Kentucky women’s basketball breaks into AP top 10, achieves best ranking since 2015
“Rested, not rusted,” is a popular refrain for this year’s Kentucky Wildcats (19-2, 8-1 SEC), who enjoyed a much-needed respite from the gauntlet of Southeastern Conference play last week following a pair of ranked victories over Alabama and Oklahoma.
Whether or not Kentucky will be rested or rusted in Monday night’s return to competition, a road matchup against Ole Miss, is yet to be seen. However, what is known is that — in terms of the national rankings — the week off was good to the Wildcats. Across seven days of competition, 12 programs ranked within the Associated Press women’s college basketball Top 25 poll lost at least once, including teams many previously viewed as unshakable.
Five top 10 teams — South Carolina, Connecticut, Ohio State (twice), TCU and Duke — dropped contests during Week 14, leaving the door open for Kentucky to claim the No. 8 spot for the first time since December 2015; this also marks the first time the Wildcats have secured a top-10 ranking since January 2021.
So, how’d it happen?
Duke vs. North Carolina State (19-4, 11-1 ACC) on Feb. 3, one of the biggest games of Power Four conference play so far, set the stage for a big week of upsets as the Wolfpack protected home court; N.C. State appears to be clicking at the right time, and now holds sole ownership of second place in the Atlantic Coast Conference behind a high-flying Notre Dame (21-2, 12-0 ACC). The Wolfpack, ranked No. 14 in last week’s rankings, followed its showstopping victory over Duke with another Top 25 win against Florida State on Sunday.
The ranked matchups continued on Wednesday, as still-unbeaten UCLA (23-0, 11-0 Big Ten) picked up its school-record 22nd consecutive victory with a 13-point win over top-10 Ohio State, and Kansas State (22-3, 10-2 Big 12) handled business against then-No. 9 TCU (22-3, 10-2 Big 12).
On Thursday, Tennessee (17-6, 4-6 SEC) earned its first statement win of the Kim Caldwell era, a four-point victory over then-No. 5 Connecticut at Rocky Top to beat the Huskies for the first time since 2007.
Ohio State (20-3, 9-3 Big Ten) dropped its second game of the week on Saturday, suffering a 21-point loss to top-10 Southern California (21-2, 11-1 Big Ten) to close out its frustrating Los Angeles road trip. Saturday also caught Kansas State, as the Wildcats’ strong week turned on its head with an out-of-order, 30-point loss at Oklahoma State.
Though UConn (22-3, 13-0 Big East) got back in the win column Sunday with a dominant performance against Providence, Tennessee fell to then-No. 6 LSU (25-1, 10-1 SEC); and, most notably, then-No. 2 South Carolina (22-2, 10-1) dropped its first conference game since 2021, a 66-62 loss to then-No. 4 Texas (24-2, 10-1 SEC), which also beat then-ranked Vanderbilt on Thursday. The Gamecocks’ loss meant a drop to No. 4 in the rankings, as the Longhorns and the Fighting Irish, who defeated both Stanford and ranked California, moved up.
That said, this week’s AP top 10 is as follows — No. 1 UCLA, No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 3 Texas, No. 4 South Carolina, No. 5 LSU, No. 6 Southern California, No. 7 Connecticut, No. 8 Kentucky, No. 9 Ohio State and No. 10 N.C. State.
The SEC is now, more than it has been since the start of league play, up for grabs. Texas, South Carolina, LSU and Kentucky each hold just one conference loss, with the next-best SEC record owned by No. 21 Alabama (20-5, 7-4 SEC). The Longhorns, Gamecocks, Tigers, Wildcats and Crimson Tide are joined in this week’s Top 25 by No. 15 Tennessee, which improved four spots after defeating Connecticut, and No. 16 Oklahoma (17-6, 5-5 SEC), which fell one spot despite beating Ole Miss by 10 on Thursday.
Vanderbilt (18-6, 5-5 SEC), which lost its sole game last week to the Longhorns, and California, which lost at both Louisville and Notre Dame, dropped out of the top 25, making room for new entrants Creighton and Baylor. Vanderbilt and Ole Miss (15-7, 6-4 SEC) each received Top 25 votes this week.
NET rankings update
The Wildcats did fall in the NCAA NET rankings between Feb. 3 and Feb. 10, moving from No. 17 to No. 19 after a week of shakeup.
The NET rankings, an official tool used by the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee to determine bids and seeding come March, are updated daily.
Ole Miss, which stood at No. 11 on Feb. 3, has since fallen to No. 13, while Texas, which travels to Lexington for a high-level SEC showdown Thursday, holds strong at No. 3. The SEC boasts nine teams ranked within the NET top 25 — No. 1 South Carolina, No. 3 Texas, No. 9 LSU, No. 12 Tennessee, No. 13 Ole Miss, No. 16 Oklahoma, No. 17 Alabama, No. 19 Kentucky and No. 22 Vanderbilt.
No. 34 Mississippi State (17-8, 4-7 SEC) is the only other SEC program ranked within the NET top 50, with No. 56 Auburn (12-11, 3-7 SEC), No. 58 Florida (12-12, 3-7 SEC) and No. 61 Missouri (13-13, 2-9 SEC) falling just outside the marker.
No. 80 Texas A&M (10-13, 3-8 SEC) remains squarely within the top 100, while No. 123 Georgia (10-15, 2-9 SEC) and No. 132 Arkansas (9-17, 2-9 SEC) maintain their spots inside the top 150.
The NET top 10 is as follows — No. 1 South Carolina, No. 2 Connecticut, No. 3 Texas, No. 4 Notre Dame, No. 5 UCLA, No. 6 Southern California, No. 7 Duke, No. 8 Kansas State, No. 9 LSU and No. 10 TCU.
Next game
No. 8 Kentucky at Ole Miss
When: 7 p.m. EST Monday, Feb. 10
TV: ESPN2
Radio: WLAP-AM 630
Records: Kentucky 19-2 (8-1 SEC), Ole Miss 15-7 (6-4)
Series: Ole Miss leads 28-19
Last meeting: Ole Miss won 75-45 on Feb. 29, 2024, at Rupp Arena in Lexington
