See where the Kentucky women’s basketball team jumped to in this week’s poll
Kentucky will enter Southeastern Conference play on Thursday as the No. 16 team in the country, according to the latest Associated Press Top 25 poll released Monday.
The Cats handed out another blowout loss to a non-conference opponent in defeating Sacred Heart at home on Saturday while teams ahead of them in last week’s poll — California, Iowa and Arizona State all lost. Michigan State, which defeated then-No. 16 Iowa, last week, jumped up six spots in the rankings just ahead of the Cats.
Kentucky hosts Vanderbilt at 7 p.m. Thursday. The Commodores are 5-8 this season.
UConn, Notre Dame and Louisville remained the top three teams this week.
With most teams taking a break for the holidays, there wasn’t much movement. The only change in the first 10 teams was Mississippi State and Baylor exchanging places at Nos. 7 and 8. Maryland and Oregon were fourth and fifth in the poll voted on by a 31-member national media panel.
Baylor has a huge chance to move up the poll this week when the Lady Bears host top-ranked UConn on Thursday night. The Huskies were off this past week and finish off a two-game trip to Texas with a game at Houston on Sunday. UConn hasn’t played at home since Dec. 8.
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. 30, 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 | Pvs |
1. UConn (31) | 11-0 | 775 | 1 |
2. Notre Dame | 12-1 | 741 | 2 |
3. Louisville | 12-0 | 714 | 3 |
4. Maryland | 12-0 | 645 | 4 |
5. Oregon | 11-1 | 641 | 5 |
6. Stanford | 10-1 | 622 | 6 |
7. Mississippi St. | 12-1 | 586 | 8 |
8. Baylor | 8-1 | 584 | 7 |
9. NC State | 13-0 | 527 | 9 |
10. Tennessee | 11-1 | 499 | 10 |
11. Oregon St. | 10-2 | 452 | 11 |
12. Minnesota | 12-0 | 427 | 12 |
13. Texas | 10-2 | 402 | 13 |
14. Syracuse | 11-2 | 369 | 15 |
15. Michigan St. | 11-1 | 304 | 21 |
16. Kentucky | 13-1 | 295 | 18 |
17. Gonzaga | 12-1 | 234 | 20 |
18. California | 9-2 | 201 | 14 |
19. Iowa | 9-3 | 185 | 16 |
20. Marquette | 10-3 | 183 | 22 |
21. Texas A&M | 11-2 | 173 | 23 |
22. Arizona St. | 9-3 | 97 | 17 |
23. South Carolina | 8-4 | 76 | 25 |
24. DePaul | 9-4 | 72 | 19 |
25. Iowa St. | 10-2 | 66 | - |
Others receiving votes: Virginia Tech 59, Florida St. 52, Utah 32, Miami 23, Arizona 15, Indiana 11, South Dakota 7, Auburn 4, Cent Michigan 1, South Dakota St. 1.