Kentucky MBB debuts at No. 42 in first NET rankings of 2022-23

With a 6-2 start to the 2022-23 season, Kentucky men’s basketball has debuted at No. 42 in the first NET rankings of the year. The Wildcats are coming off a 73-69 win over Michigan on Sunday afternoon in London, England. The Wolverines rank No. 114 in the first NET rankings.

The 2022-23 men’s basketball season marks the fifth season of the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) rankings, which replaced the RPI prior to the 2018-19 season as the primary sorting tool for evaluating teams. According to the NCAA, the NET includes more components than just winning percentage. It takes into account game results, strength of schedule, game location, scoring margin, net offensive and defensive efficiency, and the quality of wins and losses. It’s both a results-driven and predictive metric.

The NET rankings play a major role in deciding NCAA Tournament seeding. Using a quadrant system, the quality of wins and losses will be organized based on game location and the opponent’s NET ranking:

• Quadrant 1: Home 1-30, Neutral 1-50, Away 1-75
• Quadrant 2: Home 31-75, Neutral 51-100, Away 76-135
• Quadrant 3: Home 76-160, Neutral 101-200, Away 135-240
• Quadrant 4: Home 161-353, Neutral 201-353, Away 241-353

Kentucky is currently 0-1 in Quad 1 (Gonzaga) and 0-1 in Quad 2 (Michigan State) games this season, but the ‘Cats have won both of its games against Quad 3 (Michigan, Duquesne) opponents and all four against Quad 4. Three different SEC schools made the NET rankings top 10: No. 4 Tennessee, No. 5 Mississippi State, and No. 8 Alabama. UK’s in-state rival, the Louisville Cardinals, debuted at No. 361 out of a possible 363 teams. UL, which has yet to win a game this season at 0-8, is only ahead of Houston Christian and Hartford.

There will be plenty of opportunities for the ‘Cats to build its resume moving forward. As it stands right now, Kentucky has 12 more Quad 1 games left on the schedule, including a stretch of four straight in the middle of February. There are three more Quad 2 games left, too, including the Wildcats’ next matchup at home against No. 36 Yale on Saturday, Dec. 10.

Check out how Kentucky’s entire schedule shakes out in relation to the first NET rankings of the season.

Kentucky’s 2022-23 schedule, according to NET rankings

*NET rankings and quadrants listed in bold*

Nov. 7 vs. No. 326; Q4 Howard (95-63 W)
Nov. 11 vs. No. 118; Q3 Duquesne (77-52 W)
Nov. 15 vs. No. 92; Q2 Michigan State (86-77 2OT L) Indianapolis
Nov. 17 vs. No. 312; Q4 South Carolina State (106-63 W)
Nov. 20 @ No. 29; Q1 Gonzaga (88-72 L )
Nov. 23 vs. No. 270; Q4 North Florida (96-56 W)
Nov. 29 vs. No. 288; Q4 Bellarmine (60-41 W)
Dec. 4 vs. No. 114; Q3 Michigan (73-69 W) London, England
Dec. 10 vs. No. 36; Q2 Yale
Dec. 17 vs. No. 14; Q1 UCLA New York City
Dec. 21 vs. No. 356; Q4 Florida A&M
Dec. 28 @ No. 34; Q1 Missouri
Dec. 31 vs. No. 361; Q4 Louisville
Jan. 3 vs. No. 83; Q3 LSU
Jan. 7 @ No. 8; Q1 Alabama
Jan. 10 vs. No. 294; Q4 South Carolina
Jan. 14 @ No. 4; Q1 Tennessee
Jan. 17 vs. No. 176; Q4 Georgia
Jan. 21 vs. No. 120; Q3 Texas A&M
Jan. 24 @ No. 119; Q2 Vanderbilt
Jan. 28 vs. No. 18; Q1 Kansas
Jan. 31 @ No. 66; Q1 Ole Miss
Feb. 4 vs. No. 69; Q2 Florida
Feb. 7 vs. No. 25; Q1 Arkansas
Feb. 11 @ No. 176; Q3 Georgia
Feb. 15 @ No. 5; Q1 Mississippi State
Feb. 18 vs. No. 4; Q1 Tennessee
Feb. 22 @ No. 69; Q1 Florida
Feb. 25 vs. No. 21; Q1 Auburn
Mar. 1 vs. No. 119; Q3 Vanderbilt
Mar. 4 @ No. 25; Q1 Arkansas