 15 Purdue.

Indiana (3-0), which moved up three places to third, received the other two first-place votes.

North Carolina moved up one place to fourth and was followed by Kansas, Duke, Virginia, Arizona, Xavier and Louisville.

In the coaches Top 25, Kentucky is followed in the polling by Villanova, Duke, North Carolina and Indiana. Louisville is No. 10 in both polls.

UK received 20 first-place votes from the coaches. The others went to Duke (five), Villanova (four) and Indiana (two).

AP Top 25

The top 25 teams in The Associated Press’ college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Nov. 20, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and last week’s ranking:

Record

Pts

Prv

1. Kentucky (42)

4-0

1,592

2

2. Villanova (21)

5-0

1,561

3

3. Indiana (2)

3-0

1,443

6

4. North Carolina

4-0

1,399

5

5. Kansas

2-1

1,374

7

6. Duke

4-1

1,337

1

7. Virginia

3-0

1,198

8

8. Arizona

3-0

1,129

10

9. Xavier

5-0

1,099

11

10. Louisville

3-0

947

12

11. Gonzaga

3-0

872

14

12. Creighton

4-0

770

22

13. Oregon

2-1

748

4

14. UCLA

4-0

735

16

15. Saint Mary’s (Calif.)

3-0

703

17

16. Wisconsin

2-1

666

9

17. Purdue

2-1

613

15

18. Syracuse

3-0

610

18

19. West Virginia

3-0

474

19

20. Baylor

3-0

371

_

21. Iowa St.

3-0

319

20

22. Texas

3-0

251

23

23. Rhode Island

4-1

217

21

24. Michigan St.

2-2

183

13

25. Michigan

4-0

89

_

25. Florida St.

4-0

89

_

Others receiving votes: California 56, Maryland 55, Miami 44, Cincinnati 39, Wichita St. 36, Florida 34, Seton Hall 15, Butler 14, Dayton 14, Virginia Tech 12, Notre Dame 6, Ohio St. 4, Colorado 4, Ohio 1, Tennessee St. 1, Rutgers 1.

USA Today coaches Top 25

The top 25 teams in USA Today coaches college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Nov. 20, total points and last week’s ranking:

Record

Pts

Prv

1. Kentucky (20)

4-0

754

2

2. Villanova (4)

5-0

725

3

3. Duke (5)

4-1

658

1

4. North Carolina

4-0

654

6

5. Indiana (2)

3-0

650

5

6. Kansas

2-1

600

8

6. Virginia

3-0

600

7

8. Xavier

5-0

545

10

9. Arizona

3-0

530

9

10. Louisville

3-0

470

12

11. Gonzaga

3-0

409

14

12. Oregon

2-1

390

4

13. UCLA

4-0

318

16

14. Wisconsin

2-1

306

11

15. Saint Mary’s (Calif.)

3-0

301

17

16. Syracuse

3-0

288

18

17. West Virginia

3-0

284

19

18. Creighton

4-0

280

20

19. Purdue

2-1

254

15

20. Michigan State

2-2

227

13

21. Texas

3-0

146

21

22. Iowa State

3-0

134

23

23. Maryland

4-0

94

24

24. Michigan

4-0

79

25. Rhode Island

4-1

70

22

Others receiving votes: Baylor 60; California 38; Miami (Fla.) 37; Florida 26; Seton Hall 21; Florida State 20; Cincinnati 20; Colorado 11; Virginia Commonwealth 11; Butler 10; Notre Dame 9; Wichita State 9; Utah 7; North Carolina State 5; Dayton 5; Texas A&M 4; Virginia Tech 3; Connecticut 3; Oklahoma 3; Yale 2; Northern Iowa 1; Central Florida 1; Arkansas 1; Alabama at Birmingham 1; Cal State Bakersfield 1.

This story was originally published November 21, 2016 at 12:20 PM with the headline "Kentucky sweeps to No. 1 in AP, coaches basketball polls."

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