Kentucky jumps to No. 7 in the latest Coaches Poll

It was a four-spot jump for the Kentucky Wildcats in the latest USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll following the team’s third top-10 victory of the season — most in college basketball. That leap to No. 7 overall was good for sixth-most in the nation, behind West Virginia (plus-14), Illinois (plus-5), Memphis (plus-5), Michigan (plus-5) and Utah State (plus-5). It’s also good for fourth in the SEC behind only Tennessee at No. 1, Auburn at No. 2 and Alabama at No. 5.

Kentucky was ranked as high as No. 4 and as low as No. 23 by voters, bringing in 560 total points.

Florida (No. 8), Texas A&M (No. 9), Mississippi State (No. 13), Oklahoma (No. 16) and Ole Miss (No. 22) make up the other SEC teams in the latest rankings while Georgia, Vanderbilt and Arkansas are also receiving votes. That leaves Texas, Missouri, LSU and South Carolina as the lone programs not included in the top 41 when you factor in vote-getters.

Take a look at the latest update:

Rank	Team	Record	PTS	1st	Prev	Chg	Hi/Lo
1	Tennessee	14-0	765	21	1	–	1/12
2	Auburn	13-1	749	10	2	–	2/11
3	Iowa State	12-1	711	0	3	–	3/7
4	Duke	12-2	670	0	4	–	4/10
5	Alabama	12-2	651	0	6	+1	2/12
6	Marquette	13-2	581	0	8	+2	4/17
7	Kentucky	12-2	560	0	11	+4	4/23
8	Florida	13-1	529	0	5	-3	5/21
9	Texas A&M	12-2	488	0	12	+3	9/24
10	UConn	12-3	461	0	13	+3	2/NR
11	Houston	10-3	454	0	14	+3	4/18
12	Kansas	10-3	438	0	7	-5	1/12
13	Mississippi State	13-1	372	0	16	+3	13/NR
14	Michigan State	12-2	350	0	15	+1	14/NR
15	Illinois	11-3	300	0	20	+5	15/NR
16	Oklahoma	13-1	287	0	10	-6	10/21
17	Oregon	13-2	284	0	9	-8	9/NR
18	Gonzaga	12-4	246	0	19	+1	4/19
19	Purdue	11-4	228	0	22	+3	6/25
20	Memphis	12-3	192	0	25	+5	15/NR
21	UCLA	11-3	147	0	18	-3	18/NR
22	Ole Miss	12-2	119	0	23	+1	15/NR
23	West Virginia	11-2	110	0	NR	+14	23/NR
24	Michigan	11-3	98	0	NR	+5	14/NR
25	Utah State	14-1	73	0	NR	+5	25/NR

Schools Dropped Out

No. 17 Cincinnati; No. 21 Baylor; No. 24 Maryland;

Others Receiving Votes

Baylor 49; Cincinnati 38; Pittsburgh 32; San Diego State 25; St. John’s 24; Clemson 10; Maryland 9; Georgia 5; Nebraska 4; Arizona 4; Wisconsin 3; Vanderbilt 3; Indiana 3; UC San Diego 1; Texas Tech 1; Arkansas 1

Kentucky in other National Rankings

After dropping into the consensus top-15 territory last week among national analysts, the Cats are back inside the top 10 with all talking heads listing UK between No. 6 and No. 9.

• Jeff Goodman: No. 6
• CBS Sports’ Kyle Boone: No. 7
• CBS Sports’ Gary Parrish: No. 7
• Andy Katz: No. 6
• The Athletic: No. 9
• John Fanta: No. 7
• Jamie Shaw: No. 6

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What do you think, BBN? Fair?