Kentucky continues its march toward return to top 10. See this week’s poll.
Kentucky opened Southeastern Conference play with a win over Missouri on Saturday, and that translated to a bit of a climb in the Associated Press Top 25 poll that was released on Monday afternoon.
The Wildcats (10-3, 1-0 SEC) moved up three spots to 14th but still sit one place behind Louisville (11-3), who UK defeated 78-70 on Dec. 28 in Rupp Arena.
Gonzaga, Duke and Kansas remained the AP’s top three.
The Bulldogs received 54 first-place votes from a 65-member media panel. The Blue Devils had nine first-place votes and the Jayhawks two.
No. 4 Baylor moved into the top five for the first time in three years and undefeated Auburn was up to No. 5.
Butler climbed five spots to No. 6 for the program’s highest ranking ever and was followed by San Diego State, Michigan State, Oregon and No. 10 Florida State.
Gonzaga was No. 1 for the third straight week, a first in a season of parity at the top of the AP poll.
As the calendar flipped to a new year, Auburn and San Diego State are the only undefeated Division I teams left. Both moved up in poll.
Auburn (13-0) climbed three spots to No. 5, its highest ranking since reaching No. 2 in 1999-00. San Diego State (15-0) moved up six places to No. 7, the Aztecs’ highest ranking since hitting No. 5 six years ago.
▪ In the USA Today Sports coaches’ poll, Gonzaga is No. 1 with Kentucky at No. 13 and Louisville at No. 11.
UK women also 14th
Kentucky’s women’s team (12-2), which lost at South Carolina and won at home against Tennessee this past week, dropped one spot to No. 14 in the AP poll.
Connecticut (12-0) cruised to two more conference wins and remained No. 1. The Huskies received 19 first-place votes from a 30-member media panel to stay ahead of second-ranked Oregon (12-1). The Ducks got seven first-place votes.
South Carolina (14-1) is ranked fourth, Louisville (14-1) held at No. 7, and Tennessee (11-3) was down a spot at 23rd.
AP men’s top 25
The top 25 teams in The Associated Press’ college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Jan. 5, 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 | Prv | |
1. Gonzaga (54) | 16-1 | 1607 | 1 |
2. Duke (9) | 13-1 | 1545 | 2 |
3. Kansas (2) | 11-2 | 1513 | 3 |
4. Baylor | 11-1 | 1386 | 6 |
5. Auburn | 13-0 | 1317 | 8 |
6. Butler | 14-1 | 1181 | 11 |
7. San Diego St. | 15-0 | 1130 | 13 |
8. Michigan St. | 12-3 | 1129 | 14 |
9. Oregon | 12-3 | 1075 | 4 |
10. Florida St. | 13-2 | 966 | 18 |
11. Ohio St. | 11-3 | 924 | 5 |
12. Maryland | 12-2 | 863 | 15 |
13. Louisville | 11-3 | 844 | 7 |
14. Kentucky | 10-3 | 811 | 17 |
15. Dayton | 13-2 | 614 | 20 |
16. Villanova | 10-3 | 604 | 10 |
17. West Virginia | 11-2 | 599 | 16 |
18. Virginia | 11-2 | 556 | 19 |
19. Michigan | 10-4 | 502 | 12 |
20. Penn St. | 12-2 | 456 | 21 |
21. Memphis | 12-2 | 455 | 9 |
22. Texas Tech | 10-3 | 287 | 22 |
23. Wichita St. | 13-1 | 252 | 24 |
24. Arizona | 11-3 | 184 | 25 |
25. Colorado | 12-3 | 81 | _ |
Others receiving votes: Iowa 63, Seton Hall 48, Arkansas 38, Marquette 25, Xavier 18, Wisconsin 17, Houston 8, Creighton 6, Washington 6, VCU 5, Saint Mary’s (Cal) 3, Liberty 2, N. Iowa 2, BYU 1, Purdue 1, Stephen F. Austin 1.
AP women’s top 25
The top 25 teams in The Associated Press’ women’s college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Jan. 5, 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 | Prv | |
1. UConn (19) | 12-0 | 721 | 1 |
2. Oregon (7) | 12-1 | 708 | 2 |
3. Oregon St. (3) | 14-0 | 682 | 3 |
4. South Carolina (1) | 14-1 | 669 | 4 |
5. Stanford | 13-1 | 626 | 5 |
6. Baylor | 11-1 | 614 | 6 |
7. Louisville | 14-1 | 574 | 7 |
8. UCLA | 14-0 | 531 | 10 |
9. N.C. State | 14-0 | 529 | 9 |
10. Texas A&M | 13-1 | 468 | 11 |
11. Florida St. | 14-1 | 465 | 8 |
12. Indiana | 12-2 | 389 | 14 |
13. Mississippi St. | 14-2 | 371 | 15 |
14. Kentucky | 12-2 | 367 | 13 |
15. DePaul | 13-2 | 316 | 16 |
16. Gonzaga | 14-1 | 303 | 17 |
17. Maryland | 10-3 | 278 | 12 |
18. Arizona | 13-1 | 243 | 18 |
19. West Virginia | 11-1 | 239 | 19 |
20. Missouri St. | 12-2 | 155 | 21 |
21. Arkansas | 13-2 | 150 | 20 |
22. South Dakota | 15-2 | 92 | _ |
23. Tennessee | 11-3 | 89 | 22 |
24. Michigan | 11-3 | 71 | _ |
25. Princeton | 12-1 | 19 | _ |
Others receiving votes: Northwestern 18, Rutgers 14, Iowa 10, Syracuse 9, TCU 9, Miami 6, Florida Gulf Coast 5, Arizona St. 3, Minnesota 2, Nebraska 2, Texas 2, Kansas 1.
This story was originally published January 6, 2020 at 12:20 PM.