Kentucky drops a spot in the Coaches Poll (despite blowing out Louisville)
Kentucky’s 95-76 win over Louisville bumped the Cats up a spot to No. 8 in the AP Poll, which was released yesterday. The 32 head coaches that vote in the USA Today Coaches Poll? Not quite as impressed. The new Coaches Poll is out and Kentucky actually fell one spot, to No. 10.
You have two teams to blame for that. Jumping the Cats are Illinois, which moved up two spots to No. 9, and Florida Atlantic, which jumped six spots to No. 6. The Fighting Illini beat rival Missouri by 24 points over the weekend, while the Owls of FAU knocked off No. 4 Arizona.
As in the AP Poll, Kentucky is one of only three ranked SEC teams, along with Tennessee (No. 7) and Ole Miss (No. 22). Three others (Auburn, Texas A&M, and South Carolina) received votes. Kentucky’s win over Miami (FL) doesn’t look as impressive as it did at the time, as the Hurricanes are now way out of the poll, only receiving three votes. Gonzaga, which comes to Rupp Arena on Feb. 10, is No. 16.
Check it all out below.
USA Today Coaches Poll – Dec. 26
| Rank | Team | Record | PTS | Change |
| 1 | Purdue | 11-1 | 790 (24) | – |
| 2 | Kansas | 11-1 | 760 (1) | – |
| 3 | Houston | 12-0 | 751 (7) | – |
| 4 | Arizona | 9-2 | 659 | – |
| 5 | UConn | 11-2 | 629 | – |
| 6 | Florida Atlantic | 10-2 | 618 | +6 |
| 7 | Tennessee | 9-3 | 613 | – |
| 8 | Marquette | 10-3 | 531 | -2 |
| 9 | Illinois | 9-2 | 520 | +2 |
| 10 | Kentucky | 9-2 | 513 | -1 |
| 11 | North Carolina | 8-3 | 460 | +2 |
| 12 | BYU | 11-1 | 378 | +3 |
| 13 | Oklahoma | 10-1 | 371 | -5 |
| 14 | Colorado State | 11-1 | 326 | +3 |
| 15 | Duke | 8-3 | 316 | +4 |
| 16 | Gonzaga | 9-3 | 300 | – |
| 17 | Clemson | 10-1 | 280 | +1 |
| 18 | Memphis | 10-2 | 271 | +5 |
| 19 | Baylor | 10-2 | 251 | -9 |
| 20 | Creighton | 9-3 | 161 | -6 |
| 21 | James Madison | 12-0 | 159 | – |
| 22 | Ole Miss | 12-0 | 153 | +3 |
| 23 | Wisconsin | 9-3 | 148 | +1 |
| 24 | Texas | 9-2 | 138 | -2 |
| 25 | Providence | 11-2 | 88 | – |
Schools Dropped Out: No. 20 Virginia
Others Receiving Votes: Auburn 65; Virginia 26; Colorado 24; Iowa State 19; TCU 16; Ohio State 13; Michigan State 10; Nevada 9; Utah 7; Grand Canyon 7; New Mexico 4; Villanova 3; Texas A&M 3; South Carolina 3; Miami (FL) 3; San Diego State 1; Princeton 1; Nebraska 1; Indiana 1;
Where Kentucky stands in other national rankings
Need more national rankings? Both CJ Moore (The Athletic) and Gary Parrish (CBS Sports) updated theirs in recent days. Moore bumped Kentucky from No. 11 to No. 9, praising the Cats’ balanced scoring. So far, five different players have scored at least 20 points in a game this season, a feat also accomplished by the 2015 team that went 38-1.
We’re only 11 games in, and there’s a good chance another Wildcat joins the list, which so far includes Antonio Reeves, Tre Mitchell, Rob Dillingham, DJ Wagner and Reed Sheppard. Not included is Justin Edwards, who came into the season considered the best draft prospect on the roster. Our Sam Vecenie had Edwards at No. 1 in his first mock. Edwards’ season-high is 16 points, and if you drop the number to 16, then eight Cats have reached that mark. My bet is the Cats get seven players in the 20 club, with Edwards and Aaron Bradshaw (season-high 17) eventually getting there. Knowing that many guys can go off in one night makes it really tough to game plan for opposing coaches.
CJ Moore, The Athletic
Parrish kept the Cats at No. 11 in his Top 25-and-1 for CBS Sports. He wrote a lot about Florida Atlantic too if you’d like to read more about the Owls’ big jump.
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