Kentucky drops to No. 8 in AP Poll, No. 10 in Coaches Poll

JAX-261697 — Photo by Dr. Michael Huang | Kentucky Sports Radio

It was a rollercoaster of a week in the college basketball world, one that saw ten losses inside the top 10 from eight different teams. No. 1 Purdue, No. 2 Houston (twice), No. 3 Kansas, No. 5 Tennessee, No. 6 Kentucky, No. 8 Arizona, No. 9 Oklahoma (twice) and No. 10 Illinois all took hits since last week’s polls were released.

How did the voters see things shake out amid chaos? And more importantly, just how bad did the loss in College Station hurt the Cats?

Well, Kentucky didn’t take a massive hit in the AP Poll, but did topple a bit in the Coaches Poll. John Calipari’s squad fell two spots to No. 8 in the former and four to No. 10 in the latter.

AP Poll – January 15

RK	TEAM	REC	PTS	TREND
1	UConn (39)	14-1	1542	⬆️ 3
2	Purdue (20)	14-0	1506	⬇️ 1
3	Kansas (3)	13-1	1426	–
4	North Carolina (1)	13-2	1407	⬆️ 3
5	Houston	11-3	1236	⬇️ 3
6	Tennessee	11-2	1147	⬇️ 1
7	Duke	11-3	1130	⬆️ 4
8	Kentucky	12-3	1123	⬇️ 2
9	Baylor	13-1	1055	⬆️ 5
10	Memphis	11-3	987	⬆️ 3
11	Wisconsin	11-4	948	⬆️ 4
12	Arizona	11-3	918	⬇️ 4
13	Auburn	13-2	905	⬆️ 3
14	Illinois	12-2	660	⬇️ 4
15	Oklahoma	11-3	633	⬇️ 6
16	Utah State	12-2	538	⬆️ 4
17	Marquette	13-2	516	⬇️ 6
18	Creighton	12-2	433	⬆️ 4
19	TCU	13-2	293	–
20	BYU	14-1	270	⬇️ 2
21	Dayton	11-3	261	–
22	Ole Miss	11-4	236	–
23	Florida Atlantic	11-4	221	⬆️ 1
24	Iowa State	11-4	195	–
25	Texas Tech	11-3	191	–

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES:

Colorado St. 169, San Diego St. 153, Seton Hall 89, Alabama 60, Grand Canyon 49, Clemson 38, Boise St. 22, Nevada 22, Texas 20, Oregon 17, St. John’s 15, New Mexico 14, NC State 8, Princeton 5, Gonzaga 5, Utah 3, Mississippi St. 3, South Carolina 2, Villanova 2, McNeese St. 1, James Madison 1.

Get the On3 Top 10 to your inbox every morning

By clicking "Subscribe to Newsletter", I agree to On3's Privacy Notice, Terms, and use of my personal information described therein.

The Cats drop to No. 10 in the Coaches Poll

Rank	Team	Record	PTS	1st	Prev	Chg	Hi/Lo
1	UConn	15-2	785	20	4	+3	1/5
2	Purdue	15-2	762	12	1	-1	1/4
3	North Carolina	13-3	717	0	7	+4	3/21
4	Kansas	14-2	713	0	3	-1	1/6
5	Houston	14-2	619	0	2	-3	2/6
6	Duke	13-3	590	0	11	+5	3/21
7	Tennessee	12-4	574	0	5	-2	5/13
8	Wisconsin	13-3	533	0	15	+7	8/NR
9	Baylor	14-2	523	0	14	+5	6/19
10	Kentucky	12-3	514	0	6	-4	6/17
11	Auburn	14-2	509	0	16	+5	11/NR
12	Memphis	15-2	489	0	13	+1	12/NR
13	Arizona	12-4	424	0	8	-5	1/13
14	Illinois	12-4	319	0	10	-4	8/NR
15	Creighton	13-4	261	0	20	+5	7/NR
16	Oklahoma	13-3	239	0	9	-7	8/NR
17	Utah State	16-1	238	0	23	+6	17/23
18	Marquette	11-5	214	0	12	-6	3/18
19	BYU	13-3	174	0	17	-2	12/NR
20	Iowa State	13-3	152	0	NR	+9	20/NR
21	Ole Miss	15-1	151	0	23	+2	19/NR
22	TCU	13-3	150	0	NR	+12	22/NR
23	Dayton	13-2	130	0	NR	+6	23/NR
24	San Diego State	14-3	102	0	19	-5	15/NR
25	Texas Tech	14-2	92	0	NR	+11	25/NR

Schools Dropped Out

No. 18 Colorado State; No. 21 Gonzaga; No. 22 Clemson; No. 25 Florida Atlantic

Others Receiving Votes

Colorado State 81; Florida Atlantic 67; Alabama 60; Seton Hall 40; Clemson 39; Grand Canyon 34; Texas 20; Nevada 14; Gonzaga 11; Oregon 10; North Carolina State 9; Villanova 8; James Madison 8; Princeton 7; St. John’s 6; Florida State 4; Wake Forest 2; Nebraska 2; Florida 2; New Mexico 1; Indiana State 1

Where Kentucky stands in other national rankings

ESPN’s Jeff Borzello didn’t overreact to Kentucky’s loss, keeping the Cats at No. 6 overall in his updated power rankings while CJ Moore of The Athletic and Gary Parrish of CBS Sports blew a gasket. The former dropped UK to No. 13 overall while the latter slotted John Calipari’s group at No. 15 overall in his “Top 25-and-One.” John Fanta of FOX Sports was more level-headed, dropping the Cats just one spot to No. 6 overall.

Andy Katz of NCAA.com had been the highest on Kentucky up to this point, but isn’t feeling so confident this week. Sitting at No. 4 overall last week, the Wildcats are now No. 10 overall — a six-spot drop in his updated Power 36.