Kentucky basketball drops nine spots in AP rankings
Kentucky fell from No. 7 down to No. 16 in the latest Associated Press men’s college basketball poll released Monday.
The Wildcats took the plunge after losing to unranked UCLA, 83-75, in the CBS Sports Classic in New Orleans on Saturday.
Kentucky (9-2) returns to the court Friday when it takes on unranked Louisville (10-2) in Rupp Arena.
The new AP Top 25 poll features the same four teams at the top as last week, led by No. 1 Villanova.
The Wildcats (12-0) received 43 of 65 first-place votes to stay at No. 1 for the third consecutive week.
Michigan State (12-1) was second and had 16 first-place votes, while third-ranked Arizona State (12-0) had six first-place votes to stay ahead of No. 4 Duke (12-1).
Texas A&M (11-1) climbed to fifth, followed by Xavier, West Virginia, Wichita State, Virginia and TCU to round out the top 10.
Three other ranked teams took big slides after losses to unranked opponents last week. North Carolina fell eight spots to No. 13, while Gonzaga also fell eight spots to No. 20. Now-No. 15 Miami fell nine spots.
Associated Press Top 25
The top 25 teams in The Associated Press’ college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Dec. 24, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and previous ranking:
Record | Pts | Prv | |
1. Villanova (43) | 12-0 | 1,600 | 1 |
2. Michigan St. (16) | 12-1 | 1,560 | 2 |
3. Arizona St. (6) | 12-0 | 1,481 | 3 |
4. Duke | 12-1 | 1,435 | 4 |
5. Texas A&M | 11-1 | 1,309 | 8 |
6. Xavier | 12-1 | 1,242 | 9 |
7. West Virginia | 11-1 | 1,226 | 10 |
8. Wichita St. | 10-2 | 992 | 11 |
9. Virginia | 11-1 | 969 | 13 |
10. TCU | 12-0 | 923 | 15 |
11. Kansas | 10-2 | 920 | 14 |
12. Oklahoma | 10-1 | 901 | 17 |
13. North Carolina | 11-2 | 891 | 5 |
14. Purdue | 12-2 | 839 | 16 |
15. Miami | 10-1 | 827 | 6 |
16. Kentucky | 9-2 | 735 | 7 |
17. Arizona | 10-3 | 511 | 18 |
18. Baylor | 10-2 | 437 | 18 |
19. Tennessee | 9-2 | 405 | 21 |
20. Gonzaga | 10-3 | 382 | 12 |
21. Cincinnati | 11-2 | 377 | 20 |
22. Texas Tech | 11-1 | 351 | 21 |
23. Seton Hall | 11-2 | 227 | 23 |
24. Florida St. | 11-1 | 169 | 24 |
25. Creighton | 10-2 | 143 | 25 |
Others receiving votes: Arkansas 85, Clemson 55, Notre Dame 40, Louisville 26, Texas 21, UCLA 12, Oklahoma St. 8, Auburn 5, St. Bonaventure 5, SMU 5, New Mexico St. 4, Rhode Island 2, Florida 1, Michigan 1, Minnesota 1, Nevada 1, Stephen F. Austin 1.
Friday
Louisville at No. 16 Kentucky
1 p.m. (CBS-27)
This story was originally published December 25, 2017 at 12:18 PM with the headline "Kentucky basketball drops nine spots in AP rankings."