Kentucky basketball back at No. 1 in nation for first time since 2016
Kentucky returned to the No. 1 spot in The Associated Press poll for the first time since early December 2016.
The Cats (2-0) received 64 of 65 first-place votes with Louisville receiving the other. Duke, Michigan State, U of L and Kansas round out the top five.
As the No. 1 team early the 2016 season, UK defeated Cleveland State, UT Martin and Arizona State in the last eight days of November. A 97-91 home loss to No. 11 UCLA on Dec. 3 dropped Kentucky to No. 6.
After UK defeated his team Friday night, Eastern Kentucky Coach A.W. Hamilton suggested Kentucky might remain No. 1 for a while.
“Listen,” he told reporters in his postgame news conference. “Kentucky is a very good team. And I think they are the best team in the country. … They beat Michigan State for a reason.”
Michigan State was ranked No. 1 in the first AP top 25 poll going into the season.
John Calipari’s teams in the last 10 years have averaged playing more games per season ranked No. 1 than any other Kentucky teams guided by other coaches. His first 10 teams averaged 7.6 games per season ranked No. 1.
In Calipari’s time as coach, his UK teams have played in 76 games ranked No. 1. In the time between Adolph Rupp’s retirement in 1972 and Calipari’s arrival in 2009, Kentucky played in 48 games as the nation’s No. 1 team.
The second-best average number of games as a No. 1 team per season belongs to Rupp, who had the misfortune of The Associated Press top 25 poll not existing in his first 18 season as UK coach (or prior to the 1948-49 season). Plus, UK did not play a schedule in 1952-53. Otherwise, Rupp’s UK teams averaged 5.5 games per season ranked No. 1.
In Rupp’s last 17 seasons as coach, Kentucky played 36 games as the No. 1-ranked team.
Calipari has the second-best winning percentage among Kentucky coaches in games his teams were ranked No. 1. Going into Tuesday’s game against Evansville, Calipari’s No. 1-ranked UK teams have a record of 69-7 (a winning percentage of 90.8%).
Joe B. Hall’s UK teams ranked No. 1 had a record of 26-2, a winning percentage of 92.9. Rupp ranks third in winning percentage at 88.2% (112-15).
This is the 125th week that Kentucky is ranked No. 1 in The Associated Press poll. That’s the third-most times by any program.
Duke’s 142 weeks at No. 1 is more than any other program. UCLA has the second-most weeks at No. 1 with 134.
After Kentucky, the rest of the top five for weeks at No. 1 are North Carolina (113 weeks) and Kansas (67 weeks).
Calipari’s record at Kentucky of 69-7 record as the nation’s top-ranked team includes winning the first 38 games of the 2014-15 season and a 21-2 record as No. 1 in the national championship season of 2011-12.
In the 13 most recent seasons preceding Calipari’s hiring in the spring of 2009, Kentucky played only four games as a No. 1-ranked team. Those games came in the 2003 NCAA Tournament when UK beat IUPUI, Utah and Wisconsin before losing to Marquette in the Midwest Region finals.
This story was originally published November 11, 2019 at 12:07 PM.
