Slow week sees Kentucky slide in AP Top 25; Louisville drops out
With only one game on the schedule last week, Kentucky couldn’t expect to gain much ground in the AP Top 25 men’s basketball poll, but the Cats actually dropped a spot to No. 8 as two teams leap-frogged them in the latest survey.
Wichita State and Texas A&M, ranked No. 8 and No. 9, respectively, behind UK last week moved up to Nos. 6 and 7. The Shockers got a road win over Baylor on Saturday, dropping the Bears from No. 16 to No. 23. The Aggies routed Texas-Rio Grande in its only action, but likely got a residual bounce from a road win over No. 25 Southern Cal last Sunday.
Louisville dropped out of the top 25, from No. 17 to “others receiving votes,” after losses at Purdue on Tuesday and at home to previously unranked Seton Hall on Sunday. That boosted the Pirates into the poll at No. 19, and Purdue is ranked 21st.
Tennessee also moved into the poll this week at No. 24.
The Cats defeated perennial Ivy League contender Harvard 79-70 on Saturday, while two of the teams ranked ahead of UK, Michigan State and Notre Dame, squared off against each other on Thursday. The Irish lost in a rout in East Lansing, Mich., and dropped to No. 9 as a result.
Duke remained the unanimous No. 1 for the second straight week receiving all 65 first-place votes. The next three spots also remained the same from last week: Kansas, Michigan State and Villanova.
Xavier made the biggest jump in this week’s poll, moving up eight spots to No. 13 after a pair of top-25 wins. The Musketeers beat No. 16 Baylor 76-63 and No. 11 Cincinnati 89-76 last week.
Kentucky was No. 5 in AP’s preseason poll and dropped to No. 8 after a neutral court loss to No. 2 Kansas last month.
The AP Top Twenty Five
The top 25 teams in The Associated Press’ men’s college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Dec. 3, 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 (65) | 10-0 | 1,625 | 1 |
2. Kansas | 7-0 | 1,525 | 2 |
3. Michigan St. | 7-1 | 1,500 | 3 |
4. Villanova | 8-0 | 1,434 | 4 |
5. Florida | 5-1 | 1,301 | 6 |
6. Wichita St. | 6-1 | 1,197 | 8 |
7. Texas A&M | 7-0 | 1,192 | 9 |
8. Kentucky | 7-1 | 1,174 | 7 |
9. Notre Dame | 7-1 | 1,156 | 5 |
10. Miami | 7-0 | 1,122 | 10 |
11. North Carolina | 8-1 | 999 | 13 |
12. Gonzaga | 7-1 | 856 | 15 |
13. Xavier | 7-1 | 768 | 21 |
14. Minnesota | 8-1 | 758 | 12 |
15. Virginia | 8-0 | 728 | 18 |
16. Arizona St | 7-0 | 609 | 20 |
17. Cincinnati | 7-1 | 583 | 11 |
18. West Virginia | 7-1 | 557 | 19 |
19. Seton Hall | 7-1 | 405 | - |
20. TCU | 8-0 | 311 | 23 |
21. Purdue | 8-2 | 266 | - |
22. Nevada | 8-0 | 199 | - |
23. Baylor | 5-2 | 182 | 16 |
24. Tennessee | 6-1 | 96 | - |
25. Southern Cal | 4-2 | 90 | 14 |
Others receiving votes: Texas Tech 82, UCLA 75, Rhode Island 73, Creighton 53, Louisville 50, Texas 32, Alabama 21, SMU 15, Mississippi St. 11, Kansas St 10, Arizona 10, Washington St 9, Georgia 9, Oklahoma 7, Providence 6, Florida St. 6, Clemson 5, Valparaiso 5, Georgetown 4, Texas Arlington 3, Oklahoma St. 3, Western Kentucky 2, Towson 1.
This story was originally published December 4, 2017 at 1:16 PM with the headline "Slow week sees Kentucky slide in AP Top 25; Louisville drops out."