Kentucky Basketball up to No. 16 in latest AP Poll

MrsTylerKSR

The Big Blue Nation is high on Kentucky following two more dominant showings vs. Missouri and High Point, but the AP voters want to see more. The Cats are tied with Providence for 16th in the new rankings, up only two spots from last week.

LSU, tomorrow night’s opponent, fell from No. 16 to No. 21 following its 70-55 loss at Auburn last week. Auburn is up to No. 9. Other ranked SEC teams include Alabama at No. 15 and Tennessee at No. 18. Georgia, Saturday’s opponent, received 22 votes, which is pretty insane when you consider the Bulldogs are 5-8, ranked No. 215 in KenPom, and coming off losses to East Tennessee State and Gardner-Webb. That looks to be an error:

Two equally astonishing takeaways from today’s AP Poll:

– Only 1 ACC team received a vote (Duke) for the first time over the last 40 years

– Somebody apparently voted Georgia into the Top-5 instead of Gonzaga, and as a result, 5-8 Georgia is your “30th-ranked” team.
— Jared Berson (@JaredBerson) January 3, 2022

Regardless, if you still think there’s merit to the AP Poll, here it is.

AP Top 25 – January 3

RANK	TEAM	PV RANK	CONFERENCE	POINTS
1	Baylor (13-0)	1	Big 12	1,525 (61)
2	Duke (11-1)	2	Atlantic Coast	1,447
3	Purdue (12-1)	3	Big Ten	1,376
4	Gonzaga (11-2)	4	West Coast	1,314
5	UCLA (8-1)	5	Pacific 12	1,287
6	Kansas (11-1)	6	Big 12	1,237
7	USC (12-0)	7	Pacific 12	1,015
8	Arizona (11-1)	9	Pacific 12	1,013
9	Auburn (12-1)	11	Southeastern	976
10	Michigan State (12-2)	10	Big Ten	934
11	Iowa State (12-1)	8	Big 12	896
12	Houston (12-2)	12	American Athletic	849
13	Ohio State (9-2)	13	Big Ten	819
14	Texas (11-2)	17	Big 12	640
15	Alabama (10-3)	19	Southeastern	589
16	Providence (13-1)	21	Big East	560
16	Kentucky (11-2)	18	Southeastern	560
18	Tennessee (9-3)	14	Southeastern	519
19	Villanova (9-4)	22	Big East	437
20	Colorado State (10-0)	20	Mountain West	386
21	LSU (12-1)	16	Southeastern	371
22	Xavier (11-2)	23	Big East	270
23	Wisconsin (10-2)	24	Big Ten	221
24	Seton Hall (9-3)	15	Big East	174
25	Texas Tech (10-2)	25	Big 12	142

Others receiving votes: Illinois 74, Oklahoma 71, Loyola Chicago 40, Connecticut 39, Georgia 22, West Virginia 6, Iowa 5, Minnesota 3, Davidson 3, San Francisco 3, Creighton 2