Five thoughts on the new AP college basketball poll

Five thoughts on the new AP college basketball poll out Monday:

1. Kentucky falls to No. 12 and I’m a little surprised it wasn’t a deeper drop. Over at CBS Sports, Gary Parrish put Kentucky at No. 20 in his rankings. After all, the Cats were a 10-point favorite over a 5-5 Ohio State team on Saturday and ended up losing by seven at the Barclays Center. If not for Jamal Murray’s 33 points, it could have really been a Brooklyn beating.

UK is now 2-2 against Power 5 teams with wins over Duke and Arizona State and losses to UCLA and Ohio State. Its best win is over Duke and the Blue Devils dropped from seventh to 15^th after losing in overtime to Utah at Madison Square Garden on Saturday.

By the way, state voter Rick Bozich of WDRB had Kentucky at No. 12 on his ballot this week.

2. Louisville continues its climb. The Cards are now at No. 16 after being unranked in pre-season and the first two weeks of the poll. The Cardinals entered at No. 24 and have moved up from No. 22 to No. 19 and now to No. 16.

Louisville has a busy schedule this week with home games against Missouri-Kansas City on Tuesday and Utah Valley on Wednesday before traveling to Lexington for the annual rivalry game against Kentucky on Saturday, the day after Christmas.

3. Say hello to South Carolina. Frank Martin’s team cracks the poll this week at No. 25 thanks to a 10-0 start. It’s the first time the Gamecocks have been ranked in men’s basketball since 2004. Before this season, Martin was 45-54 for his three seasons in Columbia.

The Gamecocks won at arch-rival Clemson 69-59 on Friday night. They play St. John’s on Tuesday night in a 9:00 game at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. The CBS Sports Network will be televising.

4. Texas A&M moved up from No. 24 to No. 21 thanks to the Aggies 80-61 win over then No. 16 Baylor on Saturday. Billy Kennedy’s club is 9-2 with losses to Syracuse in the Bahamas and at Arizona State.

Jalen Jones and Danuel House each scored 17 points Saturday as the Aggies rolled over Baylor. Texas A&M led 51-30 at the half and held the Bears to just 35.6 percent from the floor. Remember, Kentucky travels to College Station on Feb. 20.

5. Xavier moved up to No. 6. The Muskies haven’t just been winning, they’ve been killing people. They won by 16 at Michigan, by 19 over Alabama, by 29 over Dayton, by 31 over Western Kentucky, by 10 over Cincinnati and by 24 over Auburn. Just to name a few.

Chris Mack’s team wasn’t even ranked in the pre-season. Now it has climbed into the Top 10 before traveling to Wake Forest on Tuesday night. Wake Forest is 8-2. The game is part of the Skip Prosser Classic series honoring the late coach who coached at both schools.