Where Kentucky women’s basketball stands in national rankings after its two-loss week
The Kentucky women’s basketball team took a hit in the Associated Press Top 25 rankings released Monday after losing two of three games since last week’s poll.
The Wildcats, who lost at Ole Miss last Monday and to Texas on Thursday before bouncing back to beat Georgia on Sunday, fell six spots to No. 14 this week.
Though the end of conference play is still weeks away, fans are getting an early preview of some of the types of high-level matchups they usually expect during postseason play. As parity continues to increase within women’s college basketball, so does the number of “must-see” games, which just so happen to hold significant weight for seeding in conference tournaments and the upcoming NCAA Tournament.
Week 15 gifted viewers several can’t-miss contests, including four head-to-head top-eight games. As South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley put it after the Gamecocks’ loss to Texas on Feb. 9, “It’s just unfortunate that somebody had to lose.”
Similarly to the first time Kentucky fell in conference play — an upset loss on the road to Texas A&M on Jan. 23, during a week that 13 other ranked teams dropped at least one game — the Wildcats were far from the only Top 25 roster to lose last week. UK was one of 10 teams in last week’s Top 25 to lose during Week 15, including one of five within the top 10.
The Wildcats, who achieved their highest ranking since 2015 last Monday at No. 8, opened their three-game week with a disappointing loss to an offensive-rebound-hungry Ole Miss squad in Oxford before returning home to a skewed matchup against then-No. 3 Texas. With its 84-55 victory over Georgia at home on Sunday, Kentucky (20-4, 9-3 SEC) remains in the race for the final, highly coveted double-bye in the SEC Tournament. However, a difficult stretch ahead will surely test Kenny Brooks’ inaugural UK squad; three of the team’s four remaining regular-season opponents are ranked in this week’s Top 25, including two in the top 10 who suffered major losses Sunday.
Then-No. 2 South Carolina’s 71-game home win streak was laid to rest by Connecticut (24-3, 14-0 Big East) in a lopsided, top-10 affair. Then-No. 5 LSU led for much of its contest against then-No. 3 Texas (26-2, 12-1 SEC), but was unable to finish on top. Outside of the Southeastern Conference, the longstanding, unanimous No. 1 UCLA Bruins’ 23-game win streak came to an end at the hands of crosstown rival Southern California (23-2, 13-1 Big Ten). Then-No. 10 North Carolina State had to say goodbye to its prestigious spot after a single-point heartbreaker at then-No. 12 North Carolina (23-4, 11-3 ACC).
The back half of last week’s Top 25 didn’t fare much better, as then-No. 17 Maryland sustained its fifth league loss on Sunday to unranked Nebraska. Then-No. 18 West Virginia dropped a ranked battle to then-No. 25 Baylor (22-5, 12-2 Big 12). Then-No. 19 Georgia Tech lost at unranked Clemson. Then-No. 20 Oklahoma State fell to unranked BYU. Then-No. 23 Florida State lost at home to unranked Louisville, causing the Seminoles to drop out of the Top 25 entirely.
While it’s true that no Top 25 program fell steeper than Kentucky in this week’s rankings, UK’s position at No. 14 demonstrates the national media’s continued belief in Brooks’ Wildcats, despite the ups and downs of the difficult week. A top-16 national seeding for the NCAA Tournament — in which Kentucky was listed as a No. 4 seed during Sunday’s initial preview by the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Committee — and the double-bye in the SEC Tournament are still very much in play.
All that said, this week’s Top 25 features quite a bit of shakeup. The new top 10 is as follows — No. 1 Notre Dame (22-2, 13-0 ACC), No. 2 Texas, No. 3 UCLA (24-1, 12-1 Big Ten), No. 4 Southern California, No. 5 Connecticut, No. 6 South Carolina (23-3, 11-1 SEC), No. 7 LSU (25-2, 10-2 SEC), No. 8 Ohio State (21-3, 10-3 Big Ten), No. 9 North Carolina and No. 10 TCU (24-3, 12-2 Big 12).
Texas, South Carolina, LSU and Kentucky are joined in this week’s Top 25 by No. 15 Tennessee (19-6, 6-6 SEC) and No. 16 Oklahoma (19-6, 7-5 SEC), neither of which moved from last week’s rankings. No. 18 Alabama (20-5, 7-4 SEC), which improved three spots despite a bye week, rounds out the SEC’s Top 25 representation. Ole Miss (17-8, 8-5 SEC) received Top 25 votes.
NET rankings update
As with the AP top 25, the NCAA NET rankings reflect notable shifts in light of all the ranked chaos.
The NET, an official tool used by the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee to determine tournament teams and their seeding, is updated daily to reflect the action of all Division I contests. On the morning of Monday, Feb. 10, Kentucky ranked No. 19. At the time of the writing of this article, the Wildcats stood at No. 20.
Kentucky’s two opponents this week, Missouri (13-14, 2-10 SEC) and LSU, each rank within the NET’s top 70. Missouri, which rated No. 61 on Feb. 10, has since moved to No. 63, while LSU, which will travel to Lexington for UK’s Senior Day on Sunday, moved from No. 9 to No. 10 over the course of the week.
The NET top 10 is as follows — No. 1 Connecticut, No. 2 South Carolina, No. 3 Texas, No. 4 Notre Dame, No. 5 UCLA, No. 6 Southern California, No. 7 Kansas State, No. 8 Duke, No. 9 TCU and No. 10 LSU.
Six SEC teams rate within the NET top 15 — South Carolina, Texas, LSU, No. 11 Tennessee, No. 12 Ole Miss and No. 15 Oklahoma.
No. 17 Alabama, Kentucky, No. 23 Vanderbilt and No. 35 Mississippi State (18-9, 5-8 SEC) maintain their top-50 standing, while No. 55 Auburn (12-14, 3-10 SEC), No. 56 Florida (13-13, 4-8 SEC), Missouri and No. 81 Texas A&M (10-13, 3-8 SEC) remain within the top 100. No. 124 Georgia (10-16, 2-10 SEC) and No. 136 Arkansas (9-18, 2-10 SEC) continue their presence outside the top 100.
Next game
No. 8 Kentucky at Missouri
When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday
TV: SEC Network+
Radio: WLAP-AM 630
Records: Kentucky 20-4 (9-3 SEC), Missouri 13-14 (2-10 SEC)
Series: Kentucky leads 12-5
Last meeting: Kentucky won 76-71 on Jan. 21, 2024, in Rupp Arena
