How far did Kentucky fall in the college basketball rankings after Saturday’s shocker?
The release of the new AP Top 25 college basketball rankings Monday afternoon showed just how much of a missed opportunity last week was for the Kentucky Wildcats.
Following UK’s 95-73 victory over No. 8-ranked Miami, the Cats were sure to vault into the top 10 from their spot at No. 12 in the poll. All they had to do was beat UNC Wilmington, a team that went into the weekend at No. 145 nationally in the KenPom ratings.
Kentucky couldn’t accomplish that. Instead, the Cats lost an 80-73 stunner in Rupp Arena on Saturday. Two days later, they lost four positions in the Top 25, ending up with the No. 16 ranking.
UK hasn’t been in the top 10 nationally since starting last season at No. 4 in the rankings and dropping to No. 15 after losing games to Michigan State and Gonzaga in the second week of the campaign. The Cats never got higher than 13th after that and finished the season unranked.
Kentucky had been ranked either No. 16 or No. 17 in the first three polls this season before rising to No. 12 with wins over Saint Joseph’s and Marshall in the third week. The Cats would have jumped into the top 10 in Monday’s rankings had they only been able to beat UNC Wilmington, which came to Rupp Arena just two days removed from a loss to East Carolina. (The Seahawks had also suffered a 30-point defeat at the hands of Appalachian State the week before that.)
But the Cats couldn’t do it, and they dropped as a result.
Arizona (7-0) took over the No. 1 spot in the new poll following top-ranked Purdue’s overtime loss to Northwestern on Friday night. The Boilermakers were one of three top five teams to lose last week, with No. 3 Marquette dropping one at Wisconsin and No. 4 UConn falling at No. 5 Kansas.
The new top five for this week: Arizona first, followed by Kansas at No. 2, Houston at No. 3, Purdue at No. 4 and UConn at No. 5.
Rounding out the top 10 were Baylor at No. 6, followed by Gonzaga, Marquette, North Carolina and Creighton.
Miami dropped from No. 8 to No. 15 in the new poll, a spot ahead of UK despite the blowout loss in Rupp Arena. Duke had the biggest drop in the Top 25 rankings, going from No. 7 to No. 22 after losses to Arkansas and Georgia Tech last week.
The SEC got three teams in the Top 25 this week: No. 16 Kentucky, No. 17 Tennessee and No. 21 Texas A&M, with Alabama, Ole Miss, Arkansas and South Carolina also receiving votes.
Kentucky will also have nonconference games against two other teams currently in the national rankings. The Cats face No. 9 North Carolina on Dec. 16 in Atlanta, and UK will host No. 7 Gonzaga in Rupp Arena on Feb. 10.
The Wildcats travel to Philadelphia to play Penn (5-4) on Saturday afternoon. The Quakers have already lost to Saint Joseph’s, Maryland-Eastern Shore, Belmont and La Salle this season.
UK point guard D.J. Wagner, who missed Saturday’s game with an injured ankle, remains “day to day” moving forward. The matchup with Penn will be the Cats’ final game before they see North Carolina in the CBS Sports Classic next weekend.
First NET ratings released
Kentucky is No. 45 in the NCAA’s NET ratings, which were released for the first time Monday morning. The Wildcats’ best win, according to those numbers, came against Miami, which was just 63rd in the first NET ratings. UNC Wilmington was rated No. 120.
The NET is an important evaluation tool for the NCAA Tournament selection committee in March, but it’s a fairly useless number in early December, with so few games played and so many more opportunities for major-conference teams like Kentucky to earn marquee wins as the season continues.
Houston was No. 1 in the first batch of ratings, with BYU at No. 2, Arizona at No. 3, Creighton at No. 4 and Purdue rounding out the top five. Unranked Princeton is No. 8 in the NET, and three more teams outside the AP Top 25 — Alabama, Iowa State and Cincinnati — were in the top 15 of the NCAA’s ratings.
Alabama was the SEC’s top-rated team at No. 12 nationally.
Kentucky starts the week at No. 22 in the KenPom ratings and No. 17 in the Torvik ratings.
Next game
No. 16 Kentucky vs. Penn
When: Noon Saturday
TV: ESPN2
Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1
Records: Kentucky 6-2, Penn 5-4
Series: Kentucky leads 5-0
Last meeting: Kentucky won 86-62 on Jan. 3, 2011, in Lexington
This story was originally published December 4, 2023 at 1:05 PM.
