Kentucky sneaks closer to AP Top 25 with win over Alabama
Kentucky inched closer to the latest Associated Press Top 25 this week after ending its four-game losing streak at home against Alabama on Saturday.
The Cats (18-9, 7-7) got 33 points in the survey of Associated Press media members in the poll released Monday, putting them two spots out of the No. 25 position behind Baylor. Florida State with 63 points holds the No. 25 position. UK had just eight points last week.
Wins this week against Arkansas on Tuesday and at home against Missouri on Saturday would likely improve UK’s NCAA Tournament status and vault it back into the AP poll. ESPN’s Joe Lunardi projects Kentucky as a No. 6 seed in the tournament in his latest “Bracketology” on ESPN.com.
Virginia strengthened its hold on No. 1 and Duke jumped back into the top five after a pair of impressive wins.
The Cavaliers earned 42 of 65 first-place votes. That’s 12 more than last week, when they reached No. 1 for the first time since the Ralph Sampson era.
The top four remained unchanged, with No. 2 Michigan State earning 19 first-place votes after rallying from 27 down to beat Northwestern. Third-ranked Villanova got the other four first-place votes after winning at No. 4 Xavier.
Fifth-ranked Duke jumped seven spots after beating Virginia Tech and Clemson despite playing without injured top freshman Marvin Bagley III.
Middle Tennessee checked in at 24th, marking its first AP Top 25 appearance in program history.
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 Feb. 18, 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. Virginia (42) | 24-2 | 1,601 | 1 |
2. Michigan St. (19) | 26-3 | 1,565 | 2 |
3. Villanova (4) | 24-3 | 1,509 | 3 |
4. Xavier | 24-4 | 1,398 | 4 |
5. Duke | 22-5 | 1,292 | 12 |
6. Texas Tech | 22-5 | 1,206 | 7 |
6. Gonzaga | 25-4 | 1,206 | 9 |
8. Kansas | 21-6 | 1,166 | 13 |
9. Purdue | 24-5 | 1,130 | 6 |
10. North Carolina | 21-7 | 1,074 | 14 |
11. Cincinnati | 23-4 | 954 | 5 |
12. Auburn | 23-4 | 873 | 10 |
13. Wichita St. | 21-5 | 870 | 19 |
14. Arizona | 21-6 | 831 | 17 |
15. Clemson | 20-6 | 683 | 11 |
16. Ohio St. | 22-7 | 680 | 8 |
17. Michigan | 22-7 | 615 | 22 |
18. Rhode Island | 21-4 | 455 | 16 |
19. Tennessee | 19-7 | 427 | 18 |
20. Nevada | 23-5 | 330 | 24 |
21. West Virginia | 19-8 | 329 | 20 |
22. Saint Mary’s (Calif.) | 25-4 | 291 | 15 |
23. Houston | 21-5 | 263 | - |
24. Middle Tennessee | 22-5 | 87 | - |
25. Florida St. | 19-8 | 63 | - |
Others receiving votes: Baylor 52, Kentucky 33, Arizona St. 32, Arkansas 23, UCLA 20, St. Bonaventure 13, Virginia Tech 12, Creighton 10, Penn St. 6, Kansas St. 5, Missouri 5, Texas A&M 4, TCU 4, Butler 2, Loyola of Chicago 2, Alabama 1, Oklahoma 1, Boise St. 1, ETSU 1.
This story was originally published February 19, 2018 at 12:28 PM with the headline "Kentucky sneaks closer to AP Top 25 with win over Alabama."