UK Men's Basketball

See where Kentucky landed in the new AP Top 25

Kentucky forward Wenyen Gabriel (32) and guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (22) left the court following their 65-61 loss to Kansas during the State Farm Champions Classic at the United Center in Chicago, Ill., Nov. 14, 2017.
Kentucky forward Wenyen Gabriel (32) and guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (22) left the court following their 65-61 loss to Kansas during the State Farm Champions Classic at the United Center in Chicago, Ill., Nov. 14, 2017. aslitz@herald-leader.com

After a narrow loss to Kansas at the Champions Classic last week Kentucky dropped one spot to No. 8 in The Associated Press Top 25 released Monday.

The freshman-heavy Cats stood toe-to-toe with the more veteran Jayhawks, falling 65-61 after letting a back-and-forth game slip away in the closing minutes, possibly preventing a more precipitous slide in the rankings.

Duke, who beat then-No. 2 Michigan State 88-81 at the same event in Chicago, garnered 54 of 65 first-place votes. That was an increase of 20 first-place votes over the first regular-season poll released last week. Duke was also AP’s preseason No. 1.

Arizona was the only other team to receive No. 1 consideration, getting 11 first-place votes and taking the Spartans’ place at No. 2. Kansas moved up one spot to No. 3. Michigan State and Villanova rounded out the top five.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The AP Top 25 men’s college basketball poll

The top 25 teams in The Associated Press’ men’s college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Nov. 19, 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

Pvs

1. Duke (54)

4-0

1,613

1

2. Arizona (11)

3-0

1,527

3

3. Kansas

3-0

1,504

4

4. Michigan St.

2-1

1,390

2

5. Villanova

3-0

1,345

5

6. Wichita St.

2-0

1,321

6

7. Florida

3-0

1,117

8

8. Kentucky

3-1

1,104

7

9. North Carolina

2-0

1,079

9

10. Southern Cal

3-0

1,055

10

11. Miami

3-0

918

11

12. Cincinnati

3-0

893

12

13. Notre Dame

3-0

857

13

14. Minnesota

4-0

754

14

15. Xavier

3-0

750

15

16. Texas A&M

2-0

618

16

17. Gonzaga

3-0

540

17

18. Purdue

4-0

527

19

19. Louisville

2-0

466

18

20. Seton Hall

4-0

370

22

21. Saint Mary’s (Cal)

4-0

344

21

22. Baylor

3-0

206

25

23. UCLA

3-0

191

23

23. West Virginia

2-1

191

24

25. Alabama

3-0

133

-

Others receiving votes: Virginia 93, Texas Tech 81, TCU 36, Northwestern 20, Nevada 19, Providence 11, Maryland 9, Michigan 9, Texas 7, Creighton 6, Oklahoma 5, Temple 4, Oregon 4, Arkansas 3, Texas Arlington 2, Rhode Island 1, Belmont 1, Stephen F Austin 1.

This story was originally published November 20, 2017 at 1:36 PM with the headline "See where Kentucky landed in the new AP Top 25."

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