Kentucky remains No. 9 in the first AP Top 25 of the regular season

Kentucky vs. Louisville will be a top-15 showdown. The first AP College Basketball Poll of the regular season is out, and Kentucky is No. 9, the same as in the preseason edition. Louisville is No. 12, down one spot.

Houston is the No. 1 team in the new Top 25, taking Purdue’s spot. The Boilermakers are No. 2, followed by UConn, Duke, Arizona, Michigan, BYU, Alabama, Kentucky, and Florida. The Gators are down seven spots after losing to Arizona in their opener. As mentioned, Louisville is No. 12, followed by Rick Pitino’s St. John’s, which fell eight spots to No. 13 after losing to Alabama over the weekend.

In all, Kentucky will face ten ranked opponents this season, with several more receiving votes. Michigan State, next week’s foe in the Champions Classic, is up to No. 17 following its win over Arkansas, which fell seven spots to No. 21. Behind the Spartans are five straight Kentucky foes: North Carolina (No. 18), Gonzaga (No. 19), Tennessee (No. 20), Arkansas (No. 21), and Auburn (No. 22). Indiana also received votes.

Kentucky’s opponents in the latest AP Top 25:

No. 8 Alabama – Jan. 3 (away)
No. 10 Florida – Feb. 14 (away), March 7 (home)
No. 12 Louisville – Nov. 11 (away)
No. 13 St. John’s – Dec. 20 (neutral)
No. 17 Michigan State – Nov. 18 (neutral)
No. 18 North Carolina – Dec. 2 (home)
No. 19 Gonzaga – Dec. 5 (neutral)
No. 20 Tennessee – Jan. 17 (away), Feb. 7 (home)
No. 21 Arkansas – Jan. 31 (away)
No. 22 Auburn – Feb. 21 (away)

In all, six SEC teams are ranked, with six more receiving votes: Alabama (No. 8), Kentucky (No. 9), Florida (No. 10), Tennessee (No. 20), Arkansas (No. 21), Auburn (No. 22), Vanderbilt (RV), Missouri (RV), Ole Miss (RV), Mississippi State (RV), Georgia (RV), and Texas (RV).

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If you trust computers over people, Kentucky is No. 1 in the KenPom ratings, with the No. 11 offense and No. 4 defense. The Cats took the top spot from Houston over the weekend. They started the season at No. 4 behind Houston, Florida, and Purdue. Louisville is No. 11 in the KenPom ratings.

AP College Basketball Poll – Nov. 10

Rank	Team	Record	Trend	Points (1st Place Votes)
1	Houston	2–0	+1	1462 (18)
2	Purdue	2–0	–1	1459 (36)
3	UConn	2–0	+1	1361 (3)
4	Duke	2–0	+2	1223 (2)
5	Arizona	2–0	+8	1204 (0)
6	Michigan	1–0	+1	1121 (1)
7	BYU	2–0	+1	1111 (0)
8	Alabama	2–0	+7	1087 (1)
9	Kentucky	2–0	–	1072 (0)
10	Florida	1–1	–7	990 (0)
11	Texas Tech	2–0	–1	969 (0)
12	Louisville	2–0	–1	856 (0)
13	St. John’s	1–1	–8	812 (0)
14	Illinois	2–0	+3	610 (0)
15	UCLA	2–0	–3	609 (0)
16	Iowa State	2–0	–	605 (0)
17	Michigan State	2–0	+5	557 (0)
18	North Carolina	2–0	+7	494 (0)
19	Gonzaga	2–0	+2	466 (0)
20	Tennessee	2–0	–2	456 (0)
21	Arkansas	1–1	–7	324 (0)
22	Auburn	2–0	–2	207 (0)
23	Creighton	1–0	–	153 (0)
24	Wisconsin	2–0	–	140 (0)
25	Kansas	1–1	–6	130 (0)

Others Receiving Votes: NC State 87, San Diego St. 67, Indiana 45, Oregon 43, Vanderbilt 37, Ohio St. 17, Baylor 14, Southern Cal 12, Kansas St 5, Missouri 4, Mississippi 4, Mississippi St. 3, Georgia 2, Stanford 1, Oklahoma St. 1, Texas 1, Georgetown 1, Utah St. 1, Iowa 1, Virginia Tech 1.

Kentucky in other National Rankings

It’s hard to tell much about Kentucky given the competition in the first two games of the season (no offense to Nicholls or Valparaiso). That will soon change. For now, most media members kept Kentucky in their top tens. Jon Rothstein and Gary Parrish are the outliers, both putting Kentucky at No. 13.