Kentucky makes Andy Katz's Top 25, just outside Seth Davis'

Kentucky earned some votes in the AP and Coaches Polls today but did not crack the Top 25. At least one national media member thinks the Cats are a Top 25 squad following back-to-back wins over Mississippi State and Tennessee. Andy Katz boosted Kentucky from unranked to No. 23 in his Power 36 rankings. Kentucky is two spots behind Texas A&M (No. 21) and one spot ahead of Vanderbilt (No. 24). The Cats host the ‘Dores, who have won five straight, a week from Wednesday at Rupp Arena.

Over at The Athletic, Seth Davis wasn’t quite ready to put Kentucky in his Top 25, instead placing them second on his “Almost Famous” list. By my math, that makes the Cats the 27th-best team in the country. Davis said if the Cats beat Florida and Auburn this week, he’ll move them in.

“I came close to ranking Kentucky after it won at Mississippi State and completed a season sweep of Tennessee, but in the previous week the Wildcats lost to Arkansas (home) and Georgia (road), a couple of squads that have lost a lot of games lately,” he wrote. “The Wildcats play at Florida on Wednesday, and at home against Auburn on Saturday. If they win both, they will have a very strong case to be ranked next week.”

Kentucky up to a No. 9 seed in Jerry Palm’s Bracketology

We’ll wait until Joe Lunardi’s latest NCAA Tournament projections come out tomorrow morning to do a full Bracketology roundup, but Jerry Palm bumped Kentucky up to a No. 9 seed in his update today. The Cats would face 8-seed Iowa in the East Region for the chance to take on No. 1 Purdue for a spot in the Sweet 16.

Here are the teams around Kentucky on the 8/9-seed lines:

Just keep winning.