Kentucky moves up to No. 6 in AP, Coaches Polls

Thanks to a few losses ahead of Kentucky in the polls, the Cats are moving right back up after a brief and minor setback last week. No. 3 Kansas and No. 7 Duke fell to mediocre conference foes while No. 9 Baylor and No. 10 Memphis both lost twice, as well — they were due a drop.

All of it resulted in a two-spot jump for UK, moving from No. 8 to No. 6 in the latest AP Poll released Monday afternoon.

The Coaches Poll was harder on the Cats last week following the program’s road loss at Texas A&M, John Calipari’s group dropping four spots to No. 10 overall. With four teams previously ranked above UK in the last update all losing, Kentucky got a nice bump back up to No. 6 — a two-way tie with Auburn just outside the top five.

AP Poll – January 22

RK	TEAM	REC	PTS	TREND
1	UConn (44)	17-2	1508	–
2	Purdue (17)	17-2	1472	–
3	North Carolina	15-3	1391	⬆️ 1
4	Houston	16-2	1309	⬆️ 1
5	Tennessee	14-4	1237	⬆️ 1
6	Kentucky	14-3	1205	⬆️ 2
7	Kansas	15-3	1157	⬇️ 4
8	Auburn	16-2	1094	⬆️ 5
9	Arizona	14-4	1060	⬆️ 3
10	Illinois	14-4	862	⬆️ 4
11	Oklahoma	15-3	849	⬆️ 4
12	Duke	13-4	832	⬇️ 5
13	Wisconsin	14-4	801	⬇️ 2
14	Marquette	13-5	747	⬆️ 3
15	Baylor	14-4	645	⬇️ 6
16	Dayton	15-2	546	⬆️ 5
17	Creighton	14-5	505	⬆️ 1
18	Utah State	17-2	381	⬇️ 2
19	Memphis	15-4	329	⬇️ 9
20	Texas Tech	15-3	304	⬆️ 5
21	BYU	14-4	294	⬇️ 1
22	Florida Atlantic	15-4	290	⬆️ 1
23	Iowa State	14-4	253	⬆️ 1
24	Colorado State	15-3	214	–
25	New Mexico	16-3	177	–

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES

Seton Hall 84, San Diego St. 64, Kansas St 39, Alabama 30, TCU 27, Mississippi 25, Princeton 21, Utah 20, Texas 16, Boise St. 9, Florida 6, Gonzaga 6, Grand Canyon 5, Michigan St. 3, Saint Mary’s 2, NC State 1, San Francisco 1, Indiana St 1, Samford 1, McNeese St. 1, Colorado 1.

The Cats move up to No. 6 in the Coaches Poll

Rank	Team	Record	PTS	1st	Prev	Chg	Hi/Lo
1	UConn	17-2	791	24	1	–	1/5
2	Purdue	17-2	769	8	2	–	1/4
3	North Carolina	15-3	734	0	3	–	3/21
4	Houston	16-2	678	0	5	+1	2/6
5	Tennessee	14-4	671	0	7	+2	5/13
6	Kentucky	14-3	609	0	10	+4	6/17
6	Auburn	16-2	609	0	11	+5	6/NR
8	Kansas	15-3	576	0	4	-4	1/8
9	Arizona	14-4	528	0	13	+4	1/13
10	Wisconsin	14-4	480	0	8	-2	8/NR
11	Illinois	14-4	437	0	14	+3	8/NR
12	Duke	13-4	421	0	6	-6	3/21
13	Oklahoma	15-3	401	0	16	+3	8/NR
14	Baylor	14-4	362	0	9	-5	6/19
15	Marquette	13-5	360	0	18	+3	3/18
16	Creighton	14-5	299	0	15	-1	7/NR
17	Dayton	15-2	277	0	23	+6	17/NR
18	Iowa State	14-4	220	0	20	+2	18/NR
19	BYU	14-4	181	0	19	–	12/NR
20	Utah State	17-2	176	0	17	-3	17/23
21	Texas Tech	15-3	148	0	25	+4	21/NR
22	Memphis	15-4	130	0	12	-10	12/NR
23	Colorado State	15-3	119	0	NR	+3	12/NR
24	Florida Atlantic	15-4	101	0	NR	+3	6/NR
25	New Mexico	16-3	54	0	NR	+20	25/NR

Schools Dropped Out

No. 21 Ole Miss; No. 22 TCU; No. 24 San Diego State

Others Receiving Votes

San Diego State 43; Alabama 43; Seton Hall 33; Gonzaga 30; TCU 26; Texas 18; Clemson 15; Kansas State 14; Princeton 13; Utah 10; Saint Mary’s 6; Boise State 5; Indiana State 4; Grand Canyon 4; Ole Miss 2; James Madison 2; Michigan State 1

Where Kentucky stands in other national rankings

ESPN’s Jeff Borzello comfortably moved Kentucky back into the top five to No. 5 overall — “How can we talk about anything besides Zvonimir Ivisic?” — in his updated power rankings. CJ Moore of The Athletic and Gary Parrish of CBS Sports were dramatic about the Cats’ loss last week, dropping them to No. 13 and No. 15 overall, respectively. They’re slowly walking that back this time around, the former moving UK up to No. 9 overall and the latter slotting them at No. 10 in his “Top 25-and-One.” 

John Fanta of FOX Sports only dropped the Cats to No. 6 last week, then moved them right back to No. 5 overall today, calling Kentucky a legitimate title contender.

“With a big man unicorn now in the fold, John Calipari has his best team in years,” he wrote. “Could a 12-year national title drought be snapped in Lexington? Big Blue Nation’s dreams are alive.”