Kentucky WBB ranked No. 13 in preseason AP Poll

Kentucky Women’s Basketball will start the season with a number next to the team name once again. On Tuesday morning, the AP Poll released its preseason Top 25 and tabbed the Wildcats at No. 13 in the country. Kentucky finished last season ranked 18th following a second-round NCAA Tournament appearance.

No. 1️⃣3️⃣ and ready to keep climbing 📈#BBN #CommitToIt pic.twitter.com/OK4meuSLgu

— Kentucky WBB (@KentuckyWBB) October 19, 2021

Looking up and down the poll, Kentucky sure won’t have a cakewalk of a schedule this season. Let’s rattle off the ranked opponents on UK’s schedule this season: No. 1 South Carolina (twice), No. 6 Louisville, No. 8 Indiana, No. 15 Tennessee, No. 19 West Virginia, No. 23 Texas A&M, Georgia (receiving votes), Arkansas (receiving votes), and DePaul (receiving votes).

2021-22 will be the second season for head coach Kyra Elzy, but the first with a full offseason under her belt. She led Kentucky through a rough non-conference schedule against several ranked opponents last season and had UK looking like a top 10 in the country. However, a slip-up during conference play had the ‘Cats packing their bags early on in the postseason.

Considering Kentucky didn’t lose all that much production from a season ago and still feature arguably the most talented player in the country, Rhyne Howard, a top 15 ranking feels appropriate. Losing Chasity Patterson to graduation and KeKe McKinney to transfer will hurt, but UK will return 70 percent of its scoring and 63 percent of its rebounding from the 2020-21 season.

A No. 13 ranking is about where Charlie Creme of ESPN has Kentucky in his updated Bracketology projections, which also dropped on Tuesday. Creme has the ‘Cats as a three-seed in the Wichita region, taking on 14-seeded Penn.

Below is the entirety of the AP Top 25.

AP Poll Top 25

1. South Carolina
2. UConn
3. Stanford
4. Maryland
5. N.C. State
6. Louisville
7. Baylor
8. Indiana
9. Iowa
10. Oregon
11. Michigan
12. Iowa State
13. Kentucky
14. Oregon State
15. Tennessee
16. Florida State
17. Ohio State
18. Georgia Tech
19. West Virginia
20. UCLA
21. South Florida
22. Arizona
23. Texas A&M
24. Virginia Tech
25. Texas

Others receiving votes: Georgia 65, Michigan State 63, Florida Gulf Coast 43, Missouri State 18, South Dakota 13, LSU 10, Arkansas 10, Washington State 9, Oklahoma State 8, Notre Dame 8, DePaul 6, Belmont 5, Oklahoma 3, South Dakota State 1