Kentucky’s exploits again fail to impress AP Top 25 voters
A blowout win over Monmouth on Saturday in Madison Square Garden did nothing to improve Kentucky’s standing in The Associated Press Top 25 as it held at No. 8 during a wild week that jumbled the latest survey and included Duke’s first loss of the season.
Like last week, Kentucky (9-1), was leapfrogged by other teams with new No. 5 Arizona State vaulting from the 16th spot after an impressive road win over Kansas. No. 6 Miami and No. 7 North Carolina were also ranked behind UK in the previous poll.
Villanova took over No. 1 from Duke, which lost at Boston College on Saturday. The Wildcats (10-0) were fourth last week but earned 41 of 65 first-place votes to hop over Michigan State, which earned 19 first-place votes to climb from third to second.
Wichita State climbed three spots to No. 3, followed by Duke and Arizona State.
Kansas and Florida slipped out of the top 10, while Texas A&M’s loss at Arizona dropped the Aggies two spots to No. 9.
AP Top 25
The top 25 teams in The Associated Press’s men’s college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Dec. 10, 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. Villanova (41) | 10-0 | 1,598 | 4 |
2. Michigan St. (19) | 9-1 | 1,561 | 3 |
3. Wichita St. | 8-1 | 1,402 | 6 |
4. Duke | 11-1 | 1,362 | 1 |
5. Arizona St. (5) | 9-0 | 1,316 | 16 |
6. Miami | 8-0 | 1,272 | 10 |
7. North Carolina | 9-1 | 1,237 | 11 |
8. Kentucky | 8-1 | 1,227 | 8 |
9. Texas A&M | 8-1 | 1,072 | 7 |
10. Xavier | 9-1 | 1,044 | 13 |
11. West Virginia | 9-1 | 972 | 18 |
12. Gonzaga | 8-2 | 805 | 12 |
13. Kansas | 7-2 | 760 | 2 |
14. TCU | 10-0 | 718 | 20 |
15. Seton Hall | 8-1 | 704 | 19 |
16. Virginia | 8-1 | 690 | 15 |
17. Purdue | 10-2 | 568 | 21 |
18. Notre Dame | 8-2 | 564 | 9 |
19. Florida St. | 9-0 | 452 | - |
20. Tennessee | 7-1 | 342 | 24 |
21. Baylor | 7-2 | 281 | 23 |
22. Florida | 6-3 | 261 | 5 |
23. Arizona | 7-3 | 252 | - |
24. Texas Tech | 7-1 | 191 | - |
25. Cincinnati | 7-2 | 145 | 17 |
Others receiving votes: Creighton 79, Oklahoma 72, Texas 52, Louisville 19, Arkansas 17, Virginia Tech 15, Minnesota 15, Nevada 13, Mississippi St. 8, UCLA 6, SMU 6, Loyola of Chicago 5, Alabama 4, Georgia 3, Houston 3, Northern Iowa 3, Towson 3, Syracuse 2, Boise St. 2, Middle Tennessee 1, Rhode Island 1.
This story was originally published December 11, 2017 at 1:42 PM with the headline "Kentucky’s exploits again fail to impress AP Top 25 voters."