How much did Kentucky move up in the rankings after big win over No. 9 North Carolina?
The new college basketball rankings are out. And Kentucky is on the way up.
Following an 87-83 victory over No. 9 North Carolina in the CBS Sports Classic over the weekend, the Wildcats jumped five spots — from No. 14 to No. 9 — in the latest Associated Press Top 25 poll, which was released Monday afternoon.
Kentucky’s previous season high in the rankings was 12th, and this is the first time the Wildcats have been ranked in the top 10 since the second week of the 2022-23 season.
UK will take an 8-2 record — with wins over UNC and Miami, which was ranked No. 8 at the time they played the Wildcats — into Thursday’s rivalry matchup at Louisville, which will be Kentucky’s only game this week. The Cats will host Illinois State on Dec. 29, their final tuneup before SEC play begins Jan. 6.
Neither of UK’s next two games is likely to move the needle in a positive direction — U of L and Illinois State started the week at No. 175 and No. 199 in the KenPom ratings, respectively — but the Cats scored a big one with the victory over UNC on Saturday in Atlanta, a crucial neutral-site win over a top-tier opponent outside of their conference.
North Carolina dropped from No. 9 to No. 11 in Monday’s poll. Miami, which suffered a 27-point loss to Colorado two weekends ago and beat La Salle 84-77 on Saturday, dropped out of the Top 25 and is first among other teams receiving votes.
Purdue reclaimed the No. 1 spot in the AP Top 25 following its 92-84 win over previously undefeated No. 1 Arizona on Saturday in Indianapolis. The Boilermakers, whose only blemish is a 92-88 loss at Northwestern, were No. 3 in last week’s poll. They were also ranked No. 1 three weeks ago, before that loss to the Wildcats.
Kansas stayed put at No. 2 in the new rankings. The Jayhawks were followed by No. 3 Houston, No. 4 Arizona and No. 5 UConn. Rounding out the new top 10 were No. 6 Marquette, No. 7 Oklahoma, No. 8 Tennessee, No. 9 Kentucky and No. 10 Baylor.
Losses by Arizona, Baylor and Clemson over the weekend leave Houston, Oklahoma, James Madison (at No. 20) and Ole Miss (at No. 25) as the only unbeaten teams in the current Top 25.
The SEC has three teams — Tennessee, Kentucky and Ole Miss — in the new rankings, but a few others are knocking on the door. The “also receiving votes” list includes Auburn (27th), Texas A&M (34th), Alabama (38th), and South Carolina and Mississippi State (tied for 45th).
UK’s league opener will come at Florida on Jan. 6.
Kentucky in the NET ratings
The Wildcats are still lagging behind in the NET ratings, the NCAA’s in-house ranking and an important measuring tool for the March Madness selection committee. UK’s standing at No. 27 nationally is so relatively low there because its biggest wins — North Carolina and Miami — are not particularly impressive just yet. The Tar Heels and Hurricanes are ranked 37th and 63rd in the NET, respectively, and only the UNC game counts as a valuable “Quad 1” win.
Kentucky also has a Quad 1 loss to Kansas and a Quad 3 defeat to UNC Wilmington.
If the Cats keep winning, their placement in the NET should get closer to the AP ranking as Kentucky gets into its tough league schedule. Heading into this week, four SEC teams were placed ahead of the Wildcats in the NET ratings: No. 8 Tennessee, No. 12 Alabama, No. 19 Auburn and No. 21 Texas A&M.
UK is No. 21 in the KenPom ratings to start the week, with Tennessee, Auburn and Alabama at 7-8-9 nationally on that list. KenPom ranks the SEC as the nation’s No. 3 league, with the Big 12 viewed as the clear No. 1 and the Big Ten just barely ahead of the SEC in second place.
This story was originally published December 18, 2023 at 12:40 PM.
