Kentucky women’s basketball moves up in national rankings after 2-0 SEC start
Following Kentucky’s pair of decisive wins against Mississippi State and Vanderbilt to begin Southeastern Conference play 2-0, Associated Press women’s college basketball top 25 voters have given the Wildcats a boost in this week’s rankings.
After four straight weeks at No. 16, the Wildcats (13-1, 2-0 SEC) have improved to No. 15 with their double-digit wins over the Bulldogs and the Commodores, each of whom received top 25 votes in both last week’s and this week’s polls. Ole Miss (10-4, 1-1) fell out of this week’s top 25 after a win over Auburn on the road and a loss at Texas A&M, but still received top 25 votes.
However, there are still four SEC teams ranked in the top 10 — No. 2 South Carolina (14-1, 2-0), No. 5 Texas (15-1, 2-0), No. 6 LSU (17-0, 2-0) and No. 10 Oklahoma — which all escaped the first week of conference play unscathed but for the Sooners (13-2, 1-1), who lost to the Longhorns on Thursday in a top-10 battle before going on the road and handing Tennessee its first loss of the season.
This week’s top 10 is as follows — No. 1 UCLA, No. 2 South Carolina, No. 3 Notre Dame, No. 4 Southern California, No. 5 Texas, No. 6 LSU, No. 7 Connecticut, No. 8 Maryland, No. 9 Ohio State and No. 10 Oklahoma.
The Sooners were the only top-10 team to fall last week, resulting in a 9-10 swap between them and the Buckeyes.
No. 16 Tennessee (13-1, 1-1) dropped one spot after beating Texas A&M and losing to Oklahoma, and No. 18 Alabama (15-1, 2-0) improved one spot after defeating both Florida and Missouri.
NET rankings update
The Wildcats’ back-to-back wins over strong competition pushed them up significantly in the NCAA NET rankings.
Kentucky, which had been hovering in the low 30s for the majority of the NET iterations, now sits at No. 23. The shift is a significant one, as Kentucky’s return to the top 25 means UK serves as a quadrant one opportunity for all opponents, regardless of where the matchup is played (a victory over a team ranked 1-25, played anywhere, is considered a quadrant-one win).
One week ago, Vanderbilt ranked No. 12 and Mississippi State was No. 27. Now, as of games played through Jan. 5, Vanderbilt has fallen to No. 20, while Mississippi State sits at No. 33.
Kentucky, Vanderbilt and Mississippi State are three of 11 SEC teams in the NET’s top 50.
No. 1 South Carolina, No. 2 Texas and No. 9 LSU remain within the NET’s top 10, alongside No. 3 Connecticut, No. 4 UCLA, No. 5 Notre Dame, No. 6 Southern California, No. 7 Kansas State, No. 8 TCU and No. 10 Duke.
No. 11 Oklahoma, No. 14 Alabama, No. 17 Tennessee, No. 18 Ole Miss and Vanderbilt round out the conference’s top 20 representation, while No. 47 Florida, Kentucky’s next opponent, broke into the top 50.
No. 54 Auburn (9-6, 0-2), No. 63 Missouri (11-6, 0-2) and No. 79 Texas A&M (8-6, 1-1) remain in the top 100, while No. 133 Georgia (8-8, 0-2) and No. 141 Arkansas (7-10, 0-2) work to find their rhythm.
Next game
No. 15 Kentucky at Florida
When: 5 p.m. Thursday
TV: SEC Network
Radio: WLAP-AM 630
Records: Kentucky 13-1 (2-0 SEC), Florida 10-6 (1-1)
Series: Kentucky leads 37-27
Last meeting: Kentucky won 81-77 on Feb. 18, 2024, at Rupp Arena
