Kentucky climbs in AP, Coaches Polls heading into postseason

After its first 2-0 week since December, Kentucky is up in both polls heading into the postseason. Kentucky climbed to No. 15 in the AP Poll, a four-spot jump from last week (No. 19). The Cats are No. 19 in the Coaches Poll, up from No. 24 a week ago.

Duke is the new No. 1 team in the land following back-to-back losses by Auburn. The Tigers fell to No. 3 in both polls, with Houston as the new No. 2. In the AP Poll, Florida and Alabama round out the top five. Tennessee is down four spots to No. 8. After upsetting Auburn, Texas A&M jumped eight spots to No. 14, right ahead of Kentucky, and Missouri fell six spots to No. 21. That makes it seven total teams from the SEC in the top 25. Ole Miss is the only other SEC team receiving votes.

AP College Basketball Poll – March 10

RK	TEAM	REC	PTS	TREND
1	Duke (52)	28-3	1516	+1
2	Houston (5)	27-4	1427	+1
3	Auburn (4)	27-4	1407	-2
4	Florida	27-4	1350	+1
5	Alabama	24-7	1211	+2
6	St. John’s	27-4	1201	–
7	Michigan State	26-5	1191	+1
8	Tennessee	25-6	1163	-4
9	Texas Tech	24-7	1012	–
10	Clemson	26-5	949	+1
11	Maryland	24-7	836	+2
12	Iowa State	23-8	792	-2
13	Louisville	25-6	723	+1
14	Texas A&M	22-9	647	+8
15	Kentucky	21-10	629	+4
16	Memphis	26-5	602	–
17	BYU	23-8	586	+6
18	Wisconsin	23-8	575	-6
19	Saint Mary’s	27-4	477	+2
20	Purdue	21-10	339	-2
21	Missouri	21-10	203	-6
22	Michigan	22-9	171	-5
23	Oregon	23-8	140	+3
24	Illinois	20-11	137	+2
25	Marquette	22-9	127	-5

Others Receiving Votes: Drake 103, Arizona 82, UCLA 52, UC San Diego 39, UConn 38, Gonzaga 28, New Mexico 20, Creighton 18, Mississippi 17, VCU 6, High Point 4, Kansas 3, Akron 2, McNeese St. 1, Xavier 1.

USA Today Coaches Poll – March 10

Rank	Team	Record	PTS	Chg
1	Duke	28-3	770 (26)	1
2	Houston	27-4	729 (2)	1
3	Auburn	27-4	704 (2)	-2
4	Florida	27-4	688 (1)	1
5	St. John’s	27-4	618	1
6	Tennessee	25-6	603	-2
6	Michigan State	26-5	603	1
8	Alabama	24-7	588	–
9	Texas Tech	24-7	539	–
10	Clemson	26-5	466	1
11	Maryland	24-7	424	3
12	Iowa State	23-8	415	-2
13	Louisville	25-6	414	–
14	Wisconsin	23-8	309	-2
15	Saint Mary’s	27-4	286	2
16	Texas A&M	22-9	281	5
17	Memphis	26-5	278	-1
18	BYU	23-8	266	4
19	Kentucky	21-10	205	5
20	Purdue	21-10	195	-2
21	Michigan	22-9	114	-6
22	Missouri	21-10	95	-3
23	Marquette	22-9	80	-3
24	Arizona	20-11	73	-1
25	Illinois	20-11	55	11

Schools Dropped Out: No. 25 VCU

Others Receiving Votes: Oregon 48; New Mexico 41; Drake 39; Creighton 38; UC San Diego 32; UCLA 19; Gonzaga 18; VCU 13; UConn 9; Ole Miss 9; Kansas 6; Mississippi State 4; High Point 1

Kentucky in other National Rankings

All the college basketball experts bumped Kentucky up in their rankings. The Athletic’s CJ Moore has the Cats the highest at No. 14, while Andy Katz has them lowest at No. 21.

• The Athletic’s CJ Moore: No. 12 (Last Week: No. 18)
• Jon Rothstein: No. 14 (Last Week: No. 17)
• CBS Sports’ Kyle Boone: No. 15 (Last Week: No. 19)
• On3’s Jamie Shaw: No. 16 (Last Week: No. 23)
• John Fanta: No. 17 (Last Week: No. 22)
• CBS Sports’ Gary Parrish: No. 17 (Last Week: No. 22)
• Andy Katz: No. 21 (Last Week: No. 27)

John Fanta included some praise for Kentucky with his rankings, noting the Cats’ boom-or-bust NCAA Tournament potential.

“How about Mark Pope and Kentucky? The Wildcats matched a college basketball record with their eighth top-15 win of the season, spoiling Missouri’s Senior Day with a 91-83 victory. Kentucky can be a wagon offensively, and it showed on Saturday when Otega Oweh scored 22 points, Koby Brea was sizzling from deep with 17 points, and Andrew Carr had 16 points and 12 rebounds. Carr’s leadership means so much to this team and obviously a healthy Lamont Butler keeps the Wildcats organized. They could lose in the first round of the NCAA Tournament or be sitting in the Elite Eight.”

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