Kentucky falls, Louisville holds steady and there’s another No. 1 in college hoops

Men’s college basketball in 2019-20 has been a model of instability.

That was reflected again Monday in the latest release of The Associated Press Top 25 poll.

Let’s start with Kentucky.

The Wildcats were No. 2 in the preseason. After knocking off No. 1 Michigan State in their season opener, Kentucky moved up to No. 1. A shocking home loss to Evansville dropped the Cats to No. 9. Subsequent success allowed them to creep back up to No. 6 last week.

On Monday, Kentucky took the elevator back down again, falling all the way to No. 19 in the wake of defeats last week to Utah and Ohio State in Las Vegas.

Kentucky (8-3) will attempt to stop the free fall when it hosts Louisville (11-1) in Rupp Arena on Saturday.

The Cardinals, who were ranked No. 5 in the preseason and also briefly spent time at No. 1, head into Saturday’s showdown with their archrivals with the No. 3 spot for the second week in a row.

Starting with the Louisville game, then on into the Southeastern Conference season, Kentucky will have many more chances to climb. That was some of the message Coach John Calipari shared with his team after the 71-65 loss to Ohio State, in footage released by UK Athletics.

“Here’s what I will tell you: at least we know, OK, we’ll be fine,” Calipari told his players. “We’ve got some other guys that are going to have to compete. Here’s what you’re finding out: it’s hard to play against other teams that are really playing.”

The coach then shifted his focus from the team to individuals.

“Everybody here is going to have opportunities. What you do with them is up to you.”

While Louisville stayed put this week the teams around them shuffled in the rankings.

Gonzaga is the latest No. 1.

The Bulldogs moved up a spot to take over for Kansas, which lasted only a week at No. 1 before losing at now-No. 10 Villanova. At the time, that had marked the first time the AP poll has had five different No. 1s before New Year’s Day.

And now it’s six, with the Zags (13-1) earning 54 of 65 first-place votes to outdistance Ohio State in a year with no dominant team.

Gonzaga’s only loss was to No. 11 Michigan in the championship game of the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas on Nov. 29. The Zags have won five straight since, including wins at No. 21 Washington and No. 24 Arizona as well as a home win against North Carolina.

Following Ohio State and Louisville in the top five this week are Duke and Kansas.

Oregon, Baylor, still-unbeaten Auburn, Memphis and Villanova rounded out the top 10.

Iowa was the lone new addition at No. 25, with the Hawkeyes (9-3) cracking the poll for the first time this season after beating Minnesota, Iowa State and Cincinnati.

In the USA Today Coaches’ Poll, Kentucky is No. 19, Louisville is No. 4 and Gonzaga is No. 1.

Dropping from No. 6 to No. 19 is not the biggest fall for Kentucky from one week to the next in AP poll.

In 2012-13, UK fell from No. 8 to receiving votes after losses to Notre Dame and Baylor.

UK women move up

The UK women’s basketball team climbed one spot to No. 13 in this week’s AP rankings.

Kentucky pulled out a 63-61 victory at California on Saturday to improve to 11-1.

The Wildcats have completed non-conference play and open Southeastern Conference action Jan. 2 at South Carolina, the No. 4 team in this week’s poll.

Louisville (11-1) dropped from No. 6 to No. 7 after narrowly escaping unranked UT Martin in double overtime in its lone game last week.

Men’s AP Top 25

The top 25 teams in The Associated Press college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Dec. 22, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and last week’s ranking:

Others receiving votes: Wichita St. 112, Colorado 79, Xavier 68, DePaul 54, Indiana 45, Liberty 40, Utah St. 36, Saint Mary’s (Calif.) 29, Marquette 28, Tennessee 24, Northern Iowa 23, Creighton 12, Purdue 11, Georgetown 9, Stanford 7, BYU 4, St. John’s 4, Virginia Tech 3, Seton Hall 2, ETSU 1, Yale 1.

Women’s AP Top 25

The top 25 teams in The Associated Press women’s college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Dec. 22, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and last week’s ranking:

Others receiving votes: Minnesota 39, South Dakota 38, Michigan St. 28, Rutgers 16, Colorado 8, Northwestern 7, Princeton 7, LSU 5, Arizona St. 4, Kansas 4, TCU 4, Iowa 3, Nebraska 1, Texas Tech 1.

This story was originally published December 23, 2019 at 12:39 PM.